The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-30 00:00:00

THE ENGLISH IN CHINA.

(From the Ames Correspondent.)

SHANGHAI, April 8.
In the early part of the last century the existence
even of Shanghai was known to few, except Jesuit
missionaries, and the few who happened to be in
correspondence with them. Du Halde speaks of it
casually as one of the cities under the jurisdiction of
the Foo of Soochow, and awards it a certain amount
of importance, as possessing a considerable junk
trade with Foochow and Japan. But it is lost amid
other cities, to which he awards equal praise, and
for some time even after it was opened to foreign
trade by the treaty of Nanking little was heard of
it out of commercial circles. The expedition to
Pekin first brought it into prominent notice through
the columns of the limes. It was reserved for the
rebels to attract to it an attention second only to
that commanded by the capitals of our three prin-
cipal Indian provinces, and since their repulse from
its neighbourhood its commercial importance has
guaranteed a continuance of the interest first awak-
ened. In no part of the world probably have so rapid
fortunes been made, and in few places probably
have greater fluctuations in prosperity been observ-
able. The gigantic fortunes which have been amassed
by some of our leading merchants, though nominally
derived from Hongkong, are attributable in a great
degree to Shanghai tea, silk and land, and not a few
heavy losses during the past year have been refer-
able to the same source. It seems to have been be-
lieved that the foreign capacity for the consumption
of tea was inexhaustible, and that the margin for
profit was so wide that no competition could re-
duce.it. So implicit was this confidence that teas
were shipped for Shanghai last year when the
prices paid for them necessitated a loss of 2d. per
lb. according to home advices ; and although hard
experience has lately tended to destroy the hallu-
cination, a certain belief still appears to exist
that any persov in business at Shanghai must
necessarily make a fortune. Similarly, three
years ago the price of land had reached a fabulous
height, and not making allowance for the exceptional
causes which had led to its rise, speculators invested
recklessly, and held on madly, apparently under the
impression that the demand for Chinese houses was
inexhaustible. The population of a province had
been swept into Shanghai before the advancing tide
of the rebellion. Hundreds of unfortunate wretches
lay dying, starving, and houseless along the roans
leading to it, and in the very streets ; and hundreds
more had brought with them means which would
have enabled them to rent houses if there had been
roofs sufficient to cover them. The value of land na-
turally rose to a fabulous sum, the demand for houses
appeared unlimited, and street after street, block
after block was erected, and let at rentals.which re-
turned exorbitant interest on the outlay. The sup-
ply reached a climax, and exceeded the demand ;
the repulse of the rebels commenced, and gradually
continued, and the demand correspondingly decreased
as the refugees were able to return to the sites of
their former homes, and resume cultivation of their
paddy fields. Prices of land fell, and profits on ren-
tals followed the example, as, gradually, family by
family, individual by individual, the fortuitous po-
pulation dwindled away. Blocks of houses became
empty almost as rapidly as they had been built, and
incomes fell from hundreds to fifties. At the height
of the flood it was computed, I believe with reason,
that the city, suburbs, and foreign settlements of
Shanghai contained a million and three-quarters of
inhabitants. At present, I suspect this number
might be halved, without danger of under-estima-
tion. The census, to which I alluded in my last
letter, as having recently been taken, shows a popu-
lation of 146,227 Chinese, and of 3,248 foreigners,
to exist in the English, French, and American
quarters. Probably half-a-million would not be an
excessive estimate of the population of the city,
suburbs, and junks. The classification of the fo-
reign residents is not devoid of interest. Out of the
total, the French claims only 460, the English settle-
ment 1,164, and the American 871. Occupants of
villa residences in the environs, tide-waiters living
afloat, &c., contribute to swell these figures, and the
British army and navy raise the grand total to 5,129
foreigners who reside on the banks of the Wangpoo.
To look after our legal wants, there are no less than
seven solicitors ; to administer spiritual food, there
are five clergymen, besides missionaries ; and to pre-
serve our bodily health we possess 18 physicians and
five apothecaries. To the diversity of races I
alluded last week ; no less than 19 different nation-
alitieg, exclusive of Chinese, can boast representa-
tives at Shanghai. Among these England has sent
forth 2,160, exclusive of her troops, France 299, and
America 471. There are no less than 14 Turks,
while Peru and Mexico can claim one subject each.
The census of Shanghai is not like a common census,
for it is a very uncommon place. In few ports are
there congregated so many divers nationalities, and
in few does so small a number of persons represent
such vast commercial interests. Shanghai is the
depot of the Yang-tze ports and of Ningpo, and
Hongkong is the depot of Shanghai and Foochow.
The other ports scarcely deserve mention in compa-
rison. I have dilated on the subject at the risk of
becoming tedious, because interest must always
attach to a place so singularly circumstanced in re-
gard to inhabitants and Government as Shanghai.
But in China a place could hardly fail to be peculiar.
Shanghai merely accords in its characteristics with
the country in which it is situated.

The Consular Court has inflicted another of those
light sentences which show how difficult we find it
to look on a breach of Chinese regulations in the
same light as we should an offence against the laws
of our own country. The British steamer Mer-
cury, Bayton, commander, was discovered by the
Ninpo revenue cruiser in a suspicious position
amid the Chusan Archipelago. She was warned
at the time, and on her return to Ningpo
a formal complaint was laid before her Britannic
Majesty's consul. Baynton, however, was let off
with an admonition, on his explanation that he had
been hired by some Chinese to protect fisheries in
which they were interested from pirates, and on his
distinct promise not to venture again into forbidden
waters. Immediately afterwards the Mercury cleared
for Foochow ; but when the revenue cruiser again
visited the same neighbourhood she found the steamer
in its old position, and learned that it had in the
meantime fought an action, in which it had captured
several junks and killed several of the crew. Bayn-
ton, of course, asserted that the junks were pirates,
but the trial has not shown distinctly whether or not
such was the case. However this may be, the Com-
missioner of customs ordered the Mercury to be ar-
rested and brought to Ningpo. Baynton, however,
without actual violence, contrived to avoid surren-
dering his vessel when called on to do so, and went
to Foo-chow. On his subsequent return to Shanghai
he was arrested, and has now been tried on the dis-
tinct charge of resistance to the Customs' officers in
the execution of their duty, and of having contra-
vened the ninth article of the treaty byvisiting ports
not open to foreign vessels without a passport. At
first his trial for piracy and murder, in consequence
of the action I have spoken of with the junks, was
spoken of as likely ; but this was subsequently al-
lowed to fall through, and the lesser faults alone
brought forward. Baynton's only excuse was a de-
nial of violence in avoiding the Customs' officer,
and a plea that he returned a second time to the
spot, when he was arrested, to get a sum of money
due to him by the Chinaman who had engaged his
services ; that he was fired on by the junks, and re-
turned their fire. The sentence of the court was six
months' imprisonment on the first charge, dating
from the time of arrest, several months ago ; and on
the second no penalty.

Eccentricities of "braves" appear at present to
absorb the attention of foreign residents on the
banks.of.the Yang-tze: A body of these gentlemen
who: afro now eneampd at Kinkia,nk,, on their way
to-the scene of the Mahoniedan rebellion, are making
themselves objectionable in every possible way. They
have broken windows, injured fencings, and pulled
down the Grand Stand for firewood. Their own
countrymen came off still worse ; in fact, as is
usually the case with Chinese soldiers, they behave
more like a conquering than a protecting force. At
Hankow another large force is encamped; but, for-
tunately for tl foreign residents, the opposite side
of the river, Wuchang, is the principal scene of their
depredations. An outbreak, which resulted in the
extinction of one small Mandarin, occurred there

only a few days ago, in consequence of an attempt
by the authorities to cut off a portion of eight months'
arrears of pay which was due to them. Objecting
to this measure, they raised a general riot, and, as
I mentioned before, annihilated one small Mandarin
pour encourager les autres. The measure was per-
fectly successful, impelling the authorities to extra-
taxative exertions, which enabled them in a few days
to satisfy their claims. A Shanghai paper says Han-
kow was recently the scene of a duel, which it would
require the pen of a Marryatt properly to describe.
Two drunken rowdies, far too gentlemanly to resort
to the usual weapons of their class for the purpose of
settling a dispute, arranged through the medium of
seconds, a meeting with fowling-pieces--distance
ten paces. The seconds, more sober or more sensible
than their principals, loaded the guns with rags, but
at the short distance these proved sufficiently de-
structive to blow out the eye of one of the com-
batants, who forthwith fired his piece at his second
in the blindness of his rage. With a gross lack of
appreciation of the chivalrous feeling evidenced, her
Majesty's Consul deported the gentlemen to Shang-
hai, where they will no doubt be received with open
arms by congenial comrades.
The reinforcements which came down from the
interior of the province en route to Amoy have left,
to the number, I believe, of some 8,000 or 10,000.
Their departure was hastened by news which arrived
overland of a severe defeat experienced by the Im-
perialist force, at present besieging Changchow, in
an attempted assault.

Trade is duller, if possible, than ever, in conse-
quence of telegrams received by the last mail re-
porting the fall of Wilmington and Charleston.
The opening of the Kurrachee and Persian Gulf
line brings us within less than a month of England,
and enables us to receive news two mails in advance.

The silk market is almost nominal, except in
reference to Japan, whence 750 bales arrived by the
last Peninsular and Oriental steamer, nearly all of
which goes forward by the present mail. Only bales
of Chinese have been settled during the past fort-
night, and the stocks on hand are estimated at 150
bales only against some 3,500 at this time last year.
Cotton is down to 413 50 taels per picul. Ex-
change is at 6s. 21d. for banks bills, and 6s. 3-0.
for private paper.
Naval and Military Intelligence.

The Charybdis, 21, screw corvette, 1,506 tons
and 400-horse power, Capt. Edward W. Tumour,
arrived at Spithead yesterday afternoon from the
Pacific, and on entering the roadstead saluted the
flag of the Port-Admiral and Naval Commander-in-
Chief, Sir Michael Seymour, G.C.8., which was re-
turned by the three-decked training ship St. Vin-
cent, flagship pro tern., during the refit of the Vic-
tory, the permanent flagship of the port. The Charyb-
dis sailed from Vancouver Dec. 14, from Valparaiso

March 2, and from Rio de Janeiro April 11, and has
brought to England two warrant officers, one naval
engineer, 80 naval supernumeraries, and five pri-
soners from her Majesty's fleets on the Pacific and
Brazil stations. The Charybdis made the passage
round Cape Horn, the weather being unfavourable
for going through the Straits of Magellan. On the

21st of May she passed the Azores, strong westerly
winds prevailing at the time. On the 26th, when
north of Cape Finisterre, she encountered a hurri-
cane from S. to W.S.W., which lasted ten hours—
seven of which the ship lay nearly on her beam ends.
The ship has been in commission since November,
1860, and will require heavy repairs before she can
be again pronounced fit for foreign service. She
will be immediately dismantled and paid out of
commission, probably at an eastern port.
Yesterday the workmen at Chatham Dockyard
commenced the slip from which the iron-plated fri-
gate Lord Warden was launched on Saturday, to
prepare for laying down the keel of the Blanch,
4, 1,081 tons,3oo-horse power (nominal), one of the
new class of Alabama frigates, designed by Mr.
Reed, which is to be constructed at that establish-
mentwith as much rapidity as possible. The follow-
ing are to be her principal dimensions—Length be-
tween perpendiculars, 187 ft. ; length of keel for
tonnage, 158 ft. 3M. ; extreme breadth, 36ft. ; breadth
moulded, 35ft. tin. ; breadth for tonnage, 35ft. 10in. ;
depth in hold, 19ft. 4in. ; burden, 1,081 16-94 tons;
launching draughtforward, Git. Sin. ; do. aft, 12ft.
The screwcorvette Reindeer, 17, 250 horse power,
laid down on No. 2 slip at Chatham Dockyard five
years ago, and partially completed, was yesterday
again taken in hand by a party of shipwrights, in
accordance with instructions from the Admiralty
directing her to be forthwith completed according
to the amended drawing and plans received at the
master-shipwright's department from Whitehall.
According to these the Reindeer is to be slightly
lengthened aft, and to be fitted with a poop as well
as with a topgallant forecastle, the plan of complet-
ing, her as a small ironclad having been abandoned,
as her frame would not be sufficiently strong to
support the armour she would be required to carry.
The instructions from the Admiralty direct her to
be completed and launched before the close of the
present year.

The work of taking to pieces two of the un-
armoured wooden vessels in frame at Chatham
Dockyard—the Belvidera, 51, 500-horse power, and
the Menai, 22, 400-horse power—on which no
hands have been employed for several years past,
will be commenced this week. A number of ship-
wrights and labourers were detailed yesterday for
taking asunder the frames of both these vessels, the
timbers of which are to be used in the general ser-
vice of the yard. There will be thus only one wooden
vessel standing in frame at Chatham Dockyard—
the screw two-deckerßulwark, 91, 800-horse power,
laid down between six and seven years since, and
rather less than half completed.

The military and naval.invalids brought to Eng-
land in the Racoon,22, screw, Capt. Count Gleichen,
from the Mediterranean, as reported in The Sun of
yesterday, were disembarked from the corvette at
Spithead by means of a Government steam tender,
and sent to the Naval and Military Hospitals at
Haslar and Netley, and to the depots of the respec-
tive regiments, &c. The Racoon remains at Spit-
head.

The Maori, hired sailing transport, which arrived
at Spithead on Saturday from New Zealand with
military invalids, time-expired men, and a few mili-
tary pensioners, discharged her troops yesterday
into a Government steam tender for conveyance to
the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley and the re-
spective regimental depots.

The screw steamship Revenge, 73, recently paid
off at Devonport, is preparing for Coastguard ser-
vice, to relieve the Blenheim, 60, at Pembroke,
ordered to be broken up.
The screw steamship Hawke, 60, formerly in the
Coastguard service, will be broken up at Devonport,
where a dock is ready for her reception.
Painters are busily occupied on the iron-cased
screw steamship Zealous, 20, in the basin at Key-
ham Steamyard, and she will soon be ready to be
placed in the stream in Hamoaze.

The crank shafting of the screw steam gun-vessel
Serpent, 4, Commander J. Bullock, has been taken
out and tested at Devonport. She will probably be
ready to proceed to sea to-morrow.

The lighter ilamoaze, J. Patton, master, left Ply-
mouth yesterday, with stores for Portsmouth Dock-
yard.

The artisans of the Devonport Dockyard are
making progress with the old sailing ship Ganges,
84, which is to be converted for the training of boys
at Falmouth.

The Austrian steam ram Kaiser Max, which left
Plymouth on Saturday for Ferrol, put back to the
Sound, in consequence of encountering strong wes-
terly winds.

The 87th Regiment (Fusileers) were yesterday
cd_ficially inspected on the Sonthsea-ommon by
Major-Gen. -Lord- Paiileti, 1...C.11., Command-
•ing the South-West Military District, preparatory
to the regiment leaving Portsmouth garrison for the
camp at Aldershott.

The local pensioners belonging to the Chatham
district, having completed their annual period of
training under Col. R. Jenkins, were yesterday
inspected on Chatham Lines by Major-Gen. Sir R.
Walpole, K.C.8., commanding the forces in the
district. The entire body of pensioners, forming six
companies, and numbering about 400 men of all
ranks, assembled in front of the Casemate barracks,
St. Mary's, and were marched, headed by their

30, 1865.

band, to the Lines, where, under the direction of
Col. Jenkins, they were put through the manual
and platoon exercises, after which they were exer-
cised in a number of company and battalion move-
ments, the marching past of the veterans, and their
steadiness under arms and in the various manoeuvres
gone through, being very satisfactory. The pen-
sioners will re-assemble to-day to return their uni-
form, accoutrements, and arms.