the Hoppo and the Cantonese Authorities, brouglit to the notice of the Throne. An Imperial Commissioner, authorized to remove the Hoppo from his post and to abolish all illegal imposts, was sent to Canton with Mr. Flint to investigate the charges against the Provincial Authorities. The inevitable result followed. The Hoppo and the Cantonese Authorities having made their terms with the Commissioner, Mr. Flint was ordered to appear in the Viceroy's Yamen to answer a charge of having, while at Amoy, set at defiance the Imperial Edict of 1757. Mr. Flint went, accompanied by all the Supercargoes, but as soon as they reached the Viceroy's offices, they were set upon by his underlings, brutally ill-treated, thrown on the ground, forced to perform the official act of homage (kneeling and knocking their foreheads on the ground) called kotow and sent back with ignominy, with the exception of Mr. Flint. He was thrown into prison and, as the virtuous Court of Directors refused to pay the bribe of $1,250 which was demanded by his jailors, he was kept under rigorous confinement at Casa Branca until November 1762, when he was released and deported to England.
The Court of Directors, who had by the action of their servants hitherto stooped sub rosâ to every form of Chinese bribery and corruption, and borne every indignity heaped upon their representatives with equanimity, thought at last, on hearing of the ill-treatment of their Supercargoes, that the Chinese were going rather too far. So they sent a special mission to Canton (A.D. 1760), with a letter to the Viceroy, protesting against the Co-Hong system and asking for Mr. Flint's release. But the mission was treated with contempt by the Manchu Government and failed to have any effect whatever. By giving however increased secret presents, the Supercargoes caused things to go on more smoothly, and ten years later (A.D. 1771) the Company's Supercargoes succeeded in purchasing permission to reside during the winter months (the business season) at Canton, instead of coming and going with their respective ships. The ships used to arrive towards the end of
