The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-09 00:00:00

CIRCULAR.

TO HER MAJESTY'S SUBJECTS. 101'
Macao, 20th January, --.t if r
Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary considers 16,4
cumbent upon himself to lose no time in 3954
the Commercial Community that he w`;-,oo`
his best effort with her Majesty's Gl:Were-60r
to secure an early and entire advance ei
claims for indemnity. 100
And, mindful of the interest of parties in i.2:1)1
he will not fail respectfully to move the
Honourable the Governor General of „,
to second these purposes as fax as may see— "
to his Lordship.
(Signed) CHARLES ELLIO.
Her Majesty's Plenipotentl, ,4'

At length, as will be seen from the above _her
&liar addressed by H. M. Plenipotentiary i°e
Britannic 50
Majesty's subjects in China) tibled'
long pending negotiations have come to a cop
and preliminary arrangements in volving ce eat,"
conditions, as the basis, we suppose,
to be entered into between the of the
have been concluded. We are f.nformeddl;
" details remain matter of negotiation," an d
fore the nature of these becomes known we the
above public document alone,
be content with offering our remarks upon
oi,,f
two couat
art of finding ;
in
readers that no desire on our pa ant Brito
where none exists, but.a conviction ,y •
and we assure_
interests have been lightly
cient considerations, sall roinpt the obseriM
tions we are about to offer. P
In order to do this it will be well to recall y
mind the circumstances which rendered it neee'l
armament to the shores of this Em
sary that Great Britain should send a Splella,t j
sacrificed UP°3 iflsll
Government might be made aware that it c° 1e
no longer be ailowed with impunity to trail*
under foot the rights of other nations• vcifol
the plea that some British merchants , the r.
acted contrary to the fiscal regulations 9'ol
country, not only they, but all British .;.eit.,
pire,.thatld
Foreigners residing in Canton, were detail:de,
prisoners during more than six weeks .1100',;1
threats of being starved, and of personaistor
lence, they were despoiled of property c.°,,,styt
10 millions of dollars or more. Her -al„,attiolif
Representative, -who had offered his
was likewise imprisoned, and threatened her
" the last degree of severity, as he inforineued
at
Majesty's subjects ;" all ships were detain; 'OO,
Whampoa at heavy demurrage, and per" 11
for both persons and ships to depart iv.,„as*ll3
given after all the Opium of which the r'n'eriti"'
had been possessed was given up to the SuflisleA
tendent, and by him to the Chinese Governsoer4
under a pledge from the former to its !kit*
that they should be repaid for it by the Ps/0
Government. After this the English nierce th
trusting to the energy and protection thip
Government for redress, retired to gat, 'et
the rancour of the Chinese followed ther,de:.l7,
there, and they were obliged to take re'Vps,
board their ships. The most inflamulatt%beal
clamations against the English were pobillve)
they were not to be allowed to land for 4e Of
the springs were poisoned, all Chinese w` gr_eo
vited to kill Englishmen wherever theyt'aevi
found, and an unarmed passage boat was atn
by mandarins, and its crew and passenger'
manly butchered and mutilated. muntivfo
These were the principal offences e°- irao:7
by the Chinese, for which full reparation
loot
be obtained, and to secure which an arrnAtl
sufficient to strike terror into the 11104
iiib
inhabitants •of this land, was sent; this 11; ,1101/f
here exactly seven months ago—it is rrit
our object to repeat what during all ttiilit
it did or did not do; our business rn
result it has produced in the hands of
lie. s
jesty's Plenipotentiary, a result which v itht
far short of the expectations entertaincdtiiity,
that we should be inclined to doubt its entertained
did not the document heading these rn"--'
stare us in the face. • :fie'
Is
The conditions obtained ,
by her MajestY-thel.
nipotentiary are four, and we shall conside.l:o4 0
seriatim :—" Ist, The cession of the islloos'
Kong Hong to the British Crown• eon
charges and duties to the empire upon tli..,itso"
-merce carried on there to be paid as if tilC;'
was conducted at What npoa."
We consider that for an independent ore
settlement no situation can possibly be 01
vourably chosen than that. of Hong /1(°11gilii101,
island itself is of little extent, we are to! _goo!:
fifteen miles in circumference, but.it.. ve,"fr
With the neighbouring lands one of the
ports existing,' where any number 0 or'
and of any size, may safely anchor in th!1014
of weathers, andi the settlement of 11°Iie, be;
would, we doubt not, in a very short tl vreftl
come a place of' very considerable trade'd ivit
its possession by the-British not clogqvbsor
the condition that the same duties as at. estvt
poa are to be paid there, which, in I)" 0;11
'1
ill,
mation, destroys at once all the benofit ;
might be expected to trade there,ario- ;WI
fact, reduce the British settlement of 14°,11.,.5),
to nothing more than ie Military state
make it possibly the resort of the flOt Call;
foreign merchants transacting business as the.,
ton, although even this is doubtful, a stall'
may continue to prefer Macao.
iriTileo.
chares and duties being paid at -".°llrucee''
as at Whampoa, it follows as a matter
sessity that the trade will remain where fieP,
turiesit has been established, and not se,,ers,jol.l,
location where it is under the samesu
am- fare;
tapes, without its being afforded the Hat cater
lities it now finds in a populous connuF
long the centre of the commerce of the bett_e(l.
and under the same charge influitewlar_ is
situated than a port on an out-of-the-
.Y.100,(1,,;‘,
can ever be. Had Hong Kong "illEenglisby ge,
tionally into the possession of the
~,ssiun,
should have thought it a Valuable nO-!,Lin,: Sul 1
quired at whatever price; now,
reading we acem;
ro'
, ov.
its value is little or none. British illlOl
" 2d. An indemnity to the
one 111
ment of six millions of dollars;
give to the Plenipotentiary t'
der ill e 4
tl
payable at once, and the remain
tot
instalments ending in 1846." 0 iurn
. AS above stated, the cost of the,
extorted by the Chinese, exceeded L,,tatieclt.lll iii
and otheilosses suffered by Brit's' yea.7,,of
calculating interest even for-,the,,t,ri.ll tatiP
ready elapsed, such as demurrage 01811 r