no people were
regarded with as much favor as our countrymen; but since that period we
have lost ground, and our influence has been greatly impaired through
those causes.

The British consular system was made a service, its members being fairly
remunerated and induced to make their occupation the profession of their
lives; consequently the Government has at all times competent and
reliable servants. British consuls, moreover, in their magisterial
capacity were a terror to evil doers, the means placed at their disposal
for repressing the unruly were ample; while the American consul, being
unprovided with interpreters, and ignorant of the language, having no
constable or marshal, clerks or assistants of any kind, and having no
place wherein to confine a criminal, often failed to inspire respect.

It was, however, from the subjects of non-treaty powers that China was
destined to suffer most from her concession of extraterritoriality. Men
of every clime and nation claimed exemption from her laws. Vagabonds,
whose government had no consular authority to restrain them, boldly
defied the local authorities, becoming a law unto themselves. Lawless
adventurers from the gold regions of Australia and California personated
those nationalities; and the bewildered Chinese often despaired of
success in distinguishing even the names of the nationalities they were
called to encounter. When discharging consular duties in Ningpo, the
mandarins frequently consulted us, soliciting information on this
subject; they were apprehensive of offending one government or another,
while seeking to afford protection to their own people.

One disastrous result of the war with England was the discovery by the
Chinese of the impotency of their rulers. No sooner had the lawless
among them seen the ease with which a few foreigners dictated terms to
the hitherto formidable mandarins, than they took to the sea as pirates.
In a short space of time the coast became so infested by these
marauders, that Chinese junks dared not put to sea without being under
the convoy of a foreign, square-rigged vessel. A lucrative business soon
sprang up in convoying. A foreign merchantman would sail in company with
a fleet of junks, and by his presence intimidate the Chinese pirate.
Gradually this business was monopolized by the Portuguese; the proximity
of their Chinese possession, Macao, enabled them to fit out lorchas, or
coasting sloops, which, being manned largely by Man