75, of the 27th of that month; and advantage was taken of your presence in England during the following summer to communicate personally with you on the subject.
The result, as you are aware, was the preparation of the Draft of such a general Ordinance, which, having been considered and revised, by a Gentleman of high stand- ing at the Civil Law Bar, was afterwards referred to the consideration of the Law Officers of Her Majesty's late Government.
You were made acquainted with the result of that reference previously to your departure from England, since which time the matter has twice been referred to Her Majesty's present Law Advisers, who eventually signified to me their concurrence in the proposed arrangements.
But as those arrangements are of a very comprehensive character, and constitute in fact a Code of Ordinances, it has been thought desirable that they should be sub- mitted to the approval of Her Majesty in Council; and they were accordingly so sub- mitted on the 13th Instant, when Her Majesty was pleased to approve and sanction them in the form of an Order in Council.
I transmit to you herewith copies of this Order, which is to take effect from and after the 1st day of November next ensuing; and I have to instruct you to lose no time in giving the utmost possible publicity to its provisions, while you will transmit copies to each of the Consulates for the guidance of the several Consular Officers in the performance of the duties which under it they will be called upon to perforin.
to all
The objects with which this Order has been framed are,-
1st, To substitute for the various and complicated Ordinances which have at different times been enacted by the Chief Superintendents with the advice of the Le- gislative Council of the Island of Hongkong, for the government of Her Majesty's Subjects resorting to China, one clear and simple code, which should be intelligible persons who are to be governed by its provisions, and which, being free from legal technicalities, should be easily enforced by persons who may not have had the advantage of a legal education. but who are expected to possess, as a sufficient quali- fication for the performance of their duties in this respect, sound sense and upright intentions.
2ndly, To define exactly the respective jurisdictions of the Supreme Court of the Colony of Hongkong, and of Her Majesty's Chief Superintendent and Consular Officer, in regard to matters as well of a criminal as of a civil nature, in which British Subjects are concerned, and arising within the Chinese dominions and the adjacent seas.
3dly, To confer upon Her Majesty's Consular Officers, and upon the Chief Su- perintendent, as their immediate and local superior, such special power and authority, as, in addition to the ordinary power and authority exercised by Her Majesty's Con- suls within other States in amity with Her Majesty, might suffice to enable them to execute the peculiar functions entrusted to them" in consequence of the anomalous condition of affairs in China, where the territorial Sovereign has formally renounced in favour of the British Crown all civil and criminal jurisdiction over British Subjects.
In ordinary cases of British Subjects resorting to a foreign country, their per- sons and property are entrusted to the protection of the Laws and Institutions of the country to which they may resort, in the full assurance that those Laws will be duly administered, and that the Institutions of such country, although they may differ from those of England, are substantially in harmony with the general principles of jurisprudence recognized amongst Christian Communities. But the case is different as regards China; and there the British Crown has found it necessary to require that British Subjects shall be entirely exempted from the jurisdiction of the local Tribunals, and has engaged, in return, either expressly or by implication, to take effectual measures for the maintenance among such British Subjects of peace, order, and good government.