The Sun. — London, England, 1857-12-29 00:00:00

DIONEY MARKET I.JD COMIVIERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. CITY, Two o'CLocK. Letters from Liverpool mention that the Cotton Market yesterday closed with an improving ten dency, and values of most descriptions were fully maintained. The sales amounted to 10,000 bales, of which 2,000 were taken by the speculators, and 1,000 by the exporters. The Railway Share Market closed quietly, without any material altera►- tion in pricer. In the Foreign and Colonial Produce Markets there is very little business, owing to the holidays, but the few transactions concluded privately ex hibit no change of importance as regards quo- tations. The ackvides from America, which report a re sumption of specie payments by the banks, state that on the 12th inst., the stock of specie in those establishments exceeded $26,000,000, while the circulation was only $348,000. The loans and dis counts amounted to $96,600,000. During the year, up to that date, the shipments of specie from the port of New York were abo it 8,300,0001. There is a good demand for money to-day in discount channels, but no pressure, and the appli cations are not greater tha❑ can be fully accounted for by the usual arrangements at the termination of the year. The terms charged in Lombard-street are at least per cent. below the minimum, and as the supply is abundant, a further reduction •f the official rate is soon expected. Owing to the daily receipts of gold at the Bank, the total of bullion will soon reach eleven millions and a quarter, and if the greater part of the amount received by the Suffolk and the America is sent in, the next two balance-sheets will exhibit a material augmenta tion, besides a further marked improvement in the notes and other securities. During the week ending Dec. 11, the receipts on the Great Western Railway of Canada were 10,9071. against 13,0751. iu the corresponding week of 1856, the falling off being 2,1681. It is stated on the Stock Exchange that the Bank of France have made a further reduction in the rate of discount, viz., to 5 per cent., but this requires confirmation. The English Funds have manifested renewed buoyancy, the speculation for the rise being stimu lated by the general improvement of the Money Market. It is thought that when the dividends are paid, and the transfer books are re opened numerous investments will be made, which must have the effect of sustaining values. Occasianally, however, the upward movement is checked, and at the present moment the prices are rather flat, in consequence of few sales. Consols have been 93i 94, but they are now at the former point. The New 3 per Cents. are marked 94k, and the Reduced 941. Exchequer Bills are par to 2s. premium, and India Bonds 253. discount. In the Foreign Stock Market a fair amount of business has been transacted, at rather higher prices. Turkish 6 per Cents. are 971 I, and the 4 per Cents. 102 ; Mexican 3 per Cents. are 201 1 ;'Peruvian 41 per Cents. 77 ; Russian 4i per Cents. 981 1 ; Spanish New Deferred, 261 k ; and Chilian 6 per Cents. 1021. The following are the nominal prices of Foreign Stocks :—Grenada Deferred Bonds, 5 6 ; Mexi can, 201 201 ; Peruvian 4i per Cents., 76 78 ; ditto 3 per Cents., 52 53 ; Portuguese 3 per Cents., 441 451 ; Russian 5 per Cents, 106 108 ; do. 41 per Cents., 97 99 ; Spanish 3 per Cents., 411141 ; ditto New Deferred, 26 261. A rather active business has been done in the Railway Share Market, and in most . instances an advance of about 1 to 1i per cent. has been realised. Lancashire and Yorkshire, North British, South- Eastern, and Midlands, improved 10s. ; Caledonian, Great Northerns, North Westerns, Ncrth Eastern (Berwick), and North Eastern (York), 1/. ; and Eastern Counties, and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln, 1/. 10s. ; Great Westerns were rather flat, and declined about 10s. ; and Brighton receded 1/. T,lll4,other lines dealt in fully supported former quotations. In the Foreign lines the transactions were limited, and prices ruled rather flatter. Paris and Lyons and Northern of France receded about ss. The Colonial undertakings have been exceed ingly active, particularly the Canadian. Grand Trunk have advanced as much as 41., and Great Western, 11. East Indian remained firm. Mines, Ranks, and Miscellaneous Shares have • been quiet, and little variation can be reported in ♦alues. Canada Land advanced about 4/. 114CTISH FUNDS.—CLOSING PRICES—THIS DAY. (From the Of coal List:l Business done. a per Cent. Reduced Annuities 3 per Cent. Console Annuities Shut New 3 per Cent. Annuities 931 4/ 4 ./ fidiA, Rands. £lOOO - ,4 ) ittor under i;100() 25 d 15 w al-sole fer Account — * - . 934 4 31 Es • ...mar 14111 e., 24d. 4000« ....... S500 Small • • 2 3 p par I p PRICES OF FOREIGN FUNDS—THIS DAY. Milian Bonds, 6 per Cent lO2 Mexican 3 per Cent 204 i i Ditto Account Peruvian Bonds; 4i per Cent 77 Ditto ?, per Cent. 522 ' Po:tuguese Bonds, r s per Cent., Con. 1841 • Ditto 1853, 3 per Cent...., 441 Russian Bonds, 1822, £ St., 5 per Cent lO7 Ditto, 44 per Cent. Sardinian Bonds, 5 per Cant. . 39,nish Roods,-3 per Cent Ditto Account 'Ditto New Deferred, 3 per Cent. ' Ditto Account . . Sp mist' Committee Cert. of Coup. not fun. 5 . . Tarkith-Bends, 6 per cent. • 97k i $ " Ditto Account .. Mitt(' Anaranteed, 4 per Cent. Dividends on the above payable in London. 'AIMEE O'CLOCK. Consols account, Jan. 8 934 4 x d Among the quickest passages of the sailing transports to the East has been that of the Agamemnon, which left Dartmouth on the 14th Aug. and arrived at Calcutta on " the 16th Nov. The Champion of the Seas and the James Baines sailed from Portsmouth on the 9th Aug., but did not reach Calcutta until the 17th and 19th November respectively. REDUCTION OF THE SHIP LITTER RATE OF POSTAGE, --On the Ist January next and thence °neat d, the Bri .Aish rate of postage upon letters despatched from any port of the United Kingdom by a private ship, whether steamer or sailing vessel, will be reduced to 61. the half ounce, in all cases where it now exceeds that sum. The charge upon letters above half an ounce in „ weight' will increase according to the sca le for charging Triland letters. Letters conveyed by private eihirfrom this innintry to France or Belgium wilt continue liable toe combined British and, foreign rate of foarpence the half-ounce; the lettersoonveyed by private ship to Holland, Hamburgh, or Bremen, will still be charged with a combined British and foreign rate of ,eightpedet; the half-ounce, as heretofore.—By command of the Post ntaster:General, ROWLAND „Har e Secretary. DETERMINED SUICiDE IN THE LONDON FIELDS, RACENET.—Yesterday morning information was issued from the metropolitan police stations of a most deter mined suicide in the London Fields, Hackney, by a well-dressed man about 28 years of age, who committed self-destruction by shooting himself, ender the fallowing - circumetancea :—lt appears the policeman on duty in the London Fields heard the report of fire arms, He immediately repaired to the sliet whence the sound proceeded, and discovered the deceased lying on the ground, blood issuing from the mouth, and ap parently lifeless. The finger of the decea-ed's right hand was partially bent, and within a few inches of a pistol recently discharged. A shell was procured, and the body taken to the dead house to be owned and the inquest held. THE IRONMASTERS OF YORKSHIRE.—The dispute be tween the masters and men at the Park-gate Iron-works and Midland Iron Company is at an end. The me re turn to their work this day (Monday) at former prices. The attempted reduction of 10 per cent. will, however, take effect without f urther notice, should wages suffer a corresponding reduction In the Staffordshire districts. Reductions of from 20 to 30 per cent. have b,en made in the wages of those engaged in the iron trade otWales and the north of England. CALEDONIAN RAILWAY COMPANY. —An extraordinary meeting of the Caledonian Railway Company wash in Glasgow, on Tuesday afternoon, " for the purpose of gua ranteeing in perpetuity a fixed dividend at crate not exceed ing 5 per cent. per annum, upon those of the Caledoniai Railway Granton shares in regaed to which notice had i.ear , given by the holders thereof of their desire to recove a fixed guaranteed dividend in perpetuity, in lieu of the proportion appertaining to the shares held by them respectively, of the net profits arising from the railways and works authorised by the Caledonian Railway (Granton Branches) Act, 1857." Mr. William Johnston, chairman of the company, occupied the chair, and explained that the guarantee extended only to the stock raised by the Caledonian Company, and that the Duke of Bucclench's 30,0001. of stock was unguaranteed, A resolution approving of the proposed guarantee was unanimously carried. LIE - S 11 1 ,1).1, lONDO N, T U SDA. Y, , POLICE INTELLIGENCE.— (This Day.) GUILDHALL. William Jones, remanded, charged with having por tions of a silver snuff-box-in his possession, supposed to have been stolen. Police-constable 152 stated that he met the prisoner in Barbican, on Tuesday, the 22d, and suspecting him, he asked bun what he had got. Prisoner replied, " only a bit of silver he had found in the City.' On examining it, the policeman found it was a silver snuff-box that had been bent and broken up. The prisoner gave the name Jones, but refused to give his address. The policeman had since ascertained that the prisoner had given a false name. Alderman Gabriel—ls the prisoner known at all ? Springate (the gaoler)—No, your worship. Alderman Gabriel-I.las his real name and address been discovered ? Policeman —No. Mr. John Probert, surgeon, 6, New Cavendish street, deposed that on Saturday morning, the 19th, between 6 and 7 o'clock, he went frum his house to Devonshire-place, New-road, in a hired cab to visit a patient. Afterwards he found that he had left his silver snuff-b6x in the cab. The broken pieces produced were paits of it. The inscription on the inside of the /id and the crest on the outside hal been erased. Alderman Gabriel (to prisoner)—What have you now to say to the charge? Prisoner—l found it in the City about 8 o'clock in the morning f the day I was taken into custody. Alderman Gabriel—Do you still refuse to give your real name and address? Prisoner-=I don't like to give it because it might do me much harm. I know I did wrong is keeping the silver after I found it. A friend of the prisoner's came forward and stated his real name was William Nevitt, and that he resided in one of the streets leading out of Fitzroy-square. Alderman Gabriel remanded the prisoner for another week to enable the police to make further enquiries about him. ' RUSSIAN RAILWAYS. Recent financial advices from Russia furnish some interesting particulars. It is said the total of bullion in the fortress of St. Petersburg and at Mos cow exceeds 20,000,0001. On the other hand, the paper circulation is estimated at nes rly 120,000,0001. and the rate of exchange continues at a point that must involve great loss to all who have to make foreign payments. Practically, the currency is in convertible, since the Government allow only very small quantities to be exchanged for gold, although occasionally, when the depreciation, as measured by the rate of exchange, threatens to go on too rapidly they allow certain defined amoants to be shipped by the leading bankers. With regard to the grand railway scheme, of which, according to report, the English public may expect to hear more the mo ment they may be again disposed to get rid of their money upon auy invitation, the latest particulars are as follows :—The company have about 4,000 versts of line to construct in 10. years, at a cost of about 45,000,000 1 . Their first issue was about 12,500,000/. OF this they retained one-fourth for. Russia, on which 37A roubles was required as a first instalment on each share of 125 roubles. When the Government reduced the rate of interest on Bank deposits, on the Ist October last, from 4 per oent. to 3 per cent., the directors took the oppor tunity of offering 5 per cent. on all payments in full, and of this the shareholders readily availed themselves. At the present moment, therefore, about 96,000 out of the the 150,000 shares reserved for Russia have been entirely paid up. Of the shares issued in other countries only a small pro portio❑ have been paid in full. On the Warsaw line the road is finished for about 120 versts, and the distance has been performed in two hours and a-half. Only the Imperial family, however, have as yet travelled on it, the opening to the publio being delayed ns usual by all kinds of difficulties. It was now expected to take place in a few days. In the meantime two goods trains were being run daily, the receipts of which were about 1,0001. per week. The company have a numerous staff of French engineers at Moscow, and in the south, making surveys ; and the Russian engineers are alleged to bs very indignant at their being set aside. The pre/eut price at St. Petersburg of a share of 125 roubles is 3 premium, but in Poland they have been far from popular. The affairs of the Riga and Dunaburg Company are said to be making progress but slowly. The Government have accepted their caution money of about 100,0001. The concession is not yet signed, a multitude of obstacles being raised on trifling points, but which were expected soon to be adjusted. LECTURES AT TILE INNS OF COURT. The following is a prospectus of the lectures to be delivered during the ensuing educational term by the several Readers appointed by the Inns of Court : " CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LEGAL HISTORY. "The public lectures to be delivered by the Reader on Constitutional Law and Legal History will comprise the following subjects : "The Reign of George 11., the Progress of onr Juris prudence, the State Trials and Debates in Parliament. The Reader will thee trace the Origin and Progress of our Constitution through the Reigns of the Plantagenete, the Tudors, and the Stuarts. " In his private classes the Reader will follow the same course. "Books.—'Tindal or Benham's History of George the Second ;' Blackstone's Commentaries,' ley Kerr, ♦ols. 1 and 4 ; Register and Annual Register daring the Period ;' Parliamentary History,' Hallana's Constitutional History,' Statute Book,' Preface to Gilbert on Uses,'; by Sugden ; Bracton's Treatise,: Matthew Paris," Reeve's History of the English Law, Sullivan'. Lectures,'. Fortescue de Laudibus Legum Angliee' (Amos's edition), Millar'. History of the Con stitution,' Creasy on the Constitution.' _ _ " EQUITY. "The Reader on Equity proposes to deliver during the ensuing educationaf Term a course of nine lectures on. the" following sOjeeits "1. On the General .Principles adopted by Courts of Equity with reference 'to Trusts and to Equitable En cumbrances on Real and Personal Estate. " 2. On Notice and Registration. " 3. On the relief afforded in Equity against Penal ties and Forfeitures. " . 4. On the Nature of Legal Mortgages. "5. On the Equitable Rights and Remedies of Mort gagors and Mortgagees. " 6. On the Jurisdiction of the Court over Charities. " The Reader will continue with his senior and junior classes the general courses of equity already commenced. He will also continue in the senior class and commence in the junior to explain the leading rules of pleading equity from the work of Lord Redesdale. "The LAW OP REAL PROPERTY. " The Reader on the Law of Real Property proposes to deliver in the ensuing educational term a course of nine public lectures on the followin f, subjects :1-- "I. The Insolvency Acts so far as they affect the Law of Real Property. "2.' On Condiiioni of- Sale. " 3. A. comparison between the Old and New Law with respect to Wills. " 4. Thu Statutes let of Victoria, cap. 26, and 15th and Hai of - Victoria, cap. 24. "5. The decisions upon lase Statutes. "In his private classes thbiteader on the Law of Real Property will refer more particularly to the cases cited in Me Public lectures. He will also endeavour to go through a complete course of Real Property Law, using the work of Mr. Joshua Williams as a text-book. " JURISPRUDENCE AND THE CIVIL LAW. "The Reader on Jurisprudence and the Civil Law proposes to deliver • the course of the ensuing ednaational term nine public reCtures on the following übj ecti : "1. The Influence of certain Theories of the Roman Juri-coneults'on International Law, and the Existing Relations - of Sovereign States to each other. " 2. Crimes and Delicate. " 3. Ancient Codes : their Nature and Influence. " 4. The conception of Equity, and the Forms it has assumed in various system of Jurisprudence. "5. The development of the R o m an Law. " With his private class the Reader will proceed through the principal departments of Roman Law, using as his text book the Systema Juris Romani Hodie Usi.aci, Latin edition of Mackeldey (beginning at page 132). _ _ _ The Reader will endeavour to form a second class for the study of the Elements of Roman Law. This latt-r class is intend° i for gentlemen who have no previous acquaintance with the Roman jurisprudence. He will read the Institutes of Justinian, beginning at their commencement. "COMMON LAW. "The Reader on Common Law proposes to deliver during the ensuing educational term nine public lectures ; the first six of which will be on the Law of Contracts, and the three remaining lectures on the Law of Bail ments, as under : " THE LAW OF CONTRACTS• " Lecture I.—On Contracts generally ; their Nature and Classification. " Lecture 2.—On Special Contracts. "Lecture 3.-0 a Contractr between Landlord and Tenant, and Remedies incident thereto.l, " Lecture'4.—Ot Simple Contracts and - tlie In gredients in the Right of Action ex-Contraft. " Lecture 5 will he devoted to an inquiry respecting the Nature of Implied Promises. " Lecture 6.—A general view will in this lecture be taken of Mercantile Contracts and Remedies. " Ties LAW OH BAILMENTS. _ . " Lecture 7.—The Nature and Classification of Bailments, with especial reference to the case of ' Cogs v. Barnard.' Lord Raym, 909, will be considered. " Lectures 8 and 9 will be devoted to an examination of the Law applicable to various classes of Bailees, Common Carriers, Innkeepers, and others. " With his private class the Reader will consider the Law of cfontracts and of Bailments according to the plan above indicated, illiistilating the subjects treated of by reference to recent cased, and to the.folloving works Smith's Mercantile Law' (ed. by Dowdeswell), and Leading Cases' (4th ed.), Story on Bailments' (Ch ed.), Broom's Commentaries on the Common Law. " By order of the Council, RICHARD BETHELL, Chairman. "Council Chamber, Lincoln's-inn, Dec. 18." " The following are the days and hours for the delivery of the public lectures by the Readers appointed by the Inns of Court, and for the attendance of the private EV'UING, INTERESTING LETTER FROM (JJIINA. (Front the limes' Correspondent.) SHANGHAI, OCT. 17. BALANCE OF TRADE. The reader who may haply have followed me through my discussion of the opium trade will probably have long since forgotten that it came under our consideration silly as one article of import. If we have to pay 15,000,000 k for tea and silk, and deliver only 7,000,0001. in opium and 1,500,0001. in India cotton, and 2,000,0001. in British manufactures, we have 4,500,0001. still to make up. Of course, we try to do this as much as possible without putting our hands into our pockets. We buy rice at Siam, and, trying to place some of our goods there in return for it, we tran• ship it to Canton or to any other hungry and locust infested province, whereof China always has several. We go into the Straits and buy or barter sharks' fins and birds' nests, putchuck and cutch, buffalo horns and mother-of-pearl shells, and all such like Chinese delights, and we proffer them in part payment. But there is still a large margin to fill up. No wonder, then, that in the first three months of this year, 1857, we were obliged to export 7,639,000 doh. in silver, or that the drain has since been going on with undiminished strength. Moreover, we must remember that of the 8,500,0 0 01. which we take in opium and cotton from India, we can not pay for it all even by the thriving export trade to Calcutta, nor absorb quite all the balance in rent and in dividends upon East India stock. Some silver or gold must go there also. But another serious inconvenience arises from this payment for tea and silk in silver bullion. Silver is not an article which, like birds' nests, the Chinese can snake soup of, nor is it their custom to expend it greatly for articles of luxury. Their women wear bracelets and anklets of it, but the men prefer to gloat over it in the form of ingots. Now, according to laws from which even China cannot emancipate herself, it happens that as the rarity of an article of barter ceases so its commercial value di minishes. This is already taking place in China. Not only are the exchanges against us, but people who are paid their salaries here in silver find that the dollar, so dear to buy from England, is becoming daily less valuable in China. Some years ago a Carolus dollar could be bought at 4s. 2d. English money, and when you had thus bought it you could change it for 2,000 of the copper cash of the country. At the present day, partly by action of the exchanges, and partly because the people of the interior once had a superstitious confidence in the weight and purity of the Carolus dollar, and preferred it to any other medium of commerce as the only foreign coin they knew—just as some of our country people prefer the notes of a neighbouring bank to Bank of Eng land notes or sovereigns—a Carolus dollar costs us here 7s. English money. When you have suffered this loss by the exchange, another loss comes upon you when you exchange it into the only currency of the country. Instead of getting 2,000 cash for it you have great difficulty in getting 1,200. This second loss arises partly from the country people having got over their inordinate love of Carolus dollars, chiefly from the dimi nished value of silver, and in a small degree from the increased scarcity of copper cash. This scarcity of cash also arises from the diminished value of silver. Imme diately the relative value of silver and copper was dis turbed the Parsees found it profitable, notwithstanding the Chinese prohibition, to export the cash as metal. They are now working the same operations in gold— buying up all they can get and exporting it to India. Thus it happens that a man who has a fixed income from England, instead of getting s 2,ooo cash for every 4s. 2d., only gets 1,200 cash for every 75., a difference so enormous that it would be incredible if every table of offieial figures did not prove the fact. Strange to say that merchants here draw no conclu sions from these premises. Fortunately for himself, however, the merchant's optics are those of the lynx rather than those of the eagle. An extremely far. sighted commercial man must always run risk of bank ruptcy, for the most absolutely certain sequences are often the most uncertain in point of time. But as time is the essence of commerce, your farsighted merchant would be ruined while his certain sequence was still iu sight. They see prices going up enormously, and, with occa sional vibrations, still maintaining their advance. They look upon this as an unnatural state of things in the face of abundant silk seasons, and they refuse to buy. 'Un doubtedly they may thus temporarily reduce prices, for accumulated stocks must be sold ; but in the long run prices will continue to advance iu spite of them, until they reach a point at which competition will stop the price, or rather the sale of China silk, and price will check the consumption of China tea. This may not be so very fir distant, for, if my reasoning is correct, silver will become dearer in Europe just in proportion as it becomes cheaper in China. This tael of silver was for merly worth 2,000 copper cash, and is now only worth 1,100 ; but the Chinese producer reckons his expendi ttire and his returns only in copper cash. As silver becomes more plentiful its value in relation to copper cash goes on diminishing—it takes more silver every year to give to the peasant who grows silk or tea his reran nerating amount of the only currency he knows. If I am right in this position, then, our British mer chants in China must admit, what at present some of them are most unwilling and most careless to perceive, that it is vital to their wellbeing to attempt to push our manufactures into China. We may find a silver Cali fornia, but, putting miracle aside, I can see no other remedy for the present unsatisfactory state of things—no other means whereby the export of tea and silk can go on—except the sending of cottons and broadcloths and hardware and lace to China instead of bullion. REABON3 ALLEGED FOR THE PAUCITY OF BRITISH EirouTs. The reasons umally a leged are-1, that the Chinese are not easily induced to adopt foreign fashions ; 2, that- the Ching Ware a manufacturing people; 3, the dis turbances caused by' the rebellion ; 4, the exactions of the Chinese Custom-houses. All these difficulties exist, but they are individually much over-estimated, and they tare in the aggregate quite insufficient to account for the phenomenon. let, That the Chinese are not easily induced to adopt foreign fashions. This is true only to a very partial extent. You can't make a China woman wear a Cran bourne-street bonnet, nor a Coolie wear a pair of Stuart plaid trousers ; they are even so bigoted as to consider that their narrow cottons, 10 inches broad, are more conveniently made into their garments than your wide longcloths. Toey do not like your flimsy cottons ; I have seen them take them between their fists, and rub the dressing out. At Ningpo the Chinese can buy the ' best gray skirtings at sd. a-yard, and they yet prefer to pay 6d. -a-yard. for home-made cotton cloth not quite the it superior fineness of the English te xture ; width. But this is not because th e y are insensible they cannot afford to buy the home-made material. d The to an w home-ade cloth is of thrice the substance , The British il last cakeo is because 'a Chinaman for at least two years. between stones, would wear out in six weeks. D e p end upon it that a he ith Chinaman is of all human creatures t most a cheaper and ia washed in Chinese fashion, by b eatin g all matters of economy ; provide hi m better thing than he can make at home and buy nd he will it. But you must give him what he wants. If Yung c l A'Lung, the tailor of Canton, were t o send a cihr em ar to u w the Deputy-Lieutenants of England , that t he had sent to England rich man darin dresses much handsomer than the stiff clothes wh ich they wearon grand occasions, and inviting them to go to Court ala Yung Chinoise, we should scarcely think 'that Yung A'Lung had made a wise or profitable consig nment. A'Lung is not such a fool. He sends us cheap gold lace of the proper width and quality. Surely Manchester o r can produce a piece of strong thick cotton cloth 10 12 inches wide and put it down at Shanghai at less than 6d. a yard At this moment narro w thi c k calicoes , w hich one of the Hong Kong houses h a d the wit to order f rom Eng land, are selling at v er y re munerative prices. Tbere is also some trade doin g i n cotton brocades , m ade in imitation of the Chine se silk brocades, of the same flowered patte rn , an d dyed to the sa me colours. These are laid down a t Shanghai at 3i tads ; they there read i ly. f e tch • 5 taels ; and I a m told tlik the Chinese merchants find a ready market for them up-in the tea country at 13 taels. No doubt if the mandarins find this out there will be a tremendous squeeze upon the Chinaman's profit of 8 taele somewhere. But it is a mistake to suppose that the Chinese are not fondof Western fashions. In going through the house of the richest merchant in Ningpo I was surprised to notice that, except in the servants' rooms, there was not a bit of Ningpo furniture in the house. The furniture was all of Chinese manufacture, but it was of simple fashion, without a mandarin, or a dragon, or a piece of inlaid ivory about it. An English knife is a most acceptable present to a Chinaman, and a telescope is a treasure to covet through a life. He loves cherry brandy and de lights in champagne, and many a Shantung man comes out smart on New Year's-day in a camletcoat (of Chinese fashion) and brass buttons from Birmingham. But why insist upon a Chinaman changing his habits to become d shapeless. women, and your customer ? Every morning th roug h ou t th e Chinese empire there are 300,000,000 o f bl ue co tt on br e eches drawnwear them, h, n. es:e r They human arelegs. five different patterns and five diff erent s i zes all through the empire. My Coolie says that hi s cos t him 200 mad], children Th ere are alike note i but that he is obliged to have a thick quilted pair in the winter, which cost him 1,000 cash. Here is scope for Manchester energy ! 2. The Chinese are a manufacturing people—This is not true in the sense in which it is used. Of course, they obtain a produce by hand labour, and so did Adam when he delved and Eve when she spun. Bat in a competitive sense the Chinese have no manufactures. Their hand• loom is a miserable thing. Their shuttles pass to and fro at a very languid pace. They c an produce small re sults with great ingenuity. There IA a working weaver who imitates with wonderful art all our English ribands and fringes, and who is kept in constant employ by Eu ropean ladies to match English fabrics. English ladies who wear out their father's horses and carriages and the patience of politeshopmen in matching twopenny ribands f,r dear country friends would find him invaluable. But he could not produce 20 yards of silk at any reasonable price. China is not a manufacturing nation, whatever she may become when her intercourse with the West is perfect and her enormous coalfields opened. She has at present a happier destiny than the factory and the forge. " Bella gerent alii, sad to felix Austria nube." To manufacture is our necessity, to produce is China's privilege. Be it our humble task to work up her produce into fabrics; to supply local deficiencies in her favourite food, and to clothe with blue integuments the nether portions of her teeming people. This is the true interest of the two countries, and any little gentle compulsion tending thitherwards will be to theultimate good of both. 8. The disturbances caused by the rebellion. —This is a really important difficulty, and must be in some way removed. I hope our commercial men do not propose to themselves to postpone active business in China until the roads shall be macadamised, gaslights established in WESTMINSTER. DISGRACEFUL OUTRAGE AT ST. BARNABAS William Richardson, a shoemaker, was charged with beiug drunk and conducting himself in the following reprehensible manner : Frederick Weaver, porter at St. Barnabas Church, Pimlico, said that last evening the defendant came to the entrance of the sacred edifice and made a most dis graceful disturbance. At about 8 o'clock witness had reason to leave the door of the church for two or three minutes, and on his return found the defendant there intoxicated, declaring he would have satisfaction, and imputing to witness that he had robbed him. He used the most violent language, and threatened to give wit ist ss two inches of cold steel, and witness becoming alarmed sent for a policeman. Mr. Paynter—Was there service in the church at the time ? Witness—Yes, sir, and it was as much a. I could pos sibly do to prevent his rushing in amongst the congrega tion. He said if he could only get one or two more of the same mind as himself, he would go in. Mr. Paynter—Did he collect any people ? Witness—A mob of above 150, whom be endeavoured to excite in every way in his power. An engineer, who was entering the church at the time, proved that the defendant also abused him very grossly. He remained until the congregation dispersed, using, as the ladies left the place, the most disgusting language. Defendant, when asked what be bad to say to the charge, said he was thoroughly ashamed of himself. Mr. Paynter —And so you ought to be. This is not a common disturbance. I can make some allowance for the license people claim at holiday time, but this is too bad. I shall fine you 20e., or 14 days, and require you to enter into recoguizances for your future good be haviour. MARLBOROUGH-STREET. EXTENSIVE ROBBERY BY A GENTLEMAN'S COACHMAN. —James 111ackinder, a coachman in the service of Thos. Albert Gladstone, E. 1., of Gunnesbury, Middlesex, was placed at the bar before Mr. Beadon, charged with stealing the sum of 1301. in bank notes, the property of his master. The prosecutor deposed that the prisoner had been in his service for about seven weeks. On Wednesday, the 23d inst., understanding that a Mr. Fickling, a horse dealer, had a pair of bellies which would just suit him, to dispose of at Aldridge's, in St. Martin's-lane, he gave him 130/. in bank-notes, with directions to proceed there, and endeavour to purchase them at that price‘.. This was about 12 o'clock at noon, aod in the course of events the prisoner ought to have been home with the horses during the afternoon. The prisoner, however, never returned, but absconded with the money, and prosecutor saw no more of him till he was in custody. In reply to Mr. Beadon the prosecutor said he re ceived a very good character with the prisoner from his ooacbmaker to who'n he (prisoner) was well known. Police-constable 300 A, said from information be had received, he went I,st night to Langlsam's public-house, in Ca•tle-street, Leicester-square, and on entering the parlour saw the prisoner there. He accosted him by name, and requested him to come out, as he wanted to speak with him. The prisoner said his name was not Nlackinder. Witness told him it was no use his denying his name, and that he must consider himself in custody for stealing 1301. belonging to his master. The prisoner, who was in liquor, laughed and said he only stepped it with some money his master had given him to purchase horse- with. Witness subsequently searched him, and found 301 in notes, and 191. 10i. in gold upon him. John Pickling, horse-dealer, Norfolk , yard, Bayswater, proved that, on the 23d inst., he had a pair of horses for sale at Aldridge's, St. Martin's-lane. He saw the pri soner there, who told him he was authorised to purchase them by his master for 1301. The horses were, how ever, bought in ; but at a subsequent period of the day, the prisoner offered him 1351. for them, shich he agreed to take. The prisoner said he had got the money to pay for them, and would meet him in about half-an-hour and give him the amount. The prisoner never returned, and he saw no more of him till this morning. The prisoner, in defence, said he got very drunk and lost all the money. Committed for trial. IVIALCIK.L?T' NE Ws. (This Day.) ___.,.._ HAY MARKETS. SurrHFlELD.—Meadow hay, 2/ 10s to 41 Os; clover, 3/ 10s to 51 ss; and straw, 1/ 63 to 1/ lOs per load. A slow trade. CUMBERLAND. —Meadow hay, 2/ lOs to 4/ Os; clover, 3/ lOs to 51 Os ; and• straw, 1/ 5s to 1/ lOs per load. Trade steady. WHITECEIAPEL.—Meadow hay, 2/ 10s to 41 Os ; clover, 31 104 to 5/ 5s ; and straw, 11 5s to 1/ 10s per look'. Supply good, and trade dull. COLONIAL. The foreign and colonial produce markets are now closed for the Christmas holidays, but reopen on Tuesday, the sth January. Privately a few transactions have been entered into, and previous rates have in most instances been supported. TEA. —A disposition has been shown to operate in Com. mon Congou at 121, but sellers have not come forward. SuGih.—There have been some inquiries for colonial descriptions, at about former rates, bat only a small quantity has been sold at fully former values. COFFEE --The market is quiet for all descriptions, with •nd change whatever to report in prices. RICE —There are few sellers for cash, at rather lower rates ; only small lots, 'however,- have been sold. prices Rum—No business whatever his been done, and are quit. nominal. SALTPETRE—There have been a few inquiries for he finer descriptions, but no sales were reported , and prs are unaltered. TALLow—The market is steady. P.Y.C., on the spot, 53s • January to March, 535; And March only, 53s 6 a p er cwt. LLOYD'S SHIPPING.—(Tiis pay.) LONDON, Dac. 29.—Wind this day at noon, N•Vir.; light breeze and fine, but hazy. COWES, Dec. 28: L. -Wind calm. —Arrived—Mirage, from London, for St. Michael's; Amelia Maria, Sunderland, for Calcutta. (BY ELECTRIO TELEGRAPH.) SOUTEIAMPTO2I, Tuesday Morning. Thick fog, and calm. Arrived- Dorothy, from Newcastle ; William, packet, Sunderland ; elcl 9 ; Dispatch, stean:!er,,,TersaY- Floraretbatner;toublin ; Havre, steanadt; ifivie; J. and S. Martin, Dunkirk. Sailed—Wonder, steamer, for Jersey ; Alliance, steamer, for Havre ; Argyll, steamer, Carenton ; Alhambra, steamer, for Gibraltar. LIVERPOOL, Tuesday Morning. Wind S.W. Arrived—Abeons, Macelo , Pomona, Bonny, Calpe, screw steamer, Scilly, Queely, and Miss Nightingale, from St. Michael's ; City of the Sultan, Maceio ; Ranger, Antigua. Off—Marino, from Charleston. (BY SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAM) GRAVESEND, Tuesday Morning. Wind W.S.W. ; tide four hours' flood ; hazy. Arrived, Dec. 28 —Henrietta Sophia, from Dantsio ; Regent, Elsinore. Arrived, Dec. 29 —Mow°, steamer, Bremen; Swanley, Jamaica; Zwei Zosters, from Bremen. Sailed, Doe. 28—Nonpareil, for St. Miohaers; Ferdi nand, Rochfori, United States. Sailed; Dec. 29. -Premier, for Bombay ; Salamanca, Kurrachee ; California, Bombay; Blenheim, Madras. De4a , , Tuesday, 9 a.m. classes : "The Reader on Constitutional Law and Legal His tory, at Lincoln's-inn Hall. Public lectures, Wednesday, 2 p.m. First Lecture, the 20th Jan. Private lectures, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at half-past 9 to half-past 11 a.m. First class meets on the 21st January. Classes meet in the Benchers' Reading-room. - " The Reader on Equity, at Lincoln's-inn Hall, Pub lic lectures, Teuracia% , at 2 p.m., first lecture, Jan. 21. Private lectures, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at a quarter-past 3 and a quarter-past 4 p.m. First class meets on the 22d Jan. Classes meet in the Benchers' reading-room. "The Reader on the Law of Real Properly, &c., at Gray's-inn Hall. Public lectures, Fridays, at 2 p.m. ; first lecture, Jan. 15. Private lectures, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at a quarter to 12 a.m. to a quarter to 2 p.m. ; first class meets on Jan. 18. Classes meet in the North Library. THE OUTWARD Picsrussurssit MAIL.—The Peninsular "The Reader on Jurisprudence and Civil Law, at and Oriental Comphny's steam ship Alhambra, Captain the Middle Temple-hall. Public lectures, Tuesdays, J. K. Joy, left Southampton yesterday with the usual iat 2 p.m. ; -first lecture on Jan. 19. Private classes, Peninsular mail, twenty passengers, 14,9401. in specie, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, at a quarter to and a lull cargo; 4 p.m. ; first class meets on Jan. 21. Classes meet Two SAILORS SUFVOCATED —INQUEST.—An inquest at 4, Garden-court, Temple. was held yesterday on the bodies of Robt. Hunt, 18, and "The Reader on Common Law, at the Inner Robt. Buchanan, 19. The deceased were part of the Temple-hall. Public lectures, Mondays, at 2 p.m. ; crew of the Duke of Queensberry brig, of Hull, lying in first lecture, Jan. 18. Private classes, Tuesdays, the Pool Cut, Poplar. On Tuesday night they slept in Thursdays, and Saturdays, from class a meets r eets on o Jan .12 a.m. the "roundhouse 'on board the brig, a place about 16 to a quarter to 2 p.m. ; :firstl9. feet long, 14 feet wide, and 6 feet high. They were Classes meet at the Inner Temple-hall. blind dead in their berths by the captain the next morn- "Note.— The educational term commences on Jan. 'in g, Th e s kylight was sh ut down, and there was a pan, 11, and ends on March 30. in sv . hich coals had been burnt, close by them. The cap- " The first meeting of each private class will take tain said he bad no doubt that they had been outfooated place on the usual morning or evening of meeting next after the first public lecture on the same subject.' by the coal vapour. Verdict accordingly. Wind calm ; very thick and hazy. The:ship Glenmatna, from Sunderland, for Bombay, has been assisted clear of the Breaks Sand and anchored, hav ing slipped an anchor and chain, which will be restored to the ship. Anchored - Epsom, for Hong Kong ; and Rose, for Genoa—both from London. Passed- Paris and London (s.s.), from Paris, for Lon don. DEXEMBER 29, iBNI every city, and rural police walk up and dewnethe banks of every canal. China, always has been and always mutt be a country of frequent revolutions, secret societies, and powerful robbers. In all for-Der times, whenever some great event lights up for a moment the historic gloom in which the common people live and suffer, we find all these influences strongly working. Chinese so ciety then comes out like that of a drop of stagnant water seen through a micro Tope. Water lions are de vouring the smaller ugly things, which in their turn are feeding upon the still smaller fry, and thus downwards to infinity. In 1224 years China, so famed in the West for the solidity of her institutions, has undergone 15 changes of dynasty. So ancient is this curse of turmoil tnat the oldest known vase, attributed by Chi nese writers to a period long before the birth of Christ, bears upon it as an inscription an aspiration for " Ten thousand years' rest from violence and troubles." The founder of the Ming dynasty in 1368 was a servant at a Buddhist monastery, who joined a vagrant band of ma rauders. Whenever anything occurs of historic import. ance we always find that some bandit had a hand in it. The land was always full of them. When the Tartars possessed themselves of China one of these bandit chiefs had just possessed himself of Pekin, and the last of the Ming race had just hung himself. In 1635 the interior contained eight separate rebel armies, each wish its leader, its set of grievances, and its appetite for plunder. It was a pirate who drove the Dutch out of Formosa ; the son of a "celebrated pirate" who helped the Can tonese to defend their city against the Tartars ; and it is a pirate who the other day destroyed the Portuguese piratical fleet at Ningpo. In all ages and at all times China has been coasted by pirates and traversed by bands of robbers. When I was at Ningpo I used to watch these house less vagabonds. There was a large colony of them always located in a huge ruinous square tower over the Salt Gate. In early morning I used to sit upon one of the two guns of Ningpo and look through the broken walls upon the filthy scenes within that tower. There was always a store of stolen dogs tied up, and one of these was killed for the morning meal. Then they sepa rated for the day, to return at what hour of night I know not, for I took care not to make one of that party after dark. There was no police to keep them in order ; but, probably, if tbeir depredations • had become quite insuf ferehle the Taoutai would have called out a certain num ber of soldiers and exterminated them, or the tradesmen would have banded together and destroyed them. In such a country the merchant must make up his mind to run some risk ; but still this rebellion is some thing more than a normal element of Chinese society. It is not a general insecurity It is a positive stoppage. It is an aneurism in the great artery of China. It is a stoppage of the Yang-tae-kiang. It the rebels bad taken Pekin and changed the dy nasty it had been a matter of no importance to us. It they had taken Kwangtung we might have treated with them. But they have located themselves in a position where they can do us nothing but positive mischief. They do not move. They neither grow into a power, nor sink into a rabble. So far as appearances show, the siege of Nankin may last for 10 years longer. The rumour of to-day is contradicted by the not more certain intelli• gence of to-morrow. Nothing is certain, except that so long as the people inside can get food, and so long as the army outside get their pay, nothing will be done. But something must be done in the interest of com merce. All the British Navy could ride in that deep wide river which rolls by Nankin. There are two convenient islands there—the Gold and Silver Islands—which might be garrisoned by the treaty Powers for the protection of neutral vessels until these troubles are over, and the pre sence of a couple of steamers, such as the Inflexible and the Fury, with a gunboat or two, to act as runners higher up, would not be too great a price to pay for se curity upon the great trunk road of China. I don't think there would be any objection urged at Pekin against this course, and as to the rebels, Mr. Medhurst, who is now in England, and who made some reports to the Govern ment on the subject, can tell you if he pleases, what manner of men they are, and what title they have to our sympathies. 4. The fourth and most emphatic reason given for the very gradual increase in the sale of British produce is the large protective duties levied at the Custom-houses. I came out to China strongly imbued with the convic tion, so universal in England, that the inland Custom houses shut in our British produce within a narrow area of coast country. I found the same belief prevalent in Hong Kong and shared by our English officials. Mr. Rutherford Alcock, who in 1843 made some inquiries in reference to these inland or transit duties as. they bear upon the commerce of Shanghai, could only discover that they were constantly alleged as a sense of delay and difficulty in bringing the produce to that port, and that they had been found a serious impe diment to the ready circulation of our goods beyond Soochow, so much eo that the tea merchant would at once get zid of the longcloths he had taken in exchange, and incur a loss of 20 or 30 per cent., rather than incur the delay, trouble, and risk of endeavouring to ca:ry them with bins into the interior. "In truth," he re marks, " the port of Shanghai is only open to trade so far as the inner cordon of Custom-houses are permeable and allow ingress to our goods." No doubt the Custom-houses of Hangchow, known as the Tehein Swan, aid of Soochow, two of the largest trading cities in the empire, are so placed as to be capaele of intercepting nearly the whole of the imports and exports of Shanghai, with the exception of silk, upon which are accumulated on its arrival at that port tee triple duties of the Talkie the Taeping, and the Kan Custom-houses. This is the chain it would have had to pass bad its destination been Canton ; and the triple duties are consolidated at Shanghai in order that the barbarians may gain nettling by having a new ship ping port nearer to the raw produce. This arrangement was in accordance with the edict published in toe Pekin Gazette in September, 1844 : "The amount of fixed duties to be sent to the capital by the Canton maritime • Custom-house was 899,064 taels ; and besides a surplus of about 1,000 to 40,000 taels. However, since now the trade will be carried on at the other four ports, the receipts at Canton will fall short of that sum, and therefore Foochow and the other ports must, after having realized their respective quotas, make up the deficit at Canton. But inasmach as the trade of Shanghai was for the last six months 14,990,0001., and as Shanghai alone now hturns to the Chinese treasury more than two miilious of taels, all difficulty on tnis score has ceased. Again, the edict of 1844 provides tha.— " The duty on raw silk, now fixed at ten taels per picul, is less than it was formerly, and the five ports being now open merchants will go with this article to the nearest market. But they must make up the loss of the transit duties, which otherwise would have been paid if they had proceeded to Canton in whatsoever port they sell their cargo." I have now examined the four reasons usually given in England for the unsatisfactory condition of our export trade to China. They whose interest in the subject or whose great patience has enabled them to accompany roe in this investigation, will, I hope, agree in my conclu sion that these causes are insufficient to account for the effect in the magnitude in which we tee them. I now proceed to point out some other causes which, I think, exercise a more important influence. I must divide these reasons also into four classes. 1. Teat we are beaten by fair competition in the Chinese markets. 2. Ignorance of British manufacturers as to the requirements of China. 2. That British exports are an unpopular branch of commerce with British mer chants. 4. That the country is not open to our merchan. disc. Three of these reasons will, I fear, not be popular either in England or in China. I must defend them as shortly as I can in the order in which I have propounded them. Ist. You are beaten by fair competition in the Chi nsee markets. The Americans beat you in drills and sheetings. Ai Shanghai, in 1856, the imports were 221,716 pieces o, American drills, against 8,745 English ; and 14,420 of American sheetings, against 1,240 English. The reason given for this is, that in these heavy goods the labour is in small proportion to the cast of the raw material, and the producer of the raw material must have the advan tage. This may be so; I only chronicle the fact that we are beaten by fair competition. In woollen goods you sustain a close rivalry with the Germans and Russians. At Hongkong itself I found the table-covers were almost universally of German manufac ture. At Ningpo I examined a g reat many pieces of cloth of different manufactures. There was a low quality cloth of Leeds manufacture, which was 1,437 cash, or about Bs., a-yard ; a Saxony superfine , also of low q ualit y and also of Leeds manufacture, 1,767 cash, or about 108. 6J., a-yard. These were a yard and a half wide. There was a narrower English cloth of better quality and substance (extra superfine) which was 2,965 cash, or about 18s., a-yard. But there was also a strong thick Russian cloth, which was two yards wide (wanting two inchei.), and which was sold fur 2,216 cash, or 134. 6d. a-yard. The Russian, therefore, taking the width into consideration, was about 3s. a-yard dearer than the worst of the English, about the same as the English second best, and not much more than one-half the price of the best English quality. The Chinaman prefers the best English, but he cannot afford it, and buys it in small quantities. Next that he prefers the Russian, for it is stout and serviceab le, and he says in his native idiom, although it " hairs " roughens, easier than the best English, it does not do so so soon as the interior English articles. The great bulk of the cloth sold to the Chinese, therefore, is Rus sian. If we are undersold it is of no use t o cr y out ; there is an end of the matter. If Leeds cannot send thick ser viceable cloth to China cheaper than Russia can, and if Manchester cannot make cotton cloth of a given quality cheaper than the old woman at the door of a Chinese cottage can, we may as well shut up shop. Manchester and Leads ought not to be beaten in any. of these matters and that they are is I believe simply the result of igno rance at home of Chinese wants and habits. 2. This brings me to my second heading, which I think, after the instances given in this paper, I need not now labour. No doubt there are men in China who have a knowledge of the Manchester trade, and who can calculate fur you how much the experiment would cost of setting up a few looms to spin narrow widths. 3. Intimately connected with the last is my third proposition, that British exports are an unpopular branch of commerce with British merchants in China. Mr. Consul Thom, in a report addressed to Sir John Davis in 1846, explains the working of the barter trade in China, He says : " It will be necessary to remind your Excellency that in our immense transactions at Shanghai there are two prices known—viz. the cash price and the barter price. The British merchant on bartering his cottons and his woollens gets a higher nominal price for them than he would get were he to sell them at the cash price of the day. On the other band, the teaman or silkman just adds an equivalent accretion to the price of his silk or tea, and so the account is balanced. "Thus, if a manufacturer were to ship a parcel of Brig tish goods to Shanghai, with instructions that his re turns be made in hills, the utmost that be can expect is that his agent shall sell his goods at the cash prie.. But A. B.'s account of sales of goods sold for cash would be very different from his neighbour C which had been bartered. The particulars I am now detailing are not well understood in England, and when such a circum stance happens it generally causes an unpleasant corres pondence bet ween. the constituent at home and the agent out here." aria perfectly aware that the British marefaeurere, when the four poste were first opened, established hotesee in China for the sole purpose of extending the sale of their produce, and that these houses did not pay. The profits come from tea, silk, and opium. The houses that have this business in their hands have also, greatly, the British exports in their hands. The British export trade will not maintain mercantile houses. But it would pay for travelling agents acting in immediate connexion with the home manufacturers, who should keep their principals at home well informed, and who should work their operations through the established houses here. After what I have said, you mast not wonder to hear some of the wealthiest men of China say that we are going on very well as we are—that the demands for free intercourse are unjust and impolitic—and that the ut most we want is one or two more ports and an embassy at Pekin. Such is not the opinion of the great body of the mercantile community. But it is the opinion of men who will be much listened to in England. 4, But the chief and all-sufficient reason why we are not doing what we ought to do in China is, that China is not open to our merchandise. Of course there is a Spitalfields hall sort of feeling in China, as elsewhere • and official persons, being all in China of the good old Tory school, set their faces against foreign goods, We have been told of Chinamen stating they were ready to take shiploads of Manchester goods if they could only be protected from the interference of their own mandarins. But this is a very minor consideration. The authori ties in China are strong against an individual, but utterly powerless against a popular feeling. China in this respect is the most democratic country in the world ; witness the growth of the poppy, the difficulty of raising new taxes, the immediate do venial, of an unpopular efficen and the utter failure of the Emperor and all his oewers at Pekin to free into circulation his debased 10-casis piece. The evil is, teat go ode are net breught under the eyes of the Celuatnen of the interior ci ice A Ceinarnan is the incarnation of what some people in England would call common sense. He has no prsje dices of any kind, patriotic, religions, or sentimental. He has a strong clannish family eelti-hnese, and that is all, You have nothing, therefore, to do but to cenvp.ce him that you have that to sell which it would snit him to have, and that you can sell it at a lower price than he can get it at elsewhere. . Convince the . people of this, and all the mandarins in China will not stop your sales. At present, however, you are only unon the outer fringe of the great Chinese Empire. Y>u might have made more of your sphere of action than you have made, but you are nut trading with China. All our ports, except Shanghai, are separated from the inland waters of Cnina by a chain of mountains. IS continuation of the Himalayas, at a much lower altitude tracks the whole coast line of China at some distance from theses, and passes out at the Archipelago of Chusan. Inside those mountains lies the bulk of the Empire of China—outside lie our trading ports. The seaboard provinces extending southwards from Ningpo to Canton are thus isolated from the interior, and from the great inland routes of traffic by this barrier or mountains, Over these mountains goods transmitted from the interior to any of these ports must be carried. Even in passing from Ningpo to Hangchow there must be two transshipments of goods. Amoy and Foochow have the same position. Canton labours under the same disadvantages. Every piece of merchandise brought down from or carried up to the interior, must be carried for 20 miles over a chain of mountains, and carried on men's backs. But, then, Canton has been fostered by its mono poly of intercourse, a race of carrying coolies has grown into existence, and the difficulties are reduced to their minimum. If some strong and unreasoning power were to declare that Southend should be the only port in the British Islands where commerce should be carried on, no doubt Southend would have a still longer pier, and docks would be dug, and a harbour would he made, and Southend would cease to be the uninteresting spot it now is. Canton bas been a Southend with its suggested monopoly. Amoy, Foochow, and Ningpo are Southends without any monopoly. There is a way of getting behind these hills and into the central districts of the empire—a way wherein the merchant may travel without toil or danger ; where no robbers can assail him at a vantage ; where secret imposts cannot spoil his markets—a way which extends up to the furthest limits of the empire, and whence convenient and innumerable ways branch forth, reaching to every hamlet of this great central region. The gate at which we must enter China is the mouth of the Yang-tee-Kiang. Give us entrance there, in our own shits, in our own steamers, and we can deposit our goods in every great city of the interior of China. Let us start from Shanghai, and make an imaginary voyage up this river. With the exception of M. Hue, no European has ever yet sailed upon its higher waters, or has, indeed, been much above Nankin. M. flue has added nothing to our knowledge for commercial pur poses ; but I have obtained access to some reports of Chinese, who traverse the whole distance frequently with commercial oblate, and I may be able to tell something more of this river than is known to Englishmen. Having threaded cosr way through the shadows at the mouth, we are in the largest, the deepest. and the most abundant river in the world. We pass fur 200 miles through the rich province (.1 Kiaugsn, passing town- and anchorages less a ell known to ships of war. We will not now linger as Chekiang, or even at Naiik for these great cities are now nothing more than the seared and wasted strongholds of a piratical power. All that was beautiful in the southern capital of China—even the famous porcelain pagoda—has been wantonly de stroyed. Shut in from the land by the Imperialist be siegers, the rebels maintain themselves by plunderingthe rich country up and down the banks of the river, and the Imperialists are scarcely less burdensome to the country behind their camp. Commerce has fled from these parts. All we can ask of these plunderers is to let us pass in peace. Hitherto we have been in a tidal river. Hencefor ward, although we must still reckon its width by miles and its depth by tens of fathoms, our merchandise-laden steamer must be content to labour against an unchang ing stream. We traverse tine rich and thickly-peopled province of Anhui, and in our voyage of two hundred miles through that province we find, besides a constant succession of towns, two first-class cities at which we may tarry awhile to display our merchandise and lighten our cargo. Now we reach the provinces of Hupeh and Ronan, the former on the north, the latter on the south bank. This Is the country of the finest teas. It is here that the Oopak teas are grown, which, by an unnatural route, are forced down to Canton, being borne on men's backs across the mountains instead of sent deftly down the stream of the great river whose banks produce them. Here are lakes, and broad streams running into them, and networks of canals connecting theta. But, more than this, here, just at this spot, is the confluence of the Yang-tse with the great river Han, which is itself banked with large cities and heavy with commerce. At this confluence we have a congregation of enor mous cities—Wuchung on the one bank, and Hannan opposite, with immense suburbs extending far away. The population of these cities is diffe rently estimated at 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 souls ; but, what is of still greater importance, these two cities are undoubtedly the first great emporia of Chinese com merce. Here is a market which may set all Manchester spinning, all Leeds weaving, all Sheffield grinding, and all Nottingham throwing, if we only have on board samples of what these Celestials desiderata. It might be worth while, if they are shy of our new goods, to anchor a depot ship in the broad deep waters,—for we are told there are five miles of river from shore to shore —and accustom them to the sight of luxuries and ne cessaries which they may exchange for their cheap and abundant first class teas. Surely it would be better thus to get rid of them than to send them down the Yuen river to the Tungting lake, than by the capital city of Changteh, up the Siang river to the Ching dis trict, across the mountain on men's backs to Loh-chang, and then down the northern river to Fatshan and Canton, for such is the present route. What charges must accumulate upon English goods that should try to come up the lung devious route by which these teas de-cond. We are only half way yet along our voyage. The river leads us through the whole province of Hupeh ; and why should we nut do a little business at the great cities of Kingchow and Tebang, the walls of which we must pass? To this city of Tchang juuks of 300 tons burden ascend in great numbers, and the water is still deep, though the bottom is rocky void dangerous. A little higher up than Tchang we arrive at the town of Kwei. We are now 900 miles from the mouth of the Yang-tse, and here for the present our steamer mug be content to stop, for here for the first time we meet with rapids. When the summer sun has melted the snows of Central Asia the trading junks shoot down the falls, and, empty of cargo, they can be forced up them. But if ever we are to pursue an unbroken voyage be yond this point John Chinaman must add one other to his present innumerable canals, and English engineers must teach him the secret of constructing locks. It will not do, however, to be stopped by these rapids. The whole basin of the Yang-tse is one vast coal field. From Nankin to Sz'chuen we have no difficulty in obtaining the means of locomotion. There are markets higher up, and thither, in a steamer to be put together above the falls, we must go. Let us suppose this—no great labour for us Anglo-Saxons—to have been accom plished. The stream is still deep and navigable. It is crowded with junks, as M. Hue will testify. Kwei was just upon the boundary line between Sz'chuen and Hupeh, and Sz'ohuan is the last province of China. Be yond that are the snows of Thibot and the swamps of Burmah. Sz'chuen is the finest province in all China. " You never see an ill-dressed man from Sz'chueo," says the Chinese proverb. "It grows more grain in one year than it can consume in ten," says another native authority, addicted, I fear, to exaggeration. This pro. vince appears to produce everything ; more silk than any other province, more and better wax and to bacco, grass-cloth of the finest quality, tea of the coarsest, grain in such quantities that the supplies act upon the distant market of Hangchow. Moreover, the cAmate is variable, extremely hot and cold, just suited for our woollens. My Chinese authority asserts that they penetrate there now even through the diffi culties of the transit horn Canton ; and he says (I suspect with some exaggeration), that one-half Of the long ells and shirtings landed at Canton find their tedious way over the hills and up the rivers to Sz'ohuen. We must go up, therefore, above the Kwei falls, and must pursue our voyage till we reach the confluence of the Yang-tae with the Kialing, a river which cornea , down from the north. At this confluence steeds the great ci y Chuug-king, the second great commercial einporiniu of (Thies. My authority states that under the wall. o thi , ,; city of Chung-king the lusty young Yangtzu ie already as broad as the Canton river in front of the dear departed factories, and very deep and very rapid. You way go furthar if you rime, for there is the Western Soochow and all the laud of poppy-bearing Yunnan higher up. Put the stream grows rocky, and savages from Tbib et and Burinah make the way dang , rons. We arc getting to the vicst;.ru boendare . of Ci.ira. Proper. We have Jene our work. We have "opeeed up the country?' So here we will turn our steamer's head—Znail we call her the - Yang-tae?—and rase sveitly back, t ,- ,wing our junk loads of tea and silk and wax, and satisfied, I hope, with our i ipecolative voyage. I have said nothing of consuls or consular establishments. Tire merchants appear to incline to the opinion that they do not want them, and are better without them. They say that Swatow and Woochow are growing into im portance without consular protection, and that the want is not felt. I differ a little here. If you do not want consuls to protect, you want them to restrain. We must not allow a vagabond European population to run riot is the internal cities of China, or we shall change the peaceful character .of the people. Wuchang raid Chung-king might, however, well maintain each a consul or consular agent with extended jurisdiction, and this would be ample for a commencement. A. drove the carrying yinmgaitread so e at one of many consul may be a great nuiqance. A fussy consul, not now p ort i s n out of ou China, petty difficulties that the Chinamen wrote and down the up the coast not to charter British ships. We must haven() elutes of the Circumlocution-office in the Yang -t ae , As I hare brought our voyage so I must bring this paper to a close, for the subject is so vast that fresh fields open upon me more rapidly than the past have been tra versed. Surely you can work out for yourselves the tri butaries of the Yang-the and the Grand-Canal-pierced provinces of the north and the canals of the interior. B ra d-h a .'s railway map is a blank -beet compared with these. I have spoken already of the advantages of the northern coast wh 3111 3 -kin may be reached from the sea. Give us free acctss to China ; protect us in the exercise of our privileges until the Chinese are become acetic tome i ta ux aryl u ch•ntand us, and fix our duty pay. meuts firmly aid explicitly, and everything else will follow. The , great piracy oitfieul y on the coast will find its own solution, kr the coaltieils will be °penal, and sore screw steam compa y will get possession of the coasting trade. The Custom-house euebear will disappear, for the goods will be put down at the door of the cus tomer. Teas and like will be bought cheaper, for differ ent districts will be made to compete when we buy direct from the producer ; and British manufacture, with moderate energy and enterprise, will take a fair start. I ought to say something. of the trade with Thibet from India, but it is a lung matter, and I have not cou rage to ask attention to it. Dr. Campbell, the superin tendent of Darjeeling, who I hope has escaped these recent dangers, understands this subject thoroughly, and should be heard upon it before our treaty terms are setthei. Such are the facts and opinions .I have been able to gather upon the British import trade into China. The subject is too vast to be fully treated in these columns. If I have wearied he public by saying so much, I am dissatisfied myself at having left so much unsaid. Many topics press upon me as I resolutely close the paper. Let me only add that all dealing with the interior of China is impossible unless your agents speak the language of the people, as I have done. LANDING OF TEE FILIBUSTERS IN NICABAGUA. We learn by the arrival at New York of the mail steamer Star of the West, that on the 25th of Nov. " General" Walker landed with 200 men on the coast of Nicaragua, in defiance of the United States sloop of war Saratoga, which was at hand, but the commander of which, Captain Chatard, did not think proper to interfere. The filibusters were conveyed from Mobile in the small st'amer Fashion which Walker had hired for that purpose. On nearing Grey town a thick mist hid the land for somo time, upon which the Fashion slowed a little, when Walker wished the captain to quicken his speed, but suddenly the fog lifted, and the place was in full view, the Saratoga lying at anchor in the har bour. Walker exhibited considerable nervousness at the sight, and requested Captain Chatard to run in towards the mouth of the Colorado river, about 12 miles to the eastward of Punta Arenas, in ordor to land a portion of the men. The boats which were brought out for the purpose ware launched, and some 45 men getting into them, under the com mand of Col. Frank Anderson, one of the original 56 of the first Nicaragua invasion, they shoved off and made their way up the river, into San Juan. The Fashion then i an up, and landed the main part of the force, about 140 men, on Punta Arenas. They took possession of some half-dozen fishing huts, as also the Louses of Mr. Craig and Mr. Bur• den, a pilot, in which they were quartered. The stores were lauded and put under cover on Captain Scott's premises. There were lour small boats about Scott's shipyard, which Walker had taken p,,ssession. of. Tue day the Fashion had hft for Aspinwall, Walker had sent one of these boats up the river San Juan, to endeavour to intercept the Costa Rican mail boat, said to have on boatd. 5,000 dots. in money. Walker planted two of his " lone star" flags over the buildings ne occupied in Punta Arenas on lauding. He landed six field piece•, and the men were daily drilling, each one with his rifle. When Lockridge abandoned the river last March, he delivered over to the com mander of the British frigate Cossack about three hundred stand of arms, which were deposited with Captain Scott, on Punta Arenas, for safe keeping. These arms were still there when Walker landed, so that if he wanted them he undoubtedly appro priated them. As soon as it was ascertained that the filibusters were coming into port, the people of Greytown sent a boat up - he river to . Costa Rica, and also to warn the steamers and forts, but as the first detachment of Walker's party was already on its way into the river, by the Colorado, when he landed at Punta Arenas, it is not unlikely that these despatches wera intercepted. In case they were not the news must have reached San Jose de Costa Rica, by way of the Serapiqui River, about the 30th of Nov. The inhabitants of Greytown were greatly alarmed for the safety of their property, and on the first opportunity many removed their goods to Aspin wall. At that port the Fashion, on her arrival, was overhauled by Commodore Paulding, but her papers were found to be correct. The Aspinwall correspondent of the New York Times says:—" I am assured by an officer of the British steamship Dee that the Fashion was seen by the officers of the Saratoga the day beforo off the harbour; that there was ample time while she was coming in for the Saratoga to have hove her to with a swivel from one of her boats, and to have boarded her before she got in. Besidrs, Walker was two whole days landing men, provisions, and munitions of war by the boats of the steamer,while lying directly under the galls of the sloop-of-war. When the Dee came into the harbour, Capt. Chat ard requested her master to anchor inside of the Saratoga, so that she might not be between his guns and the Fashion, but he took no steps against the landing of either men or stores. Capt. Walcott, of the Dee, knowing that there was considerable British property in Greytown, on the other side of Punta Arenas, asked Capt. Chatard if he would protect the town against Walker, if he should at tempt to lay it under contribution, to which ho replied that he could give no assurances to that effect—that his ordot a were very general in their nature—that what he did he must do on his own personal responsibility, and as he was dependent upon his profession for the support of a large family, he was not disposed either to run the risk of incurring the displeasure of his government by his interference with matters on shore, or to lay himself liaole, personally, to suits on the part of the filibus ers or the merchants of Groytown. So, as no guarantee could be got, and there was no British man-of-war in port, some of the merchants shipped the more valuable por ioa of their goods to this place. The Dee brought away about 120 large packages, which she landed here to-day." On the afternoon of the 3d, the United States' frigate Wabash, bearing the broad pennant of Com modore Paulding, sailed from Aspinwall for San Juan, followed on the afternoon of the 4th by H. B M. ship-of-the-line Brunswick, and steamer I,,opard. They will probably blockade the har bour of San Juan, and at the same time station a force to prevent Walker's passing up the river. The United States steamer Fulton was at Boca del Toro on the 2d, but would be ordered to San Juan. Advices had been received from the forts on the San Juan to the 28th ult. San Carlos was idec s uac t rts i yata l blockaded by Gen. Cauty, in the steam er S an Carlos, oh w noe i l t d l 1 at s ifh o eomfnewanipi.om twids, a about or a eu s ts c e k l d. one-halfAbbyo 2ufitsto4fooNor g ß u i a oa n u s 's Panama Provisions Star, e very o scarce. The 3d of December, the following despach f rom C aptain Walcott, the West India Mail steamer Dee General Walker has lauded at Greytown. On the 24th Nov. a small steamer, called the Fas hion, appeared off the port ; it did not attempt to enter, but ran down to the Colorado River, where Walker landed 50 men. On the following day she came into Grey town at full speed, with only 10 men on deck, ran alongside a hulk, and before the boats of the U.S. ' sloop Saratoga could board her Walker and his party,eapt. Chatard,amt o un of ti . ng to 150 men, landed at Mr.Soott's. the Saratoga, ordered them away from premises,theerty belonging h t a e k e T n r a n G s r it y to Companywn . and t h e prop under his protection. He also informed Walker that he will not allow any depredations to be com mitted in either Edam", ~,,;,, f L