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

No. 2.

" AGREEMENT ENTERED INTO BETWEEN INSPECTOR.
GENERAL IL N. LAY AND CAPT. SIIERARD OSBORN
1-I.N ,

" London, Jan, 16, 1863.
" The following conditions embody our mutual
understanding :
" 1. Osborn agrees to take command of the
European Chinese navy for a period of four years,
and stipulates that there shall be no other European
naval Commander-in-Chief.
" 6 2. Oiborn, Its Commander-in-Chief, is to have
entire control over all vessels of European construc-
tion, as well as native vessels manned with Euro-
peans that may be in the employ of the Emperor of
China, or under his authority, of the native guilds.
" 3. Lay will procure from the Emperor such
an authority as may be necessary to cover Osborn's
acts as the Commander-in-Chief of the European
Chinese navy.
" 4 4. OJborn undertakes to act upon all orders
of the Emperor which may be conveyed direct to
Lay, and Osborn engages not to attend to any orders
conveyed through any other channel.
466 5. Lay, upon his part, engages to refuse to be
the medium of any orders of the reasonableness of
which he is not satisfied.
6' 6. Osborn will appoint all officers and men
on board the vessels of the force, subject, however,
to the approval of Lay as the representative of the
Emperor.
" 7. Osborn's subordinates will not be at liberty
to act without his permission, and Lay will not
authorise his subordinates to call upon them to act
without having first consulted Osborn and obtained
the necessary order.
8. Lay and Osborn agree to carefully inquire
into any complaints that may be preferred against
the officers and men employed in the force by
Chinese officials.
"19. The force being European, it is indispens-
able that the flag under which it acts should have
au European character.
1" First, to secure its o .vn efficiency. Secondly,
to insure for it due respect in the eyes of the foreign

communities.
" Lay, therefore, agrees that the flag shall be
green with two yellow diagonal bands bearing in
the centre a blue imperial dragon.
" Green is choser, because it is rarely used by
European powers, and therefore not likely to be
confounded by any other national colours.
10. Lay undertakes to procure from the
Emperor, as soon as possible, a sum of money as a
guarantee fund, to cover the pay and maintenance
of the force for four years, and in the meantime it is
understood that the vessel with their Equipment
will constitute the security for the just claims of
the force.
" 11. In the event of the death of either Lay or
Osborn, these condit;ons which are entered into
with the authority of the Emperor of China are not,
it is understood, in either case to be departed from.
" 'l2. The conditions of this understanding, the
terms of the formal agreement, and the printed in-
structions, shall be formally ratified by the Emperor
at Pekin, before Osborn shall be called upen to act
with the force under his command.
" 13. In the event of Osborn's death from dis,
ease, while in command of the force, Lay will re-
commend the Emperor of China to make some gran
to his widow and children.
(Signed)

11, N. LAY.
"SHEBARD OSBORN.'

" Our motive for drawing up the above memo-
randum is that there may be hereafter no deviation
from a plan of action, long deliberated and decided
upon by mutual consent.
" We have to deal with Asiatics prone to deceit
and falsehood, ready to evade any engagement,
directly it interferes with their views or monetary
interests. We are about to afford them ma-
terial military aid, and it behoves us to guard