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realm of legitimate trade. Lin, a straightforward, resolute, and practical man, doubtless appreciated the extremely disingenuous nature of Captain Elliot's disavowal, which was as though a body of municipal administrators should state that their order-preserving functions did not extend beyond the law-abiding section of the citizens. He may even have conceived some feeling of contempt for an official who, while openly declaring that the opium traffic was "rapidly staining the British character with deep disgrace," nevertheless shrank from any drastic effort to terminate it. At all events, it must have been obvious to him that he could not count on any efficient aid from the British superintendent, and that if his sovereign's commands were to be carried out, it must be solely by Chinese exertions. Therefore, after a week's examination and reflection, he adopted a course depending solely on the exercise of his own functions. He formulated two demands: first, that all the opium stored at Lintin should be delivered to him; secondly, that the foreign merchants should sign bonds pledging themselves never again to import opium under penalty of confiscation and capital punishment. In order to secure assent to these demands, he took measures to sever communication between the shipping and the foreigners in Canton, so that the latter were virtually confined in the Factories, and he declared that only three days would be allowed for consideration.