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MEMORANDUM ON
existing establishment at Hong Kong, there would be some justifica- tion for the expense now being incurred, and for the great annual sacrifice of life; but when such advantages do not exist, it is worse than folly to persist in a course begun in error, and which, if continued, must eventually end in national loss and general disappointment.
R. M. MARTIN.
China, July 24, 1844.
[Every statement made in this Report has been since most fully and amply corroborated, and I am ready to prove its correctness by unimpeachable and disinterested testimony.]
London, March 1846.
R. M. M.
THE following Memorandum on Hong Kong, in substantiation of the foregoing Report, was given to Lord Stanley on my interview with his Lordship, 28th November, 1845 :-
MEMORANDUM ON HONG KONG, FOR LORD STANLEY.
Ist. Hong Kong can never be a Colony,--By reason of its limited size, rocky, barren structure; incapability of producing any of the necessaries of life for the consumption of even one day; and, "* under any circumstances, cannot be expected to afford any considerable reve- nue towards the payment of its own expenses*.'
2nd. Hong Kong cannot be viewed as a Commercial Emporium,~~- By reason of its disadvantageous geographical position; from the far greater facilities for trade afforded by Canton, and by other ports and places in China; by the distance from any populous or productive territory; by the poverty and piratical character of the adjacent islanders and inhabitants; by the total absence of an import or export trade of any kind," after nearly five years' British occupation, and a large governmental and private expenditure; and by the Americans, Par- sees, "Chinese merchants, or even shopkeepers with the smallest pre- tension to property*," avoiding the island, which "was never actually required by the British merchants, and has become even less so since the opening of the five Chinese ports*.”
* Merchants' memorial to Lord Stanley, dated China, 13th August, 1845.
HONG KONG,
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3rd. Hong Kong is unsuited for a Fortress,-By reason (a) of the impracticability of fortifying a continuous and irregular series of elevations and detached mountain peaks and ridges, each commanding another; (b) because different parts of the island facing the harbour, and also outside the harbour, may be effectually commanded by cannon from the mainland, and from the high islands in and adjacent to the harbour, which islands belong to China, while only half the harbour belongs to England; (c) because the long, irregular, undulating sea- face of Hong Kong cannot be defended by any isolated or connected line of fortifications, and it is also commanded by adjacent islands not belonging to England.
4th. Hong Kong is not required as a Military or Naval Station,- Because (a) it commands nothing-not even the entrance to the Canton river; (b) it protects nothing-not even the tea trade, and commerce of Canton, which is totally independent of Hong Kong, and infinitely better succoured or sustained by the stationing of a frigate or steamer at Whampoa, than by any army that could be maintained at Hong Kong, as exemplified by the Americans, who carry on a traffic equal to half the trade of England with merely the occasional pre- sence of a ship of war in the Canton river; (c) because Hong Kong is too far distant from the scene of any future belligerent operations (should they arise), which must be carried on at the Yang-tze-kiang and Peiho rivers; (d) because any war with China ought to be mari- time not territorial-to be waged by steamers and frigates, and not by occupying distant and scattered towns and cities by our soldiery; and, (e) because Whampoa or the Canton river is a better position in every aspect for the resort of our mercantile or military shipping in the South of China, than Hong Kong can ever be, whether healthy or otherwise.
5th. Hong Kong is politically injurious,-By its too close proximity to the mainland at the southern extremity of the Chinese Empire.
6th. Hong Kong is ineffective for the dissemination of Christian Civilization,--By the dissolute, marauding, unsettled character of the inhabitants; by its distance from the millions of intelligent, peaceful, and semi-civilized people in the northern and central regions of China; and by the impossibility of disseminating Christianity from Hong Kong,