Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-03-17 00:00:00

CHINA,

We extract the following from the summary of
the Overland Friend of China of Jan. 29 :
The English mail of the 25th November came to
hand on the 15th inst., just after we had published
our last overland summary. The mail of the 9th
ult. reached us on the 27th inst., its 49th day from
St. Martin's-le-Grand.

The mail to leave this to-morrow morning does
not from us convey any very special news. The
Earl of Elgin is still at Shanghae, though expected
here shortly. Sir John Bowring has returned to
Hong Kong, and resumed the reins of his govern-
ment. Admiral Seymour is in Hong Kong, and
General Van Straubenzee remains at Canton.
The British community at Shanghae having
addressed the Earl of Elgin in a complimentary
letter, his lordship returned the following reply :.

Gentlemen,—l sincerely thank you for these expressions
of good-will and regard; I value them the more, because
they proceed, not from fair-weather friends, but from per-
sons who, when the future was still dark, and the breakers
ahead, eneouiaged me by their sympathy. * * *
In the first place, then, allow me to express the satisfac-
tion which it gives me to find that you specify the benefits
that are likely to accrae to the inhabitants of these coun-
tries themselves, as among the most important of the
results to be expected from our recent treaties with China
and Japan. On this head we have, no doubt, incurred
very weighty responsibilities. Uninvited, and by methods
not always of the gentlest, we have broken down the
barriers behind which these ancient nations sought to con-
ceal from the world without the mysteries, perhaps also, in
the case of China, at least, the rags and rottenness of ieir
waning civilisation. Neither our own consciences, nor the
judgment of mankind, will acquit us, if, when we are
asked to what we have turned our opportunities, we can
only say that we have filled our pockets from among the
ruins which we have found or made. * * * *

It gives me much pleasure to have it in my power to
assure you that my recent trip up the Yangtsz' to Hankow
fully realised the expectations which induced me to under-
take it. I was enabled, during my progress, to obtain
much information respecting the political condition of the
country, which will, I trust, be useful to her Majesty's
government, and the interests of commerce will, no doubt,
be materially promoted by the knowledge of the navigation
of the river acquired by the able officers of her Majesty's
navy by whom I was accompanied.
I have long held the opinion that Shanghae was the
place where, if anywhere, it might be hoped that peaceful
negotiations for the extension and • development of com-
mercial relations with China might be conducted with
success, for the obvious reason, that the benefits accruing
to the Empire from foreign commerce and intercourse are
more manifest at Shanghae than elsewhere. With this
view, at the commencement of last year, immediately after.
the capture of Canton, I proposed that Chinese Plenipo-
tentiaries should meet me here for the amicable settlement
of all differences pending between Great Britain and
China ; a proposition which, as you know, the stolid
arrogance of the Court of Pekin induced it to reject. Since
the Imperial Commissioners arrived here in October last, I
have seen no cause to change the opinion which I had
previously formed on this point. Making due allowance for
the difficulties of the position of negotiators who have to
account for their proceedings to a Government so jealous
and ill-informed as that of China, I am bound to say that I-
do not think I can reasonably complain of the spirit in
which I have been met by them.
My own course has not, however, been always smooth
and free from difficulty. The navigator, whose main busi-
ness it is to bring his own vessel safely. into port, with flags
flying and amid the cheers of welcoming friends, will select
the deepest stream, and eschew to the best of his ability
both rocks and shoals. Bnt the diplomatist, according to
my notions of duty, is rather in the position of the master
of a dredging machine. He has to open a way for the
more favoured craft that are to follow him. The most
critical places are, therefore, precisely those towards which
he is bound to steer. Among the critical places,
which, in my progress as a negotiator, I found
in mid-channel, right a-head of me, two were
pre-eminently so—the trade in opium, and the Chinese
custom house system, I had long sincerely c nnmiserated
the false and cruel position in which men of high honour
and integrity, engaged in commerce with China, are placed
by the irregularities which characterise the administration
of the one, and the anomalous conditions under which the
other is carried on ; and I did not consider that the
difficulties attending the removal of these and the risk
of misconception to which those who who undertook the
task mnst necessarily expose themselves, would justify me in
abstaining from the attempt to grapple with them.
As regards the last mentioned of these subjects, it is
necessary that I should offer one word of explanation at
the outset, in order to prevent misapprehension, not so much
here as elsewhere. It must be distinctly understood that
the modifications introduced into the new Chinese tariff in
reference to opium, do not in any degree fetter or restrict
the discretion of Great Britain as regards the traffic in that
article. If the British people and the British government
see fit to do so, they may still make it penal for a' British
subject to engage in it, and by so doing, although they will
not probably, in any material degree, diminish the consump-
tion of opium in China, they will, no doubt, do something
more or less effectual towards preventing British Subjects
from being the importers. Short, however, of this extreme
measure, of the likelihood of the adoption of which each
man may form his own opinion, I am satisfied that the
barren announcement by a foreign Government of its assent
to the principle that the trade in opium is illegal, is produc-
tive of nothing but mischief, that it is a delusion and a
snare both to the Chinese and those who have commercial
dealings with them. It is notorious that, notwithstanding
' the olause in the treaty 'of • Wanghia, which
pronounces opium to be contraband, and the strong de-
' elg4tiotts of Aulorieau statesmen on. thik head, the