The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-09 00:00:00

Lord Malinesbury and Mr. Gladstone,
.b-

The Earl of Malmesbury presents his compliments
to the editor of The Sun, and will be much obliged
to him to insert the enclosed correspondence in his

journal,

.eron-court, Aug. 7.

" Heron-court, July 27.

" Sir,—Since the elections my attention has been
directed to a speech reported in The Sun to have
been made by you at Liverpool on the 18th inst.
In that report you are made to say :
" Our predecessors, in the exercise of their diplomatic
wisdom, had to instruct an ambassador to Sign a treaty with
China, and it appeared to them that the signing of a treaty
was an operation which could not possibly be performed in
a satisfactory manner without a large fleet. The people of
China, in some way or other, did not understand the neces-
sity of a large fleet for the signing of a treaty, and thought
that this large fleet must probably have some other object
in view. However that may be, as you know, a great dis-
aster occurred in the month of June, 1859, at the mouth of

the Peibo, under the instructions of Lord Malmesbury, and
before the present Government had assumed their office,
or, at any rate, had been able to take any step in reference
to China.'

" If these words mean anything, they charge me
with being responsible for our repulse by the Chinese
in consequence of instructing Admiral Hope ' to
send up with Mr. Bruce to the mouth of the Peiho
a sufficient naval force.' They further infer that her
Majesty's present Government disapproved of that
order, and would have countermanded it had they
had the opportunity to do so. I beg, therefore, to
refer you to the China papers laid before Parliament
in 1859 and 1860, andfrom which I have just quoted
the words of my instructions. (Vide page 2.) I
consider that these were rendered indispensable by
Lord Elgin's previous correspondence in 1858, where
he complainerof not having had a sufficient naval
force at his command on the Peiho, and by Admiral
Sir Michael Seymour, who in his vindication ex-
pressed himself thus :
" I have had two years' experience in Chinese warfare,
and any one who has been long in China will bear me out in
the assertion that nothing but the conclusive evidence of
irresistible force will ever fully satisfy the Chinese '3overn-
ment.

" Subsequently (pages 3 and 4) Mr. Bruce gives
an account of a conference held by Admiral Hope,
General Straubenzee, and himself on the 28th April,
1859, after which they drew up the following
minute :

" Mr. Bruce stated that we mustbe guided by the general
experience of the Chinese character, and that we might infer
as the 'result of our past experience that the objects of this
mission were likely to be most satisfactorily and peacefully
obtained if the British Minister were supported by a power-.
ful demonstration of force at the mouth of the Peiho river.
Sir C. Straubenzee and Rear-Admiral Hope concurred in
this view.'

" It is, therefore, the fact that, whether my in-
structions were or were not ill-judged, all these
eminent diplomatic naval and military chiefs acting
on the spot were of the same opinion as myself re-
specting the necessity of protecting our envoy
with a sufficient force.' I therefore still believe that
my orders were wise, and that had Mr. Bruce gone
with a smaller escort the opposition to his advance
would have been the same, and the result perhaps
fatal to himself.

" Now, sir, in respect to what you insinuate you
and your colleagues would have done had you been
able to take any step in reference to China,' I beg
to refer you to Lord Russell's opinion of the wisdom
of my instructions as expressed by him on the 6th
July, 1859, in reply to Mr. Bruce's despatch, which
I have quoted above. His lordship wrote as follows :
" Her Majesty's Government approve the arrangements
as reported in your despatch of the 4th of May, which you
have adopted in concert with Sir C. Van Straubenzee and
Rear-Admiral Hope for the purpose of proceeding up the
Peiho, backed by an adequate naval and military force.—
I am, &c. " 'J. RUSSELL.'
_

"Lord Russellspeaks inthe name of her Majesty's
Government, of which you yourself were a member.
How am I then to account for your attempt at Li-
verpool to saddle me with the undivided odium of a
policy which your Government positively and offi-
cially approved at a time when the events in China
were still unknown to all parties in England ? How
am I to reconcile Lord Russell's straightforward let-
ter of the Gth July, 1859, with your sneering attack
upon me on the 18th of July, 1865 ?
" I feel that no apology can be required for ask-
ing you these questions.—l have the honour to re-
main, your obedient servant,

MALMESBURY.
" The Eight Hon. W. Gladstone, M.P., &c."

" Heron-court, July 29.

" Sir,—l have just received a letter from Mr.
Dashwood (my formersecretary), informing me that
inasmuch as the handwriting of my letter to you is
not mine, you doubted its being genuine. I hasten,
therefore, to say that it was written by Lady Mal-
mesbury at my dictation, but signed and sealed by.
myself. Her ladyship's hand is so much more le-
gible than mine that I thought this would be more
convenient to you, and I feel sure that you are too
gallant not to see in the act an additional mark of
respect to yourself.—lremain, your obedient servant,
MALMESBURY.
" The Right Hon. W. Gladstone."

" Hawarden, Aug. 1.

" The Chancellor of the Exchequer presents his
compliments to Lord Malmesbury, and begs to ac-
knowledge the receipt of his letter of the 27th of
July, together with the explanatory note which Lord
Malmesbury was so good as to write on the 29th.
" It does not appear to the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer that there is much matter or occasion for
controversy between Lord Malmesbury and himself.
" The present Government }laving been charged
by leaders of the Opposition with the great aug-
mentation of expenditure in 1860, which arose out
of the Chinese war, and the expenditure so aug-
mented having been, by the same high authority,
put in contrast, as the act of the present Govern-
ment, with the lower rate which prevailed 1858-9,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer replied by point-
ing out that the outbreak of hostilities was the re-
sult of orders given by the former Administration,
and that it took place before the present Govern-
ment had any opportunity of choosing a line of
conduct with respect to China.
" Lord Rahnesbury is, without doubt, perfectly
entitled to quote the opinions of gentlemen who
may have thought the principle of those orders to be
a wise one, but that plea is_wholly irrelevant to the
point now raised, which concerns the responsibility
for the war expenditure of 1860. Nor does the
Chancellor of the Exchequer perceive that the ap-
proval by Lord Russell of the conduct of British
agents abroad, in obeying directions which they had
received from the proper authorities in England, is
the same thing with having given those directions.
" With regard to the prudence of giving them,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer asks to have his
own opinion ; and he cannot think that he went
beyond the merits of the case, or the just liberty of
public discussion, in the strictly defensive reference
he made to this subject. Indeed, as it appears to
him, the cause of complaint, if there be one, is
all the other way. He is also quite unconscious of
the insinuations and sneering references to which
LordMalmesbury alludes, it being his habit to state
with great plainness what he thinks in regard to
public affairs.
" Under these circumstances, Lord Malmesbury's
questions being of the argumentative kind, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer must respectfully
leave it to his lordship to answer them."

" Heron-court, Aug. 7.
" Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the
receipt of your reply of the Ist inst.
" It appears to me to be rather an answer to the
speeches of other persons than to my letter of the
27th of July, and as you decline entering into what
you are pleased to call the argumentative questions
contained in that letter, I shall now add no more
but send our correspondence to the public journals.
—I have the honour to be your obedient servant,
MALMESBURY.
" The Right Hon. W. Gladstone, M.P., &e."

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