7. Drunken British sailors led to a legal disagreement between Elliot and Lin
While lobbyists for the opium merchants pushed for a war in London, affairs between the British and Chinese grew more tense in Canton. An incident between intoxicated sailors and a Chinese villager led to the latter being beaten to death by the former. Elliot had the sailors arrested, tried by military court aboard a British ship, and convicted. They were sentenced to fines and hard labor, though a court in Britain overturned the verdict. Lin demanded they be turned over to him for trial under Chinese law, which Elliot refused. In response, Lin ordered no further trade with the British, upon which they were dependent for food and water.
In September 1839, Elliot dispatched two armed ships to Kowloon, with the demand they be allowed to purchase food, or they would open fire on armed Chinese junks preventing them from dealing with the townspeople. The British opened fire on the junks, which was returned by the Chinese until the junks withdrew at nightfall. After the exchange, Elliot distributed a flyer among the residents of Kowloon, accusing them of hostility towards the British through the act of denying them the right to purchase food. “To deprive men of food is the act only of the unfriendly and hostile”, it read.