Telegram
315
The clause does not provide that anyone connected with the Company should be convicted of having committed some offence in China in contemplation of the law there in force before the Company is penalized in Hongkong, and objection might also be taken to the provision entrusting the decision whether or not the Company had been guilty of incitement to commit crime to the Executive Government and not to the Judicial Tribunals of the Colony.
Sir E. Grey would be glad to learn whether the Earl of Elgin agrees with these observations, and if the legislation suggested in your letter under reply is considered by His Lordship to be the only course that could be taken at Hongkong Sir E. Grey is disposed to think that it would be preferable for the present merely to instruct His Majesty's Consul-General at Hankow to inform the Chinese Authorities that in cases, such as those under consideration, they are at liberty to take proceedings against the offenders in China without risk of interference on the part of His Majesty's Government.
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