234
nestore her and
pay
him
damages for her detention, it is altogether untenable, as I have informed H.E. Sir Richard
MacDonnell in
my despatch
4 of June of which
a copy
was sent to
you. No useful result can
ise from
singing utterly unreasonable
an
argument. It affords
on the contrary, a very strong
inducement to the Chinese
Authorities
in any future case
to refuse any mitigation at the intercession of the Minister at Peking
or to abate
any portion
of their legal rights. It is
the
more
important therefore
that the misconstruction of the
acts both of the Chinese Government
and of H.M.
Minister publicly put upon
them by the Chairman
of
the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce should be equally
publicly corrected, that other
Kwok-a-Cheong shipowners like Kwok-u Cheong.
may
not be misled to their loss.
And that this statement
of the bearing of the Treaty and the powers given under
the 47th clause
may
have all the weight
with
those whom it
may