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to raise the siege until the contraband article had actually passed into his hands, or at least until its receipt had become a practical certainty. That condition was not fulfilled until the forty-eighth day of the foreign merchants' confinement, and in consequence of the delay Captain Elliot described Lin's conduct as "false and perfidious." Before acknowledging the propriety of such epithets the Chinese commissioner's point of view must be considered. On the eve of repairing to Canton Captain Elliot had promised the Chinese authorities in writing that he would use " his sincere efforts to fulfil the pleasure of the great Emperor as soon as it was made known to him." Almost before the ink on that despatch was dry he had requisitioned an English man-of-war's protection for British life and property; had ordered all British ships, whether opium-smugglers or regular traders, to rendezvous at Hongkong and prepare to resist acts of aggression; had openly defied the attempts of the Chinese commissioner to get possession of the person of one of the most prominent among the opium-importers, and had shown, in short, that his promise to fulfil the great Emperor's pleasure must not be read too literally. Commissioner Lin was certainly not guilty of either falsehood or perfidy when he subsequently declined to take any of Captain Elliot's assurances on trust. Besides, the surrender of the opium did not satisfy all Lin's demands; he required