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POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION
Governor Davis will doubtless forward to your Lordship the cor- respondence which terminated in my conditional resignation of the Treasurership of Hong Kong, in consequence of the Governor refusing me six months' leave of absence to enable me to lay immediately before your Lordship the information I had collected (after visiting every accessible part of China) on various subjects of great interest, especially with reference to Chusan, and to the large and unnecessary expenditure being incurred at Hong Kong and on the coast of China. I have only to entreat that your Lordship will suspend decision on the case until I reach England. The inclosed " Memorandum" of some of my services in China, although I was suffering during a great part of my residence there from climactic disease, will I trust be some proof that I laboured diligently to do my duty; and I can conscientiously aver that an anxious solicitude to be of some use to my country, and to deserve the support of your Lordship, has been the paramount and sustaining feeling of my mind.
I have, &c.,
R. M. MARTIN.
AMENDMENTS REQUIRED IN THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF OUR AFFAIRS WITH CHINA, GIVEN TO THE RIGHT HONBLE. THE EARL OF ABERDEEN, HER MAJESTY'S SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
London, November 12, 1845.
1st. A negotiation with the Chinese Government for the retention of Chusan, on the grounds stated in my "Minute on the British Posi- tion and Prospects in China," dated April, 1845, and in my paper of "Points submitted for the consideration of Her Majesty's Govern- ment," addressed to Lord Stanley, 3rd September, 1845.
2nd. A revision, if possible, of the 13th and 14th clauses of the Supplemental Treaty, which have prevented any native coasting trade with Hong Kong.
3rd. A declaration of the entire harbour* of Hong Kong belonging to England, and of the islands therein.
4th. An amelioration of the humiliating and comfortless condition of the British merchants at Canton.
* The islands in the harbour and those which lie around, commanding the island of Hong Kong, ought not to be left as neutral territory. Captain Haines, our able Political Resident at Aden, judiciously stipulated that the whole harbour of Aden, and a slip of land five miles deep along the harbour, should be ceded with Aden to England, together with all the islands in the harbour: and that the waters around, within reasonable soundings, should belong to the Aden territory. was proper diplomacy.
This
OF GOVERNMENT.
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5th. A permission for British ships to load and unload at Canton, instead of their being detained at Whampoa.
6th. A permission for British merchants to visit the cities attached to the Consular ports; such, for instance, as the wealthy trading city of Suchoo, of which Shanghai is merely the port.
7th. The establishment of a Consular port up the Yang-tze-kiang river at Chin-kang-foo, or at Nankin.
8th. The abolition of the English prohibition of British ships or subjects going beyond the 32nd degree of north latitude in China.
9th. The formation, if possible, of a Consular port at the Peiho river.
All these points I am prepared to prove are of the utmost value to the British interests in China, and may be obtained by negotiation with the Chinese Government without any violation of the treaty of Nankin.
R. M. MARTIN.
[Inclosure in letter to Lord Stanley of 3rd September, 1845.]
POINTS SUBMITTED FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF HER MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT ON THE BRITISH POSITION IN CHINA.
1st. An immediate negotiation with the Chinese Government for the permanent occupation or continued retention of Chusan, and for the improvement of our position at Canton, &c., on the grounds stated in the accompanying paper marked A. (See paper of "Grounds" A.) 2nd. A reduction of the civil and military expenditure of Hong Kong, and a simplification of its Government. (See paper marked B Government establishments of Hong Kong, &c.)
3rd. A revision and retrenchment of the Consular and Superin- tendency of Trade departments in China. (See accompanying scale.)
The "Report on Chusan" explains the grounds for the retention of that island; namely:
1. As the most efficient means for preserving peace with China, by reason of its central and commanding position near the Yang-tze- kiang river, the great artery of the empire.
2. As pre-eminently adapted for a commercial emporium by its contiguity to the richest and most populous districts in China, and by its proximity to Japan, Corea, Mantchouria, Formosa, the Loochoo islands, &c.
3. As a colony, whence the Christian civilization of England may by precept and example be extended throughout China; its salubrity, fertility, peaceable industrious population, various valuable productions, extent, and fine harbours, rendering Chusan peculiarly eligible for a British possession.
None of the considerations which render Chusan so eligible for an English colony apply to Hong Kong, as shown in the report thereon, and in the "Minute on the British Position and Prospects in China." Hong Kong does not command anything, not even the Canton river;
it can never be a commercial emporium by reason of its un-
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