The Express.
London, England, 1847-07-22 00:00:00

CHINA.

CANTON, MAY 23.—The Emperor's reply to
Keying's desp►tches intimating the collision with the
British at Canton and its lasidia has been published in the
CAina Mail. It is as faipiirs:_

iieitan-reOsty;d tL. a dd iidliestion presented tom by Key-
ing, Ishesditi west on dm Mb day et die Mt mum the English
mantlismk. wilt a mem at ssillima. molamly entered the proviu-
cdal Awe. Assa•ig r ar of ee viseroy, the sad
merchants alligal that tbsk eldest mis Is the Walt. they
had remiumikain kepi& er Me ; they ales desire
rantsmniens mom Ms ;pm* ; halides
• Estietobsd reoamt to a pieties artimprodmsktsty.
fear seslatilimenteryematheamid hrlipme• how Immtakrably
mils mill saw thateNmeeildisdyemerad maw, oltk
midkra; It Immaselliele brass soar coennienee
Gem
mil gnaw sassrdidity. • Mumlam howmer, they have some
NOM kr big 1111 swims I. imkr th• dly do* in itself
thinks maim st imparlemm The mid Mehoy =dila eel-
lempasimast set he dlssmaselmi at whit has bappmed. ear must
=Milk the hest rime. hesetot ameemmidlah lath dm MAI and
Gems as supyrU sad ast r-
mit the Wilma at any amps it Yon as lie mim. dape the
gene Mowry het are mthai. Sayler mid Swims Onsmad the
same u s pmfaiments Mrs isms who want abersad whisks
delmseeit the prim hot he mart dame op all thetas
caw to So bawd Mpantimmets. altar theissibte kr
again prevent a skilemmt. lhtsmaet temei eOO le (about Ile miles
per day. Ouirdiemil la he be hams. Ikapast this.
The most important LaMar, of Ude document is pointed
out by the editor of the Mail.—the evidence it contains,
that Keying had the moral courage to relate truthfully the
events which had occurred, and that the Emperor (or his
ministers), although his pride has obviously received a shock,
' sufficiently appreciates Keying's merits to retain him in
office, although he has been unfortunate. It is to be hoped
that these indications of character, so creditable to both par-
ties, so important in enabling us to estimate aright the men
with whom we have to deal, will not be overlooked either
by the British government or their agents in China.
The proceedings of the local authorities at Canton seem
also to indicate • desire on their part to fulfil honestly the
conditions of the treaty imposed upon them, so far as the
turbulent character of the people they govern, and the ina-
dequate force at their disposal to maintain order, would
permit. Tho agreement between Sir John Davis
and the Canton authorities embraced seven arti-
cles :-1. The opening of the city of Canton to British
subjects, after two years, from the 6th of April. 2. The
liberty to British subjects to roam for amusement and exer-
cise in the neighbouring country, as at Shanghai. 3. The
punishment of the eggressots on the two seamen in October,
and on Col. Chesney and others, at Fuhshan, in March. 4.
Space for dwellings and warehouses to be leased to British

merchants on the Honan side of the river. 6. Space a for
church to be granted in the neighbourhood of the factories,
and for cemeteries fn Whampoe. 6. A flying bridge to be
erected between the two gardens, and no sheds to be per-
mitted against the walls. 7. The river front before the far,
twin to be kept clear of boats. The first article of course
must remain in abeyance for two years. An edict fur
the enforcement of the second was segued on the 13th of
April. A despatch from Keying, dated the 2nd of Mgy.
and received at Hong-Kong on the 6th, intimates the
punishment of the parties who had attacked the sailors.
With regard to the sheds against the walls (article 6),
Hog-lane had been cleared by order of the Chines
authorities, and notwithstanding considerable excitement
among the rabble the order was steadily enforced. Nieto.
tiatioua were in progress for the purchase of houses in Hog-
lane and Old China-street, with a view to erect a church on
their site. With the cemeteries at Whampoa no difficulty
was anticipated. The moat delicate point was lensing of
ground for warehouses and dwellings on the south side of the
river.
To this article no illusion is made in the royal rescript
above quoted, and it is obviously, in the words of the Chins;
Mail, " • point which, without great prudence and for-
bearance on the part both of the Chinese and English, seems
not unlikely to lead to trouble." Keying having indicated
an eligible piece of ground on the Honan shore, Mr. Pope
was sent on the part of the English on the 15th of May to
survey and stake off ground at a place called Chau.tandsui.
The landholders were unwilling to let the ground, and
fearing that compul,ory means would be u,cd to
make them do it, delegates assembled on the 17th
from all the villages of Henan, in the college of
Shwang-ehau to the number of several thousands, and
agreed upon iletter to be presented to Mr. Macgregor. Their
memorial is well and temperately drawn. It represents
1. That the English have already enough of ground at the
thirteen factories and in Hong-bong ; that the ground at
Florian in entirely occupied for tillage or fish-poncla, or ances-
tral sacrifices, sad that widows and orphans have their
annuities secured on it. 2. That it is against the faith of
treaties to rely upon the strength of governors, prefects, and
magistrates, to compel the people of Henan to elk nate
ground which they require for their own use. 3. That it
is unwise in the English who come to China to make for.
tunes to provoke strife by thus irritating the people. 4.
That the scholars and elders who have drawn up the memo-
rial can bear witness to the intense excitement which exists
among the people. The memorial was prose .ted on the
20th by about 150 elders of Henan—venerable old men,
dressed in their robes of state—to Mr. Macgregor, oho
declined to receive it. On the 22nd a resolution was adopted
to petition Keying. His reply was in these words :
toreigners are permitted, awarding to the treaty, to root hours
and ground for erecting butidlage, In all the emporiums where they
carry on trade. The Eoglish are 111.1111desiroua to rent at a Ligh rate
those houses and toil ground. Since this is in wan donee cab the
treaty, I faro deputed a high officer to manage Ws affair proaerly.
and to endeavour to see twit justice be done to both parties. The
gentry need not entertain any mispieion, but wait until our utUcer bas
managed it.
While these negotiations were in progress, the more hot-
headed of the country population and government officers,
and the rabble of the town, were endeavouring to precipi.
tate a collision. Early in April, Yeung, prefect of Sing.hiug
fu, a district in the province of Canton, came to the city with
2,000 men, urging the authorities to allow him to raise the
people en :oases against the English, but was refused. The
Canton correspondent of the China Mail writes, on the Bth
May, that Yeung had returned to Canton, and in vain re-
newed his attempts to induce Keying to allow him to act
against the English. Failing in this,_ he privately endea-
voured to get up an expedition against Hong-Kong. An at-
tempt was made while one of the numerous meetings of the
natives relative to the Henan affair was being held in
Canton, on the 20th of May, to set fire to some new build-
ings connected with the factories. Our local correepondeut
thus desci Pies the attempt of which he was an eye-witness:
The meeting was Said within a short distance of the factories;
great excitement prevailcd, and the street, were crowded with Idl
thieves and blackguards. About half-past 2 p.morkile the fleeting ass
still in deliberation, my attention win attracted be an °mend
disturbance and clamour of many voices among the boat repute's/.
At no great distance from my own dwelling I perceived a number of
Chinamen busily engaged placmg mats against boat houses recently
erected with the consent of the public auCtordies. Immediately after-
ward., a light was brought, and in a few minutes the tints were in •
blaze, which speedily ignited the piles of which the hos.liouois us
constructed. Many natives were in the immediate vicinity of the
Vet where this took place, but not one of them etireed bawl nr foot
to arrest the progress of the incendiaries, or to eltlngiu.h the ars
when kindled. The consul soon arrived, and a party of the Inth. Its of
Irish won extinguished the dames. The wind blew directly towards
the factories; the houses ate at this season all matted over, on x.
count of the great heat. But for the promptitude of the cousul and
the soldiers, the factories must inevitably have been wan in a blaze, and
the house of the United States' minister would have been first ignited.
The lloog Coolies—our own servants—refused to lend any assistance.

The Pluto was stationed off the factories, and the Scout
ordered to move up as near to Canton as possible. A fresh
supply of ammunition was forwarded to the troops there.
In this unsettled state of affairs, of course commerce is para-
lysed. Our Canton correspondent writes on the 23rd of My:
Imports are positively without price. The mental men continue to
withhold their cash from the Shrills; and even opium is drag:ing at
625 dollars, is only kept at that rate by nem holders, and must
immediately decline. Freights continue 61. to London; Exchange,
do.; six months' bills and Company's accepted, have been quoted st
212 rupees per 108 dollar..
The China Mail of the 24th speaks to much the same
purport : is of opinion, however, that other elements are in
play :
Tejo matter to gyrating at pnreat in keeping up irritation and a
feeling of uocertainty moot injurious t r trade; but the present dull.
Deal may to no email degree be attributed to other causes. The gene-
ral lull at this season has this year been Increased by • prostration of
native credit, in consequence of the halides among the !longs;
one of the oldest ot which lunching) has followed ekes
upon those of Foo.the and Aming. The debts in the pre-
sent inetanee arc said to amount to seven lahks of dollars,
partly arising from old lases, and partly from Lto.ching's forced coo-
, tribudon to the Canton indemnity money in 1811, which was almost
entirely squeezed out of the Hoeg merchants—a mode of paying the
claim which has e, tooled the trade of the city ever since, and Bias
probably mused more damage to foreign commerce than the value of
the payment to Great Britain. Many of the wealthy tioog, have
slice withdrawn from busineca leaving it in the hands of a few
smaller traders, who have been speculating far beyond their mesas
We are assured that the native failures in four months have been to
the amount of three millions of dollars, while the uggrejate aiietsdo

NlNol.o.—The Overland Register (Hong-Kong) pub-
lishes a letter from Ningpo of ith May, intimating teat the
schooner, Young Hebe, had gone ashore in the Bay of Hang-
chow-fee during a spring tide, and that the sands wire dry
for miles around her. " The captain has writtea to Ningpo,
expreating a fear that the Chinese are preparing to attack
him. The consul has in consequence despatched an officer
to the spot, to call on the native authorities to protect him."
SitaNahat.—The latest accounts received at Hong Kong
from Shanghai were to the 29th of April. They were brought
by the Antelope and the Torrington, each of which made the
passage in five days, and that at a season when unfavourable
winds are expected. The commercial news brought by those
vessels wits favourable. Both brought a considerable quantity
of cotton, which cost 12 dollars per piccul on board,—a prim
it was feared too high for the Canton market. A Shanghai
correspondent of the Hong-Kong Register wrote by this sp•
portunity, respecting the building by foreigners
You would be astonished to see the city rising at Shanstal. Is
fact I can only compare it to another Hong-Kong. You see sat ire
but bricks, mortar, ma'am, carpenters, and tape lines from morning
to night. A church and several new private buildings are on the
p.iot of commencement. Roads are being made, and good mintsa.
hal bridges thrown over the ditches and mauls that cross their hom—
e/id all this in the centre of Mos.
Mr. Alcock, the British consul, intimated on April 13,
that a liberal arrangement had been concluded with the
Tacutee for the remission of duties on unsaleable goods
which it might be necessary to re-ship. " it will be seen,"
says Mr. Alcack, " that sittually all the advantages of s
' bonded warehouse' are now permaneatly secured; the
necessity of advancing the duties iu the first instance will
probably be held to be more than couriterbalancod by the
privilege retained of storing goods in the merchants go-
down, free of all extra rent and rxpeose, and the nsk sod
trouble that might attend the lodging of goods irkspubls
storehouse, under the joint custody of British and Chmese.
The British merchant intending to re-ship to a port not
within the Chinese dominions, must intimate the following
particulars to the British consul, and so the consul's com-
municating them to the Taentae, that officer will, on the:
being found correct, give the necessary directions to the
custom-house.
The nature, quality, and quantity of goods. The name of kip it
which they were imported. The numbers and marks of packages a
which they were imported. Amount of duties paid upon them. The
place where, and tee date when, payment woo mute. The male of
vessel in ,lush they are to be re-shipped. The part for 'Ouch Ms
clears out Ho will farther make declaration that such Oahe, basis,
or package, have not been opened since they car e into his poems"
and are in every respect the same as when they passed We Calms

custom-house.
The English residents had already introduced the salient!
sport of horse.racing. The Chinese correspondent of Oa
Ghana Mail at Shanghai thus speaks of the first " come of:
At the late English races, the natives of the soil were permitted le
stand outside the race-course and bok on. If any one tniaarreiwa
the Undo, kind word. were used to induce them to to off. and tPri
were not violently driven away. Thu is a just mode of procerdAll
and much to be commended.
Peel:.—The China Mail frequently devotes a column to
news from the l'ekin Gazette, and this is not the lest
interesting feature of that ably conducted journal. From
this source we learn that Keying and the peace parr! a"
stall in the ascendant at court. On the recommeudation
cf
Keying great honours hare recently been conferred on each
of his friend' as were either directly concerned in negolialtat
the peace at Nankin, or present at the restoration of Chula.
Lin, however, the head of the war party, has again come for-
ward with recommendation! of many officers for Preferment
This it is remarked is a proof that his credit at court is mill
strong, as he would not make such suggestions without eau'
hope of their being adopted " a refusal is tantamount to
degradation." " Various rumours are abroad of a desperate
struggle for power now going on. That there is some md'
In it nobody in the least degree aoqusinted with Moms ut-
Woes will doubt." Serious riots have taken plea shoat
the land-tax in the province of Pe-che-le. la case
!pence of a bad harvest the farmers petitioned for delay
in collecting the tax, and, this having been refuel,
organised an insurrection and forced the government to mot
to terms. The taxes have been remitted in the province or
Kokoner, which has been wasted by war ; and the samba'
been done (very reluctantly) in some districts of }smite"'
Abuses have been detected in the conreyance of rice to the
metropolis; this, with the numbers of Mongol and ;Veatchis
!
dependents and " royal relations," whom the court b"
feed, is a serious affair. The Pekin Gazette has of late :41.0
remarkably uncommunicative: u if afraid to let the in.
habitants of any one province know hew disobedient those
of other provinces were, and with how much impunity.

ACCIDENT ON VIE LONDON AND NORTIOVESTERN
RAILWAT.—On Tuesday afternoon as a passenger (Ilia
from London arrived neer the Tring Station, the engin
driver, it is stated through not regar..ing the signal cannon-
ing him of danger, ran into a luggage-train which was on
the line. The coming in train was a very long one, and the
shock of course very great. Many of the passeng It
er!,
seems, were severe bruised, but nothing of a more senow
nature occurred.

trbt Court.
The royal dinner party at Osborne, on Tuesday
, consisted of Prince Waldemar of Prussia, Chen-
&wee' Prince Lowenstein, Lord Adolphus Fitaclarenee,
de iner, Sir Charles Nar Count Oriole, and
Bett4
coat (Ruben. pie
The band of the Raid Marines attended
isneg "ler*
Yeeterday morning, at ten o'clock, Prince Waldemar
pispis took lesve of the Queen and Prince Albert, and
wharlted IA the Fairy for Oorport. His royal was
vontunied by the Chevalier Bunsen, and Prince Lowen-
assi,. old wu attended by Baron de Lana, Count Oriole,
sad Count Groeben.
Her Majesty and the Court will leave Osborne this
waning st half-past 9, in the Fairy royal yacht, for Gosport,
ea ~,,is to London. per special train on the South-Western
may. The Court returns to Osborne on Saturday, and
ur.cede thence (not from Woolwich) in a few days after
outland.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at
Thaey-house, Stelae lcy-pnarh, yesterday morning from Kew,
tleraetittitoouseh inCitureaftUernowoalrfOrTtohdr roy"ghnc""

A depatstion on the Valencia Harbour had an in-
'or with Lord Jahn Russell Testerstay—The Colonial
Biatiop of Newcastle hod an interview with Earl Grey yes-
terday at the Colonial.office.—Lord Redesdale had an inter-
view with the lt,ght lion. Edward Strutt yesterday, at the
ago the Commissioners of Railways, in Great George-
Mitt.
A number of the Cabinet Ministers attended the
ministerial white bait binner ye.terday at Greenwich.
rn! PSOROGATION.—Last evening a supplement
th• Loden Ga:ette wan published containing the follow-
ing" All peeresses, on announcing their intention of being
on the cocasion of the prorogation of parliament, will
6S. places reserved for them in the House of Lords, if the
antmincement be made at the Lord Great Chamberlain's
offer before See o'clock on Thursday, the 22nd lust. (to-day).
peen' eldest sons, wishing to be present at tha prorogation,
.0 have tickets for the peers' eldest sons' boo forwarded to
them, upon a written or personal application at the offiee.
leo grangers can be admitted on the day of the prorogation,
'inept by a ticket from the lord Great Chamberlain's office.
Th. doers will be opened at twelve o'clock.