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Secondly that Settlement to the Westward will only be productive of an indefinite protraction of hostilities in China at an enormous expense & thus defeat, or most sensibly retard, the very purposes for which it is undertaken; purposes affordably susceptible of accomplishment through a quiet possession of that Settlement to the Southward with which we cannot dispense.
The Government of China is perfectly convinced that the Island of Hong Kong will not be yielded up, and if it suited the purposes or character of H.M. Government to bind itself such Notification would have the Appearance of its formal cession, and declaration ever made that we were satisfied with that extent of territorial possession they would be the more Content to adjust affairs at once. As soon as the Court can be brought by persuasion or reduced by force to accommodate the remaining portions of the pecuniary difficulty of this question, we would strenuously strive that communication should be made to it of our determination never to abandon that Island,
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