comfort of almost every
woman and child in the place. This was a piece of good fortune the
Portuguese of Macao most certainly did not deserve, their system, as
regards foreign commerce, being as illiberal as can well be imagined.
During the time they were reaping this rich harvest from British trade,
British subjects were not permitted to land or ship a single package of
goods nor to have their names entered in the Custom-house books. On the
arrival of a ship with goods suited to the Macao market, the English
consignee was obliged to employ a Portuguese citizen to enter and pass
them through the Custom-house, before a package could be landed. The
duties, also, were exorbitant; and, strange as it may appear, they even
taxed money, which could not be imported without paying one per cent.
duty. I have elsewhere seen an _export_ duty put on treasure; but the
Macao Government is the only one I ever knew to impose any restrictions
on the importation of a commodity which most Governments, as well as
individuals, are generally anxious to receive, in unlimited quantity,
without taxing those who bring it to them. No English vessel was allowed
to enter their inner harbour: this privilege was reserved for Spaniards
and Portuguese. On one occasion, a small British schooner of war was
proceeding into this haven, her commander never imagining that the
restriction put on the merchant vessels of his country could possibly
extend to Her Britannic Majesty's pennant: he was mistaken, however, and
the first battery he came near, threatened to fire into him. The threat
was of course disregarded, and the little schooner, in defiance of
Portuguese batteries, quietly pursued her way.

How this state of things could be so long put up with by the British
Government, it is hard to understand. When one considers that Portugal
owes its very existence as a nation to England; that Macao, on more than
one occasion, was saved from the fury of a Chinese army and rabble,
during the late war, by British ships and men; that nine-tenths of the
money that passes through its coffers, is English money; that Portuguese
citizens visiting the different ports of British India, are free to come
and go, land and ship their goods in their own names, hold houses and
other fixed property, and act in all respects as British subjects, and
as seemeth most for their own interest; when, I say, these facts are
considered, one is utterly at a loss to conceive why Great Britain