The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-05 00:00:00

Ott LO,-11114

LONDON:
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1841.

By the arrival of the Overland Mail from
India we have received highly interesting news
from China of the 24th of August; from Singa-
pore of the 4th of September; from Calcutta of
the 11th of September; from Madras of the
15th of the same month ; and from Bombay of
the Ist of October. Sir 'HENRY POTTINGER, the
new Plenipotentiary, Minister Extraordinary,
and Chief Superintendent of the British trade in
China, arrived. at Macao on the 9th of 'Au-
gust, in company with Admiral Sir WIL-
LIAM PARKER. On the 12th of the same
month he addressed a notification to British sub-
jects, informingthem of his arrival, his functions,
and the existence of an actual war between
Great Britain and China. Of this notification a
copy will he found in another part of The'Sun.
It is a plain, straightforward, manly document;
forming a'singular contrast to the inflated bom-
bast of ELLIOT., Sir H. PorrINGER promises to
observe the truce with Canton, so long as it is
strictly adhered to by the Chinese authorities;
but be threatens active hostilities the moment
they dare to violate it. His appearance in the
Chinese waters created an extraordinary- sensa-
tion. The British forces could not restrain their
joy, and when his character was repotted in
Canton the deepest .gloom pervaded the coun-
cils of the Mandarins. The Governor of the
city demanded .a conference—a summons which
have run a hundred leagues
Capt. ELLior ould
in breathlesshaste to obey—but Sir H. POTTINGER
declined the interview, and referred the Governor
to his Secretary, through whom he was to com-
municate
all propos.ar. als which he
,wished to make
to the PlenipOtentr Y receiving this in-
Le Governor, was greatly dismayed,
He smayed.
found that
he had now an officer to deal
with who was not to be fooled after the ELLIOT
fashion.
The expedition was preparing to
-
proceed northward to Chusan and the mouth
was the t of the
of the 'Peiho, and such
ord thate so rrormuch as
Chinese .that it was rep
twenty twenty millions of dollars were offered to Sir H.
f
POTTINGER if he would not undertake it. The offer
ted, indignantly refused,
was, as might be expec
and the preparations continued.
The substance of Lord PALMERSTCrN,, instruc-
tions to Sir H. POTTINGER appeared in our,
columns with the news brought by the last over-
land mail, and from the first acts of- the slew
Plenipotentiary, we have no doubt that he
will execute them firmly, vigorously, and de-
cisively. As questions of foreign policy ought
never to be made party questions at home,
we trust that the Tory Government will not
ioterfere with the excellent plan laid down by
Lord PALMERSTON fur settling our disputes with
the Celestials. From the whole tenor of the
instructions delivered' by his Lordship to Sir
Porrmo En, it is clear that he wholly dis-
approved of the conduct of ELLIOT from the
commencement; and that, but fur an • fi uence
as Potent
as it was injuriously exercised, that
luckless fu • netionary would have been recalled
the instant the first details of the opium dispute
were known in this country. But the bungling of
ELLIOT, will teach a lesson to his successors
which the dullest of them will never dare to for-
get. Thus-there is 'no evil out of which some.
good may not come.
As for the ex-Ple •
niPotentiary, he arrived at
Bombay from China on the 26th of Sep-
tember, and is now on his way to England,
in modest expectation, we presume, of re-