"The worship of Jesus is the fount and origin of our religions, and thus from age to age we have been as one family; therefore when your country came to discuss matters with us in the spring, our Lord the Heavenly King issued to us his sacred commands ordering us to receive you with courtesy, and to deal with you in perfect sincerity, in order to mark our high regard for those who are allied with and are of the same origin as ourselves. Being thus united by our religion, which is the worship of Heaven, and also by our friendly (political) relations, it is above all things necessary that we should respectively adhere to our Heavenly principles both in mind and action, and that we should compare our wants with those of others, instead of seeking only our own profit at the expense of the interests of our fellow-men. It is thus that you prove your friendship to be indeed sincere.
"On considering the four proposals set forth in your communication, we find that our Divine Kingdom cannot assent to them, and we shall proceed to state in detail the grounds of our refusal.
"The first point is a demand for compensation for 7,360 taels and odd silver, 200 taels' worth of copper cash, 4,800 dollars, 20 bales of raw silk, and 2 muskets, all said to have been taken by people of our Divine Kingdom in the 5th, 6th, and 7th months of the present year at Soo-heu, Suh-kea-kiang, Lew-hoo, Kaou-ching (Laou-ching), and other places.
"There is an absence of right in this demand. Everything deserving of credit admits of proof. Although the places named are not 1,000 li distant from our capital, they are situated several hundreds of li from it, and nearly half a year has elapsed since the alleged occurrences took place.
"It is unreasonable to demand compensation for claims, when no proofs can be produced, and the assertion of such claims is in itself a very unfriendly act. Were we, of the Divine Kingdom, to put forward such unfounded claims, what course, may we ask, would your country pursue? If our nation have indeed established a custom-house at San-le-keaou, and exacted a double levy of duty in the manner stated, how is it, as your merchant-boats are constantly passing that spot, that a single instance only of such conduct should have occurred? We will not, however, take upon ourselves to deny that your boat had to submit to the exaction; but, granting that it occurred, it should be remembered that at this juncture, when a movement is going on throughout the Empire, local marauders and wandering people naturally take advantage of the opportunity afforded them to commit depredations. How, therefore, do you know that these robberies were not the work of parties of these vagabonds, simulating the appearance and profiting by the fear inspired by the troops of the Divine dynasty? Or how do you know that some of the Tartar imps have not personated the officers and troops of the Divine Kingdom, and in that feigned character plundered your merchant-boats, with a view, by these nefarious means, of causing ill-will between our two families? Moreover, if the places named have indeed been brought under the rule of our Celestial dynasty, our lieutenants must be there in garrison; and if these irregularities were committed by their troops, how is it that your country did not immediately bring them to the notice of those officers, in order that they may at once take steps for the punishment of the offenders? Instead of doing this, however, you allow a long time to elapse, and then you suddenly come to our capital to raise discussions with us on the subject at this distance!
"In the second point of your communication you claim, 'that junks which carry British colours are no less British vessels than those which are foreign-built, and must therefore be allowed to pass up and down the river free from examination or any other molestation, in conformity with the agreement made in the early part of this year.'
"On this we have to observe, that an agreement once entered into should be most faithfully and strictly adhered to, and cannot be departed from. Now in the agreement concluded with you in the spring, it is not stated that junks carrying British colours are no less British vessels than those which are foreign-built, and are therefore entitled to pass free from examination or molestation.
"The idea is now suddenly started by your country for the first time. But in the transaction of business, an open and straightforward course of action must be pursued, if distrust and suspicion are to be avoided. Suppose that a Chinese merchant has goods, the duties on which amount to a considerable sum, and that your country would not ask him to pay more than half that sum in return for a flag and papers which should free him from all charge on passing our custom-houses, is it not evident that the dishonest trader would gladly turn such an opportunity to account, and that in that case we should soon find that our custom-houses had been established to no purpose?
"Moreover, the rules of the custom-houses of our Divine Kingdom permit the merchants and people of all places, and those who still shave their heads, to pass to and fro, and trade in salt and other goods on payment of the duties that are defined by regulation. This institution has been too long in existence to make it reasonable that it now should be set aside.
"Again, in the former agreement, no arrangement whatever was made respecting the employment of Chinese junks by your country, the stipulation as to the free passage to the river being confined to vessels of your own country. We agreed to this arrangement as a friendly act to those who are of the same family as ourselves. But if native junks should be largely employed by your nation, we have good cause to fear the treachery of the Imperial imps, who will employ these junks in the furtherance of their own dark and evil designs by falsely passing them off as your trading-craft. If this were the case, how greatly would our difficulties of defence be increased!