I am not prepared to say that the formal engagement of the Chinese Government not to cede Hong Kong or the island in question, or any adjoining territory, to any other Power...
2. But I am thoroughly persuaded of the impolicy of putting forward a pretension which would preclude other Powers from making a similar acquisition to that which we have secured for ourselves.
Whether successful or otherwise, it would be likely to provoke the danger which it is sought to prevent. It would be calculated to excite national susceptibilities, and the cost would in that case far exceed any possible gain. No evil or inconvenience of any importance has hitherto, I believe, resulted from the absence of any acknowledged right of jurisdiction over the adjoining islands - a state of things which has existed for more than twenty years.
...and in Sv. Edmund Hornby's opinion, no need of a practical kind is necessarily experienced in the administration of Justice, so far as the action of the Executive is concerned.
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