The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 10, 1863,

rains was one of the many causes that delayed
the opening of the line from the proposed epoch,
in May, 1862, to January, 1863. The compli-
ments paid to Mr. FOWLER, the indefatigable en-
gineer, and to Messrs, SMITH, KNIGHT, and JAY,
the contractors, were well deserved, since they
have been the first to prove that the long talked
of scheme was really a possibility, and to elevate it ,
from a scientific theory to a substantial fact.
The unwonted liberality of the City of
London was also of considerable assistance,
since the ablest of men cannot work with-
out materials, and the demand on the capital of
the company was undoubtedly very
arrangements which have been great. The
made
com-
fort of the public are highly satisafadcetofroyr,tthheeonlygt,woh i
frequentc
drawbacks being the absenteeioafndaylih t h could
hardly be avoided in Skiz d , and the
remember, however, that
stoppages at the interventihnegnsotmatploorniss.onloVuhgehnt
not
to b
he madeoin with ordinary railway travelling but
with omnibus conveyance, there will be no
room for complaint, since the journey from
Bishop's-road Station, near the Great Western
terminus to Farringdon-street will only occupy 18
minutes—a pace certainly never accomplished by
a London omnibus. We do not wonder that the
company making the trial trip yesterday lingered
to examine the stations and other arrangements
along the line. It is certainly a subject for felicita-
tion, as was afterwards observed, that though tra-
avelling amidst drains and sewers, and a soil in-
fested by gas, they experienced nothing that was op-
pressive or disagreeable in any way. It must have
been a matter of regret to those assembled that
Mr. PEARSON, the late Solicitor to the Corporation,
did not live to witness the successful carrying
out of the scheme that he was the first to originate
in a practical form. Due honour was, however,
paid to his memory amid the mutual congratula-
tions of men who felt juatly proud of having
triumphantly completed a task of public interest
and importance, and laid the foundation of a widely
extended scheme for metropolitan improvement.

ders. It now remains that no laxity La prison dis-
cipline shall subvert the decision whip :th has been
brought about by the zeal and assiduity of the
police force, and the combined intelligenot of judge
and jury, in fathoming the mysteries, and. pro-
nouncing on the iniquities of this band of
criminals.

Some of onr contemporaries—monthly arid weekly
ones especially—are calling attention to the pro-
bable result of our doings in the far East. Our old
friend Blackwood formally opened the subject re-
cently, though it has been, in part, even before the
House of Commons. The facts in Blackwood are
evidently given us by one who is thoroughly con-
versant with them; and they show, what has al-
ways been suspected, that we are in a fair way to
become, perhaps in the lifetime of this gene ration,
almost as closely implicated with the Government
of the vast empire of China as we were with that
of India, while the Company, under British Acts of
Parliament, governed it through native princes.
In this case Parliament has been in no way con-
sulted as to the wish of the British people to be-
come involved in the responsibility of seeing that
China is well governed. It cannot, however, be
denied that we are but too likely to become as
answerable to the inhabitants of China, as we con-
ceived ourselves to be to those of Oude and Scinde,
to protect them against flagrant misgovernment.
It is, indeed, but the acorn yet, but it is hardly
political prophesying to foresee in it the future oak.
Let us briefly, however, mention the facts from
which many among us foresee a danger to be
averted only by careful precautions in the earlier
and subsequent stages of these semi-governmental

proceedings.
The first noticeable germ of the present position
is to be traced back to the year 1856. The Econo-
mist thus sums up the story, which many of our
readers may not yet have seen :—" In 1856, just
before the outbreak at Canton, the Chinese Taoutai
of Shanghai lodged £30,00u in Mr. LAY'S hands,
requesting him to purchase a European war steamer
for the Chinese Government with the amount. At
such a crisis Mr. LAY declined, as it might have
put a weapon into the hands of China against Eng-
land, and the Taoutai, recognising the prudence of
his refusal, still requested him to keep the £30,000
till such time as he could prudently use it in the
way requested. Mr. LAY lodged it in a bank, and
in 1857 and 1858 often referred to this sum as
existing to the credit of the Chinese Government
but the Taoutai always requested him not to allude
to it—intimating that he should never want it, that
Mr. LAY had saved for them a much larger sum
than this, and in fact gave many a hint that Mr.
LAY should regard it as a gratification, which of
course Mr. LAY declined to do. In 1858, when
requested by Lord ELGIN to accompany him to
Pekin, Mr. LAY insisted on returning this sum,
and was then at length told that the whole thing
had been a bait to test his honesty—that the money,
and Mr. LAY'S proceedings with regard to it, had
been sedulously watched by vigilant spies through-
out the whole of this time—and that Mr. LAY had
at last fully acquired the confidence of the Chinese
Government."
The result was that Mr. LAY, one of our best
servants in China, accepted office under the Chinese
Government; the whole control of the Shanghai
Customs was placed in his hands; in 1859 he was
made Inspector-General of all the open Chinese
ports ; in 1861 his inspectorate was constituted a
special department of the Chinese Government, he
being named the Chief Commissioner; he has a
large staff of English and other European and
American gentlemen under him ; and as he has been
by far the most successful, because honest as well
as able, tax-collector the Chinese Government ever
had, the Chinese are likely to look up to him in all
things connected with finance. That remarkable
people has never shrunk from making use of
foreigners when the latter have been able to serve
them with practical knowledge evidently superior
to their own. It was by such knowledge that the
wonderful success of the Jesuit missionaries was
initiated, but it is easy to see that no practical
knowledge will longer or more firmly retain
its bold on any Government than financial
knowledge. British administration of finance
is likely, also, to propitiate not only the
rulers, but all the honestly trading public of
China, and the Chinese are a nation of traders.
With most Orientals the tax-collectors who fill the
Government exchequer best, fleece its subjects in
doing so. English financiers base their hopes, on the
contrary, on inducing the people to trade, They
do not make wealth afraid to show itself, but re-
gard it as the goose which lays the golden eggs—
to be cherished, not suicidally appropriated ; and
the duties they levy are arranged, as far as possible,
so as neither to interfere with consumption nor to
leave the smuggler a profit. Mr. LAY and his co-
adjutors are likely, therefore, to become favourites
with the governed as well as with the Government
He may well be so when he has raised the revenue
of the port of Shanghai alone, and that by fair
dealing, from £266,000 in 1853 to a million ster-
ling in 1862. Altogether, the Chinese Government
is reported to have gained about two millions an-
nually by Mr. LAY'S able and upright administra-
tion of its customs.

The result of the trial concerning the Bank for-
geries is announced to-day, and it is satisfac-
tory to reflect that four of the culprits have been
convicted. It too often happens, through some
flaw in the indictment, or some negligence of others,
that the ends of justice are defeated, and the guilty
escape their just retribution. There is something
peculiar in this case which sets it apart from others,
in the annals of crime. It is the first time that any
of the Bank of England paper has been stolen, The
inconvenience that has resulted from the occurrence
has been very great, both at home and abroad. Sir
FITZROY KELLY, on the part of the Bank of Eng-
land,announced the gratifying intelligence that such
annoyance would henceforth be at an end. In the
first place, the man who, for seventeen years, has
forged the notes, has been convicted ; the plates by
which they were forged have been seized, and many
extra means have been adopted to avoid any more
paper being stolen. The learned advocate remarked
that the authorities at the Bank feel justified in de-
claring that "an end has been put to the illegal
fabrication of these notes for a long time to come.'
This is desirable information, but after such a catas-
trophe it behoves all in any way connected or con-
cerned in the conduct of these affairs, to consider
the causes that led to such a violation of jus-
tice, and the safeguards to be subsequently
applied. Since 1720, the Messrs. PORTAL
have manufactured paper for the Bank of
England, the duty has been handed down from
father to son, the great grandfather of the present
owner of the mills having established them. It has
been truly said that it redounds to the credit of the
house that during this long period no similar occur-
rence ever took place. The fact is that thieves in ,
these days are so expert that it seems almost im-
possible to keep up with the march of their progress,
and to arrest in time the exploits of their auda-
cious cunning and consummate adroitness. Another
curious circumstance in this complicated affair is,
that the young man BROWN, who was Queen's
evidence, is one of a family who have been for three
generations in the employ of Messrs. PORTAL, both
his father and grandfather having served before him.
It is painful to reflect on such deliberate villany
without the temptation of want, and with all the
ties which should subsist between those long con-
nected together in business to weigh in the oppo-
site scale. The secrecy which has so long been
maintained by GRIFFITEIS is perhaps the most ex-
traordinary thing in the whole affair. By his own
account, be has been engaged in this nefarious busi-
ness since 1846. He stated that he "had printed
the whole of the forged notes on the Bank of Eng-
land for the last seventeen years, that he had
printed on genuine paper stolen from the
mills 180 I:5 notes and twenty .£lO
notes for a person named BUNCEIER, and
twenty £5 notes for another person." Griffiths must
certainly have exercised great caution to have
escaped detection for so long a period, and it is also
manifest that a great boon has been conferred on
the public by the capture of so notorious a swindler.
It is also noticeable that the man who took charge
of the stolen paper in the first instance, and trans-
mitted it to others, was a ticket-of-leave man.

Shortly before he became acquainted with Brown I In any European Government such a Minister
he had been liberated, when only half his time had l would become a power in the State; and he cannot
expired. Had he fulfilled the term for which he fail to be so under the regency of Prince KUNG and
had been imprisoned he would have been in safe the Empresses; all of them being favourable to
custody until 1867. Surely, this is a case in point foreigners. Already the Imperialists are beginning
as to the efficacy of these modifications of the penal I to avail themselves of the sinews of war provided
system. BROWN declared that at first he refused them by Mr. LAY, for the purpose of crushing their
compliance with BURNETT'S suggestions, but that at I hitherto unconquerable enemies, the Taepings.
last he acceded. Of course unqualified credence The latter seem to have degenerated into a
cannot be given to his assertions, but his youth at vast horde of land pirates. If they began as wild
the time referred to is certainly corroborative religious enthusiasts, they have lost that character
testimony, as he could only have been nineteen now ; either by a bloodier change in their religious
years of age when he first knew BURNETT. It ap• notions, or by admitting to their army myriads of
pears, on reflection, that it was not prudent on the ruffians, who almost outvie Commissioner YEE( and
part of the authorities at the mills to leave any one the Imperialists. They cannot at present be said
person in a position where so much property could to be any improvement on the latter, while their
be stolen. If a more efficient watch had been kept presence in any district is like a scourge of human
up, such doings would have been impracticable, or locusts. Seeing these Taepings have at last
at least such frequent recurrence would have been I awakened the wrath of Europeans generally, the
impossible. However, all parties concerned have Chinese Government propose to make use of the
suffered so much annoyance, that it is not likely splendid sum obtained for them by European
they will fail to adopt suitable measures for the financiers, to raise a European led fleet and
future. They have bad a warning which they must army. Captain OSBORN, as we have so long
not neglect, and if mistakes may justify the past heard, has taken naval service under the
any more such trans- Chinese Government; they are purchasing a fleet,
misfortune, it cannot sanction
actions that must be the result of carelessness and and no doubt the hint given by the success of
3 the the American WARD'S Chinese Sepoys will not
connivance from many quarters, as well g
hemseives. The be lost. Thus we shall have in Chiva an empire
actual fraud of the guilty parties t
sentences are as foIIows—GRIFFITITS is for )ife ; dependent on English ability and courage for those
BUNCHER, 25 years ; BURNETT, 20; and lira- two most important of its departments, its Finance,
LIAISON 4. It is earnestly to be hoped that no and its Army and Navy. Englishmen will, do for
relaxation will be allowed in these sentences, but the Chinese what they have done in times past for
that they will be carried out to the full extent. Indian princes; they will make the Government
The utmost rigour of the law should be exercised master over its subjects, and content those subjects
against such offenders, and it is of paramount im-
portance that, at present especially, it be die. 1
themselves by compelling fiscal honesty, and be_
stowing on them the blessings of safety and order.
tinctly understood that the penalty inflicted by the i But it will be at the price of the native Govern-
Court is, substantially, the same as that carried out' went reignir g at ease, while
governing through
by the prison authorities. As far as regards these foreigners.
Bank forgeries there is much reason to be satisfied The question is,. will such a system endure P
that so many who were concerned in this nefarious Will not the jealousy of the higher class of na-
transaction have been brought to the bar of justice. tives, and the capriciousness of Oriental despots,
and that the outraged majesty of the law has been bring about, sooner or later, a raisunderstending in
which We shall but too probably think ourACITOP
vindicated by the conviction of these capital offm-

called on to undertake the support of " the English
in China ?" While taking service under the Chi-
nese Government, and with the avowed sanction
of our Government, Mr. LAY, Captain C'SBORN,
and others, do not denationalize themselves.
Should Englishmen, in their position, after years of
honourable service, be in any way maltreated by
the higher Chinese authorities, will England take
it patiently ? Considerable actual power will be
in Anglo-European hands, and the temptation
will be almost irresistible to make use of it. This
is, it is true, a kind of theoretical or imaginary
danger, but the image of it is furnished by our-
selves in India. We are thoroughly "intervening"
in China, while we denounce " intervention" in
Europe. We are, as a Government, lending the
Imperial Government financial, naval, and military
aid, even sending Indian native regiments thither
to uphold our prestige and position. Evidently
the danger is very great of going much too far,
and of committing, by so questionable a policy, the
English taxpayer to fresh burdens, by new
Chinese wars. We have a right, therefore, to
ask that this subject, and the kindred one, of our
future Japanese policy, should be thoroughly sifted
in the coming session.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

SPAIN.
MADRID, JAN. 9, Evening.
The discussion on Mexican affairs was continued
to day in the Congress.

Senor Rivero censured the policy inaugurated by
France and Spain in Mexico, and defended the
policy of non-intervention.
Nothing has yet been decided upon in reference
to the resignation tendered by several functionaries.
That of Senor Coello y Quesada has only been
accepted unofficially.,

Her Majesty's Privy Council, &c.

FRANCE.

PARIS, lAN. 10.

FROM THE COURT CIRCULAR.

OSBORNE, JAN. 9.
Her Majesty, accompanied by her Royal High-
ness Princess L9ll/B, walked and drove yesterdE..y
morning.

The Queen drove out again in the afternoon,
attended by the Countess of Gaiusborough and
Major-General the Hon. A. N. Hood.
Countess Blucher had the honour of accompany-
ing her Majesty.

The Moniteur of this morning announces that
the Courrier Ditnanche has received a third

warning,
BOURSE, Jan. o.—The market has been quiet,
but firm. Threes, for the Account, which for a
short time showed a slight decline, have since
rallied, and are now at 70f. 70c. Little doing in
Railway Shares. Prices again receded before the
close, when the market left off as follows :

The Queen: held a Council this day, at which
were present the Archbishop of Canterbury, Earl
Granville (Lord President), the Duke of Somerset,
and the Right Hon. Sir George Grey.
At the Council Parliament was ordered to be
further prorogued from Tuesday, January 13, until
February 5, and a proclamation was issued, sum.
moning Parliament to meet on Thursday, the 6th
of February, for the despatch of public business.
Mr. Helps, the clerk of the council, attended.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of.
Somerset, Earl Granville, and Mr. Helps left town
at nine o'clock this day morning by a special train
on the South-Western Railway, crossed from Gos-
port to Osborne-pier in the Fire Queen, and arrived
at Osborne about one o'clock. The Archbishop of
Canterbury, the Duke of Somerset, Earl Granville,
and Secretary Sir George Grey, after attending her
Majesty's Privy Council, re-embarked in the Fire
Queen, and returned to London by a special rail-
way train.

11 per Cents .. 98 75
Do. end month....
3 per Cents
Do. end month 7O 50
New 3 per Cents
Do, end month —
Credit Mobilier..., 1145
Do, end month 1147 50
RA ILI

Bank Shares 3450
Credit Fonder
Piedmontese Fives.
Italian Loan 7O 85
Russian
Austrian
Threes 52 50
Rome Debt .. 49 25

'AYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans ICBB 75 .. 1090
Northern
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 1185 .. 1186 25
Geneva 370 ..
Southern
Western
Eastern ..,.
Sardinian 368 75 ..
Austrian
i,nrr. herd
North of Spain
Saragossa 662 50 .. 661 25
Ditto to Barcelona

THE CAPE MAILS.
PLYMOUTH, SATURDAY MORNING.
The Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce has
been informed by Mr. Collier, M.P., that, by the
new postal contract, Plymouth will continue to be
the port of arrival and departure for the Cape of
Good Hope mails.