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

PRICE sd.

tional resources. It was not accident that reconciled the
discordant views of the Powers of Europe upon those very
questions upon which they seemed most discordant, and
g,.vc to the world renewed guarantees for the preserva,ion
Of goneral peace. Accident, indeed, may brtray Tories
into approbation of sound and honest policy, but will not
induce the people of England to withhold their approval of
eminent success, won by foresight, prudence, and firmness,
maintaininff the honour, and contributing tu,the interests
of the country.

(From the Times.)
The important news from China, which we publish
tc-day, holds out some prospect of a speedy, if not an
advantegeoue, settlement of our diffee ences with that
vast empire. A vigorous demonstration," which ended
it The capture of the fats at the entrance of the Canton
Riser, seems to have satisfied the Imperial Pleeipoten-
tiary that it was necessary to negotiate in earnest ; and
oa the 29. h of January the preliminaries of a treaty of
penes: ere stated to have been art-angel
In comiderieg the value of these preliminaries, it
must be brume in mind that they were extorted from the
Chinese at the cannon's mouth, and that, in all probes
!elite, when the panic of the moment was over, there
would be a very strong disposition to recede from them.
Neither can it escape our readers that the express which
communicates this intelligence ccntains also the ominou-
words, " Details still remain matter of negotiation."
Every day's experience teaches us, that in affairs
of this sort, what is matter of principle ei h one
patty, is constantly treated or represented as matter of de-
tail by the other ; and the Chinese diplomatists will 'doubt-
-1 ss strsin eery nerve to evede cr counteract the off ct of
their own concessions, by making stipulations iaconsis:ent
+ale b them in the further stages of the negotiation ; or, at
all events, do their best to protract this° further stages to
an indeficite perierl. And, after al, the power of ratify
ing or rejec big the articles agreed upon at Canton will
uiornitsly rest. not with the Commissioner on t; e spot,
but with the Emperor at Pekin. The communication b%
post between Canton and the capital occupies not less
than 20 days, and it is impossihle to foresee how frequently
real or supposed occasions for reference to herd quarters
may arise during the progress of the decussions. We
entertain no doubt that all these circumstances were
present to the minds of the shrewd statesmen who
manage the Celestial Councils, when they deterrnieed
upon decoying poor Admiral Elliot from the imme-
diate neighbourhood of the Court to the southern ex-
trernity of the empire. And it is far from iinpro-
bible that the consciousness of being able to fall back upon
these diplomatic resources may have induced Ke-shen to !.
make more liberal promises than he ever meant to fulfil.
For these reasens, arid remembering the tmemsture exul-
tation withwhioh former delusive reports of the settlement of
tins ernbarrsssing quarrel were received by the satellites of
Downing-street, we think it impossible to place any reli-
ance upon the finali'y of the arraneement which seems to
I aye been made between Captain Elliot and Ke-shen.
But upon the hypothesis that such en arrangement has
been made, and that it may become the basis of a Treaty
between Great Britain end China—an assumption which
we shall consider extremely precarious till the ratifications
of the Treaty have been actually exchanged—it may be
expedient to consider whit the terms of these preliminary
articles really amount to. It aswitl be observed,
that they are absolutely silent upon the question
of the opium trade, the real cause of tl e war.
" The trade of the port of Canton " is to he
re-opened within ten days after the Chinese new
year ; but whether the Government of China sell
thenceforward legalize the importation of opium, or
whether the British Government will undertake to co-
operate with the Chinese for the suppression of the illicit
traffic in that drug, this most important question is cern-
plmely passed over in the preliminary articles, and we
suppose is included in those " details" which are to " re-
main matter of negeti itien." It may be stalely predicted,
that unless some definite understanding is come to on this
head, there can be no security for even a short conti-
nuance of unintmupted commerce or pacific relations be-
tween the two countries. That Great Britain should in.
sist uron the Isgalization of opium in China, or that China
should concede such a point, except under the pressure cf
overwhelming necessity, cannot be expected. Oa the
contrary, the Chinese Government may, and probably
will, iirsi-t upon a guarantee from Great Britain against
the future prosecution of that traffic either at Hong
Kong cr elsewhire within the Chinese seas by British
sutijects. Such a demand would be very embarrass-
ing to our plenipotentiary; for the cession of Ilong
Kong, and the proposed removal of the foreign trade from
Whampoa to that island, will make it impossible for him
to declir e giving the required guarantee on the plea of
want of power; while, by acceding to the stipulation, he
would damage the Indian revenue to the amount of a mil-
lion sterlieg per annum ; and, on the other hand, by re-
fusing it, would give Kesshen a fair opportunity of break-
ing off the negotiation, and getting rid of his original con-
messi rno. The next point to be noticed is the amount of
indemnity to Great Britain which Ke-shen has agreed to
pay, and Captain Elliot to accept, The 3,000,0001.
which were telked of so confidently upon the return of
Admiral Elliot from the gulf of Pechelce, have now shrunk
into 6 000,000 dollars, being considerably less than one-
hey of the former sum ; and for the payment of even this
sum the Chinese arc to have a six years' credit. Of the
vaunted 3,000,0001, one million, it was said, was destined
to defray the expenses of the expedition, which
certainly will not fall short of that amount ; so
that the ut fortunate Parsecs and other mcic'rantp, who
have been so long tantalized with the hop. of seeing a full
cumpeesation for the it confiscated opium extracted from
the Chinese treasury, will have to be contented with less
than one-fifth of the principal which they embarked is that
luckless adventure. What will our friends in the City say
to this? We suspect they will nut think that such a set-
tlement of their claims adds much to the diplomatic laurels
of the Whig Ministry. We now come to those concessions
on the part of the Chinese, which at first sight seem more
important and satisfactory, but the value of vi Ilia (even
supposing them to he ratified by the Emperor) may be
much affected by these " details" which arc reserved for
further negotiati in. In the first place (we follow the
order of comparative importance rather than that in which
tee preliminary articles arc arranged), there is to be
" direct official intercetyse between the countries upon an
eqeal footing." If this means that a British Anilausador
is to reside at Pekin, as the recognised represeutative
cif a Sovereign cf equal dignity with the celestial Empe-
ror, we think it is a great result, which may be pregnant
with very consideraele consequences to China, England,
and the civilized world—a result not unworthy to be pur-
ch ised by the expenditure of millions. But if (as we
mote than suspect) it is only intended that a British Con-
snl at Canton shall have new facilities of communication
eith provinciii Viceroys, and may write letters to them
without superscribing the character " Pin," we think the
stipulation almost as valuable as the privilege of a certain
Irish Earl to stand with his hat upon his head in the pre-
sence of Queen Victoria. The other substantial point
gained is " the cession of the island and harbour of Hong
Kong to the British Crown," and the stinulation far making
this the future mart of the foreign trade. This arrangement,
if bona fide carried into effect, will cot tainly be most bens,•
ficial to our mercantile interests. Tire sitar ton t f Hong-
Kong is infinitely more convenient for the purposes of trade
than that of Macao ; a settlement formed there will
be capable of maintaining itself independently of the
Chinese, and the reeegnition of a territorial right in the
British Crown, as well as the terror of the British name,
will give our countrymen advantages which e'er rerer pos-
sessed by the Portuguese in China. We do not, how-
ever, understand what is meant by the stipulation, that
" all just charges and duties to the empire upon the com-
merce earns d on there (at Hong Kong) shall be paid as if
the trade wets conducted at Wrimpoe." If Chinese cus-
toms are to be levies', and Chinese revenue officers arc to
exercise a jurisdiction within the ceded territory, so extra-
ordinary a reservation cannot fail hereafter to give rise to
disputes A 5, to the extent and character of the cession. On
the other hand, it is not to be supposed that the Chinese
will intrust the collectioa of their duties to the local Bri-
tish authreiees The article only becomes intelligible
when we assume that the Emperor wishes to retain some
right of sovereignty in Hong Kong. Why cannot the
" just charges arid duties to the empire," which are here
referred to, be levied upon ell exports and imports within
the limits of the empire itself ?
(From the Morning .Herald.)
" That men can gain a loss" is a proposition which has
been often disputed—by some, on account of the solecism
it involves in its mere enunciation—by ethers (who are
quite indifferent about bad logic), on the ground that the
terms ate a mere confusion of the Dr. and Cr. sides of an
account. But the news from China, brought by the
Indian mail, and which we give iii another column, un-
der the head of our " Extraordinary Express," seems to
realise the notion of this absurdity. And we must own,
that if any one incident could give a degree of pro-
bability to the statement that such a prodigy hhd been
achieved as " the gain of a loss," it would be the connection
of the transactions out of which it is said to have arisen,
with that inauspicious genius which has so long associated
the British name and interests in China with recollections
of insult, presumption, and outrage on one side ; of
timidity, confusion, rashness, and imbecility on the
other. The readers of the Herald well recollect all the
preliminary squabbles about the smuggling of
le elt
British-
owned opium into the Chinese territory, which
the seizure of the property and persons of British
ef Mr.
mer-
chants, to the development of the wavering p
Superintendent Elliot ; to his very high and
_'-'hsi'csac:v.ieorny low
and
pitched proclamations; to the effective confi
hich he col-
destruction of all that mountain of opium,
lusted in large and small quantities
of Canton,
supercargoes and masters of ships in the watetros
from thew Encrlish
(s)trobtsle,
arid surrendered to the Chinese authwittesi_
quest a iolenees end affronts put by the (shinetshee
homilitiee
British resident; at Canton ; outbreak
the capture ;
between the British and Chinese navel force
from the latter of the island of Chcsan ; the invaeeion of the
Pi He • r
Pc-t up the
chee-li province; the passage , he
encounter with the Imperial Commissioners, who deemed
that the Admiral's boating
expedition was coming c se,t_
deraely too near to Pekin to be pleasamt ; the fated facility
of our chief in allowing himself to be wheedled by the
clever diplomatist) of tong tails and three buiteue, into an
immediate return to Chusan ; and the usual Chinese pan-
tomime of promised inquiry, reparation, and justice to be
instituted and rendered at the very place where their
people had visited those insults on the British honour and dig-
nay,—.so soon as
the British dicer, whir pad ell the ne-
cessary means of vindicating his flag aed brieging the
enemy to reason, should have also repaired thither, re-
tracing his long and weary c curse to a distant extremity
of the empire, from whence it would not be possible for
him to return by sea,-mowing to the seeson that was set-
ting in, for some five or six months to come, so as to be