The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-08 00:00:00

AFFAIRS IN CHINA.

Accounts of the situation in China up .to the 15th
September come by the newspapers and letters from
Shanghai. Ono correspondent writes :—" The Taotai
of Chinkiang first warned foreign consuls, on the sth
instant, that ho apprehended an attack on foreigners
by the rowdies and braves quartered in the
neighbourhood, adding that he hail appointed an
an officer specially to search out those who had
been instrumental in getting up the excitement. Whether
in consequence of the Taotai's activity or not, the danger
passed over quietly, and to trouble occurred. Chinkiang
has never been behindhand when there has been a chance
of turbulence. It has a Tartar garrison, which is an
element of danger to begin with. Report says that the
Taotai was horribly frightened by the news of the Ma's
assassination, and at once changed his sleeping room and
his body guard. Placards were posted at Kinkiang on the
7th inst., threatening an attack on foreigners on the 29th
of the current month, but they were at once torn donn
by the authorities. There are reasons at this port also
for attaching weight to any hostile manifestation. The
General cemmanding the troops there happens to be the
adoptive father of Chen-kwo-gui, the leader of the Tien-
tsin rioters, whose execution Count Rochechouart demand,
and he declares that if a hair of the head of his reputable
protegé be hurt he will drive every foreigner into the river.
As he has 8,000 men, and the foreigners are only 30,
there is no serious danger of opposition to deter him.
The presence of her Majesty's gunboat Firm, however,
is a solace. Chefoo next had its share of excitement
on the 12th. Some Tien-tsin men got up a row in the
native town, which the authorities feared might spread
to the native settlement. They were up on the watch
all night, and had troops in readiness. The Tungchow
authorities, now that the missionaries have left, are
chewing immense energy in their cause. Matters
seem to make no progress in the North. Tsengkwo-fan
has been appointed to the Viceroyalty of the two Kiang
provincos, vacant by the assassination of Ma. He
is to be succeeded in the Viceroyalty of Chihli and in the
Special Commissionership at Tien-tsin by Lihung-chang.
There is a report that he has been entrusted with the nine-
headed lion seal, which gives him the command-in-chief
of all the troops in the empire, and that he has been
given high powers in various other respects, constituting
him, in fact, pretty nearly a military dictator. Great un-
certainty prevails in regard to the prospect of foreigners
in the north of China during the winter. It will
certainly be unsafe for them to remain there when the
Peiho is frozen ; yet, if they withdraw, they will only get
back behind the invading force. The importation of half-
a-dozen regiments from India as a protection seems to most
people the wiser course. The measure need not take a
hostile aspect, if our Government wish still to regard the
feelings of the Chinese after the massacre of Tien-tsin.
The men might be stationed here just as troops are sta-
tioned in Japan. Their presence would have a good effect
in more ways than one.

Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess
of Wales, attended iby their suite, honoured the Globe
Theatre last evening with their presence, to witness the
performance of " Taming the Shrew," in which Miss
Alleyne takes the principal part.
PORT WINE OLD IN THE WOOD.—" The readers
of the Medical Times and Gazette aro aware of the impor-
tance which we attach to good wine in the treatment of
disease. Five samples of Port Wine have been forwarded
to our office, which we think well deserving the attention
of practitioners. We are informed that they are samples
of a great quantity of wine of the vintages 1834, 1840,
1847, 1858, and 1863, which have been left in the wood '
till quite a recent period, and have been allowed to rest in
the caves of their native country. By this means, as we
are informed, old wine costs much less than it would
have done had it been imported and bottled years ago, and
put into store in the wine morchants' cellars in this
country : certainly, if we are not misinformed, the wines
before us are extremely moderate in price. Moreover, the
double process of spoliation and of development, the part-
ing with superfluous body, and the evolution of fine
flavours which wine undergoes as it grows old, is very
different in cask to what it is in bottle." (More than one
thousand two hundred pipes of these wines were bought
from the trustees of the late Baron Sexio by Messrs.
W. and A. Gilbey, forming one of the many purchases
they are from time to time making in Portugal to
represent their established brands.) We subjoin
the memorandum we jotted down in the order in
which each was handed to us by our secretary :
" Port 1847—Fine tawny colour, not much deeper
than Madeira. Taste strong, rich, subluscious, clean ;
fine vinous flavour : no heat. Port 1840—Colour and
qualities similar to the preceding ; hardly so sweet ; fine
flavour. Port 1834—Colour of Madeira fine, strong,
clean, vinous flavour ; very soft ; drier than pre-
ceding ' • might be taken for Madeira, yet with
decided Port flavour ; a very fine wine. Port
1858—Light Port colour ; very rich taste ; strong
and vinous ; not hot. Port 1863.—A sweet, rich Port
wine, not cloying nor heavy. We may add that we have
administered these wines to the sick with benefit. These
old winels, especially the 1834, would be most valuable in
any case in which life was menaced by exhausting disease."
—The Medical Times and Gazette.