It will also be seen from part of my Despatch No. 24 of 25th of March, that the Receipt passed at Ningpo for $250,000, which are to be deducted from the next or 3rd Instalment as stated in Inclosure No. 4 to Despatch No. 137 of the 29th of October, was avowedly an approximation to the true amount realized, and that I was entirely in the dark as to any such acknowledgment – having been given when I drafted the Treaty. I however, repeat my opinion, that I consider it to be very fortunate that such a Receipt was granted, no doubt but had an investigation been subsequently required and entered into, that the Chinese Authorities would have brought forward almost undeniable claims to a much larger amount.
As immediately connected with the subject of this Despatch, and also as demonstrating how entirely I have been acting under, and influenced by, the impressions which other Despatches relating to the Public Agent's demurrage, I beg to enclose Copies of two letters (No. 405 and 411) which I wrote to the Public Agents and to Lord Saltoun, last month, on the 17th and 21st of which are regarding the sums still in deposit, and which have never been brought to account.
The amount of those deposits is