ABSTRACT
The anonymous pamphlet was completed at the time of the 1857 General Election. It was, obviously, not written by Sir John Bowring, British Consul in Canton between 1849 and 1859 and author of one of the obituaries printed in the present volume. It was privately printed, and no identification of the author has been possible, though their anti-Palmerston sympathies are apparent. It must be plain to every unbiased mind that the bombardment of Canton has been a deed of anger, and the explosion of a long cherished animosity; that it was the execution of a long anticipated plan, which wanted only a slight pretext for its awful realisation. The purport of these very papers is the strongest evidence of the utter injustice and cruelty of the conduct of the British authorities in China. The official documents, instead of corroborating this accusation, bear a strong testimony in favour of the pacific intercourse between the two nations.
