63
.
remove, will come under the foot of Brit: Officers.
It was further added that the communications received from the ministry of the Chinese Country declared that the Soland having been ceded, the People could no longer come under the foot of China. These particulars the High Comm. finds inconsistent with the arrangements made with his late predecessor Elepro. The resident inhabitants of Hongkong, the High Comm. finds, are not numerous, and though they have long been there, yet they are in no different position
resident
from the merchant people of the mainland who go over to pitch their tents on Hongkong for purposes of trade. There being no Chinese Officer established on Hongkong, it is out of the question to deny to English Officers the police surveillance and restraint over them: but that the people of China should be unwilling to obey the Laws of England is a thing of the same nature as the refusal of the English merchants and People to be forcibly ruled by the Law of China. The previous agreement of the two Plenipotentiaries stated that Criminals should be handed over to the Officers of China to be tried & punished in their own right.
As regards the Article in the Treaty which stipulates that Hongkong shall come under the authority and government of England, this had reference to the cession of the ground for the merchants & people of the Country to repair vessels and store their goods there; it was not therein provided, that its Inhabitants should become English people.
"The Houter Plenipotentiary being possessed of full powers to act and decide according to his own judgment, how can he be ruled from afar by the Ministers of her country? As when peace was being negotiated between the two Parties, although the Imperial Pleasure had been declared regarding Foo-chow foo one of the Ports of Trade, that it should on no account be opened, the High Comm. nevertheless adhered to the previous agreement, and begged still from the Emperor that favour even so it is surely expedient that the Plenipotentiary should be free from difference of views expressed by the Ministers at home."
shall