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with the best motives by an official servant of the British Crown to restore a woman, who had escaped to this place from a master residing in a city on the Mainland. The girl complained to me of his cruelty so bitterly that she declared her determination to commit suicide if forced to return to him. The Official in question however actually reiterated his request that the woman should be sent back whether she wished it or not, because as she had been bought, her Master has acquired a right of property in her of which it would be unfair to deprive him.
Under these circumstances and seeing the strong feeling of the Chinese themselves in the matter and the actual ancient practice of their nation to sell and buy girls and export them wherever they may be in the greatest demand, and on the other hand loathing the efforts which this Government has made specially to discountenance such practices I think the Chinese Authorities who uphold those usages by the sanction of law are the parties mainly answerable for the results.
4. Your Excellency perceives that so far I have been dealing with general principles which influence the Chinese in these matters and have sought to explain how in my opinion the national usages of the Empire underlie