The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-17 00:00:00

THE LATE OPERATIONS IN But her Majesty's Government cannot doubt
;
CANTON RIVER. that the lesson which those authorities have
now Jearnt,
';::
h Majesty
hs servants in China, relying upon tha
Correspondence relative to the operations in the
that forbearance has its limits, and that__"
Canton o tei Government, are prepared, necei-
Canton River has been just laid before Parliament by
j
promptly to assert the rights whiell
her Majesty's command; and the following are ex-
tracts from the more interesting portions thereof. sary,
subjectsin China are by treaty entitled to injoy wilo2l
The first extract is of a letter from Sir John Davis.
have a salutary effect on the future conduct of thei%At
SIR JOHN DAVIS TO COMMISSIONER KEYING.
" Victoria, Hong Kong, April 2,1847. I Chinese officers.
'at
I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Excel-
Her Majesty s Government trust, however,th
what has occurred will not operate as an encourage='
..,:-..
lency's single reply to three of my notes.
ment to an or ill-disd viduals o
It has always been our invariable rule to write se-
the British y community,thoughtless wantonly p
toose provoindike collisi f
on
parately on every separate subject. This new pro-
ceeding on your Excellency's part I regret to observe with the Chinese. It will be your duty, and that of
is insincere, and tends to confusing and evading the all her Majesty's servants in China, to suppress by
the most prompt and vigorous exertions of the
real points at issue.
again enclose a copy of my principal and most powers entrusted to you by law, every tendency to
important note, which you have passed unnoticed. such conduct on the part of the British community;
Viscount Palmerston requires reparation for the vio- I and you may reckon with confidence upon the support
of her Majesty's Government in your endeavours to
lence committed on the two sailors on the 17th Oc-
tober. I have also to demand the immediate punish- i give effect to their wishes in this respect.
ment of the guilty at Fuhshan on the 12th of March. (Signed) PALMERSTON'.
You have fasiuently evaded the punishment of the
aggressors on former occa.ions, and Lord Palmerston
states it can be endured no longer.
According to the general rule of nations, my Go-
vernment will be compelled, by a refusal of justice. to
take possession of securities for the performance of
what is due. Perhaps it may become necessary to
resume possession of Chusan if our people are badly
treated at Canton with impunity. The four points
indispensably required are as under :-
1. The punishment of the aggressors at Canton on
the 17th of October.
2. The punishment of those at Fuhshan on the 12th
of March.
3. Sufficient ground for the dwelling of British
merchants at Canton.
4. The practice now, or at a fixed period, of the
right of free entry into the city.
(Signed) J. F. DAVIS.
SIR JOHN DAVIS TO COMMISSIONER KEYINO.
Canton, April 4, 1647.
In pursuance of the arrangement agreed upon at
our interview of this day, I beg to inclose to your
Excellency the following written specification of
points which I wish to be settled :-
1. That I should either return your Excellency's
visit in the city, or that a time be specifically named,
after which there shall be a general free ingress for
British subjects.
2. That British subjects shall be free from moles-
tation in their perambulations within the neighbour-
hood of Canton.
3. That the aggressions of October 17 on the two
seamen be punished, and also that of March 12 on
Colonel Chesney and otheis, and that the names and
punishments of the guilty be reported to me.
4. That British merchants be granted a building
site of about fifty acres by the river, at the corner
of the Macao Passage.
5. That a site for a church be rented on this side
of the river be also granted, as well as a burial-
ground at Whampoa.
6 That a flying bridge to connect the two factory
gardens be allowed to be constructed, and that the
garden walls we kept clear of Chinese huts.
7. That the river space in front of the factories be
kept permanently clear of boats.
As soon as the foregoing points have been settled
I shall be able to return immediately to Hong-Kong.
(Signed) J. F. DAVIS.
The result of the operations is described in this
dispatch fiom Sir John Davis to Lord Palmerston :
Victoria, Hong-Kong, April 12, 1847.
My Lord—My hurried despatches of the sth and
6th of April were intended to put your Lordship in
possession of the outline of events from the 2d to the
6th inst, within which period of tour days a rapid and
successful course of operations obtained for me all
that I justly despaired of ever effecting by negotiation
alone, end the absence from this colony, for exactly
one week, of a portion of the ordinary garrison, has
probably rendered all the details of an expensive ex-
pedition unnecessary hereafter.
Every military precaution was adopted, and we
reached Canton in thirty-six hours, after capturing
and disabling all the means of annoyance in our rear,
in spite of resistance. This was effected with 900
men of my garrison, three steamers, and a brig;
while in 1841 the same end was attained after many
days by 3,000 troops, three line of battle ships, eleven
frigates and sloops, and four steamers. For the de-
tails of our rapid operations I beg to refer your Lord-
ship to the Major-General's dispatch to Lord Grey
By the testimony of the able officers of artillery
and engineers forming the staff of our garrison, the
city of Canton was entirely at our mercy, and only a
word was required to involve it in helpless and in-
evitable ruin. This catastrophe was happily averted,
and the demands for reparation were obtained in
four days after quitting Hong-Kong, without I be-
lieve the loss of a life. The good conduct of the
troops, while in position at Canton, was equal to
their promptness and discipline in their irresistible
passage up the river.

RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED
STATES

The surplus products of American harvests, and their
transportation to meet the exigencies of the mother
country, render freights on the American lines dn.-
cult to be obtained, notwithstanding that the New
Jersey and other lines run many extra trains both
night and day. The quantity of flour which has been
received at Boston by the Western Rai way, between
September l and April 10, was 182,544.. barrels,
143,647 barrels for the corresponding period last
year.
The quantity of corn received from all points during
the same period, was 1,353,560 bushels. The im-
pressions that at present prevail in America, rela-
tive to the ultimate remunerativeness of their mul-
tiplying lines may be taken as a tolerable criterion
of the eventual advantage that will accrue upon
prudent enterprise in connexion with almost all our
British Railways. It is predicated in the best
informed quarters, that every line in America, no
matter how unfavourable at present may appear
their location, must eventually pay good dividends.
Nearly every rail in the country earned more money
in 1846 than in 1845, and so far this year they have
done a very large business compared with the cor-
responding period in former years. The activity in
the grain markets has given all my quantity of
freight, and they have been reaping a very rich
harvest. Every road in the country, in good hands,
must improve in value and productiveness. They
are so intimately connected with the trade and com-
merce of the country, that they must improve as
resources become developed, and connexions are
made between different sections of the country. The
business of the New England lines is almost entirely
of a local character, and they pay better dividends
than any others in the country. The New Yorkers
have expended nearly three hundred millions of
dollars in works of internal improvement; some are
unproductive, some in an unfinished state, and some
at present perfectly useless. At the time the im-
mense debts of some of the States were contracted
the public mind was almost entirely absorbed by the
construction of canals. The canals built at that time
at such an extravagant rate of expenditure, will in a
few years be almost entirely superseded by railways
constructed in their immediate vicinity. New rail-
ways are in completion in every part of the country,
and a few years will suffice to complete many of
the lines now in an unfinished state. The capital
stocks of most have been filled up by subscriptions
from the middle classes, New York capitalists are
very shy, and touch all works of improvement cau-
tiously; and rich men are unwilling to part with their
money, unless immediate returns in the shape of di-
vidends are guaranteed. In consequence of this prin-
ciple prevailing so generally, the system of paying
interest upon all instalments paid in upon subscrip-
tions to railways has been adopted. The journals
condemn this system, as it is not more or less than.
paying back to subscribers, in the shape of interest,
part of the principal, the deficiency produced by these
payments having to be made up by an increase of
capital stock. On the Boston line there has been
general increase of trade. In fact, the increase of
business on the railroads already in operation has put
all previous calculations far in the back-ground. Es-
timates, originally deemed to be highly exaggerated,
have proved to be far below the actual results. The
annexed table exhibits the gross receipts of the &I-
I lowing railroads leading from Boston, in four years,
ending December 1, 1846 :

1843.

1846.

dollars. dollars.
Boston and Worcester 383.367 554,7 12
Western 584 882 954,417
Boston and Lowell 277.315 344,102
Fitchburg not open 286,635
Boston and Maine 178,744 349,136
Eastern 272,036 371,338
Boston and Providence 033,388 360,375

Total 1,918.734 3 260,725
Aggregate increase on all the roads is 57 percent.
Fares were generally reduct•d in 1845. From caleula-
ions recentlymade, it has been ascertained that the popu •
lation in the towns immediately adjoining some of
the railroads of Massachussetts was as follows, viz.:
~f the Old Colony railway, not including Dorchester,
25,976, giving an average of 702 per mile ; that of
the Providence road, not including Roxbury, 39,977,
or 978 per mile ; of the Worcester road, 27,159, or
603 per mile; of the Fitchburg road, 27,353, or 547
per mile ; of the Lowel road, 28,664, or 1,102 per
mile; of the Boston and Maine road, terminating at
the line of the state of New Hampshire, 19,865, or
.557 per mile; and on the Eastern road, terminating
also at the border of the state, 51,967, or 1,310 per
mile.—Ratheuy Gazette.

I now have the honour to inclose a translation of
Keying's agreement.
1. The entrance to the city is not required on cc-
count of its value, because scarcely anybody would
think it worth while to exercise the right, as we sea
daily at Shanghae and elsewhere; but the principle
is worth our care, and the previous indefinite period
is now reduced to a fixed one of two years, in which
interval the confessed and admitted weakness of the
Canton Government may have time to prepare the
people for the change.
2. The limit for excursions is defined (as at Shang-
hae) by a day's journey out and home, and we have
now furnished the authorities with a strong motive
The Belfast News Letter says that Mro.fSLheridan
ear.
J.
for restraining and punishing the aggression.
3. The punishment of those who maltreated the
liit
on
so,w,
il
le
,s, .• indigcantly declined the oiler
two seamen (required by your Lordship's dispatch of
i to sett:e on him a pension of 1001 a
January 12, the communication of which Keying did
THE NORTHERN LIGIITS.—The vessel Pharos,
not think proper to acknowledge) and that of the
assailants on Colonel Chesney, are conceded. The which had been dispatched by the Commissioners of the
Northern Lights to France for a large quantity of lenses
sequel of this dispatch will show that I had some for the use of the lights under their management, has
trouble to procure the latter to be inflicted before I arrived in the Commercial Docks with her cargo, for the
quitted Canton, in the presence of our own officers. purpose of loading a quantity of oil, previously to pro-
4. The grant of additional building ground, so ceeding to her ultimate destination with the glasses for
long denied to ourselves and the Americans, is at the lighthouses mentioned.
length obtained ; and its being on the opposite, or NIWFOUNDLAND PRODUCE.—The vessel Dart
less populous side of the river, may be considered as arrived in the river from Neivf mull ,nd, has brJught, in
an advantage. addition to a cargo of oil and other morchan fise, the
5. The additional space fora church at Canton, and larg, number of 18.194 seal skins ; and another vessel,
the burial grounds at Whampoa, though now for the the Cynthia, arrived from the same place, besides a
first time obtained, are all according to treaty.
cargo of oil, 17.000 of the some kind of skins. These
6. The bridge between the gardens, and the addi-
extensive itepi,rta•iens of the seal skin from the British
tional building p
in the same sace, now conceded, were tNorthd the
American provinces •nentionel, amply illustrates
abunance of e creature in that district.
before the subjects of dispute, as reported in my
dispatch of the 17th of March. A letter from Herne, of the Bth, in the Constitu-
tionnel. says :—'• The sittinguf the Diet to day was, like
:cfc.ontohfNeer
Commencing
7. The control of the boats in front of the factories that of yesterday, taken up with the dII •ussion of mi-
is a mere measure of police, for which the Govern- litary affairs. What is more interesting than the deli-
inent should he as ready as ourselves, though the berations of the Diet, is a reyort, believed in some
circles, that the Ambassador of France yesterday paid
point has always been neglected.
a visit to the President of It Directory', to read him
a recent dispatch of' M. Guizot, giving not only his en_
An important proclamation was issued to this effect
en-
the day after the above dispatch was written :
sire
ol\rel. Bonoistlliee
cti7roeto:ti
op p(rthd , a
Junetien t2o, thehut w(rtiwt teeini
in sr
stilli ell
PROCLAMATION ISSUED DT THE DISTRICT OFFICERS
OF CANTON.
Strange doctrines contained in it. It was said that M.
(Translation.) April 13, 1847. Ho • the greatest
ellSeak)eln expressed greatest surprise at the lan-
Chang, by special Imperial appointment, district guage of M. Guizat, bein.; so sensibi d ff:rent from
that employed by that Nlthi-ter in his tee nt .xplanations
magistrate of Nanhae, raised ten steps, recorded ten
times, and an expectant of promotion of the grade of in the Chamber of Deputies. The Pr-side tof the di-
eminent distinction; and rectory, it is also said, spoke still- moie fi-mly than in
Le, acting district magistrate of Pwan-yu, dis• the first interview of the Fr n.h E iv.,y sir dust certain
trict magistrate of Sinning, raised ten steps, recorded doctrines which that dipl imatist en ieavoured to uphold.
ten times, and an expectant of promotion of the grade
of eminent distinction; hereby issue a fervent and Without guarante, ing the fact wvehlicthisletxnauest.,inform you
of, I hav" every reason to belie
earnest proclamation.
decision The Whereas foreigners and natives of the differentstrategic. point
.3n(i)r Nicholas esti.
of railways uniting the three
countries' have carried on commerce at Kwangis E,
nmapero , Nicholas
5,.. taken
liea
hnasad pied important
tung for upwards of two hundred years past, and and St. Petersburvighh.ichTv‘h.iilsi
the proljectwoafr,aav:sivt,
the people of China have long lived with them in will complete and strengthen the system of the old
generally flit, peace and intimacy, the said foreigners having come kingdom of Poland, such ascrittßlngiEoliintismohin
liii:nwPetaof which the tit ids will be the fortress of War.
from afar to act as merchants in China, it is a common blished it at the lastthienlsiunrereis
flit The country
this
sheeso minutes.atanexe-f
matter (and one which should not therefore excite
l s ttpaheas entl;:f Ebi hf
are' yl
vude ta°fi
bl:ar: sut; utss
I.:
I al
1 nb:Nnnelul t Eeonav ryol
published. From theset of
learn
to be traversedfheby_
w•orks being rapidly
surprise) for them to go to look at places ia the allowse of
vicinity of this city, and to walk about inspecting „
them; and if the inhabitants without any ceremony
salbnbaEthn.
that tdhe connexion have in Eng nd ha"ee
laon the 27
72e4clethYwl hic.
h
assemble together to look at and crowd rudely round
bpartheachhers, 705 local preachers,
them, not only do they thereby give rise to disturb-do
Canada
t teachers,
ar
ces
h'
ea
rirnse.
ante and injure peaceful relations, but they alsoo,3e
of
219 Sill
gsclahnodol
the greatest violence to our Emperor's purpose
from Ir9eel7rne
.Its, andsei inooCisa,
cherishing and showing kindness to
e issueop a fee- 15,236 members,
afar. It is therefore proper that
on' the subject. and 35,')66 -
vent and earnest proclamation
'is hereby addressed sionaries-, 19sel scholars. In Ireland there are 12 mis-
For this reaeon a proclamhaetwn
of the said locali- Sabbath ocal preachers, 852 members, and 641
to the literary gentry and t.
people If foreigners should 59 local scholars. In Canada there are 35 missionaries,
ties for their full informatio: preachers, and 3,201 members. The yearly
;id places to walk for
in future proceed to theexpenses, for relieving distressed districts, meeting
heretofore assemble to
look at. extraordinary
amusement, do not as expenses, and extending the connexion,
rail at them, so as to give Ilse to amounted to
1,6711,
15s. 9Ad. towhich,
other with, and
meet
other troubles, and drawdown on yourselves inquiry 19111. 16s. were borrowed from the Beneficent Fund. The
and punishment. Be particularly careful to yield a 1 Beneficent Fund amounted to 2,4731.95. 10 d. and, after
reverential obedience! Make no opposition to this deducting large amounts lent to other funds, there
special proclamation ! pas still a balance in the hands of the treasurer of
The following is the last document in the 1631.95, 4id. The Mission Fund shows .
on the debtor
side a
corres- side a sum of 3,324/ 6s. 2d., and on the creditor
pondence, giving the Government sanction to the The Chapel Fund
ope- balance in hand of 81/. 2s. 7id. .
with
JOHN on the debtor side a sum of 1,7381 Bs. I0i(t, with
VISCOUNT PALMERSTON TO SIR JOHN balance in the treasurer's hand of 245/. 13s. 00,
2,400/. have also been
Foreign-office July 5 DAVIS..
, 1847. Besides this, upwards of
Sir,—Your dispatches of the ,sth ' locally raised for the reduction of chapel
and 6th of April, I
which I received on the '29 h i debts, which, added to the 1,0331. granted by
t of last month, havetotal or 3,4441. of actual relief for
motives con-
enabledher Majesty's G ! ference, make a
overnment to judge of the , the/. sub
Crib A for
The 20,000 s i the Jubilee
motives which induced sear.
you to und,-rtalce the late i directed to Us distributed in the folio Fund wasfollow_
in the Canton river
; and I have great ing proportions :—Relief of distressed chapels 8,0001. ;
satisfaction in acquainting that
her Majesty's preparatory institution, 6.0001.•
you, home mission, 2,000.;
G-overn Extent
consider that, under the circumstances of foreign mission, 1.000 ; Canadian and Irish mission,
the case, the course
you
adopted was fully justified by 1 0001 ; aged and re,ired ministers, . poi It .„„„
' that the next 2'o — ---
the procrastinating and evasive conduct of the Chinese resolved. conference should be held at
authorities, and was the one best calculated to pre- . 1 on Whit-Sunday, Liverpool . lB4B. The conference
avowed a determinati,
.vent more serious difficulties at a future period. Her in to ke p the expenditure of each
year within the illeotbe as the only
Majesty's Government therefore entirely approve
the independence and red ectb. means
of
preserving
what you did, as well in undertaking the expedition
THE SCHOOL 01' DPESIGaNI ityroh the conntexion.
f th
as in the negotiations which preceded the withdrawal
Committee on the sehk,ot of Design,e troepvto'hriehowe di-
ofe her Majesty's forces from Canton. rected attention in a recent number, bad not greatly
indeed, no wish,
Iler Majesty's Government have, indeed, pleased the Council. If we understand rightly, another
in order to
unnecessarily, to have recourse to force, Committee has been appointed by them to confer with
to just
compel the Chinese authorities _ demands ; the Board of Trade , and Mr. Hamilton, until now an
and they consider that the
.utmost patience and for- active member of the Council, has resigned.—Thc
bearance tbould be shown La dealing with thou. 8141dch . . ---- -- -

. ... ~,~-