THE COUNTESS OF ELGIN AND KINCARDINE. (Hansard, 10 June 1864)

§ MR. GREGSON

said, he wished to quote the following passage from a congratulatory address of the East India and China Association, to show the appreciation in which his services were held:— We beg leave to offer to your Lordship our cordial congratulations on the distinguished success which has crowned your exertions as Her Majesty's High Commissioner and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Pekin, by the conclusion of a treaty which, when fully in operation, will secure to Her Majesty's subjects a commercial intercourse of the greatest importance with that vast empire. Tour Lordship's similarly successful negotiations with Japan, and the prospect; of the early opening of her commerce to British and European enterprise, no less demand oar acknowledgments and our congratulations. Trusting that your Lordship may speedily witness and long enjoy the satisfaction of contemplating the complete success of your labours in that increase of our national prosperity which they are so eminently calculated to promote, we have the honour to be, with the highest consideration and respect, your Lordship's most obedient servants. The Earl of Elgin, in his reply, thus explained the objects to which his diplomacy had been directed, and the manner in which advantage might be derived from its success:— The treaties recently concluded with China and Japan have in a great measure removed the obstacles to intercourse between those countries and the world, without which the jealousy, exclusiveness, and apprehensions of their despotic Governments had created. To the attainment of this end the efforts of diplomacy have been directed with some success; but its action extends no further; it rests with our merchants and manufacturers to complete the work by turning these; new facilities to account, and establishing mutually beneficial relations between England and those countries, inhabited as they are by populations numerous, industrious, and commercially disposed.… For my own part, I have only to say that it is my sincere desire to continue to co-operate with you in the noble work of extending the blessings of commerce and Christian civilization to those remote and interesting regions of the earth.