Page 461 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

447.

official Chinese resistance to Cushing s actions. On receiving
1
notification of the death from Consul Forbes, Cushing had ordered

an investigation. But he also informed Forbes that he intended

to handle this affair under the aegis of extraterritoriality.

Using the arguments of Christianity and international law,

Cushing wrote that he had decided to "refuse at once all appli­

cations for the surrender of the party who killed Sue Aman 11
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(Hsu A-man) . Subsequently, Cushing announced to the Chinese

that he had instructed Forbes to inquire into the matter.

Ch'i-ying replied that he was satisfied with the envoy's actions.

His major worry was the reaction of the Cantonese rabble, "a

vagrant, idleness-loving set, who set in motion many thousand

schemes, in order to interrupt peace between this and other

countries." He claimed that, since the Opium War, many of these

Cantonese had formed secret societies with the purpose of ridding

the city of foreigners. Although Ch'i-ying did not condone the
Americans' killing of Hsu, he implied that the rabble most likely

incited the affair. The Commissioner did not repeat his earlier

demand for the surrender of the guilty man, but he did ask that
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Cushing not do anything to inflame the populace. Subsequently, 1

Forbes conducted an inquiry and submitted the evidence to a jury

of six American merchants, who ruled the killing as self-defense.
96
. f
d h'.
Cus h. ing so in orme C i-ying.
.
94
The letter to Consul Forbes of Jun. 28u 1844, is in
Diplomatic Despatches: China, C. Cushing, Jul. 24, 1844.
95 1 1
·
t h
t ·
C h i-ying s corrununica ion is in ip oma ic Despa c es:
·
t.
D · 1
•
•
•
China, C. Cushing, Jul. 9, 1844.
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Forbes confidentially related the details of the inci­
dent in letters to his cousin Bennet. The person re�ponsible for
Hsnsdeath was Daniel N. Spooner, a partner in Russel� & Co. Forbes