knew the typical British free trader, despoiled and despondent as the latter was (at the close of Sir H. Pottinger's administration), under the conviction that the free port of Hongkong had proved a commercial failure. If Sir Henry had been duped by the Chinese Mandarins in connection with his Supplementary Commercial Treaty, it was no doubt because he knew nothing of commerce and even less of Chinese. But here was Sir John, a China merchant and Chinese sinologue rolled in one. Who could be a better successor for Sir Henry? And as to the puzzle of Hongkong's commercial decay, why Sir John Davis understood it perfectly: the China Trade had reached its zenith under the regime of the East India Company, and where the Company could do no more, free trade was naturally bound to bring about a gradual diminution of the volume of trade. He understood it all: protection and monopoly was the remedy, and free traders must simply draw in their horns and learn to eat humble pie. His mission was to teach them to do that. And he did it—with what result, we shall see. But one thing more I have to add to these introductory remarks. Sir John Davis was not merely a scion in Chinese diplomacy and an exponent of British protectionism, but above all he was a scholar and a philanthropist: in this British Colony, placed at the very gates of China's antiquated semi-barbarism, he would demonstrate the kindlier humanities of British law and government and illustrate by the example of his administration the superiority of European learning and civilization.
Before Sir H. Pottinger left China, Sir John Davis, having entered (May 8, 1844) upon the duties of Superintendent of Trade under the Foreign Office, as well as upon those of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Hongkong under the Colonial Office, had an opportunity to show off his diplomatic prowess by assisting his predecessor, at a meeting with Kiying (June 13, 1844), to try and persuade the latter to surrender, or make amends for, some of the advantages he had gained by his trickery in connection with the Supplementary Treaty of October 8, 1843. Two of the newly-arrived Colonial officials, the Hon. F. Bruce
