Hawes to Elliot (Assistant Under-Secretary)

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 acquaint 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 remaining
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 out 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.