The Press.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

THE CHINESE WAR.

THE official papers connected with the late proceed-
ings at Canton have been published. The substance
of the greater part of the papers is known already.
Those despatches expressing the opinion of the
Home Government upon the proceedings are only
given in part.
On the 10th December, 1850, Lord Clarendon
writes to Sir J. Bowring

I have consulted the law officer of the Crown on this
matter, and I have now to state to you that 1 em of
opinion that, this act of the Chinese authorities constitutes
au infraction of Article IX. of the Supplementary Treaty.
The only possible defence open to them appears to be,
that the Arrow was not "an English merchant ship "
within the true intent and meaning of the treaty; but
Article XVII., Rule 1, in Supplementary Treaty, recognises
and includes this particular class of vessel ; she had a
British master, British colours, and papers ; and even if
her licence had been improperly granted in August, 11364,
this was a matter of British internal regulation, and to be
dealt with by the British authorities.
Lord Clarendon then maintains that it was the duty
of the Chinese authorities to have communicated
with the British Consul before seizing the men ;
that the accidental absence of the master of the
lorcha did not affect the question of the nationality
of the vessel ; that the depositions of three of the

150

crew annexed proved that the British flag was flying
at the time of the seizure ; and that, as the expira-
tion of the Arrow's sailing licence on September :27,
previous to her seizure, did not appear to have been
known to the Chinese authorities [a point of British
regulation], it would not justify seizure by the Chinese.
In conclusion. Lord Clarendon observes somewhat
doubtfully :
I have only to add, that T conclude you will have caused
a strict inquiry to be made into the circumstances con•
nected with the grant of the licence to the lorcha in the
year .1 tisl.

Lord Clarendon, it also appears, entirely approves
of the part Admiral Seymour took in the destruction
of the forts of Canton, for Mr. Hammond, the Secre-
tary to Lord Clarendon, writes to the Secretary of
the Admiralty on Jan. 10

I am to request that you will acquaint the Lords Com•
missiouers of the Admiralty that Lord Clarendon is of
opinion that the admiral's conduct should be entirely ap•
proved, and more especially the judgment, firmness, and
moderation with which h• has acted, and the respect
which he has shown for the lives and properties of the
Chinese people.
On the 10th of January Lord Clarendon wrote to
Sir J. Bowing :

I have received your despatch of the •23rd of Oct. last,
with a report of the operations in the Canton river; and
I have to acquaint you that her Majesty's Government en-
tirely approves the course which has been adopted by
Rear• Admiral Sir Michael Seymour and yourself; and I
have to iretruct you also to convey to Mr. Parkes a similar
approval of his conduct.
Count do Courcy, the French representative,
expresses to Sir John Bowring his "moral adhe-
sion " to the course taken by the British authorities,
and his recognition of the fact that our common
interests direct us towards the revision of our
treaties with China.

The depositions of the master and two seamen
point distinctly to the fact that the colours were
flying, and that they were hauled down by the
Chinese officials. Mr. Kennedy, the master, who was
on board the Dart, a vessel lying close by, says:—
I was silting on the deck of the Dart, when I saw two
Chinese boats, each haying mandarins on board in uniform,
and about twenty seamen besides the officers; in all there
might be about sixty men. A little after I saw the boats
pass, the captain of the Chusan lorcha, who was also
on board the Dart, remarked to me that these mandarin
boats were Ding alongside my lorcha. I answered,
" They are probably sending some passengers to Hong
Kong-" As we were looking on, I saw one of the mandarin
seamen, who had a badge on his Lt.( ast and another on
his back, and a uniform cap on his head, haul down the
English ensign from the wizen gaff'. I immediately after-
wards saw the blue Peter, which was flying at the foremost
bead, hauled down.

John Leach, one of the crew of the Dart, corrobo-
rates Mr. Kennedy's statement. Chin-a sing, one
of the crew of the Arrow, details the whole affair
very clearly. It is worthy of note, that the Chinese
authorities appear to have used no violence or inti-
midation :

Early on the morning of the Bth October three or four
Chinese war-boats, called " towmangs," left, their anchor-
age at the Dutch Folly, and dropped down the river'
passing close to our lorcha the Arrow. One of them I
SW come to nn anchor not far below us, and she imme-
diately sent away two pulling boats, which pulled up to .
the lorcha and boarded us. There might have been
eighteen or twenty men in each boat ; they were all dressed
in uniform—a few only were armed ; two of them, I no-
ticed, had swords. There was one mandarin in one boat
and three mandarins in the other. All four mandarins
boarded the lorcha, and were followed by their men, and
another person who pointed out to the mandarin an old
man, one of our crew, who was known among us both by
the surname Le and the surname Leang The mandarins
ordered their men to seize and bind this old man, and then
addressing themselves to the crew told us to be quiet, as
they did not wish to hurt us. Immediately afterwards,
however, they said they should require us to go with them,
and we were ordered into the boats. At the same time
this order was given I heard the mandarin who wore the
crystal button cry nut. "'Phis is not a foreign lorcha, for
there is no foreigner in command; haul down her ensign."
Several of us assured the mandarin that we had a Euro-
pean captain. I saw one of the soldiers, in obedience to
the command of the mandarin, haul down the ensign,
which was flying at the time on the mizenmast, and which
he flung on the deck without unreetfing it from the hal-
yards. As the crew were being passed into the boat, our
captain came on board. 1 heard him demand of the
officers what they were doing with his vessel, and I heard
him cry our, "Who hauled down the flag ?" Some of us
replied, "The mandarins ;" on which he ran aft and
hoisted it again. The mandarins said they did not believe
he was the captain, and immediately went into their boats
and pushed off, taking with them eleven of our crew, besides
the old man Le, and leaving only myself and Leang-a-
yang on board. Ohl Le leokeil much alarmed. We heard
it then stated fir the first time that he was the father of
Le-a-kuer, a pirate.

Leang-a-yung, on being examined by the consul,
deposed to the same facts as China-sing. He dis-
tinctly saw the tlag hauled down by one of the
soldiers. He and another man were busily engaged
in a sampan unmooring the lorcha at the moment
when the mandarins boarded.

TIIE PRESS.

4.lroctcbings Zn radiainent.

HOUSE OF LORDS..--MONDAY.
COURTS OF RECONCILIATION.

Lord BROUGHAM laid on the table a bill for the
establishment of courts of proceeding in the nature
of reconciliation. lie said ho had added to the
clauses of the bill providing for that object others,
to prevent, if possible, or at any rate to lessen, a
great grievance, arising f:otn the power which any
person not worth a farthing had of instituting an
action against any respectable person, and putting
him to the expense of VOL or 3001. costs; and,
when the person so sued obtains a verdict, be finds
the plaintiff penniless, and, moreover, that he has
gone to take the benefit of the Insolvent Act.
The hill was read a first time.
CHINA AND THE PRINCIPALITIES.

Lord LYNDHURST asked Lord Clarendon whether
he had any objection to produce a copy of the Colo.
nial Ordinance imder which a register had been
granted to the Chinese lorcha, the Arrow, together
with a copy of the register itself? He also called
attention to a recent article in the Moniteur, and
wished to ask whether the Divans which were to
meet in the Danubian principalities were to consider
the propriety of uniting those two provinces?
The Earl of CLARENDON replied that there could
be no objection to produce the Colonial Ordinance
referred to, but in respect to the register itself there
was this difficulty—that it was not the custom to
send home copies of such documents. With regard
to the other question put by the noble lord, he had
seen the article in the Moniteur with some surprise,
but there was certainly no bar to the discussion by
the Divans of a proposition for the union of the
Danubian principalities. Under the circumstances
he would rather not discuss the question :

At the present moment I shall refrain from entering
into any discussion on the subject, or from saying how far
I agree in the opinions expressed by my noble and learned
friend ; but I do feel surprised, because there was an un•
derstanding come to between the representatives of the
great powere• at the Congress of Paris, that until the
Divans hail met, until the people of the Principalities bad
been consulted, until the report of the commissioners had
been received, and the Congress had met to consider it,
no one of those powers would do anything to influence
opinion in the Principalities, or elsewhere, upon that par-
ticular question.

The Earl of DEM3Y returned to the question of
the lorcha Arrow, and to the conduct of Sir John
Bowring, and pressed for the production of the com-
munications which passed between Sir J. Bowring
and the Chinese Government in 1854 and 1835, and
which do not appear in the papers already printed ;
and also any instructions issued to the superinten-
dent by the Home Government since 1849 connected
with the pressing of the English claim to admission
into Canton.

A lesultory discussion then ensued, in the course
of which Lord Clarendon promised to produce the
papers specified by Lon' Derby, and that portion of
his letter to Sir J. Dowring expressing approval of
the late operations requested by the Earl of Ellen-
borough. Lord Clarendon declined to produce any
of the opinions of the law officers of the Crown upon
the legality of the seizure of the Arrow.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY.
THE BUDGET.-THE ESTIMATES.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER announced
that the Navy Estimates would be laid upon the
table of the house on Tuesday, and the Army Esti
mates on Wednesday, and that he would make his
financial statement on Friday.