Stirling The authority to enter and search Chinese Ships is strictly limited by the 6th section of the Act to British Ships or Ships within British jurisdiction "The "General Blanco" fell within neither of these categories - Whatever her nationality, she was certainly not a British Ship, while the ground of your application to the Admiral was that she was not within British jurisdiction. If, therefore, Sir J. Stirling had seized the Ship on the ground of her having violated the Chinese Passenger Act, he would unquestionably have exceeded the powers vested in him by the Act 18 and 19 Vict: C. 104.
If a Foreign Ship, though fitted out and prepared in Hong Kong, does not take passengers on board till she is beyond its limits, she does not so much evade the law as avail herself of a liberty, which the Legislature has not attempted, and, I think, could not have attempted to control. If she take passengers...