Instantly I had the honour by your direction of the Governor to acquaint that it was the intention of His Excellency to send the whole correspondence in this matter to Her Majesty's Minister at the court of Peking and Her Majesty's Secretary of State but out of deference to the suggestion contained in your despatch of the 23rd I am directed to withdraw for the present those communications.
The Governor however instructs me to state most unequivocally that this Government will be satisfied with nothing short of an unconditional surrender of the vessel seized, with all the opium and everything belonging to her. An expression of the Viceroy's regret at the recurrence and an undertaking that the persons engaged in this outrageous invasion of the territory of a friendly power will be properly punished—
His Excellency leaves to your experienced judgment the employment of the most fitting language in which to convey the decision of this Government, and now that the junk and cargo are confessedly in the power of the Viceroy
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