of firms established in Hongkong) sent to the Governor (November 6, 1844) a stately remonstrance, signed by W. Leslie, W. Bell and 38 other British subjects, recording 'their respectful but firm remonstrance against a measure unexampled in modern British legislation, fraught with great and certain mischief, calculated in no ordinary degree to interfere with and restrict ithe rights and liberties of Her Majesty's subjects, and utterly subversive of that confidence, cordiality and co-operation which ought to subsist between Governors and the Governed, and are so essential to the tranquillity and prosperity of every Colony, mid which, if forced into operation, will reduce apparently the Island of Hongkong to the level of a Penal Settlement.' It was also proposed in Hongkong to memorialize Her Majesty's Government to say that the Colonists had lost faith in the local Government. However, after a few days, moderate counsels prevailed, and the whole excitement gradually subsided. On November 13, 1844, the Legislative Council passed an amended Registration Ordinance (16 of 1844), applying registration only to the lowest classes, abandoning the idea of any poll-tax of Chinese residents, and exempting from registration all civil, military and naval employees, all members of the learned professions, merchants, shopkeepers, householders, tenants of Crown property and persons having an income of $500 a year. In fact, this Ordinance granted all that the British community had contended for, and if the Governor had consulted the leading merchants or allowed them representation in Council, the whole conflict between the community and the Government, and the defeat and consequent humiliation and degradation of the Government, in the eyes of the astounded Chinese population, would have been avoided. On January 1, 1845, this Ordinance came into force and worked so smoothly that, on December 31, 1840, it was possible to modify it (No. 7 of 1810) so as to provide also for a periodical census of the whole population.
An outgrowth of the mistaken autocratic attitude which Sir John Davis assumed towards the community was the severity with which he enforced (since July 25, 1844) the ejectment
