The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-09-29 00:00:00

id beneficial result. If my noble friend Lord
as I am sure he will, the cor-

CLARENDON receive

" dial support of the country, you may depend upon
" it that he will not disappoint the just expectations

We trust, therefore, that in this fresh instance of
Tuscan intolerance, Lord CLARENDON will show that
his more time-honoured colleague is right in the
estimate he has formed of his qualifications for

office

IT can scarcely be wondered at, that with the
horrors of a European war gathering thickly around
us, the state of affairs in China should attract less at-
tention than the peculiarity of the subject may seem
to merit, We suppose, nevertheless, that most of
our readers are aware that the Celestial Empire is
probably at the present moment in the throes of a

revolution—a revolution remarkable as befalling a
nation where only what is old has been regarded
as good—remarkable as to its outset and so much
of its progress as is known to us—but most remark-
able from the fact, that Truth, or something at
least akin, to Truth is at length making its way in
the very stronghold of superstition and error. The
seed sown by the missionaries of the "barbarians,''
has sprung up, and is bringing forth its fruit. It is
not our purpose, in the few remarks we have now

to trace the rise and progress of the rebel-
lion which threatens the existence of the Tartar
Dynasty in China, or to speculate on the possible
results of the movement, in a religious or moral

pOint Of view. Regarded in this asneet, the state
of things is indeed most strange, so much of false-
hood is mixed up with the more truthful records
of Chinese history, ancient and Modern—so much
of error, with some amount of truth, in the aeed of
the insurgents-•:-Oid so Much off` bombast and out-
rageotis absurdity in the manifestoes of those who as
yet hold the reins of government. The fad, how-
ever, is patent and should not be last sight df It
is long since the Chinese governed China,, and
it has ever been the imperative interest of the ruling
power, to keep the natives, as far as Might be, in a state
of ignorance, as well as durance Vile, td cheek, as
far as a wholesome dread would allow, all the
friendly advances of the " barbarians," and when
coerced into something like fair dealing, to render
nugatory all the benevolent efforts of the strangers.
Fraud, falsehood, chicanery of every description,
have been encountered. The ruling dynasty was
well aware that its authority consisted in the re-
taining old abuses. The strength of Sampson,
Was, we are told, in his hair,the proWess of the
Celestial E: MPEROR, and his mandarins, consists in
their time-honoured pigtails. Old abtises, how-
ever, cannot triumph for ever; evert in China and
we may hope that the time has now arrived, when
the denizens of that fair and beautiful land will
arouse themselves, to take their proper position
among the nations of the earth, As far as climate,
fertility, extent of territory, harbours in which the
whole. world's Mercantile fleets might anchor,
rivers Which Might tittriApott their freights into
every interior region, nay, even, as far as the capa-
bilities of the inhabitants, down trodden and
brutalized as they aid, are `emiceriied, rre luithi
reason why China may not shake herself free from
the accumulated dust of ages, and bring into full
action the commercial resources, which, although
deadened have nevertheless been eonspicu:
ons in the annals of European enterprise. It
is in this point of view, that the subject is more
immediately interesting to ourselves. Although,
wherever there are ladies who loVe their souchong,
or husbands who wickedly grumble at the price of
gunpowder tea, China is, indeed, a hdueehold
woad, yet to all intents aiid purposes, as far as the
commerce of the Chinese depended on themselves,
they have been about only as usefully employed as
that quaint junk of theirs now Moored at Rock
Ferry. Whatever commercial tidVaritage *e have
gained from china, has been dragged thence, even
as the aforesaid specimen of NOAH'S ship-building
craft Was, with endless difficulties and dangers;
brought from its native shores.

it 18 scarcely necessary to enquire whether the
somnolent, self-satisfied, never seeking, ever con-
tent status of China and. the Chinese has been the
result of the dominance of the Tartar dynasty, or
has arisen from more occult catises ; nor need we
pause to moralise On the question, whether the
European polders would be justified in their case,
by intervention on behalf of the insurgents. Such
intervention has, we learn, been sought .by them
from the British authorities on the spot, and re-
fused. We are inclined to think that extraneous
assistance, could it With propriety be afforded,
would be as irripolitic as unnecessary. This need not
be regarded only as the question of a nation re-
belling, under whatever pretence, against its lawful
sovereign; or even against the ruthless domination
of a foreign despot: The rthiVerlierit appears rather
the result of the awakening faculties of a people
who have never hitherto known their own rights,
or appreciated their own power. Perhaps the very
best and kindest thing that the "Barbarians" can
do, is to leave them to themselves, and thus permit
them to discover, by the experience of one brief
struggle, how little they have been—how great they
may be. There is, in fact, so much of absurdity
and superstition still mixed up with the declara-
tions of the insurgents, that to adopt their cause
might be to lend countenance to falsehood, merely
because there are greater falsehoods extant in the
Celestial Empire.

From one point or view, however, we cannot
but regard the present state of things in
China with much satisfaction. Whichever of the
belligerent powers proves successful, an impetus
must be. given to our commercial relations into that
vast and most healthy country. Both sides look
up to us, not for present advice and assistance
only, but as the future recipients of the produce of
their hitherto united energies. In such a result, is
not the shipping interest of Liverpool primarily
concerned?

GARRYOWEN AND GLORY" have been from, of old
associated in the annals of song, and not the
least amusing of its attempt to acquire the ad-
ditional honor is the periodical outcry, which
Limerick, in common with a few other Irish ports,
has made about a " Transatlantic Packet Station."
The violated treaty has not yet been sufficiently
atoned for, and as one more retribution, a savan
Viceroy, on a mere visit, to the country, has been
bored by what had long previously bored every
body else. The Earl of Germains may count him
self fortunate that he escaped with only a single
sly sentence on the subject, introduced_ into the
many addresses presented during his sojourn in
Limerick. We thought it made the impression
intended; but it serves, at least to show, that there
are some minds in Ireland more tenacious of the
piece of folly alluded to, than might have been
imagined. However, the length of time during
which this whilome favourite topic may last, is
perhaps, as uncertain as the meaning of the topic
itself. And the extent of begging or borrowing
which the term " packet station," may imply, as
referred severally to Cork, Limerick, Galway, or
Kenmore, may have its intervals of public discuss-
ion, as long as begging or borrowing from the
Imperial Treasury remains an unobliterated idea.
There is, indeed, something delightful in the
naivete with which a Packet Station is talked of at
the other side of the channel. It is, as it were, a lar-
gesse; and anybody who promises to give to it, from
Lord Derby down to Mr. Wagstaff, may become a
public benefactor or a political humbug for the time
being. One would think, to be sure, that where such
exceedingly practical matters as steam-ships come
to be talked about, they would not be long in
assuming some practical and developed form.
That, however, is not the mode in which affairs of
business are managed in the more practical portion
of her Majesty's dominions ; and, although the pro-
ject of sending the American mails from an Irish
western port, has been spoken of for for many
years ; we are still at a loss to know whether
it is contemplated that the National Exchequer
should only supply the vessels employed, or else
pay besides the sailors who would man them, with
mayhap a substantial premium to the commis-
sioners of the chosen harbour.

We do not make these remarks for the purpose of
entering on the discussion of a question already
set at rest, nor, indeed, of in any way offending
out-dying prejudices. But a little advice may not
be out of place; and when we tell our Irish friends
that had their desire for a Packet Station been the
most plausible in the world, their course of action:
would have spoiled it; we only do so for the purpose
of hinting how such matters are transacted by those
who know more about them. If there were in ex-
istence a regular line of steam-ships between the
opposite coasts of Ireland and America, the de-