But it is obvious, from the description of these forts, that they could have given no obstruction to Mr Anson’s passage, even if they had been well supplied with gunners and stores; and therefore, though the pilot, after the Chinese officer had been on board, refused at first to take charge of the ship, till he had leave from the forts, yet as it was necessary to get through without any delay, for fear of the bad weather which was hourly expected, the commodore weighed on the 15th, and ordered the pilot to carry him by the forts, threatening him that, if the ship ran aground, he would instantly hang him up at the yard-arm.  The pilot, awed by these threats, carried the ship through safely, the forts not attempting to dispute the passage.  Indeed the poor pilot did not escape the resentment of his countrymen, for when he came on shore, he was seized and sent to prison, and was rigorously disciplined with the bamboo.  However, he found means to get at Mr Anson afterwards, to desire of him some recompence for the chastisement he had undergone, and of which he then carried very significant marks about him; and Mr Anson, in commiseration of his sufferings, gave him such a sum of money, as would at any time have enticed a Chinese to have undergone a dozen bastinadings.

Nor was the pilot the only person that suffered on this occasion; for the commodore soon after seeing some royal junks pass by him from Bocca Tigris towards Canton, he learnt, on enquiry, that the mandarine commanding the forts was a prisoner on board them; that he was already turned out, and was now carrying to Canton, where it was expected he would be severely punished for having permitted the ships to pass; and the commodore urging the unreasonableness of this procedure, from the inability of the forts to have done otherwise, explaining to the Chinese the great superiority his ships would have had over the forts, by the number and size of their guns, the Chinese seemed to acquiesce in his reasoning, and allowed that their forts could not have stopped him; but they still asserted, that the mandarine would infallibly suffer, for not having done what all his judges were convinced was impossible.  To such indefensible absurdities are those obliged to submit who think themselves concerned to support their authority, when the necessary force is wanting.

On the 16th of July the commodore sent his second lieutenant to Canton, with a letter to the viceroy, informing him of the reason of the Centurion’s putting into that port; and that the commodore himself soon proposed to repair to Canton, to pay a visit to the viceroy.  The lieutenant was very civilly received, and was promised that an answer should be sent to the commodore the next day.  In the mean time Mr Anson gave leave to several of the officers of the galleon to go to Canton, they engaging their parole to return in two days.  When these prisoners got to Canton, the regency sent for them, and examined them, enquiring particularly by what means they had