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16
CHAPTER II.

former year the troops were not withdrawn, in spite of irate protests by the Cantonese Authorities, until peace with Franoe was restored. In the hitter year Admiral Drury withdrew his men again and abstained from forcino- his way up to Canton in order to please the East India Company's Committee and to avoid interference with trade. Again, in the year 1814, H.B.M. Frigate Doris cruized in Canton waters to intercept American ships, and when the Viceroy instructed the Committee to order her off, the Committee, to the surprise of the Chinese officials, declared that they had no power whatever in the matter and were quite willing that trade, as threatened by the Viceroy, should be stopped. The Committee, moreover, by adroit management, improved the opportunity so as to obtain from the frightened Viceroy important concessions, viz. the right to send Chinese petitions to the Governor of Canton under seal, to employ native servants without restraint and to have their dwellings secure from Chinese intrusion.

The gradual development of the British navy not only impressed the Chinese authorities but served the purpose of enabling foreign merchants to take a firmer attitude towards Chinese pretences of political and judicial supremacy. Foreign merchants never consented to formally acknowledge their subjection to Chinese criminal jurisdiction, though they were often compelled by sheer force to submit to it. But not until the year 1822 were the Chinese distinctly informed that foreigners refused on principle to submit to Chinese jurisdiction.

In the year 1750 the French surrendered to the Chinese Authorities one of their seamen, and again in 1780. In 1784 the English surrendered a gunner who, in firing a salute, had accidentally killed a native, and they actually submitted to his being executed by strangling. In 1807 again a British sailor was surrendered, and though Captain Rolles, of H.M.S. Lion, obtained his release, a fine of $20 was paid. In 1821 the Americans surrendered a foreigner (Terranuova) to Chinese jurisdiction and submitted to his being strangled. But in the very next year, when two natives were killed in a scuffle with