Under the circumstances, I am sure the conciliatory policy adopted by our official representatives is to be advocated by the wisest and most experienced members of the community. In the difficulties relating to steamer traffic, other interests than those of the individual merchant are to be considered.
In the article under date of June 19, your correspondent seems to suggest that the captain of the Longmow was forced to submit to the demands of the junkmen, but I was led to understand that such was not really the case. His action was one purely of policy. Had he acted otherwise, and found that on a subsequent trip it was impossible to obtain, cargo, coal or coolies, would the Chamber of Commerce have come to the rescue?
Again, nothing can be gained by placing Chinese soldiers on foreign ships. It is a wise regulation which forbids British ships carrying soldiers, and experience goes to prove that vessels which have not kept" that rule, have suffered in consequence when a military turnover has taken place.
No power of artillery from a gunboat can force coolie labour on foreign ships, and the pilots who were all once members of the junkmans guild, are naturally afraid to come up too strongly against that body. Should they do so they would have to take the consequences, in which case they could claim no foreign protection, being Chinese citizens. Shipmasters have all these things to consider, and it is a pity when a
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