by Robert Wang
Elliot consequently took possession of more than twenty thousand chests of opium, equaling more than one thousand five hundred tons, from dozens of ships and massive floating warehouses. It took Special Emissary Lin over two months to prepare for its destruction and another three weeks to actually destroy it. He didn’t want to burn the chests, so he had three large, shallow holes dug and filled with water. Platforms were built around the holes where workers could break up the cakes and throw them into the water. Lime and salt were added to help the opium dissolve, and the water was drained into a creek that led to the sea. Special Emissary Lin reported to the Celestial Emperor that every speck of opium in Canton had been destroyed and that the British had agreed in writing to cease shipping the drug to their beloved Celestial Empire. And that, he thought, is the end of the matter.
All the foreigners in Canton, even Matheson and Dent, signed the pledge that they would no longer trade in opium to appease the special emissary so they could get out of Canton. None of them had the slightest intention of honoring it. Matheson and other traders already expected the government would threaten to go to war with China over this seizure of property and the interruption of trade. He moved forward with his plans for the following season’s shipment of opium to China—this was likely to be a temporary setback, if it amounted to anything at all. They were all happy to retreat to their luxurious homes in Macau, while Elliot stayed at the factories with a small contingent of marines to send a message of British resolve.
Elliot wrote to the foreign secretary, Henry John Temple, Third Viscount Palmerston, in Parliament to report the incident. He claimed that the Chinese had confiscated two and a half million pounds sterling of the Crown’s property. He knew that England would never agree to absorb the cost of the confiscated property, and he was counting on Lord Palmerston to demand restitution from Peking, by force if necessary. He went so far as to write to India asking for warships stationed there to be on alert for potential action with China. The traders must be repaid, he surmised, or the China trade will suffer. Demand for Oriental goods remained high; wealthy British families craved the latest porcelain and silk, not to mention tea. How these goods arrived on their shores was immaterial, but there would be hell to pay if they didn’t, or if the prices were to climb.
Elliot took a long view of his office. His goal was to change the way business was conducted in China; as it stood, the Chinese held all the cards. More ports of entry must be opened, and the Chinese must buy more British products. Never mind that the Chinese wanted nothing from England except for a few timepieces; the markets must be found. Britain was not to be trifled with, and it was high time the Chinese realized that. If necessary, Elliot felt entirely justified in bringing in the might of the world’s strongest navy to maintain the channels of trade. All he needed to do was convince Parliament.
The buggers have brought this epidemic on themselves by demanding silver for their tea and refusing to buy anything other than opium, he thought crossly. He chuckled to himself. The emperor and that bastard of a special emissary were probably still celebrating the successful eradication of opium in Canton and the pledge from all foreign traders to stop smuggling it in. Daft yellow monkeys don’t know who they’re dealing with.
February 25, 1841
At first light General Kwan Tien Pui, commander of the Guangdong Province water force, stood at the walls of Fu-Moon Fort and peered through his telescope at the mouth of the Pearl River, where his enemy was poised to attack. He gave a long, weary sigh as he studied the Nemesis, a giant facing the best of his fleet: wooden junks with small cannons, nowhere near as powerful or accurate as the British guns. Alongside the Nemesis was an armada of more conventional—but no less intimidating—warships. The general had never seen such a formidable collection of ships. Even from this distance, he could see the caliber of their cannons. The battle would begin at any moment, and any one of the British ships was a match for Kwan’s entire force. The outcome would be inevitable and devastating.
He gathered his troops and spoke from his heart. “Men,” he shouted, “you are not blind. You can see that our enemy, positioned to attack at any time, have weapons beyond anything we have ever seen or even imagined. These big ships have the power of foreign materials and engineering, but you must never forget that we possess a power far more noble and precious, and that is love of our Celestial Empire. Gunpowder and steel are no match for it. I pledge to you today that I will fight our enemy to the end! It is our fate, live or die, to shove these foreigners off our shores so they poison our land with their drug no longer. Are you with me?”
Every man present knew they were outmanned, and their ships and armaments were inferior, but they were the superior soldiers, if only because they were prepared to die rather than surrender to a foreign invader. They prayed that the deities would grant them a better life next time around in return for a hero’s death.
Chapter Fifteen
Macau, early 1839
“You’re telling me a Chinese woman is requesting passage with us to Canton?” said Captain Robertson in disbelief. “How do you know this woman, sir? And is she aware of the trouble there?”
“Sir, I heard from Mr. Matheson’s men that he and some others were trapped in Canton,” replied Johnstone before Higgins could open his mouth. “But I heard everything was resolved after they surrendered their merchandise to the chief superintendent. As for the lady, she is the daughter of Lee Shao Lin, my uncle’s most important customer.”
“And she needs to be in Canton on urgent family business,” Higgins added. “She has no other transportation available.”
“If she’s the daughter of a mandarin, why can’t she hire her own bloody boat to get to Canton?” asked Robertson.
“Captain, her family is wealthy, but she has no money. She was expecting her father to come and bring her home.”
“Right. Unfortunate situation, that.”
“He’s been arrested, which is why she needs to get there to be with her family. And as Mr. Johnstone said, her father is Mr. Jardine’s best customer, so we ought to help if we can.” Higgins was careful to keep his personal feelings about Miss Lee hidden. If the captain suspected this was merely an affair of the heart, he would never allow it.
“Well,” said Robertson, “it’s my understanding that we will not be able to enter the Bogue, so she’ll have to find her own ride to Canton from there. Things are still in a bit of a mess, and it’s our duty to offer assistance to our own countrymen.” He glanced away from the two men. “Very well, Mr. Johnstone, Mr. Higgins, we leave at first light. Have the lady aboard before then.”
“Thank you, Captain, sir. With your permission, I’d like to take her into Canton myself to make sure she arrives safely,” Higgins said.
“As you wish, so long as it doesn’t keep you from your duties.”
After Higgins delivered the good news, Su-Mei was filled with relief and also trepidation. The special emissary’s men would be looking for her in Canton, and she would face execution with her family if they found her. But the idea of hiding here and waiting for the news that her parents and siblings were dead was intolerable. She needed to do something, and whatever that was, it would have to take place in Canton.
Mingled with her fear and excitement was a bitter resentment of this special emissary’s tactics. Yes, her father was an opium dealer, but so were many wealthy guans. Yes, it was right to punish him for his crimes, but she would have expected, because of her grandfather’s status in Peking, that his sentence would be mild. She tried hard to think of any allies who would be willing to help her family, but because her father had always sheltered her from his business and the outside world, she knew she wouldn’t get very far with that.
Poor Da Ping, he is just a child, and he’s done nothing wrong, she thought. And poor Mother, Second and Third Mothers, and their children—they’ve done nothing to deserve public beheading. This is not right!
Pai Chu broke into her thoughts, repeating the same
plea. “Why won’t you let me go with you, Su-Mei? I can protect and help you in Canton—you know you can count on me to do anything for you.”
“I know, Pai Chu, but you’re still not well, and it’s too risky,” said Su-Mei. “I’d hate it if anything happened to you—you’ve been through so much already! Mr. Higgins will be with me, so you don’t have to worry. I will be protected.”
“But how can he protect you? He’s a foreign devil, and he doesn’t even speak Chinese! Don’t you think you will stand out more in the company of a bumbling Englishman? Please be reasonable, Su-Mei, and don’t let this foreign devil endanger your life just because you believe his romantic lies.”
Su-Mei tried to keep her face neutral. “Pai Chu, the only way I can get to Canton is on Mr. Higgins’s ship. He went to a lot of trouble to get permission for me to go; I doubt he will be allowed to bring another passenger. Besides, Mother Amanda will be very upset if you leave.”
Pai Chu could tell that Su-Mei was not going to change her mind, and she hated Higgins even more for taking Su-Mei with him and having the opportunity she craved to spend more time with her, to protect her and win her love. He will take advantage of her, just like that devil did with my mother, she thought. I will follow her to Canton to protect her from these animals, as God is my witness! Then she’ll understand that we should be together always, and she needs no horrible foreign man.
An hour before dawn, Su-Mei said her goodbyes to a bitter Pai Chu and sneaked out of the convent to meet Mr. Higgins, who was waiting out of sight as planned. Mother Amanda, on her way to lauds, watched her leave through a window. She was not surprised by her departure. “God bless this young woman and give her strength and wisdom,” she prayed. “May she find peace and safety in your grace among these turbulent times.”
Every sailor she passed doffed his cap as Su-Mei boarded the Scaleby Castle, her hand resting gently on the arm of Mr. Higgins, the way foreign men walked with their women. Even the captain, in his bright uniform coat, welcomed her aboard and expressed his concern for her family. She thought it was strange that people who didn’t even know her family were so polite to her. These so-called barbarians had shown her nothing but respect and didn’t seem to be such bad people, after all. They were the only ones willing to help her, and she felt enormous gratitude to Mr. Higgins and his captain.
Higgins made sure she was seated comfortably in an armchair in the captain’s cabin before he left to perform his duties. “If you need anything at all, Miss Lee, please step outside and ask the first sailor you see to call for me. Just say my name; any man will know where to find me.”
Su-Mei nodded uncertainly. Of all the English words she’d ever heard, the hardest to pronounce were Higgins’s two names. Every time she tried to remember the order of the consonants, they slipped away from her like wriggly fish.
It was an uneventful journey, in which Higgins visited her several times, once bringing with him a mug of cool water and an English delicacy consisting of some bread with an oily substance spread on it. As the Scaleby Castle dropped anchor outside the Bogue, the delta leading to Canton, Su-Mei suddenly experienced true fear for the first time. She had enjoyed a life of luxury and insulation, had even managed to avoid both foot binding and an arranged marriage, and now she faced the impossible task of saving herself and her family from execution, on her own.
“Please, God,” she prayed aloud, “give me guidance and help me save my family. I promise I will convince them to renounce their sins and join me in the one true faith, and I will dedicate the rest of my life to spreading the word to other sinners.”
A knock sounded at the door.
“Excuse me, Miss Lee,” Higgins called through the door.
She hurried to open it and momentarily forgot everything at the sight of his reassuring smile and kind eyes.
“We are dropping anchor now, but we cannot bring you into Canton because there’s some trouble there. I will take you myself just as soon as I can hire a boat.”
Higgins led Su-Mei to where they could be lowered into a chop boat. Maybe it was out of desperation, but Su-Mei took this to be a sign that God had heard her prayer. I must make sure Mr. Higgins understands the whole situation, she thought. I cannot let him walk into such danger unawares.
“I am—” She didn’t know the word in English, so she simply showed Higgins her shaking hands.
“Oh, my dear, I understand that you’re frightened. And I will do whatever I can to help you. I have permission from the captain and Mr. Johnstone to assist you and your family in any way possible because of Mr. Jardine’s relationship with your father.”
She shook her head. “All fami-ee to be kiu—” she began.
“Yes,” Higgins interrupted eagerly, still not understanding. “Please, Miss Lee, don’t upset yourself. I will help you help your family.”
“No!” She tried again. “Mada, sista, budder, ever one, and I—kiu too. All kiu, pay for bad Fada do.”
Higgins paled. “I don’t understand, Miss Lee. This is impossible. Are you saying your entire family will be killed for crimes that your father is accused of?”
“China way. All fami-ee bad man kiu.” She made a sweeping motion across her neck.
Higgins scratched his head in disbelief. How can this be? How bloody brutal and uncivilized! “My dear, if your life is in danger, I cannot possibly allow you to go to Canton! What if you’re seen and arrested? I wish you had told me before I agreed to find you passage here.”
“I must!” She burst into tears. “Pleeze,” she whispered.
“Miss Lee, I cannot allow this,” said Higgins, with more authority than he felt. “If you go to Canton, you will almost certainly be arrested and condemned with your family. And then you will be no help to them at all, and I will be guilty of sending you to your death.”
Su-Mei shook her head stubbornly. She couldn’t understand his burst of rapid speech, except that he was telling her she couldn’t go to Canton, now that they were so close. I am going, no matter what! With or without him!
“I go,” she said, not looking at him. Inwardly, she was panicking. Where will I go? How can I do this alone? She had never been allowed to set foot in Canton, or even outside their estate, on her own. Through her anger at Higgins, who, she realized, was only concerned for her safety, she discovered some strange, new feelings for this man, and possibly those feelings were what he had tried to describe to her in the church courtyard during their last language lesson. I will probably never see him again, she thought mournfully. Even if I can save Honorable Father. She summoned her courage and began looking for a chop boat that would ferry her to the city.
“Wait.” Higgins sounded miserable. “You cannot go alone. If you must risk your life to find your family, then I am going to go with you.”
Relief flooded her body. “Oh, sank yoo so many, Meesta Heegan!” she said shyly. Glancing up at him, she thought she could detect a hint of those courtyard emotions on his face again, mingled with some very justified fear.
It was twelve miles from the Bogue to Canton, and there were no chop boats waiting for passengers as would normally be the case since the trouble began. The passengers were supposed to have the right papers; but most chop boat operators were willing to take anyone for the right price.
Higgins had changed out of his uniform and into a Chinese worker’s clothes. He wore a round black cap with a false queue attached to it because all Chinese men were required by law to wear their hair long and plaited into a queue. He and a few of his mates used disguises like this when they sneaked out of the factories in Canton to explore the city. It was three hours before a chop boat arrived, and Higgins had to pay a Spanish silver dollar for passage into Canton. The operator warned Su-Mei about the tension between this special emissary and the foreigners and strongly cautioned her against bringing Higgins with her.
Higgins easily climbed down the ropes at the ship’s side and into the small, covered chop boat. With some help from his shipmates, he lower
ed Su-Mei in beside him. They hid inside the chop boat until they disembarked at the docks. He wrapped a scarf around the lower part of his face and hid his fair hair under his cap. Su-Mei also covered her face with a scarf, as most women did when it was cold. She was heartily thankful for her unbound feet and the old clothes Pai Chu had given her, which helped her blend in with the crowd.
It was a long walk to the estate. They got lost several times along the way, and Su-Mei wished she’d paid closer attention when she’d accompanied her mother to the Buddhist temple near the docks. She was unaccustomed to traveling such long distances on foot and soon had blisters where her rough cloth slippers rubbed against her heels. Also, she was starved but carried no money with her to buy food. Higgins, noticing the way she sniffed at the food stalls on the street, wordlessly handed her a fistful of coins, which she exchanged for some rice balls and fried squid in a neat bamboo basket. They devoured them standing near the food vendor’s fire, heads low to avoid attention.
As they neared the main gate of her home, Su-Mei spotted soldiers. An official notice stated, in large characters, that the residence had belonged to a criminal opium dealer and was now the property of the empire. Another notice pasted on the masonry walls next to the main gate indicated that there would be an official announcement very soon about the opium dealer Lee Shao Lin. Su-Mei took this to be a good sign. It meant that the execution hadn’t happened yet, so maybe word had come from Peking that the punishment was to be a more lenient one. She closed her eyes and prayed.
Grandfather must have spoken to the emperor and begged for mercy, Su-Mei thought. Aloud she said, “Maybe no kiu. Fada get help.” Please, God, please make it so. I promise I will make my father stop dealing in opium and only do good deeds from now on.
Higgins hoped for Su-Mei’s sake that she was right, but he was a little skeptical. Captain Robertson had mentioned how tough the special emissary had been on the British traders: confiscating twenty thousand chests of opium and putting their factories under siege. We must have a plan in case Su-Mei’s family cannot be spared, he thought. How cruel and barbaric to execute an entire family for crimes committed by one person—I must take Miss Lee out of here and bring her to England.