It should be borne in mind that the queue is the distinguishing mark of subjection to the Manchu Dynasty.
It is at the same time laid down in the Notification of Oct. 1868, that no Anglo-Chinese shall be required to observe any rite or custom where slight ceremony would admit that he was a subject of the Emperor of China.
I shall not be able, without further correspondence with the Consuls, to decide what change of costume must be enforced. I have pointed out to the Grand Secretary that a change of the kind may prove a defence to the Chinese Government against such an offence as the evasion of duty, and a safeguard in time of trouble. At Shanghai, for instance, in 1853-5, many of the Taiping rebels assumed a garb in which they were not to be distinguished from Portuguese or Manila half-breeds.
This was, of course, to the great embarrassment of the Authorities. I shall act on behalf of their men in the spirit of the instructions I have issued. I shall direct the Consuls to be vigilant in protecting the persons & property of Singaporeans or others at the ports where they are satisfied of the validity of their status as British Subjects, but to remind them, when Chinese, travelling in the interior, that it is simply impossible to guarantee them against molestation to which any native Chinese may be subjected.
If the matter be one of grievous bodily harm, I shall not fail to...
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