2-995-657 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Leaon, the Governor-General of Kwang-Tung and Kwang-Si, China, 1860. 'This officer [commonly known as Viceroy of Canton] appears to have been the chief of the three members of the Censorate who, although without any formal office, maintained and directed the military efforts of the Chinese against us m the neighbourhood of Canton. Acting in the name of the Sun Kum, or resident gentry, they set at nought the orders of disarmament given by the Viceroy Hwang, and kept our troops in a constant state of uneasiness and alarm from Sir C. van Straubenzee's unfortunate expedition to the White Cloud mountains until their troops were finally disorganised by the capture of Shek-Tseng. During the interval rockets were thrown nightly into the allied lines and on two or three separate occasions attempts were made at night to retake the city by assault. Since he has been named Governor-General he has taken most energetic measures for the suppression of coolie-kidnapping in the Canton River; and it is in a great measure owing to his exertions and policy, supported by the allied Commissioners, that the free emigration of Chinese labourers to the English and French West Indian Colonies has been rendered possible and put on a sound footing'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.