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which insince the Council pointed out in their Despatch No. 59 of the 23° Instant, no act of hostility or aggression against the Chinese was contemplated thereby - but merely protection to the inhabitants of a Portuguese Colony, wherein there are many British Subjects.
d
With regard to the case of aggression between the Portuguese and Chinese, it certainly did not originate on our side. The Governor of Macao was barbarously assassinated by Chinese subjects, who after committing the outrage passed through the Barrier Gate, which was guarded by Chinese, carrying the head and only hand of the illustrious deceased, and the Government proceeded immediately, as was its duty, in the investigation of this act, and for this purpose caused some Chinese at that post to be brought before it, whose depositions ...
attested the crime, and the fact of the assassins having passed through the Gate, which they immediately abandoned, whilst many armed men were congregating at Baza Branca. If therefore this Government ordered the occupation of the Barrier, it was to prevent the free passage through it either of assassins who, although it was guarded, nevertheless had committed the horrible outrage of the 22° Instant, or of the force which threatened the city, and thus this step of absolute necessity in order to secure the safety of the City, which imperatively demanded it.
The Council have also to represent to your Excellency that the Gate at the Barrier or the Barrier marks the Boundary of our own and the Chinese territory. The ground that it occupies is therefore neutral [limitrophe].
EPT