The Express.
London, England, 1857-03-04 00:00:00

TO OUR SUBSCRIBERS.

IN consequence of the absorption of space by the
reports of proceedings in Parliament, the Proprietors
have determined to issue a DOUBLE NUMBER
on SATURDAYS, so as to prevent the postpone-
ment of interesting matter. No change will take
place in tho price. The FOURTH DOUBLE
NUMBER of the EXPRESS will appear on
SATURDAY NEXT, Marsh 7.

MR. COBDEN'S first resolution hoe been adopted
by a majority of 263 to 247. We accept this de-
cision. The overwhelming preponderance of reason
and eloquence on the side of jw-ticv and humanity
would have amply compensated for a smaller me.
jurity. The first stage of this discussion has now
11 closed. The time for criticising past mismanage-
Iment is over ; the time to struggle for future repa-
ration has come.

An argument—if it can be so called—that ap-
pears to hare much weight with the apologists of
the bombardment of Canton is, that hai big begun

we must go on. As they enounce the proposition it
in morally monstrous; but there is a vague notion or
sentiment at the bottom of it that in not unworthy
of attention. What they would say, if they under-
stood clearly their own meaning, is nearly as follows :
—" The conduct of our Plenipotentiary in China in
that of a man who is either weak or wicked,
or both. The bombardment of Canton is a

crime—and more than that, it is a blunder.
But its effect has been to rouse in the
spirits of the Chinese a thirst for revenge, which
will infallibly lead them—if indeed it has not done
so already—to outstep all limits of allowable
retaliation. We cannot leave our countrymen
in China—who arc no parties to Sir JOHN DOW-
RING'S blunder—to suffer from this state of
affairs. We cannot abandon them to the venge-
ance of the Chinese." This is true; but it does not
follow that the only way to extricate our country-
men from their perilous situation is to persist in the
injustice and impoliey which placed them in it. A
more logical inference from the premises is that it is
the duty of the English Government to adopt such •
course of action as will ensure the rescue of our
countrymen in China by means consistent with
justice and humanity.
This is the question to which Government, the
Legislature, and the general public ought to direct
their attention, without loss of time. The character
of what has been done in China has been sufficiently
discussed; what we have now to consider is, what
ought to be done next. There is not a moment to
lose. Hesitation, inaction on the part of Government,
will allow the horrors which are already being enacted
in the Canton river to increase in magnitude and
inveteracy. And no English Government, after the
five nights' debate in the House of Commons, will
dare to pursue unaltered the policy of Sir Joux
DOWDING. D. is for Government to determine
what is to be done. It is for Parliament to ineld
upon knowing what the determination of Govern-
ment is, in order that it may be able to decide whe-
ther that determination deserves to receive its
sanction.

It is not for us to improvise a scheme of policy in
such difficult circumstances ; yet we may be allowed

to indicate some

which ought to have

weight with Government in deciding on the coarse it
is to pursue, and with the Legislature in deciding
whether it can sanction the course pursued by
Government.

The first of these considerations relates to the per-
ions who are to act for England in China. In this
inquiry Mr. Consul PARKES may be left out of the
question. The brusquerie of his letters to TER cer-
tainly did harm, but that evil might easily have
been counteracted had he been kept in his proper
place. Mr. PARKES—it is obvious from his whole
career since he was first appointed to Foo-chow-foo--
is a gentleman who stands ou exceedingly good terms
with himself, but who possesses talent, energy,
and information. Ile would, in short, be a
awful instrument in the hands of a man who
knew how to manage him. The responsibility for
what has happened at Canton lies not with Mr.
PARKES, but between Admiral SEYMOUR and Sir
JOHN BOMRING. What the amount of the Ad-
miral's responsibility may be it is impossible to way
until his instructions are produced, and Government
ought to be compelled to produce them. But unless
the instructions hare been of an utterly nnprece-

dented kind, it will be impossible to acquit Admiral
SEYMOUR of, at the least, undue predpitancy. It is
true that there are cases in which an Admiral may
be called upon to strike a blow at once;
but it is clear that the affair at Canton was not
one of these. Until he interfervd, there was no
danger either to the lives or to the property of the
English at Canton. The question at issue there wee
one which might with perfect safety have been re-
ferred to the decision of the Home Government, and
I ought to have been referred before such an extreme
measure as the commencement of hostilities was

adopted. As to Sir JOHN Bt" KING, there can be
no doubt as to the part he has played. It is no more
than all who knew his antecedents might have anti-
cipated. Sir Jottx throughout his earlier career
evinced a quick perception of individual facts,
without any capacity to grasp them as a whole.
lie was utterly devoid of manly firmness of (ha-
rater. His extraordinary command of languages,
and his fumy pushing forward of his own personality,
secured him employment. But even his best friends
felt painfully that his occasional usefulness was sadly
marred by his preposterous and puerile vanity.
That vanity has been strengthened by the important
post he was promoted to fill in a remote country,
where there was no one to cheek his follies; and it
has at last so overmastered him as to plunge him
into a course of action that must go far to obliterate
all remembrance of his past s ervices. From this review
of the more prominent actors in the Canton tragedy it
appears to follow clearly that neither of them can be
employed in the arduous task of putting an end to
the hostilities which they have commenced. It may
be added that they have shown themselves utterly
inadequate to estimate the adequacy of the means at
their disposal to the attainment of the object they
had in view. Some statesman of deeper fathom than
either is required for that arduous task.
A second consideration relates to the persons with

whom an English Plenipotentiary in China shall
transact business. It doe,, not appear how anything
can be gained by his negotiating with any authority
below the highest. The attack upon Canton—be it
justifiable or not—is necessarily an attack upon the
Sovereign of China. If to pull down the flag of a
barge or a lighter be an unpardonable offence to a
nation, what must it be to throw shot and shells into
a city? The Viceroy of Canton and the English
Plenipotentiary are parties to the quarrel, and cannot
act as arbiters upon it. More than this : the supreme
Government of either country, when it delegates
the task of arbitration to any Minister, ought
strictly to prescribe the mode and conditions of set-
tlement. On both grounds it appears advisable that
the English negotiator should be clothed with full
powers, and that he should be instructed to
address himself immediately to the Court at
Pekin. There are, no doubt, difficulties in the
way of adopting such a course ; but only by its
adoption can a satisfactory settlement of the Canton
difficulty be arrived at. No subordinate authority
can guarantee a final arrangement. The time, too,
appears propitious for a direct appeal to the supreme
Government in China. It is clear that the pressure
of the rebels has induced it to make unprecedented
concessions to Russia svith reference to the frontier
of the Amur; and fear of seeing itself placed at
the mercy of that colossal neighbour may render
the counsellor. of the Chinese EitrEtton more dis-
posed than hitherto to cultivate a good under-
standing with other Powers.
The considerations which ought to guide the de•

vision of our Government with refe;fice to the
Chinese question are too numerous to be exhausted
in ono article. We will return to the subject; but
before quitting it for the present we must again
urge the necessity of prompt and decided action.
It is all very well for a free people to censure freely
the misconduct of their Government in the past ; but
that is less than half their duty. They owe it to
themselves to take good guarantees for its better
behaviour in the future. The national honour de.
viands that our Government should not be allowed
to enact in China the part which it has compelled
Russia to desist from attempting to enact in Turkey.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

The Morning Post publishes the following de-
spatch in a late edition :
"PARIS, WZIMMIDAT MOANING.

" The official Moeiteer;this morning, publishes
despatched from Hoeg Kong, dated 15th of January.
" When the despatches left, the European colony
of Hong Kong appeared to hero been poisoned,
and the family of Sir John Downing especially wen
saforiog from great pain.
" All the Chinese bakers had fled.
" It is believed that these men have poisoned all
the foreigners.
" Fortunately, up to the moment of the mail start-
ing, no death had occurred."