Note 1 — Chapter VIII

The following is an extract from an equally sapient proposition, published in the Chinese state-papers on the 14th January, 1840; it is headed, Memorial of Toang Wangyen to the emperor, recommending plans for the extermination of barbarians: “Your ministerʼs opinion is this: that we, being upon shore and they in their ships, it is not at all requisite to order our naval forces to proceed out a great distance to contend with them in battle. When the commercial intercourse of the said barbarians shall have been entirely put an end to, and their supplies grow scanty, it will be impossible for them to remain a long time anchored in the outer seas, and they will necessarily, as formerly, enter the inner waters in order to ramble and spy about them. We can then, by means of our naval vessels, tempt them and cause them to enter far in; and a previous arrangement having been made, we can summon the people who live along the coasts, such as are expert and able swimmers, and those who possess bravery and strength, to the amount of several hundreds of men: we can then cause them, during the night, to divide themselves into companies, and silently proceeding through the water, straightway board the foreign ships; and overcoming the crews in their unprepared state, make an entire massacre of the whole of them.”