30
Hongkong's
but it is absurd
to say that a British Colony with British institutions so situated on the seaboard,
of
China is not of more assistance to the policy of civilization and
the
highest interests of commerce than any single port in the China waters, the mercantile
transactions with which, however
extensive they may be, the chief foreign merchants have
decided to conduct from the
Rendezvous and
old-established,
starting point of postal
communication.
TH. As to the assertion
that Hongkong has grown
349
"into whatever importance it" may at present possess from "its proximity to the,
to the single" privileged port of Canton", the truth lies precisely in the contrary direction, and any China merchant knows that the less trade
thrives in Canton the more
will it prosper here - Canton's difficulty was Hongkong's opportunity
You the burning
of the
the factories in November 1856, the consequent withdrawal of the foreign merchants from that port, a trade spring up in this harbor, which
...