instructions from Her Majesty's Government as to farther proceedings. It is probable that the interval which must elapse before my present Despatch can reach Hong Kong will have furnished you with materials for forming your own judgment on this subject, beyond those which your present Despatch and its enclosures contain. Judging, however, from what is before me, I am of opinion that if farther evidence is discovered in the interior, tending strongly to bring home the guilt of poisoning to them, or rebutting the defence set up by Altham in the case of other individual sufferers, you will be justified in causing new criminal proceedings to be instituted. But this would not be warrantable unless the grounds for such a course are of the strongest, as well as clearest, character.
Supposing that no fresh criminal proceeding can be properly instituted, it seems to me that the best course is that indicated in the Memorial