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that for the Government of the Chinese residing there, the Laws and Customs of China supersede the Law, and the Customs of England. The practical difficulty will arise when Chinese and Englishmen are parties to the same contract or partakers in the same crimes. Here is manifestly opened a field of discussion too wide for me to occupy. Leaving to the Courts and to the local Legislature of the Settlement the solution of these problems of conflicting jurisdiction, and of conflicting Laws, it is enough for my immediate purpose to lay down the following General Rules.
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It should then be understood with regard to Chinese Inhabitants, or Law, that no Rule can be recognized which would derogate from The Queen's Sovereignty over the Island, or which would ascribe any participation in that Sovereignty to the Emperor or the Govt of China. His further reaching