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The proposed appointment of a Chinese Consul to reside at Hongkong.
2. I enclose the opinions on this point of the Colonial Secretary, and of The Attorney-General. I agree with them in the view that, whatsoever inconvenience may possibly arise hereafter from the presence at Hongkong of a Chinese Functionary to whom his countrymen, comprising more than nineteen-twentieths of the entire population of this island, may, perhaps, look up, in some degree, rather than to the English Government
Inclosure 1
Inclosure 2
of this Colony, still it is difficult to see on what tenable ground England could withhold from China an international privilege, which we have enjoyed for many years past by appointing an English Minister to reside at Peking, and English Consuls to reside at all the chief ports of the Chinese Empire. It appears to me that any infringement or neglect of the "comity of Nations," in our relations with China, as with all other Powers, is to be strongly deprecated.
3. I may take this opportunity