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"conflicting interest can be effected; and that the appointment of a Chinese Consul here "cannot be refused without grave and disastrous consequences".
Unquestionably, if mere positive assertion could prove the necessity and expediency of such a measure, Sir Rutherford has proved both. It is not surprising therefore that Prince King, The Viceroy, and others should be willing proselytes of Sir Rutherford Alcock and believe that in a Chinese Consul here they could find a panacea for all differences, and an equivalent for those collectors of Chinese Revenue, whom Prince King wishes to establish here.
14.
I beg, however, of the Government to consider, whether Sir Rutherford, in the whole of the correspondence addressed to them, has given a single proof that a Chinese Consul here would really be able to arrange differences and "conflicting interests." In what way could he do so? It is not enough to assert such a thing; it is too much to insist on the probable reason for that result in the face of the long train of probabilities approximating to complete certainty that, on the contrary "very disastrous consequences would follow the appointment of the Kind.
I think it more directly pertinent to peruse my despatch of the last, compressing the opinion...
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