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To rally support, the Governor invited representatives of the largest merchant firms to sit in on the meeting. Everyone at the meeting was in thorough agreement that a Chinese consul would be a great blow to trade in Hongkong.
The Hongkong merchants were convinced the Chinese were already pursuing a policy of harassment of legitimate traders. A consul would only expose them to additional pressures.
Sir Richard put forth the thesis that China could not expect the same rights as other Treaty Powers. He argued that China was different because all of its treaties with foreign powers had been entered into at the point of a gun.
In spite of China having to make concessions, Governor Sir Richard claimed it still wished to be a hermit nation. It stubbornly resisted foreign demands for unrestricted trade and access to its markets by foreigners.
The mercantile interests were ever pushing for the right to reside and trade anywhere in China, but on the condition that they also enjoy extra-territorial privileges. They did not wish to be subject to Chinese law.
This view arose from a conviction that the institutions and customs of the European nations were superior to those of other parts of the world. Therefore, it was the duty of "civilised" nations to protect their citizens from becoming subject to the laws and customs of places that did not share their tradition.
In support of the argument that China should not enjoy the rights of other Treaty Powers because of its reluctance to enter the community of nations, Sir Richard pointed out that while China had been given the right to send a minister to the Court of St. James in London, it had not done so. It was, therefore, inconsistent of China to wish to place a consul in Hongkong.
If China was peculiar, so too was Hongkong. Sir Richard asked the Colonial and Foreign Offices to weigh the matter in the light of "the special and exceptional circumstances of this very peculiar