CO129-075 - Public Offices - 1859 — Page 62

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AGENT.

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such ship or vessel, and the master, officer, super- cargo, and crew thereof, to the Colony of Hong Hong, or to any other place where the Chief Super- intendent of British Trade in China might, for the time being, be resident, or direct the same to be brought; and there to detain such ship or vessel, and the masters, officers, supercargo, and crew thereof, until the said Chief Superintendent should have tried and determined the charges which might be brought against them, or any of them, of having been engaged in such unlawful trade as aforesaid:

And whereas, by a Treaty agreed upon and con- cluded between Her Majesty and the Emperor of China, and signed in the English and Chinese languages, at Tien-tsin, on the twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, it is amongst other things stipulated and agreed, that British subjects may travel for their pleasure, or for purposes of trade, to all parts of the interior of China, under passports which will be issued by their Consuls, and countersigned by the local autho- rities, and that British merchant-ships shall have authority to trade upon the Great River (Yang-tze), but that the Upper and Lower Valley of the said river being disturbed by outlaws, no port shall be for the present open to trade, with the exception of Chin-kiang, which shall be opened in a year from the date of the signing of the said Treaty, and that so soon as peace shall have been restored, British subjects shall also be admitted to trade at such ports as far as Han-kow, not exceeding three in number, as the British Minister, after consultation with the Chinese Secretary of State, may determine shall be ports of entry and discharge. And in and by the said Treaty it is further stipulated and agreed, that in addition to the cities and towns of Canton, Amoy, Fuchow (or Foo-chow-foo), Ningpo, and Shanghae, opened by the Treaty of Nankin, British subjects may frequent the cities and ports of New-Chwang, Tang- Chow, Tai-Wau (Formosa), Chau-Chow (Swatow), and Kiung-Chow (Hainau); that they shall be per- mitted to carry on trade with whomsoever they please, and to proceed to and fro at pleasure with their vessels and merchandise; and that they shall enjoy the same privileges, advantages, and immunities, at the said towns and ports, as they enjoy at the ports already opened to trade, including the right of

residence, of buying or renting houses, of leasing land therein, and of building churches, hospitals, and cemeteries:

And whereas it is in and by the said Treaty further stipulated and agreed, that the ratifications of the said Treaty under the hands of Her Majesty and of His Majesty the Emperor of China respectively, shall be exchanged at Pekin within a year from the day of the signature of the said Treaty:

And whereas by reason of the aforesaid stipula- tions of the said Treaty, it is necessary to revoke the prohibitions on the trade of Her Majesty's subjects

in China contained in the said Orders in Council of the twenty-fourth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, and the thirteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty- three, respectively:

I. Now, therefore, in pursuance of the said Act

of the third and fourth years of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, and in pursuance

of an Act passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the sixth and seventh years of Her Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act for the better government of Her Majesty's subjects resorting to China," and in execution of the powers thereby or otherwise howsoever in Her Majesty in Council vested, Her Majesty is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and doth hereby order, that the said several recited clauses and provisions of and in the said Orders in Council of the twenty-fourth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, and the thirteenth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, respectively, and all and every other clause and provision of and

in any Order in Council or Ordinance whatsoever, whereby any prohibition, restriction, punishment, penalty, or forfeiture, hath been or is imposed upon the trade of Her Majesty's subjects in China, or upon Her Majesty's subjects in respect thereof, shall be and the same are hereby repealed.

II. And it is further ordered that this Order shall commence and take effect on and from the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the said Treaty of the twenty-sixth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.