With reference to the correspondence which has passed between
the Colonial Office and this Department on the subject of Officers
and Men being landed from Her Majesty's Ships to suppress disturbances
amongst the Miners at
Cariboo 700 miles in the interior of
British
Columbia and to your Letter of the
19th Inst in which you
state that the
Duke of Buckingham & Chandos proposes with the
concurrence of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to instruct
the Governor of that Colony that Marines
and and Sailors cannot be landed
from Her Majesty's Ships and still less be marched into the interior
unless it is clear that it can be done without any risk to the safety
of the Vessels, nor except under the purpose of some paramount
necessity, in which there is imminent danger to life and property.
I am commanded by their Lordships to state for the information of
His Grace that the Commanding Officers of H.M. Ships will always be
ready to afford
local aid in support of law and order, but their
Lordships cannot
sanction, as an established Regulation, the sending
of Officers and Men to a distance from their Ships, thereby rendering
the Ships inefficient.