The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-11 00:00:00

against its being aliapplied," and the7eby bring
9cinl-11 npon ourselves and those who in Great Bri-
tain have promoted our views ; above all we are to
take care that the great power and pro-portionate
responsibilities conferred upon usby her Mjesty's
Older in Council be not abused by .- ,by our suc-
cessors, or by the Chinese authorities.
"Clause I.—This condition needs no explanation,
It is made a sine qua no by Capt. Osborn.
Clatic,e `..l.—Tiiis we agree is most necessary. We
are aware that for some time local Mandarins have
been, without Imperial authority, purchasing ves-
sels of European construction, arming them, placing
crews of all nations in them, and giving over the
command to British or American subjects selected
by themselves. Lorchas or junks commanded by
Europeans, half pirates half private.ers,are swarm-
ing in the Yangtsze.
" They claim in many cases to be men..of-war be-
longing to particular Mandarins, Guilds, or }longs.
It is the objoat of this force to extinguish all these
dangerous freebooters. They should come under
Imperial authority, without which no European has
a shadow of right to levy war in China.
" Clause 3.—This is inserted to meet any objec-

tion that might be raised on the ground that Euro-
peans are serving without commissions or direct
authority from the Emperor.
" Clauses 4 and s.—These are to meet the follow-
ing difficult questions :—ls this squadron to carry
on war in China upon a Chinese method ? Through
what channel is Capt. Osborn, unacquainted as he
is with the language, to communicate with the
Emperor or Regent? How shall he be protected
against the charge of disobedience of orders? How
are cruel or unjust orders from Pekin to be pre-
vented ? How shall European officers and seamen
levy war for a barbarous Sovereign without being
made to participate in acts which our country
would repudiate ? How shall the officers be pro-
tected from orders, the execution of which would
involve breaches of international law or treaty
rights.
" There is in our opinion no other way of meeting
these difficulties than by arranging that, as Mr.
Lay is to live in Pekin, and as the revenue which
he collects is to be the guarantee for the mainte-
nance of the force, he, as one well competent from
a knowledge of the language and people should
be the channel of inter-communication between the
ruler of China and Captain Osborn, and that in the
event of any order being at variance with law or
justice, he should submit it to the European repre-
sentatives, and, supported by them, decline to com-
municate it to Captain Osborne. The remaining
clauses do not seem to us to need explanation."

No. 3.

INSPECTOR-GENERAL H. N. LAY, C. 13,, TO CAFTAIN

SIIEUARD OSBORN, lt.N, C.B.

"Pekin, Sept. 25, 1863,

" Sir,—l beg to inclose for your information the
translation of a letter to your address from the
Prince of Rung, which was sent to me in July last,
and to invite your attention to the marginal notes
I have appended to it. From my remarks you will
see that the Prince has not been quite accurate in
making it appear that I had requested the appoint-
ment of a Chinese officer to command the steam
fleet, or that I had consented that the fleet should
be placed under the irresponsible authority of the
local officials, as my letters to his Highness, which
are upon record, show.
" I never gave more than a qualified assent to
the rules with which he has furnished you. I ac-
cepted the money clauses, but those having refe-
rence to yourself and the fleet generally I told the
Ministers plainly would have to be considered upon
your arrival. The Prince doubtless thought that by
declaring positively that these rules had been agreed
to by me the chances of your offering any opposi.
tion to them would be diminished.—l have, &c.,
H. N. LAY.

No, 4.
PRINCE RUNG'S LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS TO CAP
TAIN SHERARD 0:iI101tN, R.N., C.B. (WITH MR,

LAY'S MAEGIYAL NOTES.)

" Pekin, July 8, 1863.
" His Imperial Highness the Prince of Kung issues
;hese instructions to 03born, the Assistant Com-

mander-in-Chief of the C;iinese steam navy.

" Whereas China, in view of the then unfinished
military operations, did last year direct the Inspec-
tor-General of Customs, Lay, to purchase foreign
steamers and guns for use iti the fight and for the
subjugation of the foe, and whereas the said Inspec-
tor-Gcneral has arrived at Pekin, and reports that
the seven steamers and the storeship purchased will
shortly arrive at Shanghai, and requesting the ap-
pointment of an cifieer to take the command, highly
recommends the said Osborn, as having hitherto in
England been zealous in the performance of his
duties, of high military capacity, and being
throughly versed in navy affairs, able to
acsist a high Chinese officer* in the manage-
ment of such vessels, so that there may there-
from be expected a speedy sweeping away of the
appearance of rebellion ; and whereas I, the Prince,
memorialised the Throne, requesting that the
officer already nominated by the Governor-General
of the Two Keang and the Governor of Keang-soo
might be appointed Chinese Commander-in-Chiet
of the Fleet, and that the said Osborn might be
appointed Assistant Commander-in-Chief, and that
the expenditure of the Beet should be controlled for
a period of four years by the Inspector-General
Lay; and whereas on the 231 of the sch Moon
(July 8) the Imperial edict was received, ' Let it be
as proposed. Respect this.'
"Now, therefore, in addition to hurrying de-
spatches to the Governor-General of the Two Keang
and the Governor of Kean-soo, that they may at
once order the Chinese Commander-in-Chief to re-
pair to Shang with his officers and men, and take
up his commission on board ship, it is further ex-
tremely proper to furnish the said Osborn with a
copy of the agreemeat, in five articles,t entered
into between the Inspector-General Lay and the
Foreign-office, and to appoint the said Osborn to
be Assistant Commander-in-Chief, and to direct
him, in accordance with the articles of the agree-
ment, to co-operate with the Chinese commander-
n-chief in the command of the fleet now commis-

sioned.
" It is to be expected that the fleet will act with
vigour against the enemy. The crews are to be kept
under strict discipline, and not suffered to annoy the
people. If trading vessels, whether Chinese or
foreign, illegally engage in the carriage of muni-
tions of war, they are to be seized and detained
until receipt of orders from the Foreign-office. If
there are pirates on the Chinese seas or rivers from
time to time, no matter where the place may be,
they arc to be captured and destroyed, in order to
the complete restoration of tranquillity.
" As regards smuggling and smuggling guilds at
the ports on the coast and up the rivers, the fleet is
authorised to take measures for the duo repression
of the same. The said assistant commander-in-
chief will, moreover, consider himself under the
orders of the Governor-GJneral of the Two Keaug
and the Governor of Keang-soo, and will take
their instructions as to the disposal from time to
time of his force.

" (Enclosure.)
"Five rules agreed upon respecting the steam

fleet
"1. It has been settled that the post of Chinese
Commander-in-Chief of the steam fleet now pur-
chased shall be filled by the high officers selected by
the Chinese Government, and that Captain Osborn,
C. 8., a British subject, shall be assistant Comman-
der-in-Chief for a period of four years. The affairs
of the fleet to be managed by the said Commanders-
in-Chief in a friendly spirit of co-operation. While

me to be 'the naval assistant of such a Man-
darin.'

„"G. To the argument advanced by the ChineK
Foreign-off-la) that the course proposed by Prince
Kung is a usual one in China,' I reply I did not
coma here, or my foriowers either, to accustom
ourselves to the treatment usual with Chinese
sailors or soldiers, or to assist them in a retrogres.•
sive policy in the treatment of European (my/oyes
or Europeans in general. The employment of
ships of war and war steamers of European con-
struction is an innovation, that of European
officers and gentlemen sti.l more so. I and my
force are part and parcel of a new order of things
indicating progress in China.' I will be no party
to her lapsing back into her ancient system and
treating Europeans as if they were Chinamen.
"European commerce in China, and consequent
intercourse, is a departure from all foregone cus-

;OM

" The presence of Europeans at the open ports is
the same.
" The residence of European Legitions in Pekin
strikes at the root of China's most ancient preju •
dices. _ _

" The entire responsibility of the conduct of the
provincial authorities towards our merchants and
missionaries being forced upon the Ministers at
Pekin is another departure from the most cherished
institutions of these people.
" I merely claim for the European force under my
command another stride in the same wise direction,
and I will not, on all the foregone grounds, depart
from a line of policy decided upon by Mr. Lay and
myself after long and careful discussion—a line of
conduct approved, I am sure, by my countrymen
and. profession, and which I see more and more
reason not to swerve from since I have noted the
present bearing of the Pekinese authorities towards
foreigners.
"I may add in general terms that if I required any con-
firmation of my opinion of the utter impossibility of serving
the Chinese Government upon the terms the Prince sug-
gests, I should find ample grounds in my own experiences
while at Shanghai, as well as in the information General
Brown gives me of Major Gordon's present position. I
found on my arrival at Shanghai that the Foutai's agents
had tampered with the crews of the vessels under my orders.
They were told that the Foutai would give them higher
wages than those I engaged them at, that they would all be
made officers, and that the discipline existing among the
Europeans in his steamers was far pleasanter than the order
I enforced. Puzzled to find such a different system existing
in what was called the Imperial service, the men became
naturally disaffected and anxious to leave me to join the
Europeans employed by the Fouati ; and to enable them to
do so without prejudice to their pockets I found they were
actually offered ,2 a head bounty, the money to be lodged
in the names of the deserters in an English bank. I had to
discharge 14 men, and was detained several days at Shan-
ghai in consequence. It was no fault of the Foutai's that
I was not detained there altogether.
" Foutai Le is an able Chinaman, and as unprincipled as
all Chinese officials, His plan would be to render me power
less, and then to use or toss me aside, just as he does all
European leaders in his force. He is a civilian by educa-
tion, ruling over military and naval affairs without the
slightest knowledge of either. He is squandering the re-
venue of the province as well as that derives' from European
trade, and is in league with unprincipled traders in Shang-
hai. Although he can procure from the British stores all
such military supplies as he can require, ho is encouraging
the import of munitions of war by private firms, and grant-
ing permits to land the same in spite of all our proclama-
tions against the importation by foreigners of goods contra-
band of war. Having secured the services of an excellent
officer in Major Gordon, who appears to have entered his
service, not that of the Emperor of China (for he holds no.
authority from the latter), Foutai LC: proceeds to render
him powerless, and to hamper his action in two ways—first,
by depriving him of the means to carry out any decisive
measures ; end next, by placing in exactly similar positions
a number of other Europeans, and playing one off against
the other. Major Gordon wishes to attack Souchow-foo,
and asks for 100 Europeans. The Foutai agrees, but says
the Iso men must only be entered for one month, Gordon
declines to enter into any such arrangement, seeing its in-
justice and folly. The Foutai insults him by questioning
his desire to fight the rebels, and proposes tnat the assault-
ing column shall be formed of all the European officers in
his employ, ani that over their bodies the Chinese would
advance to victory.
" Again, what faith can I have in any mandarin's listen-
ing to my advances as a subordinate, when I am told by
General Brown, Commander-in-Chief of our military forces
in China, and the superior of the Foutai, that he will listen
to no advice or suggestion the General offers, that he pur-
posely avoids all conference with him ; and when an inter•
view is sought by General Brown insolently replies that ho
is too busy to see him ? and be it remembered that Foutai
LC: is not a bit more unreasonable than:other mandarins,and
that ho is an average specimen of his class.
SHERARD OSBORN."

No. G.

NPECTOn-GkNERAI, H, N. LAY C. 8., TO CAPTAIN
SHER:AIto OSBORNE, It N., 0.13.
"Pekin, Oct. 13, ISC3.

" Sir,--I regret to say that at an interview which I had
to-day by appointment with the President of the Foreign-
office, Wansiang, he requested me to intimate to you that
the Prince of Kung would decline to ratify the agreements
entered into by us under his letter of instructions of October,
1862,—1 have, &c.,

"11. N. LAY,

No. 7.

CAPTAIN SIIERNRD OORNE, R.N., C. 13., TO THE
rItINCESB OF KUNG.
" Pekin, Oct. 15, 1863.

- No. 9.

"Your Royal llighners,—l have the honour to request
that you will be pleased to furnish me officially, and in
writing, with your decision relative to the agreement entered
into between your agent, Mr. Horatio N. Lay, In-
spector-General, and myself.
"The Inspector-General informs mo:that after a delay of
four months and a half, during which time your Royal
Highness has neither acknowledged a single letter nor re-
ferred to the agreements, Wansiang informed him formally
that you intended to adhere to your manifest intention of
ignoring all such agreements, as evinced in your instruc-
tions already addressed tome.
" I may remind yon that I have now been three weeks in
Pekin fruitlessly endeavouring to point out to the members
of your Foreign-office, through Mr. Lay, that your instruc-
tions to me are entirely contrary to the understanding under
which her British Majesty's Government permitted myself
and others to agree to serve the Emperor of China, and that
I declined to act except upon the terms explicitly laid down
in our agreements.
" To all these representations no attention has been paid.
"I therefore avail myselt of this opportunity to remind
you of the circumstances under which the force I command
has been placed at your disposal. Last year (1862) you and
in an unofficial form to the British Minister of Lega-
tion in Pekin for assistance to procure men-of-war of an
European construction ; you were recommended to employ
your own official, the Inspector-General, as the best agent.
You set aside a large sum of money; you ordered the ves-
sels, and you gave instructions to both Mr. Hart and Mr.
Lay to procure not only ships, but proper officers and men
to'fight and manage them ; and, lastly, you furnished your
Inspector-General with a formal authority to enter into all
such agreements as he might think necessary to carry ou
the object you had in view. Upon the strength of that au-
t
thority to your agent, and supported as your wishes were
by the official representations of his Excellency Sir F. Bruce,
her Majesty's Government were pleased to suspend offavou-
of China the Neutrality Act, and the Admiralty Great
Britain granted me and other officers permission to serve the
Emperor of China for a stated period, and every assistanceitance
was given by all departments to aid the Emperor
out the wishes expressed in your instructions to Mr. Lay.
" The Inspector-General having satisfied me that the
powers you had given him were ample, I entered into cer
as
-
tain agreements with him, subject to your ratification
Regent of China. It only remains for me to say that my
power to maintain order and discipline in the force is now
at an end, and that if I do not receive a favourable reply
within 48 hours it will be necessary to immediately disband
the force.--I have, &c., «SuMILARD OSBORN."

No. 8.
it CAPTAIN SItER/011) OSBORN, R.N., C'B''To His
EXCELLENCY SIR F. Bitucu, H.C.8., O.
"Pekin, Oct. 19, 1863.
"Your Excellency,—Prince Kung having failed to ratify
the agreements entered into between Inspector-General H.
N. Lay, C.B , and myself, it becomes necessary for me to
disband the European-Chinese naval force.
" I have the honour to enclose you copies of the agraa•
meats in question, as well as all correspondence, and to re-
quest you will inform me whether you see any objection to
my surrendering to Prince sung the 8 ships which I have
brought to this country. They are Imperial property, and
I have no right to detain them; but I would submit that
that there might los some danger if vessels of so formidable
a character were trusted to the rowdies and pirates now so
numerous in Shanghai, and who, I dare say, are quite ready
to serve the provincial authorities without agreements or
guarantees.
" Directly I receive your Excellency's official instructions
upon that point I shall, in conjunction with Mr. Lay. pro-
ceed to dissolve the force, sending the officers and men to
England in detachments, and reporting all the circum-
' stances to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and
sending them an exact description of the ships if you decide
upon not surrendering them.--1 have, &c.,
SIIERARD OSBORNE."

Ms EXCELLENCY SIR F• BRUCE, K.C.8., TO CAP•
TAIN 6HEILARD OSBORN, R.N., C.B.
"British Legation, Pekin, Oct. 20, 1863.
!6 have received your letter witb, its enoleswes,