14
15
133
3.
In explanation of the above minute of Council and of General Sargent's Memorandum attached to it, I would observe, that at first, on a prima facie view of the case, the Executive Council were inclined to advise compliance with the demand for extradition. But it was, of course, our duty before taking final and irrevocable action in a matter of such grave international importance and in which the lives of eleven men were at stake, to give full attention to the counter-statements and evidence adduced in favour of the prisoners, and to the allegations advanced by Bishop Raimondi and others that this was a case of a quarrel between two rival Chinese clans or factions, and that it should be regarded as of a political rather than of a criminal nature. The motives and proceedings of myself and of the Executive Council are fully stated in my despatch No. 358 of 1883, to which I beg leave to refer, and which should be read together with the present despatch.