“Strange, strange people, the Chinese, Culum,” Struan said. “For instance; only the emperor among three hundred millions is allowed to use vermilion ink. Imagine that. If Queen Victoria said, ‘From now on, only I am allowed to use vermilion,’ as much as we love her, forty thousand Britons would instantly forswear all ink but vermilion. I would mysel’.”
“And every China trader,” Longstaff said with an unconscious sneer, “would instantly send her a barrel of the color, cash on delivery, and tell Her Britannic Majesty they’d be glad to supply the Crown, at a price. And they’d write the letter in vermilion. Rightly so, I suppose. Where would we be without trade?”
There was a small silence and Culum wondered why his father had let the insult pass. Or was it an insult? Wasn’t it just another fact of life—that aristos always sneered at anyone who was not an aristo? Well, the Charter would solve aristos once and for all.
“You wanted to see me, Will?” Struan felt deathly tired. His foot ached, and so did his shoulders.
“Yes. A few minor things have happened since . . . in the last two days. Culum, would you excuse us for a moment? I want to talk to your father alone.”
“Certainly, sir.” Culum got up.
“No need for that, Will,” Struan said. But for Longstaff’s sneer he would have let Culum go. “Culum’s a partner in Struan’s now. One day he’ll rule it as Tai-Pan. You can trust him as you’d trust me.”
Culum wanted to say, “I’ll never be part of this, never. I’ve other plans.” But he could say nothing.
“I must congratulate you, Culum,” Longstaff said. “To be a partner in The Noble House—well, that’s a prize beyond price.”
Na when you’re bankrupt, Struan almost added, “Sit down, Culum.”
Longstaff paced the room, and began: “A meeting with the Chinese Plenipotentiary is arranged for tomorrow to discuss the treaty details.”
“Did he suggest the time and the place, or did you?”
“He did.”
“Perhaps you’d better change it. Pick another place and another time.”
“Why?”
“Because if you agree to his suggestion, he and all the mandarins will interpret it as weakness.”
“All right. If you think so. The day after tomorrow, what? At Canton?”
“Yes. Take Horatio and Mauss. I’ll come with you if you like, and we must be four hours late.”
“But damme, Dirk, why go to such ridiculous extremes? Four hours? ’Pon me word!”
“It’s not ridiculous. By acting like a superior to an inferior, you put them at a disadvantage.” Struan glanced at Culum. “You have to play the Oriental game by Oriental rules. Little things become very important. His Excellency has a very difficult position here. One little mistake now, and the result will last fifty years. He has to make haste with extreme caution.”
“Yes. And no damned help!” Longstaff drained his glass and poured another. “Why the devil they can’t act like civilized people I’ll never know. Never. Apart from your father there’s no one who helps. The Cabinet at home doesn’t know the problems I’m facing and doesn’t care. I’m completely on my own here. They give me impossible instructions and expect me to deal with an impossible people. ’Pon me word, we have to be late four hours to prove we’re ‘superior’ when of course everyone knows we’re superior!” He took some snuff irritably, and sneezed.
“When are you holding a land sale, Will?”
“Well, er, I thought when the Cabinet approves the treaty. There’s plenty of time. Say in September.”
“Do you na remember your idea? I thought you wanted to start building in Hong Kong immediately.”
Longstaff tried to recollect. He seemed to remember talking about it to Struan. What was it? “Well, of course, the ceding of Hong Kong isn’t official until both governments approve the treaty—I mean, that’s usual, isn’t it, what?”
“Yes. But these are na usual circumstances.” Struan toyed with his glass. “Hong Kong’s ours. The sooner we start building the better, is that na what you said?”
“Well, of course it’s ours.” What
was that plan? Longstaff stifled another yawn.
“You said that all land was to belong to the queen. That until you were officially the first governor of Hong Kong, all government was to be in your hands as plenipotentiary. If you issue a special proclamation, then everything is as you planned. If I were you, I’d hold a land sale next month. Dinna forgot, Will, that you’ll need revenue for the colony. The Cabinet is sensitive about colonies that dinna pay for themselves.”
“Correct. Yes. Absolutely right. Of course. We should begin as soon as possible. We’ll hold the first land sale next month. Let me see. Should it be freehold or on lease, or what?”
“Nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine-year leases. The usual Crown agreements.”
“Excellent.” Longstaff made a helpless gesture. “As if we haven’t enough to worry about, Culum! Now we have to act like damned tradesmen. How the devil do you go about building a colony, what? Got to have sewers and streets and buildings and God knows what else. A court and a prison, by Jove!” He paused in front of Culum. “Have you any legal training?”
“No, Your Excellency,” Culum said. “Just half a university degree in the arts.”
“No matter. I’ll have to have a colonial secretary, an adjutant general, treasurer and God knows what else. There’ll have to be a police force of some kind. Would you like to be in charge of the police?”
“No, thank you, sir.” Culum tried not to show the shock he felt.
“Well, I’m sure there’s some place we can use you. Everyone’ll have to pitch in. I can’t take care of everything. Think about what you’d like to do and let me know. We’ll need people we can trust.”
“Why not put him on your staff as a deputy?” Struan said. “We’ll lend him to you for six months.”
“Excellent.” Longstaff smiled at Culum. “Good. You’re deputy colonial secretary. Let’s see. Make arrangements for the land sale. That’s your first job.”
“But I don’t know anything about land sales, sir. I don’t know anything about—”
“You know as much as anyone, and your father can guide you. You’ll be, er, deputy colonial secretary. Excellent. Now I can forget that problem. You find out what should be done and how, and let me know what’s necessary to make it official. Have an auction. That’s the fair way, I imagine.” Longstaff refilled his glass. “Oh, by the way, Dirk, I ordered the evacuation of Chushan Island.”
Struan felt his stomach turn over. “Why did you do that, Will?”
“I received a special letter from His Excellency Ti-sen two days ago asking that this be done as an act of good faith.”
“You could have waited.”
“He wanted an immediate answer, and there was, well—no way to reach you.”
“Immediate, Chinese style, means anything up to a century.” Oh Willie, you poor fool, he thought, how many times do I have to explain?
Longstaff felt Struan’s eyes grinding into him. “He was sending off a copy of the treaty to the emperor, and wanted to include the fact that we’d ordered the evacuation. We were going to hand it back anyway, what? That was the plan. Damme, what difference does it make, now or later?”