the
30th the British steam frigate _Nemesis_ engaged a fleet of Soluprahus,
off Labuam The ship was crossing over to Labuan from Brune, with the
rajah of Sarawak on board. When off the island of Moora the _Nemesis_
came suddenly upon a fleet of eleven pirate boats, pursuing a trading
prahu. The _Nemesis_ chased the pirates to the shore, who drew up in
line along the beach. The pirates first opened the combat. For about two
hours the cannonade lasted; when the fire of the prahus was subdued, the
marines and sailors proceeded in boats to finish the destruction of the
pirate craft. Five of these war prahus were destroyed, and about eighty
pirates killed, and perhaps as many wounded. The rest and their crews
escaped, but the boats were much disabled. From the guns and other
material captured, it was plain that a Dutch merchant ship of
considerable value had fallen into the pirates' hands. Some operations
on shore speedily followed, from which the robbers suffered severely.
One British seaman was killed, and seven wounded.

FOREIGN RELATIONS.

The conduct of the Chinese, ever since the peace executed by Sir Henry
Pottinger, had been such as to show that the treaty was not intended to
be kept by the authorities any longer than force constrained, and that
with the people all intercourse with foreigners on equal terms was
unpopular. During 1846 unoffending Europeans at Canton were frequently
attacked, and on one occasion the factories were stormed, and only
after a protracted conflict did the Europeans and Americans succeed in
expelling the assailants. The government of Canton always affected to
deprecate this violence on the part of the Cantonese, and as far as
proclamations went there was a magnificent display of justice. Several
Englishmen and other foreigners were murdered, and certain innocent
Chinese were seized and executed by the mandarins, while the murderers
were notoriously at large. In 1847 the merchants, who had often in vain
called for protection and redress from the British government, drew up a
memorial of their wrongs, which induced Sir John Davis, the governor
of Hong-Kong, to interfere on their behalf. Sir Robert Peel and Lord
Aberdeen seemed to adopt the policy of submitting to any indignities
the Chinese government or people might offer, rather than interrupt
commercial relations, or create any embarrassment at home. Possibly the
state of parties and the general distress at home may have influenced