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Cobden had brought forward a motion censuring the conduct of the Government in the affair of the lorcha, 'Arrow, at Canton, and the three statesmen on whom Greville had contemptuously pronounced judgment Russell, Gladstone, and Disraeli had supported the Manchester school, with the result that the Government, on March 4, suffered defeat by a majority of sixteen votes.
According to the British statement of the case, in October, 1856, the Chinese authorities at Canton seized the lorcha although it was registered as a British vessel, tore down the British flag from its masthead, and carried away the crew as prisoners.
Of course, the then owner disputed his claim; upon which he commenced a suit in the Vice-Admiralty Court. After a short time, by consent of the parties, the question was referred to arbitration, but the arbitrators could not agree and an umpire was appointed, who awarded that the ownership of the lorcha should continue undisturbed.
At last the Division Superintendent came back with the information that the Blanco would tow up a lorcha which was lying a little distance down the river, and that we should find her a roomier and cooler means of transportation than the steamer. "Lorcha" is the name given to the local sailing vessels.
Huddled quietly at the stern, one after another they were springing over the rail into the small boat that was dragging behind, and even as I looked the last man disappeared with the painter in his hand. At the same moment I became aware of a strange noise. Down in the bowels of the lorcha a weird, gentle commotion was going on, a multitudinous 'gluck-gluck' as of many bottles being emptied.
I spoke to him about the rumor as he leaned over the side staring at the lorcha, and he gave vent to his feelings in a description of the general appearance of the lorcha in language too technically nautical for me to transcribe. At the end he waxed mildly profane, and threatened to "pull the dom nose out of her" when once he got her outside of Corregidor.
On October 8, 1856, a lorcha named 'Arrow, registered as a British vessel, and carrying a British flag, was boarded by the authorities of Canton, the flag torn down, and the crew carried away as prisoners. Such was the English account.
Commissioner Yeh did not attempt any excuses, and he even declared that "the 'Arrow' is not a foreign lorcha, and, therefore," he said, "there is no use to enter into any discussion about her." The question of the nationality of the "Arrow" was complicated by the fact that its registry had expired ten days before its seizure.
The Chinese, in breach of the treaties into which they had entered in 1842, committed a series of aggressive acts against British subjects, the most memorable of which was the seizure of the crew of the lorcha Arrow, in 1856.
He was in a small lorcha, or sailing vessel, with no barometer, his glass having been left on a lorcha of larger tonnage, which was at another point. The heavy wind caught them without warning almost, and its impact soon pressed the lorcha over. Captain B found himself struggling in the water able to swim, but drowning, as he expressed it, with the spindrift which was hurtling into his face.
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