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Napier decided to leave Canton rather than cause a continued suspension of trade, and moving down to Macao, he died within a month. Immediately on his departure from Canton the trade was resumed, but for some years the British superintendent, making no fresh attempt to establish direct relations with the viceroys, lived quietly in Macao or at Lintin, a small island between the former settlement and the entrance of the Canton River; an island already notorious as the basis of opium-smuggling operations destined ultimately to cause a great war.

The life of foreigners in Canton now presented many unpleasant features. Access to the city, or, speaking more correctly, to the Factory, where the foreign warehouses and residences stood, was limited to persons having commercial business there, and the period of sojourn was supposed not to extend beyond the conclusion of such business. The buildings forming the Factory belonged to the Hong Merchants, who were held responsible for the behaviour of their foreign inmates, among whom ladies must not be included. No European or American could even hire a native servant without obtaining him through a comprador. Freedom of movement was also greatly restricted. The Factory buildings covered an area of about a quarter of a mile, and in front of them was an esplanade measuring perhaps a hundred yards by fifty. There the foreigner was supposed to take air and exercise, among a host of "barbers,