There has been a somewhat serious riot in Penang. Two
of the Hoeys, or Trades' Unions, quarrelled some time in August, and at last descended into the streets to fight it out with muskets. The Government objected, but the Chinese thought the inter- ference improper, as no Europeans were going to be killed, and went on fighting. The garrison of 200 sepoys was therefore turned out, but the Chinese resisted, and kept up so heavy a fire that it was at last decided to use artillery. A 6-pounder was landed from a ship, loaded with canister, and fired into the Chinese masses for the best part of an hour till they broke and fled, leaving 800 dead bodies on the field. At least, that is the story in the Indian papers, and an interpellation on the subject during the extra session would not be out of place. The Chinese Trades' Unions are, we know, the most unmanageable bodies of the kind in the world, but 800 seems too large a butcher's bill in a British town to pass without a remark.
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