2.457/19
Copy
My Lord,
Chinese Legation
London.
Janry 1. 1869.
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of y. L.'s despatch of the 28th Dec:, & in reply, to inform you that I agree to the general accuracy of your deductions from our conversation at that time.
First, that it was the object of the Mission to disabuse the Foreign Powers of the impression they were supposed to entertain that the Chinese Govt had entered upon a retrograde policy, and secondly, to deprecate any precipitate unfriendly attempt on their part to enter upon a policy which might make all progress impossible from its menacing...
Earl of Clarendon R. G.