promptitude and effect as regards the last the unusual power of legislating for the good of British Subjects in China has been delegated to you by the Crown.
and therefore
Inst
which
The manner & the extent to which you shall exercise this power will be matter for your most serious consideration. You will derive valuable assistance in this respect from the Legal Authorities connected with the Colonial Office over which you preside; and the only general principle which I would wish you to bear in mind is that you are dealing with British Subjects to whom, from education & social habits, the exercise of arbitrary power must necessarily be most repugnant, can only be justified by extreme necessity. I do not anticipate that any occasion is likely to arise, in which you will find it advisable to negotiate & sign any formal instrument in the shape of a Treaty, in virtue of the Full Power with which you are provided. The Treaty of Nanking, with the Supplementary Treaty, the Tientsin Articles, and the Tariff, which are to be taken as part of the first named Treaty; appear to comprehend every topic which it is requisite, or which it would be expedient to record in a formal instrument, and it may be doubted whether it would be advisable to recur to the risk of running counter to the long received prejudices of the Chinese by pressing upon them, without some overpowering necessity, a renewal of discussions and negotiations, which might even tend to weaken the effect of those which have been happily, and most skilfully brought to a close by your Predecessor. The main points for the regulation of intercourse between the Two Countries on a friendly footing have been adjusted, and minor points which may occasionally arise will, doubtless, be susceptible of arrangement by a simpler process than the conclusion of a distinct Treaty. But as unforeseen emergencies may occur, and as moreover circumstances do not admit of a diplomatic agent being accredited by Her Majesty to the Emperor of China in the form usually adopted among European Nations, it has been thought desirable that you should possess some instrument of authority under Her Majesty's signature, empowering you to treat with the Chinese Ministers, upon which, in case of necessity, you may claim to act.
It will be proper that as soon as possible after your assumption of Office in China, you should communicate the fact of your arrival to the Chinese Authority whom Sir H. Pottinger may point out to you as the one to whom such a notification should be addressed; and you will request that authority to make known to his Government that you have been appointed by the Queen to succeed Sir H. Pottinger in the several Offices which he has held in China, and that you are invested with the same powers, and animated with the same disposition as your Predecessor, to promote friendly relations between the Two Countries. You will take advantage of the same opportunity to intimate to the Chinese Government that Her Majesty has approved of the Supplementary Treaty signed by Sir H. Pottinger at Homan-Chai on the 8th of Oct. last, and that Her Majesty will be prepared to ratify it, in a manner corresponding with that in which it may have been ratified by The Emperor of China.
In all your intercourse with the Chinese Authorities, you will make it your constant endeavour to impress them with a conviction that Her Majesty's Government most earnestly desire that no cause of difference should hereafter disturb the harmony between the Two Nations. You will express your readiness to cooperate with them, as far as circumstances will permit, to ensure a faithful observance
Page 48
...
by British Subjects and Chinese Authorities alike of the Treaties and Agreements existing between the Two Countries.