First Opium War - Kowloon Incident (July 1839)

Kowloon Incident (July 1839)

After the chest seizure in April, the atmosphere grew tense and at the end of June the Chinese coast guard in Kowloon arrested the commodore of the Carnatic, a British clipper. On Sunday, 7 July 1839, a large group of British and American sailors, including crew from the Carnatic, was ashore at Kowloon, a provisioning point, and found a supply of samshu, a rice liquour, in the village of Chien-sha-tsui (Tsim Sha Tsui). In the ensuing riot the sailors vandalised a temple and killed a man named Lin Weixi.

Because China did not have a jury trial system or evidentiary process (the magistrate was the prosecutor, judge, jury and would-be executioner), the British government and community in China wanted "extraterritoriality", which meant that British subjects would only be tried by British judges. When the Qing authorities demanded the men be handed over for trial, the British refused. Six sailors were tried by the British authorities in Canton (Guangzhou), but they were immediately released once they reached England.

Charles Elliot's authority was in dispute; the British government later claimed that without authority from the Qing government he had no legal right to try anyone, although according to the British Act of Parliament that gave him authority over British merchants and sailors, 'he was expressly appointed to preside over ' Court of Justice, with Criminal and Admiralty Jurisdiction, for the trial of offences committed by His Majesty's subjects in the said Dominions or on the high seas within one hundred miles of the coast of China'".

The Qing authorities also insisted that British merchants not be allowed to trade unless they signed a bond, under penalty of death, promising not to smuggle opium, agreed to follow Chinese laws, and acknowledged Qing legal jurisdiction. Refusing to hand over any suspects or agree to the bonds, Charles Elliot ordered the British community to withdraw from Canton and prohibited trade with the Chinese. Some merchants who did not deal in opium were willing to sign the bond, thereby weakening the British position.