She has at stake.
mentioned in
my
letter of the 9th Jane. that the aggregate amount of "Foreign" trade with China was probably a little short of the value of £80,000,000 sterling. The British share of that trade was calculated as seven-eighths of the whole amount.
Lord Clarendon therefore thinks that if the facts of the case were fully laid before Parliament there would be no hesitation in granting the comparatively insignificant sum which would be required for protecting British interests on the coast of China from loss and outrage, interests of such enormous magnitude, and that neither Parliament nor the commercial public would hold Her Majesty's Government remiss if they allowed this matter to be put forward by an appeal affecting to the legislature for the amount of placing it in security.
Page 266
At all events Lord Clarendon feels it to be his duty as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to point out to the Board of Admiralty the absolute necessity of employing on the coasts of China an amount of naval force sufficient to protect from outrage the vast British interests involved in the China trade.
I am,
(Signed) E. Hammond.
...