HONGKONG
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those of Her Majesty's subjects there who thought it safest to retire, and on the evening of the 4th November they arrived at Hongkong.
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Captain Elliot considered the anchorage of Hongkong unsafe, as being "exposed to attack from several quarters," and already, on the 26th October,.. His Excellency had required the removal of the British merchant shipping to Tong-Koo, which he deemed safer. The shipping community did not share this opinion, and on the same day that the notice appeared an address signed by the masters of thirty-six vessels was presented to Capatin Elliot requesting that they might be allowed to remain at Hongkong. On the 8th November H.M.'s Plenipotentiary replied, adhering to his former decision. Thereupon another remonstrance was addressed to him, signed by "twenty firms, the agents for Lloyd's and for eleven insurance offices. Captain Elliot, how- ever, still adhered to his decision, and a few days afterwards the removal to Tong-Koo took place.
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In 1840 the expedition arrived, and Hongkong became the headquarters of Her Majesty's forces.
On the 20th January, 1841, H.M.'s Plenipotentiary issued a circular to British subjects announcing the conclusion of preliminary arrangements be- tween the Imperial Commissioner, Ke-shen, and himself. One of the terms was stated in the circular as follows:-
1. The cession or the island and harbour of Hongkong to the British Crown. All just charges and duties to the Empire upon the commerce carried on there to be paid as if the trade were conducted at Whampoa.
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On the 26th January, the island was accordingly taken formal possession of in the name of H.M Queen Victoria. The treaty was subsequently repudiated by both parties, and it was not until the conclusion of the Nanking Treaty in 1842 that the Chinese Government formally recognised the cession of the island. In the meantime it was held by the British-who had come to stay -and on the 1st May, 1841, the Public Notice and Declaration regarding the occupation of Hougkong was promulgated. On the 7th May of the same year, 1841, the first number of the Hongkong Gazette was published, printed at the American Mission Press, Macao. This first number contained the notification of the appointment (dated 30th April) of Captain William Caine, of the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Infantry, as Chief Magistrate, the warrant being under the hand of Charles Elliot, Esquire, Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, etc., etc., "charged with the Government of the Island of Hongkong. Captain Elliot's idea was that the island should be held on similar terms to those on which Macao was at that time held by the Portu- guese, and the Chief Magistrate, instead of being charged to administer British law, was authorised and required "to exercise authority, according to the laws, customs, and usages of China, as near as may be (every descrip- tion of torture cxcepted), for the preservation of the peace and the protec- tion of life and property, over all the native inhabitants in the said island and the harbours thereof"; and over other persons according to British police law. The first land sale took place on the 14th June, and building thereafter proceeded rapidly, the population of the new town at the end of the year being estimated at 15,000. On the 6th February, 1842, Hongkong was form- ally declared a free port by Sir Henry Pottinger, who had succeeded Captain Elliot as Plenipotentiary. Until the signing of the treaty, however, the ultimate fate of the new settlement remained in doubt. Sir Robert Peel, when asked in the House of Commons whether it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government properly to colonise the place or give it up, declined to answer what he deemed at unparliamentary question, during a period of open war with the country by whom the cession of the island was both made and re- pudiated. The Treaty of Nanking, however, settled all doubts: On the 23rd June, 1843, Keying, the Chinese Imperial Commissioner, arrived in Hong kong for the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, and the ceremony took place in the Council Room on the 26th of that month, and immediately after-
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