may be had in contemplation by the British Government. The American influence alone will prevent Hongkong from superseding the shore quoted. Canton, and it was of this "influence that Davis fell into the fallacy.
Another fallacy arises out of the prosperity, rapidly developed, of Singapore and Batavia, comparatively distant from China. Apparentators forget that the propinquity of Hongkong to China is an argument a fortiori in its commerce (as soon as the treaty was signed).
The Chinese had an inducement to carry more precious stuffs out of China. Superintendents of trade must have founded their extensive views upon local representations of assumed experience.
Sir Henry Pottinger must have spoken from the months of experience near to him, and so written from men, who manifested their faith in the prospects of the settlement, by the prices which they paid for the soil, and the profuseness of their outlay in improving it. The Plenipotentiaries caught the enthusiasm of the Merchants.
"These latter, long witnesses of much oppression at Canton, may perhaps have expected that the Colony would have had a large population of every class, attracted by our administration of Justice. But, supposing this to have suggested itself to their minds a few years ago, we have since learned that the Government of China is not so grievous to its subjects as it had been held to be.
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