annoyance to which he who are questionably exposed by emissaries from the Mainland, the Consul declined to interfere at my request. Nevertheless, when immediately afterwards the Vice Roy requested him to ask me to order Messrs Wolliday Wise & Co to send him their Compradors for trial at Canton, where the Vice Roy merely promised that he should not be tortured, the Consul at once seriously transmitted that extraordinary demand.
I refrain from recurring particularly to previous circumstances which show how with the most amiable motives Mr Robertson has become thoroughly imbued with many Chinese notions, which would apparently conflict seriously with the early prejudices of an Englishman. I infer that long residence amongst the Chinese and a study of their usages and customs can influence some minds in a manner which we ought not to condemn too severely till we had been similarly tried.
Nevertheless, on a place peculiarly situated and limited like this, with English laws and wages alongside the different civilization of the vast Chinese Empire, there must necessarily be a constant though not always obtrusive conflict between the ideas of the West and the East. It is, therefore, desirable that the tone and tendency of Her Majesty's servants in this part of the