8
CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE RESIGNATION
climate. But it is plain that such is not your own case, as among the personal sacrifices which you state you are ready to make for the public benefit, is the probable injury to your health, in quitting Hong Kong at the commencement of the hot season, to proceed to England.
Lord Stanley having appointed you to the responsible office of Colonial Treasurer, the substitution without absolute necessity, of any other person in your place, is an act of responsibility on his own part which the Governor does not feel justified in incurring.
Giving you full credit for all that you claim for yourself in the letter under reply, the Governor is bound to state that he has not received the slightest intimation from Her Majesty's Government (which alone can authorize his acts) concerning your employment in the ways which you mention. Every paper, however, that you thought fit to offer has been forwarded home to the Colonial and Foreign Offices, and the same mode of communicating your sentiments, in the fullest manner in writing, is always open to you. At each of the five consulates, a gentleman bearing Her Majesty's commission as Consul, has been placed for the express purpose of supplying the fullest and most careful information, and it is the duty of the Governor, as Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent, to report this to Her Majesty's Government, with a previous experience of Chinese diplomacy and commerce not inferior to your own.
Until, therefore, a stronger case of necessity can be made out than the one conveyed in your letter, the Governor, with the unanimous concurrence of the Executive Council, regrets his inability to sustain that degree of responsibility which must always attach to his acts where they deviate materially from the plain course indicated by his instructions and the usages of the service.
9
Feeling strongly on these points as of high national importance, and believing that, however humble my rank in Her Majesty's service, it is my bounden duty to my Sovereign to bring them under the early and serious consideration of Her Majesty's Ministers, and deeming that my personal attendance is indispensable to answer questions on the spot, and to explain various points which, even if time permitted, could not be done by a lengthened and tedious correspondence, I have resolved to undergo the responsibility of proceeding to England, to bring the whole question under the immediate attention of Her Majesty's Government; and I cannot help entertaining a confident hope, that when the magnitude and pressing exigency of the case is fully seen and understood, and the motives in which my conduct has originated been explained, I may rely on the justice and liberality of Lord Stanley and Her Majesty's Ministers.
My accounts are made up, and the monies under my charge ready to be transferred, on the half year ending 30th instant, to whomsoever his Excellency may be pleased to direct to officiate as Treasurer.
The Honourable F. W. A. Bruce, Colonial Secretary.
Enclosure 4, in No. 6.
I have, &c. (signed) R. M. Martin.
428
Encl. 3. in No. 6.
R. M. Martin, Esq., Colonial Treasurer, &c. &c.
I have, &c. (signed) Frederick W. A. Bruce, Colonial Secretary.
Enclosure 3, in No. 6.
Colonial Treasury, Hong Kong, 24 June 1845.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th instant, conveying to me the refusal of his Excellency the Governor to my application for six months' leave of absence, on the following grounds-
1. "That the regulations by which the Governor is bound, as to leave of absence, are clear and peremptory, confining such leave to cases of serious indisposition requiring change of climate."
2. That "his Excellency does not feel justified in incurring an act of responsibility by the substitution of another person in my place," &c.
3. That "by granting the leave sought, his Excellency would materially deviate from the usages of the service."
In reply, I beg to observe that, 1st. the words of the Regulations (c. iv. p. 25) are "leave of absence should be confined as much as possible to cases of serious indisposition requiring change of climate." The regulations then proceed to define when leave of absence should be granted on private affairs. A fortiori, leave may be granted on public affairs.
2d. By granting the leave sought, no responsibility whatever would be incurred by his Excellency, as my sureties would stand good during my absence, as well as those of my locum tenens.
3d. By the usages of the service, colonial officers frequently obtain leave of absence to proceed to England, irrespective of sickness.
But even were the regulations clear and peremptory against leave of absence being granted except in cases of imminently fatal illness, I venture to think that the novel and peculiar position of Great Britain in China, the nature and prospects of this island as a new settlement, and the many years I have devoted to the study and personal examination of other colonies, and to an investigation of the commercial and financial relations of England, might have rendered me an exception to the general rule, particularly as my temporary absence could be no detriment to the public service, and as I offered to take upon myself all the responsibility of my proceedings.
I put aside the question of my health (although it has been materially shaken by my residence and mental labours here). Life or death is of little moment compared with the great interests which England has at stake in China. These interests are too vast and pressing to be affected by individual considerations, or by the ordinary usages of the service, which are applicable to every day occurrences.
Whether I am right or wrong, I have endeavoured to demonstrate in my reports and minutes, that our affairs in China require immediate and special reconsideration and revision; that time and experience have made manifest several mistakes, which if not rectified previous to the evacuation of Chusan, in February or March next, will be a subject of deep regret and serious injury; and that our policy and proceedings are not productive of the extended beneficial results which the British nation has a right to expect in China, and not commensurate with the large expenditure incurred on this coast.
ESTIMATED REVENUE OF THE COLONY OF Hong Kong, from 1st April 1845 to 1st April 1846.
From June 1841 Crown Rents. Sold to June 1844 Sales in July 1844 Will not be paid £. 2,323 550 Sales in December 1844 to Chinese 290 Ditto to Europeans $4,130 in the Will not be paid 939 $3,191 2. Of this Sum 9,000 £400 was, only Raid into St. M's. Treasury. 1,773 on my arrival (in the Colony.) 664 promised 11,727 343 11,384 300 Government markets Opium farm annum. 3 $560 a month 1,405 $710 a month 1,774 500 not paid only Total Crown rents Deduct deposits on purchases Remains due for 1845-46 - Fees on leases for transfers, &c. Auction duty 2 per cent., on estimated sales of £. 20,000 per Licenses.-Pawnbrokers, 5 in number - at $250 each - 7 22 15 Auctioneers $50 53 Spirit Licenses (Europeans) 27 at $50 Ditto, samshoo (Chinese) 35 at $50 Salt-broker, or weigher 1 at $700 yearly Stone quarries 800 Fees. Supreme court, Police courts, burials, &c. &c. £. 260 72 - 281 364 145 166 Ghaut Serang (head) 1 at $200 " 41 Ditto, deputies Billiard-tables 4 at 25 each 20 - 2 at $50 " 20 TOTAL LICENSES £. 1,369 600 300 100 150 £. 17,882(signed) R. M. Martin.
(True Copy.) (signed) Frederick W. A. Bruce.
Fines of ditto 743.
Incidental receipts Rent of Albany and other buildings, about
B
— No. 7.