stands'in peril owing to the rapacity and lawlessness of the brigands who infest and now dominate the silk districts. Numbers of consignments for Canton have been attacked and despoiled, sometimes with bloodshed, and the cocoon shops in Kuan-shan (Nanbai) in Wunohu, and at Lu-pay lackraail, as have the filatures of He chung hu (Shunt) have been requested to
chiao and Shiupu, under pain of incurring deadly penalties. The result is the producers are afraid to send produce to Canton or to allow the payment to be forwarded hence, and the Canton native silk merchants fear they will be unable to meet their engagements and have, in anticipation, dressed a circular letter to their foreign constituentsou the subject, The foreign merchants at Canton have, through their Consuls, addressed representations on the question to their respective Ministers. It is time something was done to put down the lawlessness that prevails in the adjoining provinces, If the Canton authorities will not_ maintain order—and they appear utterly indifferent on the subject—it is the duty of the Power most interested to intervene. The people themselves would hail foreign intervention with quiet satisfaction, if not with open delight, They have absolutely no security for their trade, and if they grow crops they
moderate share of the profit. The tyranny are not allowed to a} more than a of the mandarins, who exact a toll of all profit is mild compared with the brutal "money or life" tone of the armed pirate who now stalks the laud, There are now thousands of scoundrels who have secured arms and who work in large bodies, in which manner they are able to terrorise whole districts, to sack cities, murder those who resist, and subject the women to worse. than death.
Hongkong, 29th July.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.