Ban intimation references to an objection contained in their Letter of the 10th of August regarding the establishment of Schools in the interior of China being contemplated by the Society, that the Treaty of Nanking did not provide for such measures, and that, pending the receipt of instructions from home, the protection and support of H.M.'s forces could not be extended to the operations of the Society in the event of any objections being started by the Government of China or to those operations being carried on.
I have to acquaint you, in reply, that H.M.'s Government approve the answer which you gave to these parties. That they concur with you in the above stated opinion; and that your opinion that H.M.'s forces could not resist any objections which the Chinese Government may advance against interference of Missionaries with their religion or education of the people of China is just. It is, however, their disposition to believe that there would be no disposition on the part of the members of the Society to persist, after due warning, in disregarding the wishes of the Chinese Authorities in this respect, and that no occasion will arise in which the necessity of providing for the safety of the British Community at large, or the risk of compromising the continuance of friendly relations with China, may render it indispensable for the chief British Authority in China to resort to the extreme measure adverted to in the close of your letter, of requiring these and other parties to quit the Chinese Territory altogether.
Since the receipt of your despatch, I have had an interview, at their request, with a deputation of the London Missionary Society. I pointed out to them that it would be advisable for them to abstain, at all events for the present, from any attempts to extend the operations of the Society beyond the limits of the Island of Hongkong, and not to risk exciting the suspicion and animosity of the Chinese Authorities and people by any premature exertions to obtain ...