Ch 19 - The Western Foothold in Asia

The Arrow Incident

Chinese police boarded the Chinese-owned ship Arrow off Canton and arrested twelve of its crew on suspicion of piracy. British authorities exploited and exaggerated the incident as a pretext for military action against Canton and Governor-General Yeh Mingchen.

When Xu Guangjin was transferred in 1852 to help put down the Taiping Rebellion, Emperor Wenzong appointed Canton's Governor-General Yeh Mingchen to fill his post as Imperial Commissioner. Commissioner Yeh, a disciple and friend of former Commissioner Lin Zexu, was even more xenophobic, more stubborn and more arrogant than his predecessor. Openly contemptuous of foreign nationals, he refused to acknowledge their communiques or even meet with them, stating that it was beneath the dignity of a high officer of the Celestial Empire to receive foreigners. It took the French minister fifteen months to arrange an interview with him. A sense of caution and the growing Taiping problem precluded any immediate confrontations of the sort Lin Zexu had precipitated, but Commissioner Yeh still managed to encourage anti-British feelings among the Cantonese. British merchants soon began to sense that they and their commerce were once again in danger.

In addition to the "Canton city question," there were other serious issues that strained relations between China and the West:  the strong desire to extend trade beyond the five treaty ports into all of China;  the demand for resident diplomats in Beijing in order to bypass the obstinate Canton authorities;  the drive to reduce customs duties in response to the general drop in commodity prices during the postwar period;  and finally, the demand for revisions to existing treaties. The Chinese either stalled or dismissed outright every attempt to settle these issues. Foreign patience, particularly that of the British, approached exhaustion. French anger was aroused in February 1856, when Taiping rebels captured the French missionary Father Abbé Auguste Chapdelaine in Jiangxi Province - then off limits to Westerners. Father Chapdelaine was tried for the crime of preaching Christianity and later executed by the rebels. As for Britain, a relatively minor incident near Canton finally broke the tension and provided the British all the provocation they needed to release their pent up anger.

On the morning of October 8, 1856, the lorcha Arrow rode calmly at anchor, sails furled, among the shipping in the Pearl River off Canton. Owned by Hong Kong resident Fang Aming, the Arrow, with its European-style hull and Chinese sails, was allegedly used to smuggle salt. Typical of the many Chinese-owned smuggling ships temporarily registered in Hong Kong under the British flag to circumvent Chinese jurisdiction, the Arrow's captain was British, but its crew was Chinese. At around eight or eight-thirty that the morning, four mandarin officials and sixty armed soldiers boarded the Arrow on information that a number of criminals wanted for smuggling and piracy were among the ship's crew.

The Arrow's captain, angered that the impending arrests interfered with the owner's business, hurried to the British Consulate to complain. Harry Parkes, the young consular officer, had no prior notice of the boarding or the arrests. Decidedly irritated by the news, Parkes rushed aboard the Arrow in his official capacity and engaged the arresting officers in a heated conversation. Despite his protestations, the Chinese arrested twelve of the Arrow's fourteen-man crew on charges of piracy and smuggling. Parkes returned to the Consulate and sent a strongly-worded letter to Governor-General Yeh Mingchen that reported "all the particulars of this public insult to the British flag" and accused Yeh of violating Article 9 of the 1843 Supplementary Treaty of the Bogue, which dealt with British extraterritoriality. He demanded an apology for the incident and assurances that Yeh would "cause the provisions of the treaty to be in this case faithfully observed." Parkes also sent a note to Governor Sir John Bowring and Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour at Hong Kong, stating that he and his country's flag had been insulted beyond endurance and hinting in pretty broad terms that it was time for the long-awaited demonstration against Canton.

Following an investigation, the Chinese determined that nine of the twelve men arrested were innocent. Governor Yeh Mingchen politely and calmly responded to Parkes' arrogant demands, stating the reason for the arrests, and regretting any misunderstanding in the matter. He also denied the slightest intention of insulting the British flag. Governor Yeh, unwilling to detain the Chinese crew "at the expense of so serious a misunderstanding," directed the men, though lawfully arrested, to be returned to the custody of the British Consulate on October 12. Parkes refused the offer. Instead, he issued a stern letter of protest demanding a written apology from Governor Yeh within forty-eight hours, the release of all twelve crewmen and respect for the British flag in the future. Parkes' belligerent position went well beyond any issue involving extraterritoriality, since the treaty provision he insisted should be applied to the lorcha dealt solely with British ships. The Arrow was not a British ship. Governor Yeh correctly stated the ship was Chinese at the time it was boarded and questioned Parkes' right to intervene in a case involving the arrest of Chinese nationals by Chinese police aboard a Chinese-built and Chinese-owned ship in Chinese waters.

Governor Yeh, who felt that no breach of any treaty had been committed, remarked:

"It has been the invariable rule with lorchas of your Excellency's nation, to haul down their ensign when they drop anchor, and to hoist it again when they get under way. When the lorcha was boarded, in order that the prisoners might be seized, it has been satisfactorily proved that no flag was flying. How then could a flag have been hauled down?  Yet Consul Parkes, in one despatch [sic] after another, pretends that satisfaction is required for this insult offered to the flag."

Governor Yeh insisted that since no fault had been committed, no apology was necessary:

"No foreign flag was seen by my executive at the time of the capture, and as, in addition to this, it was ascertained on the examination of the prisoners by the officer deputed to conduct it, that the lorcha was in no respect a foreign vessel, I maintain that there was no mistake committed."

The British refused to believe him, but Governor Yeh was correct. In the first place, depositions from the captain and crew of the Portuguese lorcha No. 83 taken on November 13, 1856, stated that, "it is now notorious at Canton that the British flag had not been flying on board the lorcha [Arrow] for six days previous to its seizure." In the second place, if the British flag had been flying that morning, it was not legally flying. The purchase of a British registry, or sailing license, in Hong Kong afforded a dubious legal status to its owner and certainly did not suddenly convert a Chinese ship into a British merchantman.

The legality of the Arrow's registry relied on a local Hong Kong ordinance passed in March 1855 that not only infringed the provisions of the Treaty of Nanjing, but also annulled English law. In any legal sense, the ordinance under which the Arrow received its British registry was not worth the paper on which it was written. Even according to its worthless registry however, the Arrow had forfeited its protection by the simple fact its license had expired, a point conceded by Hong Kong Governor John Bowring himself. The Hong Kong ordinance provided that if a ship's registration expired while the vessel was at sea, its registration remained valid until the ship returned to Hong Kong. On the basis of this fact alone, the British insisted the Arrow was still sovereign territory, had full extraterritorial privileges and remained entitled to British protection. So far as Parkes and British authorities were concerned, the legal status of the Chinese crew was irrelevant. Aboard the Arrow, the men were under the jurisdiction of the British flag. Whether or not the Arrow was a British vessel, it had hoisted the English flag and that flag had been insulted. That was enough.

The "Arrow Incident" remained unresolved when, on October 21, Harry Parkes sent yet another communique to Governor-General Yeh. Parkes restated the situation as he saw it to date and repeated his demand for satisfaction for the insult to the British flag. He concluded his message,

"But your Excellency, with a strange disregard both to justice and treaty engagement, has offered no reparation or apology for the injury, and, by retaining the men you have seized in your custody, signify your approval of this violation of the treaty, and leave her Majesty's Government without any assurance that similar aggressions shall not again occur."

Early the next morning, Governor Yeh wrote to Mr. Parkes and, along with his letter, again sent the twelve Chinese captives, including the three convicted of piracy. The twelve men were handed over to the Consulate without "any refusal to return the men to their vessel." Still, there was no response. That evening, Governor Yeh inquired as to why the prisoners were not received and why had not received an answer to his letter. Governor Yeh Mingchen's adamant refusal to apologize for an act he believed he had not committed was tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet in the face of the British lion. The following day, on October 23, the lion struck back.

The agonizingly slow communications between Hong Kong and London - six weeks each way - gave the governors of Hong Kong considerable autonomy. Ever since 1847, successive British governments had steadfastly upheld Lord Earl Grey's order prohibiting British naval forces from conducting offensive action against Canton without authority from England. In 1852, without the knowledge or consent of Prime Minister Aberdeen's Cabinet, Lord Clarendon, a close Palmerston ally, appointed Doctor John Bowring, the British Consul at Canton, as plenipotentiary. Despite standing instructions to avoid armed conflict with China, John Bowring decided to act on his own. In a dispatch dated July 5, 1854, Lord Clarendon informed Bowring he was right to do so, but advised him that since England was currently involved in the Crimean War with Russia, he should wait until there were naval forces available for his purpose. Not long before the Arrow Incident, Bowring learned that that peace had been established with Russia and that naval forces were enroute to Hong Kong. That was when he chose to pick the quarrel with Governor-General Yeh.

Governor Bowring ordered British gunboats under the command of Rear Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to move up the Bogue and "punish" Canton. After capturing a number of the river forts, the British ships sat off the Canton waterfront and shelled the city at regular intervals, pounding Yeh Mingchen's headquarters at the Yuehua Academy with humiliating regularity. On October 28, Yeh stepped up the level of hostilities by ordering an all out assault against the British. Just two days later, after a six-day bombardment of Canton that breached the city's walls, Admiral Seymour wrote Governor Yeh demanding an immediate personal interview within the walls of Canton to end the hostilities or face dire consequences.

Yeh Mingchen reminded Admiral Seymour that Governor Sir George Bonham had issued a public notice in April 1849, printed in every local newspaper, that prohibited foreigners from entering Canton. Bonham agreed in the Convention of 1849 that such a meeting should not be required. Yeh suggested Admiral Seymour adhere to the Bonham Convention and stated his willingness to meet the admiral outside Canton if necessary, or meet the admiral's wishes in any other way not contrary to Chinese protocol. In the meantime, Yeh dispatched a local prefect to meet with the admiral. Yeh also noted that the entire population of Canton had voted to exclude foreigners from the city and the recent savage bombardment was not going to change their mind.

On November 1, 1856, an angry Admiral Seymour sent Governor Yeh a curt message explaining Consul Parkes' seemingly incomprehensible conduct. The Chinese prisoners had been returned to the custody of the British Consulate, but they had not been "publicly restored to their vessel, nor had the required apology been made for the violation of the Consular jurisdiction." The logic of Yeh's presentation of the facts surrounding the Arrow Incident did not sway Admiral Seymour from his belief of the facts as presented by Harry Parkes. He demanded that foreign officials be permitted entry to Canton and stated the British held a "serious matter of complaint against the Chinese Government for breach of the promise given in 1847 to admit foreigners into Canton at the end of two years."

Admiral Seymour dismissed Governor Yeh's response as "unsatisfactory in the extreme," and threatened to resume hostilities unless he received an explicit assurance the Chinese would agree to British demands. Once again, Yeh Mingchen offered a measured response, presenting a detailed review of the Bonham Convention protocols in which Bonham stated, "At the present time I can have no more discussion with your Excellency on this subject." The matter was publicly announced and Bonham communicated this to the British Government in London. Yeh concluded, "There was not a Chinese or foreigner of any nation who did not know that the question [entry rights to Canton] was never to be discussed again."

Sir John Bowring soon learned that other Chinese officials were not likely to be of much help in the developing conflict. On December 9, Sir John Bowring wrote to the Governor of Fujian Province, describing his complaints against Yeh Mingchen and requesting that the governor notify the Imperial Court in Beijing of the situation. In his reply, the Governor of Fujian wrote,

"The document forwarded to me being in English, its contents are unknown to me, and I have no means of deciphering them. ...

"In conclusion, it is my duty to add that our two nations having been on friendly terms for many years, I am still in hopes that by due observance on either side of the Treaty of Peace that was to last forever, it will be their good fortune to strengthen the amicable relations heretofore existing between them."

The reply to Governor Bowring from another provincial governor stated,

"I rejoice in your Excellency's professions of peace; but it would only do harm to the interests of peace, to which you profess yourself so friendly, were I to tell the Emperor that, because of Yeh's act, you have precipitately broken the peace that the Treaty said was to last forever. Another reason against my addressing the throne is, that Yeh, and he alone, is competent to deal with commercial questions; and this can be nothing else, being a question with foreigners."

The drawn out argument exhausted Admiral Seymour's patience and he turned his wrath against the Imperial Provincial Fleet anchored in the Pearl River. After destroying the fleet, he forced his way into Canton and marched through Yeh's headquarters. Using the "Arrow Incident" as a tripwire, the British assaulted Canton on the flimsy pretext that Governor Yeh Mingchen had breached the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing. Admiral Seymour then expanded the assault on the pretext that Governor Yeh stubbornly clung to the Bonham Convention of 1849. First, the British bombarded Canton for breaking a treaty. When that failed to produce results, they bombarded the city for observing a treaty. Thoroughly aroused and utterly helpless in the face of British strength, the Cantonese vented their fury by torching the foreign factories on December 14 and 15.

The Chinese were not about to give in to British demands. Emperor Wenzong issued and imperial edict on December 27 that showed no evidence he was in any way ready to yield to British demands. He proclaimed, in part,

"We have this day instructed Yeh, that if the English turn from their present course of their own motion, anger (or hate) need not be carried to extremity;  but if they dare to persist in their extravagance and obstinacy, peace is not to be negotiated by a conciliatory movement on our part, as this would open the way to demands for other concessions of importance. Yeh Mingchen has been very long in charge of the Kwang provinces, and is so thoroughly cognizant with foreign affairs that he will be able in all probability to devise a proper course of proceeding."

Emperor Wenzong ordered the strengthening of China's southern coast, fearing that if the British were unable to breach Canton they might try to create a disturbance elsewhere. Governors of the coastal provinces were ordered to privately instruct local authorities that if any foreign ships approached they were to,

"...take such steps as will render them secure, without sound or sign (that may attract attention). If they come to explain the circumstances of the rupture at Canton, they must be so silenced by reasonable arguments that no loophole be left them;  and seeing this, they maybe minded to fall back from their undertaking as hopeless."

The local authorities were also warned not to permit riots or otherwise sound an alarm, for that would only "disturb and perplex the public mind." In the mind of the British however, the destruction of the Thirteen Factories District at Canton was tantamount to a declaration of war.