be possible to let the ships depart unless their cargoes
were unloaded.
As Your Excellency will appreciate, the difficulty
would be solved at once if the Japanese authorities should
find it possible to open the Pearl River to trade. Failing
this I should be grateful if, in view of the special
circumstances of the case, namely, that the ships were
loaded and ready to sail before the river was closed,
the instructions to the local Japanese authorities could
be modified, so that the ships may be allowed to proceed
loaded. The six months delay to which these vessels have
been subjected has been the cause of serious financial loss
to the owners of both the vessels and their cargoes, and it
will be an additiɔnal hardship if there should be added to
these losses the inconvenience and expense of now unloading
the cargoes.
Your Excellency will see that this is a case where
the difficulties are raised not be the local authorities in
be
Canton but by the central authorities at Tokyo and I
confidently rely on your assistance in removing what is,
to all appearance, a needlessly harsh ban on the movement
of these British ships.
Believe me, etc.,
(Signed) R.L. Craigie.
85