CO129-030 - Bonham - 1849 [8-12] — Page 333

written to the local authorities that

"Hongkong being a

British possession,

and that no one had any right to go

there to levy taxes, &c.

6.

The above case was referred to

abstain for the present from further

327

discussion upon the other part of our

exclusive

&

right. Any attempt on the side of the

Chinese to exercise

reported to

be

for Lord Stanley by Mr Davis, whose

measures

and

correspondence His Lordship

approved by This Lordship in Despatch

No. 98. of 30th March, 1845.

were

7. I further informed Sir, to prevent

mistakes, that

to

any one attempting to execute here the warrant of a foreign

authority,

of whatever nation,

to

would be surely punished, according to the circumstances of the assault proved against him. This produced the reply which I have quoted at the commencement of this Despatch,

and as

as an

I consider it satisfactory, admission of the inviolability of our territory, I have thought it prudent to

authority here would

very easily be resisted, and I have little fear of the repetition of what, in this

instance, occasioned

9.

my

complaint.

The other is a

far

more difficult

matter, as it is easy to defeat our application for the person of a native criminal escaping from this jurisdiction.

10.

The murderer demanded by in this case, proved to be the chief of a formidable pirate squadron lately annihilated by Her Majesty's Ships

"Fury" and "Columbine", as Your Lordships will have learned from my Despatch No 100 of the 3d instant. He stands

charged with

numerous

acts

of piracy

and violence, committed in China and

328

his person, as I am satisfied that such application would be of no

avail, and

I should be confined to a reiteration

of all my arguments already on record,

to no purpose.

I have the honor to be,

With the highest respect,

Your Lordships,

Most Obedient,

Humble Servant,

Bonham