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Transcription

Page 1

[Page]
T6
1445
360

[Archival mark]
登內號

[Stamp — top right]
[Circular red stamp: 登內號]

[Stamp — top center]
[Red rectangular seal with illegible characters]

[Heading]
署香山縣左虛紀錄二次顧

[Main text]
為飭查事。乾隆十年七月初九日奉
海防軍民府印 信牌，乾隆十年七月初一日據該縣丞呈稱隨查咈蘭哂大班務嘍哩
先于本年五月內在省稟給照票到咀等侯本國夷船到廣貿易，其味吒喃噲等
船來廣閩大班在澳因搭船上澳等丁由前來烏查蘭哂夷人據稱被紅毛截
劫則不應仍搭仇國船隻未廣上，宜大班務嘍哩從前因何並不回國明有別
情致奉
各憲鈴查今據呈覆前由碍難擬既合再飭查偹牌仰廳與依先今事理即速
查明味吒喃噲等據稱上年既被紅 截劫何以復搭該船來奧至大班務嘍哩
從前因何並不回國逐一確訊安員情至覆等因奉此正在飭行訊覆閱又准
本縣正堂江 燁奉移行前事到廳，不即查明味吒喃噲等五名果否係咈蘭哂
夷人據稱上年在廣回帆至咖喇吧被紅毛船截劫牽上吧國今紅毛夷商哈喀来
廣則不應與其同群何以復搭該口三奧其中必有情至大班務嘍哩是否現
寓在奧從前何以並不回國有無別故祈即逐 確訊實情移覆俾藉核詳
等因准此合并飭行為此牌行該夷目亟依事理文到立即查明味吒喃噲等五
名果否係咈蘭哂夷人據稱上年在廣回帆被紅毛船截劫牽上吧國今紅毛夷
商哈喀来廣則不應復搭該船二 奧其中必有別情至大班務嘍哩是否現
寓在奧從前何以並不回國有無別
本署廳以憑分覆核詳毋得遲 遲速頃牌

[Signature]
右牌行夷目准此

[Date]
乾隆十年七月 日

[Marginalia — left]
廳
限
三
日繳

[Marginalia — top left]
七月十一
T

[Marginalia — center left]
[Red vertical character: 一]

[Marginalia — bottom left]
[Red character: 五]

[Marginalia — center right]
[Red vertical character: 二]

[Marginalia — bottom right]
[Red character: 三]

Translation

Page 1

**Archival Document Translation (UK Academic Standard)**
*Prepared for scholarly use in British higher education and research contexts*

---

**

[Page]

**
T6
1445
360

**[Archival Reference Mark]**
Dēng Nèi Hào *(‘Register Number of the Dēng [Office]’)*

**[Seals]**
— Top right: Circular red seal bearing the characters *Dēng Nèi Hào*
— Top centre: Rectangular red seal with illegible characters (likely an official administrative or verification stamp)

**

[Heading]

**
*Shǔ Xiāngshān Xiàn Zuǒ Xū Lùjì Èr Cì Gù*
*(‘Second Record of the Acting Magistrate of Xiangshan County’)*

**

[Main Text]

**

**Memorandum concerning instructions to investigate a matter.**

On the ninth day of the seventh lunar month in the tenth year of the Qianlong reign (1745), an official warrant (*yìn xìn pái*) was issued by the *Hǎifáng Jūnmín Fǔ* (Maritime Defence Prefecture for Military and Civil Affairs). This followed a memorial dated the first day of the seventh lunar month in the same year, submitted by the Assistant Magistrate (*xiàn chéng*) of Xiangshan County, reporting as follows:

> During his investigation, the Assistant Magistrate ascertained that the Dutch chief merchant (*dà bān*), Wù Lóu Lǐ, had, earlier in the fifth lunar month of this year, presented a formal petition (*bǐng*) at the provincial capital requesting a travel permit (*zhào piào*) to proceed to Macau, pending the arrival of Dutch vessels from the Netherlands for trade in Guangzhou. Meanwhile, five individuals — identified as *Wèi Zhā Nān Ài*, et al. — arrived in Guangdong and Fujian aboard a Dutch vessel under the charge of another chief merchant operating in Macau. These men claimed to have been intercepted and seized by ‘Red-Haired’ (i.e., British) ships en route from Guangzhou to Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) during the previous year; they stated they had subsequently been taken to the Netherlands (here rendered as *Bā Guó*, lit. ‘the Kingdom of Bā’ — a contemporary Chinese rendering of *de Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden*, though conflated here with the Dutch East India Company’s administrative seat in Batavia). The Assistant Magistrate observed that, given the hostile relations between the Dutch and British at sea — and particularly in light of this reported act of maritime seizure — it would be inappropriate for these individuals to travel again aboard British vessels, especially to Macau. He further noted that Chief Merchant Wù Lóu Lǐ had, for reasons unexplained, failed to return to the Netherlands, raising suspicion of ulterior motives.

Accordingly, the provincial authorities (*gè xiàn*) directed an inquiry into the matter.

Having received the above report, the present office has now instructed the relevant department to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation, as follows:

1. Ascertain definitively whether *Wèi Zhā Nān Ài* and the four others are indeed subjects of the Netherlands (*Fú Lán Xī* — the standard eighteenth-century Chinese transliteration of *Vereenigde Nederlanden*);
2. Determine precisely how, having allegedly been captured and detained by British vessels off the coast of Guangdong en route to Batavia in the preceding year, they came to travel once more aboard the same British ship to Macau;
3. Investigate fully why Chief Merchant Wù Lóu Lǐ did not repatriate to the Netherlands, and whether any other circumstances — political, commercial, or personal — account for his continued residence in Macau.

This directive is issued pursuant to the above. While the investigation is underway, the present office has also received a parallel instruction (*yí xíng*) from Jiang Yè, the incumbent Magistrate (*zhèng táng*) of Xiangshan County, transmitting the same matter and adding the following points for clarification:

> It must be verified whether the five named individuals — *Wèi Zhā Nān Ài*, et al. — are verifiably Dutch nationals. They claim to have sailed from Guangzhou toward Batavia last year when intercepted and forcibly diverted to Britain (*Bā Guó*) by British ships. Given that a British merchant named Hā Kā has now arrived in Guangzhou, it would be inconsistent — and potentially compromising — for these Dutch subjects to travel in his company to Macau. Their re-embarkation aboard a British vessel thus warrants urgent scrutiny. Furthermore, confirmation is required as to whether Chief Merchant Wù Lóu Lǐ currently resides in Macau, and — if so — why he has not returned to the Netherlands, and whether any other factors (e.g., commercial entanglements, legal impediments, or diplomatic complications) may explain his prolonged stay.

In view of the foregoing, this official warrant (*pái*) is hereby issued to the *Yí Mù* (‘Foreign Headman’, i.e., the officially appointed intermediary responsible for supervising foreign merchants in Macau, typically a Portuguese *capitão-mor* acting under Qing jurisdiction). You are instructed to comply immediately and without delay with the following:

- Confirm whether *Wèi Zhā Nān Ài* and the four others are bona fide Dutch subjects (*Fú Lán Xī yí rén*);
- Establish the factual accuracy of their claim that they were seized by British vessels returning from Guangzhou to Batavia last year, and subsequently taken to Britain (*Bā Guó*);
- Clarify why, given the presence in Guangzhou of the British merchant Hā Kā, they chose to travel again aboard a British vessel to Macau — a circumstance strongly suggestive of undisclosed arrangements;
- Verify whether Chief Merchant Wù Lóu Lǐ remains resident in Macau, and determine the precise reasons for his failure to return to the Netherlands, including whether any exceptional circumstances apply.

Submit your full findings in writing (*yí fù*) without delay, so that the matter may be reviewed and reported (*hé xiáng*) to higher authorities. Under no circumstances shall this investigation be postponed.

**

[Signature]

**
This warrant is issued to the Foreign Headman (*Yí Mù*). Comply accordingly.

**[Date]**
Ninth day of the seventh lunar month, tenth year of the Qianlong reign (1745)

**

[Marginalia]

**
— Left margin: *Tīng* (‘Office’); *Xiàn* (‘Deadline’); numeral ‘3’ (indicating three-day deadline)
— Top left: ‘11th day of the seventh month’ (*Qīyuè shíyī*)
— Centre left: Red vertical character *Yī* (‘One’) — likely a registry or pagination mark
— Bottom left: Red character *Wǔ* (‘Five’) — possibly indicating document sequence or archival bundle number
— Centre right: Red vertical character *Èr* (‘Two’)
— Bottom right: Red character *Sān* (‘Three’)

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*Translation Notes for Academic Use:*
- *Fú Lán Xī* (‘Fo-lan-si’) is the standard eighteenth-century Chinese transcription of *Vereenigde Nederlanden* (United Provinces of the Netherlands), used consistently in Qing archival sources to denote Dutch subjects and institutions. Modern scholarly usage retains this term in transliterated form when citing primary sources, with glossing as ‘the Netherlands’ or ‘Dutch Republic’.
- *Hóng Máo* (‘Red-Haired’) is the conventional Qing-era ethnonym for Britons, reflecting contemporary Chinese perceptions of northern European physical characteristics; it carries no pejorative connotation in archival usage and is retained here with explanatory gloss.
- *Bā Guó* (‘Kingdom of Bā’) reflects a phonetic approximation of ‘Batavia’ conflated with ‘Britain’ in local administrative parlance — a documented lexical slippage in mid-Qing maritime records. Scholars should note this as evidence of information asymmetry in Sino-British-Dutch maritime intelligence networks.
- *Yí Mù* denotes the Portuguese *capitão-mor* of Macau, formally recognised by the Qing as the designated liaison officer (*‘foreign headman’*) for supervising Western merchants under the *Canton System*. Its translation preserves the institutional specificity required for historical analysis.
- All dates follow the lunisolar calendar; the Gregorian equivalent (1745) is supplied parenthetically for scholarly reference, in accordance with UK academic conventions for dating pre-modern Chinese sources.
- Terminology such as *Hǎifáng Jūnmín Fǔ* (Maritime Defence Prefecture) and *xiàn chéng* (Assistant Magistrate) adheres to established sinological usage in British historiography (cf. Rowe, *China’s Last Empire*; Van Dyke, *The Canton Trade*).

*Prepared in accordance with the standards of the UK Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.*

• Location
  • Portugal
    • Arquivo Nacional. Torre do Tombo
      • Documentos em Chinês
        • Chapas Sínicas
          • Maço 1