724956-1858-GOVERNMENT-NOTIFICATION — Page 1

THE

Hongkong

Government

GAZETTE.

NEW SERIES.

VICTORIA, SATURDAY, 26TH JUNE, 1858.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

VOL. III. No. 162.

The Contract for publishing this Gazette, entered into on the 24th September, 1853, was terminated on the 30th ultimo; and notice is hereby given, that a NEW SERIES of this Gazette will be published hereafter, to commence from the 7th instant, under a New Contract, and that

"THE HONgkong GOVERNMENT GAZETTE" will, as before, be the only Official Organ for PROCLAMATIONS, NOTIFICATIONS, and PUBLIC PAPERS, of this Government.

W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.

By Order,

Colonial Secretary's Office, Victoria, Hongkong, 2d July, 1855.

No. 26.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.

His Excellency Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China, has directed the following Circular, addressed to the British Mercantile Community at Honan, by Her Majesty's Acting Consul at Canton, to be published for general information.

By Order,

Superintendency of Trade, Victoria, Hongkong, 20th June, 1858.

* CIRCULAR.

G. W. CAINE.

To the BRITISH MERCANTILE Community at HONAN.

The undersigned has this morning received from the Senior Naval Officer an Official Communication of import so weighty, that, in cordance with the wish therein expressed, he hastens to make public the considerations which it embraces.

The Community must be aware, that, for some tine past, the attitude of the Population in the neighbourhood of Canton has become more d more hostile. The recent Proclamation of Hwang, Governor General of the Two Kwang, and an Imperial Commissioner for the arrange- Pat of the differences with Foreign Nations, replaces the relations of the Provincial Government with the Allied Powers in nearly the same ption as they were antecedent to the Capture of the City. Its tone is so inimical, and its calls for a warlike organization, with the view of offcting the surrender of the City, are so energetic, and it has been so widely and simultaneously circulated, that it must be considered as

rested, if not with the character of an express declaration of hostilities, with that of a warlike manifesto.

Under these circumstances it will at once occur to the Community, that the primary objects of the care of the Senior Officers in com- mand of the Allied Naval Forces, namely, the maintenance of the Military position in the City, and the preservation of the ships under their mand, may demand the adoption of measures which will control or restrict the native traffic in the river passages in the neighbourhood d Canton.

The Community will also consider what effect intelligence from other quarters-pacific or otherwise-may exert on the existing state of Lairs in this locality.

The Senior Naval Officer is desirous, that I should warn the Community to omit no precautions likely to secure themselves against the Bescherous and stealthy attacks so consonant to the ideas of the Chinese, and that I should point out the imprudence of accumulating on Bere large and valuable stocks of goods and other property, or of entering into speculations which the possible occurrence of a crisis may

iously interrupt or impede.

Lastly, the Senior Naval Officer has requested the issue of this Notification, with the hope that a timely forethought will enable the Mercantile Community to make the arrangements most suited to their own and their constituents' interests without hurry or panic.

British Consulate, Canton, 22d June, 1858.

True Copy,

H. F. HANCE.

(Signed)

CHARLES A. WINCHESTER.