Governor Pinto gave the British refugees at first a cordial welcome. It seemed, indeed, as if the Government of Macao would make common cause with the British in their hour of distress. But Commissioner Lin interfered. As soon as Elliot requested Lin to send a special deputy to Macao to confer with him as to the continuance of the trade, and asked for permission to make Macao henceforth the headquarters of British commerce in China, Lin set to work to turn the mind of Governor Pinto against the British. Lin now relinquished his claim to occupy the forts of Macao and promised the Governor to leave him in undisturbed possession of the settlement, on condition that the Macao Government should aid him in the suppression of the opium traffic and in driving out the English from the place. Lin was determined to force British trade back to Whampoa and Canton, because he had pledged his word to the Emperor that, after extirpating the opium trade, he would soon be able to report the peaceful resumption of the regular British trade at Canton.
There is no evidence to show that Governor Pinto entered into any definite understanding with Lin on the subject, but within three months after the arrival of the British refugees at Macao, they all felt more or less that they had ceased to be welcome guests, and that the Governor had fallen back upon his original position of strict neutrality.
Lin was massing troops around Macao and had also ordered a camp to be erected opposite Hongkong on the point called Tsimshatsui, which, as part of the Kowloon peninsula, protrudes into the harbour of Hongkong. Lin's object was, whilst driving out the British from Macao, to disturb at the same time their shipping in Hongkong harbour, so as to compel the British merchants to come back into his loving arms at Canton.
Whilst these measures were in course of preparation, an event happened, which caused a great deal of trouble to Elliot. Some American sailors and British lascars, belonging to the merchant ships which, for mutual protection and defence, had taken refuge in Hongkong harbour (since March 24, 1839),
