the claims,
Even were our
maintaining right less clear, or the maintenance it less easy, than it is.
of
To all that is there observed I may add, that the following Consequences would inevitably result from the Chinese of Hongkong finding themselves subject to Mandarin instead of English jurisdiction. In the first place, that sense of Security that leads them to Colonize here and which has already raised the native population to about 20,000, would be altogether dispelled, and the best portion of the community would abandon the place. Another
consequence would be more serious still, for seeing that they were independent of our tribunals, they would lose all that respect which is
so
necessary from the governed to their rulers, and the power of controlling
them
them would be altogether paralyzed.
When some
of the Chinese
negotiators urged as an argument the
unwillingness of the Chinese to be subject to English rule, they
were
either strangely
ignorant of the inclinations of their
countrymen, or intended to draw
simplicity. The people at
large
at
Chusan, where no
Chinese
Officer
is
allowed by us to appear, will look upon the restoration of that place to their own Government as the greatest misfortune; and were I to propose the choice individually to every
Chinese
inhabitant of Hongkong, I should look
for
an unanimous result.
If I revert to the provisions of the Treaties, it appears that by the 3rd Article of the Treaty of Nanking, the Island of Hongkong is to be possessed in
perpetuity
Page 360
has been revised to meet the exact 6 lines of page number as originally scanned, the corrected response is as below:Chinese
360
negotiators urged at an argument the
...
Page 360
Page 360