888
289
the question as to maintaining the claim,
Even were our
maintenance
ht less clear, or the
right
of it less easy-
than it is.
To all that is there observed I may add, that the following consequences would inevitably result from Chinese of Hongkong finding themselves
the
subject to Mandarin instead of English Jurisdiction. In the first place,
sense
of
that
security which 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
nore
would be more serious still; for seeing
that they were independent of our
would lose all that
tribunals, they would lose a
& power
respect which is so necessary from the governed to their rulers, and the of controlling them would be altogether paralyzed.....
When couse of the Chinese Regotiators
-
urged as an argument the unwilligness of the Chinese to be subject to English Rule, they
were
either
strangely
ignorant of the inclinations of their
Countrymen, or intended to draw largely on
on our
simplicity. The People at Chusan, where no Chinese Officer is allowed by
us to appear, will
look