The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-10 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1841

For these reasons, and remembering the premature exul-
tation withwbioh former delusive reports of the settlement of
this embarrassing quarrel were received by the satellites of
Downing-street, we think it impossible to place any reli-
ance upon the finality of the arrangement which seems to
have been made between Captain Elliot and Ke-shen.
But upon the hypothesis that such an arrangement his
been made, and that it may become the basis of a Treaty
between Great Britain and China—an a tsumption which
we shall consider extremely precarious till the ratificaticns
of the Treaty hart been actually exchanged—it may be
expedient to consider what the terms of these preliminary
articles really amount to. It kill be observe],
that they are ab:solutely silent upon the question
of the opium trade, the real cause of the war.
" The trade of the post cf Canton " is to be
re-opened within ten days after the Chiaesc., new
year ; but whether the Government of China w.ll
t'neneeforward 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 queAt;on is corn-
pl,tely massed over in the preliminary amides, and we
suppose is included in those " detail." which are to " re-
main matter of negotiation." It may be safely predicted,
that unless some definite understanding is come to on this
head, there can be no security for even a short conti-
nuance of unint rrupted commerce or pacific relations be-
t Ween the two countries. That Great Britain should in.

sist ,:eon the 1 galization of opium in China, or that Chinn
should concede such a point, except under the pressure of
overwhelming necessity, cannot be expected. On the
Contrary, the Chinese Government may, arid probably
will, insist upon a guarantee from Great Britain agaiast
the future prosecution of that traffic either at Haug
Kong or elsewhere within the Chinese seas by British
subjects. Such a demand would be very embarrass-
ing to our plenipotentiary ; for the cessioa of Ilong
Kong, and the proposed removal of the foreign trade from
Whampoa to that island, will make it impossible for him
to decline giving the required guarantee on the plea of
want of power; while, hs,s accedes; to the stipulation, he
would damage the Indian revenue to the amount of a mil-
lion sterling per annum ; and, on the other hand, by re-
fusing it, would give Ke-shen a fair opportunity of break-
ing off the negotiation, and getting rid of his original con-
cessiens. The next point to be noticed is the amount of
indemnity to Great Britain which Ke-then bee agreed to
pay, and Captain Elliot to accept. The 3,000,000/.
which were talked of so confidently upon the return of
Admiral Elliot from the gulf of Pechelee, have now shrunk
into 6 000,000 dollars, being considerably less than one-
/id/of the former sum ; and for the payment of even this
sum the Chinese are to have a six years' credit. Of the
vaunted 3,000,0001, one million, it was said, was destined
to defray tha expenses of the expedition, which
certainly will not fall short of that amount ; so
that the unfortunate Parsecs and other merchants, who
have been so long tantalized with the hope of seeing a full
compensation for their confiscated opium extracted from
the Chinese treasury, will have to be contented with less
than one. fifth of the principal which they embarked in that
luckless adventure. What will our friends in the City say
to this? We suspect they will not 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 which (even
supposing them to be ratified by the Emperor) may be
much affected by these " details" which are reserved for
further negotiation. In the first place (we follow the
order of comparative importance rather than that in which
the preliminary articles are arranged). there is to be
" direct official intercourse between the countries upon an
equal footing." It this means that a British Ambassador
is to reside at Pekin, as the recognised representative
of a Sovereign of equal dignity with the celestial Empe-
ror, we think it is a great result, which may be pregnant
with sery considerable consequences to China, England,
and the civilized world—a result not unworthy to be pur-
chased by the expenditure of millions. But if (as we
more than suspect) it is only intended that a British Con-
sul at Canton shall have new facilities of communication
with provine sal 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 stipulation for malting
this the future mart of the foreign trade. This arrangement,
if bona Ala cariied into effeer, will ceit drily be most bene-
ficial to our mercantile interests. The situation of Hong-
Konn is infinitely more convenient for the purposes of trade
than that of Nlacao ; a settlement formed there will
be capable of maintaining itself independently of the
Chinese, and the recognition of a territorial right in the
Bcitieli Crown, as well as the terror of the British name,
will give our countrymen advantages which were never pos-
seesed 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 cum-
merckearricd on three ( it Hong Kong) sh ill be paid as if
the trade were conducted at Waempoa." If Chinese cus-
toms are to be levies], and Chinese revenue officers are to
exercise a jurisdiction within the ceded territory, so extra-
ordinary a reservation cannot fail hereafter to give rise to
disputes as to the extant and character of the cession. On
the other hand, it is net to be supposed that the Chinese
will intrust the collection of their duties to the local Bri-
tish aatho,ities. 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 chasges and duties to the empire," which ate here
referred to, be levied upon all 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 irivelves in its mere enunciation—by others (who are
quite indifferent about bad logic), on the ground that the
terms are 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 is another column, un-
der the heed 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 had been
achieved as " the gain of a lost," 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
about theehi
nilet:h rieee ltdsetar wrui egt egcwehl
oli ecf cht all the
oopred liminary
liluerns rcieuintaidb!,
theeobrlse f
B lrehdi ht
to
seizure of the property and persons of British mer-
chants, to the development of the wavering policy of Mr.
Superintendent Elliot ; to his very high and his very low
pitched pri:clamations ; to the effective confiscation and
destruction of all that mountain of opium, which he coi-
l( c'cd in la-te and small quantities from the English
supercargoes and masters cf ships in the waters of Canton,
and surrendered to the Chinese authorities; to the subse-
quent violences and affronts put by the Chinese on the
British residents at Canton ; the outbreak of hostilities
between the British and Chinese naval force ; the capture
from the latter of the island of Clausen ; the invasion of the
Pe-tchee-li province; the passage up the Pei Ho; the
encounter with the Imperial Commissioners, who deemed
that the Admiral's boating expedition was coming consi-
derably too near to Pekin to be pleasant ; the fated facility
himself' to be wheedled by the of our chief in allowing
clever diplomatists of long tails and three buttons, into an
immediate return to Chusan ; and the usual Chinese pan-
tomime of promised inquiry, reparation, and justice to bo
instituted and rendered at the very place where their
people had visited those insults on the British honour and dig-
nity,—so soon as the British officer, who had all the ne-
cessary means of vindicating his flag and bringing the
enemy to reason, should have also repaired thither, re-
tracing his long and weary course to a distant extremity
of the empire, from whence it would not be possible for
him to return by sea,—owing to the season that was set-
ting in, for some five or six months to come, so as to be
again en route for Pekin, Fresh insults had, at the date
of the last accounts received in England, prior to those
which we published in the Herald of yesterday, induced
Sir Gordon Bremer (who had succeeded te the com-
mand of the British squadron) to threaten exemplary re-
prisals if ample satisfaction were not given for these new
aggressions.
At this point, our summary of Chinese intelligence is re-
sumed to-day. Now what is the amount of these commu-
nications?
" The Chumpee and Tykokrow forts had been taken on the
7th January, and effectually destroyed on the tell and 9th,
since when the preliminary 'treaty had been signed, and the
Chinese signified officially by the Plenipotentiary at Whampoa
their assent to the following articles :
" I. The cession of the island of Hong Kong to the British
Crown.
" 2. An indemnity to the British Government of 6,000,000
of dollars, payable in six yearly instalments.
" 3. Direct official intercourse between both nations on
equal fontirg.
" 4. Trade of Canton to be opened in ten days after the
Chinese new year."
Ia any observations we have now to offer, we must as-
sume that these statements are substantially true ; yet how
to believe it we confess we know not. Terms so palpably
disadvantageous, compensation so inadequate, cessions so
worthless, surely were never accepted, even in the bung-
ling career of British diplomacy, by any former agent
wimse incompetency has at any time prejudiced the in-
terests of the itish Crown. We may grant, indeed, that
if the phraseology of treaties were capable of being ren-
dered as definitive in expression, and likely to be vs
accurately observed in spirit in China as it would be in
negotiations between two European powers, a very con-
siderable principle would have been asserted and recog-
niohi in an article like No. 3—that should really "esta-
blish the official relations between the two Governments
on the footing of a perfect equality." But the Chinese
; authorities understand, or will choose to understand just
as much of our "barbtrian " notions of official relations,
as, we will venture to say, " Plcnipote.itiary Elliott"
really
bkeriaiteigwspuaht ouuptonßa im
Buddhism ;foo tanding as
with
functionaries, why " perfect equality" must seem to them
to otuhre function-
aries Chinese
a monstrosity as grotesque and incomprehensible as any
idol that Sir Gordon Bremer may have seen in any joss.
hause. All their habits of civil life,--all the strongly-
marked and rigidly-enforced gradations of rank and
ceremonial which pervade the whole machinery of
their Government, and the constitution of domes-
tic society among therm—render the notion of perfect
equality between their effieisle and those of a foreign coun-
try a preposterous delusion. Before we treat on Article

I, which cedes the island of Hong Kong to Great
Britain, we must pause to compliment the Globe on its
very extroordinary leader of yesterday evening, headed
" Arrangement of the Dispute with China." It talks of
" the paucity "of knowledge in other articles which had
treated, before its own lucubrations, of the state of our re-
lations with China, and with a gravity which is the nearest
approach to a joke tee can remember in our oracular Con-
temporary, it reads a lofty lscture to all who have presumed
to doubt, in the evolution of the several events to which
we have referred above, the presence of the most profound
sagacity and far-seeing wisdom in all the measures adopted
by Captain Eliiet and by Admiral Elliot, and in all the
orders issued, and the policy acted upon at home, in refer-
ence to our affairs in the Celestial Empire. Now, let us
see how this learned lecturer (who is very angry that no-
body would listen to his predictions as to what he calls this
" gratifying termination" of our disputes with China, and that
the " Times should have thundered its indignation, and the
lesser organs of party squeaked their disappointment at the
delay " which had intervened in the progress of the cape-
dition)—let us see how lie enlightens the public on matters
which other journalists have so misunderstood :
" Thus it will be perceived that, within a month after the
date of the last intelligence from China, the unsatisfactory'
tenor of which called forth animadversions on the British Go-
vernment and on those it had commissioned to act in its name,
with or against the Chinese Government, the negotiations
were brought to a close ' • an island appropriated as the future
residence of the British, and the seat of our commerce with
the empire ; an indemnity of six millions of dollars for the
losses sustained by British subjects, by the confiscation of their
ploperty by the Chinese authorities."
Is this writer really blind to the fact that the intelli-
gence upon which he is thus hugging himself supplies
the most unanswerable argument to justify the " dissa-
iisfaetion" at which he is so wroth of people rather
more clear-witted than himself. Why, to talk as he
does (evidently under the most profound and unsuspect-
ing ignorance of all the data, geegraplaicel and hydro-
graphical, that should have governed the judgment of
any ore undertaking to pronounce thus broadly an
opinion on such a mater) is really to challenge to him-
self somewhat of that uncivil animadversion which he so
readily bestows on others. We shall observe, by the
way, that had our Contemporary attended sonic schools,
where the schoolmaster in less " abroad " than he ap-
pears to be, habitually, at the Globe office, he himself
would have stood a fair chance of " squeaking," after
falling into so stupendous a blunder as the island of
llong Kong tempts him into. Au island destined to be
" the future residence of the British, and the seat of our
commerce with the Chinese empire I" As well might he
talk of Haling island, of Sheppey, or some other mud bank
in the estuary of any of our rivers, becoming the future
Sicily of another Italy—its granary, and its magazine I It
is about the most inconvenient and defenceless post into
which the crafty " concessions" of the Chinese could have
duped our unfortunate Superintendent. Approachable on
every side only through dangerous straits, studded with
islets, beset with rapid and uncertain currents, with shifting
mud-banks, and, consequently, ever-varying soundings, with
only oneextremity of the greater, or Lamma channel (which
intervenes between it and the very much larger island
of Lan-ta no), practicable during the north monsoons;
and with its eastern, or Lcma channel, subject to the
violence of the typhoons (the most destructive gales
that sweep those seas)— it is impossible to imagine
a position in the defence toi for the relief of which our
ships of wat could act with less effect. They would be en-
tangled amidst clusters of those innumerable islets, which it
would require their whole undivided attention safely to
work among. The large war junks of the Chinese could
readily, wherever the river allowed our own shipping to act,
block up every avenue beyond the outer waters of the Can-
ton River. Even the two or three good anchorages of Hong
King would be available only to the smaller class of steam
craft ; and though it has many good runs of water, and
raises seine good esculents, the defects of its geographic..l
position will sever admit of these advantages being deve-
loped on any large scale for the benefit and refreshment of
our marine. But the Globe is so possessed with its "satis-
factory" vein, that it absolutely finds matter of c mgratula-
lion in the indemnity which China undertakes to pay to
Great Britain. \Vnat is it? Six millions of—Dollars l
payable in—six years I (No doubt with compound inte-
rest, to be liquidated " ad Grcccas .Kalendas.") Now, the
estimated valu a of the opium surrendered by Cant. Elliott
Was, in round numbers £2,500,000
The expense of the armament, &e., by the
-latest estimate

The total cost to Great Britain of the opium
dispute 'with China
At the best price the Spanish dollar is now
fetching in Canton, six millions in specie
would not represent more than

_ti- _

And thus there would be a deficiency as be-
tween the total cost and the indemnity 0f... 2,800,000
The difference between the value of the opium de-'
stroyed, alone, and tte promised indemnity, woad be
1,300,000/. against the British Owners. But it, without
retrospect as t r interest for the past, and reckoning only
for the simple interest of the money for the future (with-a
out crediting it for each instalment), we add to this last
sure six years' interest on 1,200,0001. (the awitint of the
indemnity) at 5 per cent. (or 360,0001. ), the deficiency
between the total of loss to the British merchants, and the
indemnity to be airen, then will be 1,660,0001, We have
all heard of Flemish accounts !" Preserve us, say we,
from Chinese accounts, at least where Captain Elliot is to
superintend their adjustment (assuming our premises to be
true) ; let us be subject to them only, in commercial par-
lance, with ‘• errors excepted." The Globe cannot take
le ive of its China intelligence without again recurring to
Bong Kong. For once we cannot close a leader without
again adverting to the Globe. It discovers that " the
" Substitution of Hong Kong for Canton, as the mart for
commerce between the two countries, will also greatly increase
the facilities of trade, and reduce the expense at which it has
been earliest on. Of all the other ports of the empire, Canton
was thu worst adapted for the purposes of our trading inter-
course with the Chinese, for the simple reason, that the staple
articles of export, tea and silk, are brought from the northern
provinces at a heavy expense, while the equally heavy charges
of conveying our woollens to the north form an insuperable
barrier to any great increase in their consumption."
It is fit that we should apprise ourCoutemporary that the
substitution of " Hong Kong " will have just the contrary
effect to that which he anticipates. It " will ov.caeasr. the
facilities of trade, and INCREASE the expense at which it
has been carried on." And we beg to add, in his own
words, "for this simple reason, that the staple articles of
export " b ing, as he says, " brought from the northern
provinces at a heavy expense to Canton," will be very
much dearer for being unshipped and carried nearly 80 or
100 miles (by the windings of the channel) and through
an intricate navigation, further to the SOUTH.
(From the Illorning Post.)
Our Ministerial journalists are, we observe, very induss
triously reprinting the leading articles—the same, at least,
in substance, and very nearly the same, so far as we recol-
lect, in words—with which they favoured the public some
four months ago, when they exulted a little prematurely
upon the glorious and triumphant settlement of the dispute
with China.
In one respect our Contemporaries are likely, we think,
to prove less unfortunate. this time than they were before.
It will turn out probably that something approaching to
a settlement of the dispute has at last been accomplished.
But we confess we do not perce:ve in the intelligence
before us any reason to conclude that the settlement is a
very glorious and triumphant one.
The avowed objects of the expedition were to ob-
tain compensation fur losses and injuries inflicted upon our
merchants, and satisfactory guarantees for the future secu.
rity of our commerce with Chins. As to the first of these
objects, it is stated that the Emperor of China is to pay,
as a compensation to the British Government for the opium
destroyed at Canton, the sum of six million dollars, or
about 1,250,0001., in six equal annual instalments, so that
the full payment will not have been made before the year
1847. Is this an adequate compensation ? We fear not ;
for it is ernsiderably less than half the sum, the expecta-
tion of which, four months ago (when we recollect it
was to be paid down at once), excited so much joy in the
minds, and diffused so much boasting over the pages
of our Ministerial Contemporaries. If the former sum is
enough the latter must have been a vile extortion; and
surely the organs of an Administration so moderate and
just as the present would not have exulted in the idea of
successful extortion practised upon a defenceless State.
On the other hand, if the three millions sterling then to
be paid down was no more thstn an adequate compensa-
ti )n, where is the cause of triumph, now that we submit
to take less than fifty per cent. of our just claim, without
reckoning anything for the cost of the expedition in mot.ey,
and, what is more valuable than money, the lives o four
gallant soldiers ? And as to security for the future inter-
course of our merchants with China, it certainly seems to
us that less could scarcely have been done. The
island of Hong Kong, for which we arc to give up our
conquest of Chusan, is described to us as the least adapted
for the purposes of trade that could have been selected in
the neighbourhood of Canton. It is out in the ocean,
where none cf the Chinese junks or boats that carry mer-
chandise to and from our shipping will venture. In ad-
dition to this acquisition, we are to enjoy, it seems, the
privilegeofmaintainin
g
h an Ambassador in China, a pri-
, as experience teaches us, will
Ciclpeegned tar;; value of a
very much on the character of tb'e Ambassador
by whom we may be represented. Let us hope they may
not always be Elliots.

(From the Globe.)
It is nothing more than natural, and in the every-day
way of business, that the organs of the party who are
out of power should find all grapes sour that are plucked
by the party who are in—and which the Tory vulpine
sagacity had imagined, or feigned, to be out of reach.
This is done, however, by the several morning malcon-
tents " with a difference." The Times is not stupid
enough, though the Herald is, to suppose it can suc-
cessfully dissemble the great advantages procured to
this country by the conceded arrangement of the
Chinese affair. Tne litter has discovered that there is
a very much larger island (Lan-to-oo), to which it
infers, we presume, that we should have accorded
a preference. No doubt, had such been the case
(and Hong-Kong is in all conscience large enough,
besides its great advantages of anchorage, so absurdly.
depreciated), we should have been told of the folly
of taking possession of a station embarrassing by its
extent. The Times takes a more correct view of
the local advantege conceded to us :—" This arrange-
ment, if bona fide carried into effect, will certainly
be most beneficial to our mercantile interests. The si-
tuation of Hong-Kong is infinitely more convenient