Colonial Despatches

I have laid before Mr Secretary Herbert your letter of the 4th inst with its enclosure from the Foreign Office proposing that one of the Regiments about to leave China should be sent to Vancouver's Island.

In reply I am to request that you will acquaintthe the Duke of Newcastle that Mr Herbert infers from the last information received from China that the four Regiments ordered home are now on their passage and may be expected early in March, and that the Regiments to be returned to India have probably by this time arrived there. The force remainingin in China, as being considered necessary for occupation, pending the performance of the stipulations of the Treaty, will probably be required for one year at least.

Under these circumstances, if any force is required at present in Vancouvers Island it must be drawn from some other source. At the same time Mr Herbert must point outthat that if meant for a defence against the attacks of any powerful nation a much larger force would be required to be effective, and that there is always a risk of sacrificing a small one.