No. 18
Downing Street
21 October 1859
Sir,
I have received your despatch of the 22nd August No. 41, with enclosures, containing further details as to the occupation of the Island of San Juan by the United States Troops.
I have nothing to add on this occasion to the instructions, or to Manuscript imagethe opinion which I conveyed to you, on the part of Her Majesty's Government, in my despatch of the 29th September on the general question which has been raised by General Harney's proceedings. But in consequence of the opposite views to which your despatch refers as being entertained by Admiral Baynes and yourself in regard to the policy which you think ought to have been pursued towards the Americans, I must point out to you thatManuscript imagethat the fact of the overwhelming force of the British Navy, which was so rapidly summoned to the spot, as compared with the force of the United States, removed any possibility of misunderstanding the reasons of Her Majesty's Government for adopting the moderate course of remonstrance instead of violent measures.
I have etc.
Newcastle
Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle Henry Pelham Fiennes to Douglas, Sir James 21 October 1859, LAC :, 114. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. James Hendrickson and the Colonial Despatches project. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/V597118.html.

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