laurence was determined to make some attempt , however : this outpost was new enough , and the market yet so small , that it might not be an entrenched enterprise ; some agreement might be found , some compromise , if he could understand better the purpose of the settlement , and it occurred to him in a dawning hope , that if jia would forward letters , he might send one also to arthur hammond , the envoy established in peking , who had negotiated the treaty which had left temeraire in british hands and secured them certain advantages in the single open port of canton .