The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-12 00:00:00

OFFICIAL DESPATCHES FROM CHINA.

Further papers have been issued relating to the
proceedings of her ANesty's naval forces at
Canton.

On the 9th of December, Sir John Bowring sent
to the Viceroy of Fuh-keen, SL3., a statement of his
complaints against Commissioner Yeh, and re-
questing that the Court of Pekin be advised. of the
same. In reply the Viceroy says :

Having had, from first to last, no official communication
from his Excellency Yeh, Imperial Commissioner and
Governor-General of Two-keang, to explain what it was
in the administration of commercial affairs at Canton that
produced the rupture with your Excellency, I have been
without any means a informing myself thoroughly on the
subject, and even now that I have received your Excel-
lency's letter, still. the great distance between Fah-keen
and Canton considered, it is so out of my power to form
an opinion on the merits of the question, that I cannot be
so precipitate as to address the throne on the matter.
The document forwarded to me being in English, its con-
tents are unknown to me, and I have no means of de-
ciphering them. In conclusion, it is my duty to add that
our nations
,having been on friendly terms for many years,
I am still in hopes that by due observance on either side
of the treaty of peace that was to last for ever, it will be
their good fortune to strengthen the amicable relations
hitherto existing between them.
The replies of the viceroy of the Two-Keang and
the Governor of Keang.soo, to whom a similar
letter from Sir J. Bowring was sent, are furnished.
The meaninc, of the. letter from the first is said
by Mr. Wade, the Chinese Secretary, to be as
follows :

I rejoice in your excellency's professions of peace ; but
it would only do harm to the interests of peace, to which
you profess yourself so friendly, were I to tell the Em-
peror that, because of Yeh's act, you have precipitately
broken the peace that the treaty said was to last for ever.
Another reason against my addressing the throne is, that
Ych, and he alone, is competent to deal with commercial
questions; and this can be nothing else, being a question
with foreigners.

Upon the two replies, Sir John Bowrin,4' re-
marks :

I think it is to be gathered from both, with tolerable
certainty, that there is no present disposition to extend
the field of hostilities, and that the Imperial Commissioner
will be IA alone to settlehis misunderstandings with us,
unless indeed any advantages he might obtain should
create a prestige in his favour—a not very likely result..
A variety of documents relative to the poisneing
at Hong Kong, including protests thereon from the
representltives of France and America to Commis-
sioner Yoh then follow. Yeh, in his reply, ex-
presses detestation oftbe T poison people
iu thiS underhand manner," he says, " is an act.
worthy of detestation ; still, as it all occurred in
Hong Kong, it is impossible for me to examine
into all the licts. The act is' owing to the num
bered evils which have been inflicted upon the
Chinese by the English, and the natives of the
surrounding districts have taken this way of
revenging their nrivate wrongs."
We find a copy of an imperial edict issued on the
27th of December lest, forming the latest instruc-
tions for certain provincial authorities relative to
the hostilities with England. In this document
the Emperor says:— . .

With reference to the memorial of Yeh-ming.chin,
representing that the English barbarians had pinked a
quarrel with us, and that our troops had been victorious
in two actions with them. Iu the course of the 9th moon
(October) some of the Canton marine having seized some
pirates on board a lorcha, the English Barbarian chief,
Pashea-be (Henry Parkes), attempted, on pretence that
this act was matter of complaint, to revive the question
of admission into the city, and venturel, in fine, to open
fire upon the c ty, and to burn the shops. On the Ist and
9th of the 10th moon (Oct. 29 and Nov. 6), our troops
engaged (the enemy), and were victorious in both actions,
killing and wounding above 400 of the barbarian villains
and slaying their admiral. The patriotism and enthu-
siasm displayed by the gentry and volunteers of Canton
had already dispirited the barbarians. Land and marine
forces, numbering 20,000 and more, regulars and militia,
had been mowed up. and the barbarians, who have been
indulging in the greatest arrogance and frowardness, will
not, it is to be presumed, after the check they have
received, venture on any further display of lawless
violence. The Americans, French, and other western
nations, being sensible that the English barbarians are
wrong in this quarrel, do not choose to co-operate with
them, and as they are thus unsupported as well (as
defeated) there is a reasonable possibility that suffering
will induce repentance, and that they wilt desist from
hostilities. We bare this nay instructed Yeh that if the
English barbarians turn from their present course of their
motion, anger (or ha' e) need not be carried to extremity :
but if they dare to persist in their extravagance and
obstinacy, peace is not to be negotiated by a conciliatory
movement on our part, as this would open the way to
demands of other concessions of importance. Yeh.ming.
chin has been very long in charge of the Keang provinces,
and is .so thoroughly cognisant with barbarian affairs,
that he will be able in. all probability to devise a proper
course of proceeding.

On the 28th of February Sir John Bewring
writes to the Earl of Clarendon as follows :
I have the comfort of believing that, notwithstanding
the loSses, privations, sufferings, and disquietudes which
these events have produced, there exists an almost
unanimity of opinion among her Majesty's subjects in
China as to the opportunity and necessity of the measures
that have been taken, and a conviction that the crisis
which has occurred was an inevitable one; while the
councils of the Canton authorities were directed by such
intolerable pride, presumption, faithlessness, and
ignorance, as they have long exhibited. And it has
greatly added to my gratification to know What the repre-
sentatives of foreign powers in China have generally
concurred in approving of the course which has been
pursued. Indeed I may safely state that I have rather
had to struggle against demands for more violent and
destructive measures than to fear censure for those which
have been adopted. It has been throughout my desire
and that of the admiral to spare, as much as possible, the
innocent and unoffending people of Canton, but I grieve
to say the ferocious and barbarous element disposed to
avail itself of means, however atrocious and savage, is
widely spread among the fierce population of that place.
Dr Parker, the American commissioner, forwards
to Sir John Bowring a copy of a despatch which he
has sent to Commissioner Yeh, dlselaiming the
interpretation put by the latter upon the course
taken by the Americans, Dr. Parker writes:—
Were the undersigned called upon to pass judgment
upon the question who is right and who is wrong in the
present controversy, he might wish to enquire if it had not
been right, when the occasion for serious complaint arose,
for the high,officers of the two governments to have met
face to face, and according to reason and justice have
settled the matter, and thus have prevented the vast de-
struction of property and Effusion of blood, which has
been, in consequence of yOur Lxcellency's failing to do so.
He alight also, perchance, enquire into the truth of the
statements regarding what had transpired in former years
in relation to the subject of the entree of the city of Can•
ton, which differs widely from what the undersigned, who
has long resided in China, apprehends to be. the facts of
the case.
A despatch of Sir John ripwring, cla4ed the iOth
March contains the following remark :
I am disposed to think that the imperial commissioner
will maintain his present position, as long as we are
unable to visit him with any serious molestation, trusting
to the chapter of accidents for some turn in his favour.
The remaining papers include communications
relative to the capture of the steamer Queen, and
further despatches from Admiral Seymour, the
latter observing, on the 15th of March •
As regards the Imperial High Commissioner, from all
that I can learn, his Excellency is still animated by feel-