The Express.
London, England, 1860-12-21 00:00:00

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teeesd-hand etaeotortaa, by the nellt ealesed makers, at
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Paper, wed be at the Mace, 10, Bottreste-etreet, by Two
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LONDON, FRIDAY, DEC. 21.

Tits confirmation of the St. Petersburg tele-
gram of gaturday last has not waited for our own
overland mail from China. The Russian Govern-
ment appears to have now received the actual
despatches from Pekin of which the news just
mentioned was an anticipation, and with them is •
letter from Lord Eton himself, addressed to the
British Minister at St. Petersburg. Lord &our,
writing on the Bth of November, states that the
Treaty with China had been ratified and pub-
lished. The instrument referred to can be no
other than the Treaty of Tientsin, the ratification
of which Mr. BaceE went to obtain last
year, and which has already been ratified on the
part of our Government. We are still left in
ignorance of the terms of the new convention, in-
cluding the amount of the indemnity. The French,
according to the Moisitnir, are to have more than
two millions sterling towards their war expenses,
and appear to have got besides material for as many
adaptations in China of the drama of the " Holy
" Places " as exhibited at Constantinople in
1853, as it may suit them to make use of. It
seems to have been forgotten that it was the claim
of foreigners to interfere in China in matters of
religion that a century ago drove the most tolerant
of eastern governments, under which Christianity
was thriving rapidly, to a general expulsion of mis-
sionaries and the persecution of thousands of their
converts as allies of the enemies of the state.
Lord Eton makes no mention in his letter of
the prisoners. The omission will be variously in-
terpreted. We take it as a sign that he did not
regard as conclusive the reports which had doubt-
less reached him. Had he believed that he had
grounds for making a positive statement respecting
the prisoners he would hardly have failed to trans-
mit one because of its unfavourable character. Ge-
neral lortarnerr, the Russian Minister at the
Court el Pekin, indeed sends a categoric state-
ment respecting
,three English and three French
prisoners " merincred" by the Chinese, two of
the former being Mr. Di NORMAN and Captain
ANDIRSON, of whose death we were informed
twelve days ago, while the third is the correspon-
dent of the Times, and we cannot but admit that
his report seriously diminishes the ground for
hoping for Mr. Bowise's restoration to his friends.
Still, we may point out that the date of the Gene-
ral's despatch is not known, and that unless it
is later than that of Lord ELGIN'S letter our
Ambassador's reserve, which must have had a
reason, may be set against the belief of the
Minister of another nation, more especially as we
are unacquainted with the evidence on which
General linirierr has drawn up his report. In
a few days—perhaps a few hours—we shall
know the whole truth, and in the interval
of agonising suspense the friends and colleagues
of Mr. BOWLRY will have the earnest sympathy of
every Englishman.
Lord Eton states that he was indebted to
General IGNATIRVI for the manner in which that
Minister had promoted the object of his negotia-
tions. The probability that the Minister of Russia
had lent a band in obtaining a settlement of our
quarrel with China has been suggested in many
quarters, and the interest of the Russians in post-
poning the threatened break-up of the dominions
of the Chinese EMPRRON is sufficiently obvious.
The CZAR counts with reason on the heritage of
that " sick man." Every thoughtless blow which
a Western European Power deals at Pekin does
his work. By his important and rapidly growing
settlements at the mouth of the Amoor he may be
said to be always on the spot. Hie ie no
DolitY of passion. He simiies the character
and profits by the weakness of his neighbours,
from whom be has within these six years filched a
whole province without striking a blow. Still he
does not want to have too much on his hands at
once ; and there can be no question that the
next expedition we send to China will find him
much better prepared than he is now to profit by
that general disintegration of the Celestial Empire
which it seems the fate of England to hasten on,
but by which she can never profit. The two
Powers which, starting at a disadvantage, have in
a short time made good their footing in China, by
placing their relations with the Government on the
basis of common interests, an America and Ramie,
neither of which has wasted a shilling in war ex-
penses in Chinese waters. President BUCHANAN
says in his Miminge of the 4th inst. :—" The
" friendly and peaceful policy pursued by the
" Government of the United States towards the
" Empire of China has produced the most satis-
" factory results. The Treaty of Tientsin of the
" 18th June, 1858, has been faithfully observed
"by the Chinese authorities." Thu Pannier
goes on to state that the claims of American citi-
zens, aa adjusted in the supplementary conven-
tion, had been liquidated by the Chinese Govern-
ment to the amount of 700,000 dollars, and that
the United States Minister to China, while re-
rosining neutral, had ever been ready, in conjunc-
tion with the Russian Minister, to employ his
go.,d Minus in restoring peace. We presume that
if the Americans, instead of pursuing their real
intereste in China, had been above all things
anxious to demonstrate their power—if they had
advocated the maxim that you can get no
justice from the Government of that coun-
try except by brute force, and if they had
accustomed themselves to value every concession
and st.pulation obtained just in proportion as
it was offensive to the ether side, they, too, in-
stead i,[ having to speak of the fidelity of the
Chinese to their engagements, would be by this
time inyotently lamenting the incurable pen-
dime ii,.• of that people. In 157,7 Count Pot.
Ticr.,.l, !hen linpenal Itieisum Commissioner to
.• ..bed to tie. cione, Government for
levee .:•n to go to Perish, and ass refused. It