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a signal departure from the policy which had repulsed Lord Napier and informed the procedure of the Canton authorities for so many years. Victory here was with the British superintendent. As to the driving away of the opium ships, however, there was no result. Captain Elliot had marked his return to Canton by an acknowledgment of "duty and anxious desire to conform in all things to the imperial pleasure." An occasion now presented for evincing the honesty of that avowal. He eluded it by pleading that his commission did not extend beyond the domain of the regular trade. To the Chinese his reply must have appeared manifestly disingenuous. To himself he justified it by doubts about the sincerity of the governor's sudden access of anti-opium zeal. A British witness examined by a parliamentary committee in London some years later stated candidly, "We never paid any attention to any law in China that I recollect." He might have added with equal truth that the Chinese never seemed to pay any attention to his habitual ignoring of their regulations. Captain Elliot did not expect them to be more exacting on this occasion than they had been in the past. He was mistaken. The Chinese were now in earnest. Their measures proved it, for they tortured one of their nationals and made him stand in the pillory for participating in the opium traffic. His fate served as a warning to others of his countrymen similarly guilty, and