The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-01 00:00:00

THE NAVY ESTIMATES.

•
The Post declares that there was a very special interest
attaching to the statement of the First Lord of the Admi-
ralty. It has been no secret that he has been engaged in
devising a comprehensive plan for putting the list of officers
of the navy on a proper footing, but the mode in which this
was to be effected was kept a profound secret, and naval
officers have been on the tiptoe of expectation for some
time past. The plan is such as might have been expected.
It is bold, comprehensive, and just. The three objects
which Mr. Childers says he proposed to himself and his
colleagues on taking office were efficiency, economy, and
the contentment of the service. The first two deside-
rata he has unquestionably obtained. The third
h 3 appears also likely to obtain. When the officers are
sufficiently employed, and can retire when no longer
anxious to serve ; when there is comparatively a small
list of young and active officers, fond of their profession,
gad afforded opportunities of following it, there can be
small doubt that contentment will take the place of the
&ironic- dissatisfaction that has so long pervaded the, great
majority of naval officers.

TILE NEIV CONVENTION WITH CHINA.
Oa Monday a numerous deputation of China merchants
had an interview with Lord Clarendon at the Foreign-
office, respecting the new convention with China.
Amongst those in attendance were the following mem-
bers of Parliament :--Mr. Matheson, Mr. Crawford,
Mr. C. Tui nor, Mr. Graves, dlr. APLaren, Colonel
Akroyd, Mr. Eaton, Alderman Larwence, Hon. A. Kinnaird,
Mr. Jacob Bright, Mr. ltathboue, Colonel Sykes, Mr. Hugh
Birley, Mr. 0. Morgan, Air. Loch, Mr. Jardine, Mr. Mathe-
son, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Shuttleworth, Mr. Bowring, 0.8. Mr.
Baring, Mr. Maguire, Mr. P. Rylands, Mr. Hermon, Mr. M.
C. Clure, and Mr. G. Medley.
Mr. Matheson, M.P., Mr. Bower, Mr. Maguire, M.P., and
Mr. Gillman addresed his lordship at great length on the
subject. A memorial was also presented to him, which,
after dealing with the new Convention, which it
is proposed to adopt instead of the Treaty of
Tientsin of 1858, concluded by saying the bene-
fits proposed to be conferred upon British trade by
this Convention aro wholly inadequate to counterbalance the
disadvantages involved in the withdrawl of rights and
privileges secured by former treaties, and the impo-
sition of the additional duties to which we have
taken excel tion. The concessions to China are
either in the form of a money payment, or they are the re-
linquishment by this country of valuable commercial or
political privileges; while the equivalents offered, with the
trifling exception of the duty ou some minor articles, are
either nominal, or they are plainly of equal advantage to
the subjects of both nations. The Convention forms
the first distinct evidence of a retrograde policy in Cpina,
than 'which nothing can be more unwise, looking to the pains
and sacrifices with which our present commercial position has
been attained. In this labour of a generation Great Britain
has ever taken the foremost pace, and as she has sought no
special privileges for herself all foreign nations have reaped
the benefits of her enterprise. To abandon any of the ad-
vantages thus acquired seems to your memorialists most
suicidal: to hold them at the pleasure or subject to the
in.rigues of possibly unfriendly neighbours, not
less so. In these considerations your memorialist
find additional and cogent reasons for urging a
reconsideration of much that has a place in the
Convention. If alteration is found impossible, they are con-
vinced it would prove more advantageous to the interests of
this country to fall back upon the Treaty of Tientsin, while
requiring a better observance of its provisions.
Lord CLAUENDON replied in a speech of considerable
length. He was not prepared, he said, for the unqualified
terms in which the Convention had been condemned.
It was a mistake to suppose that Sir Rutherford Alcock had
acted in haste, or without sufficient information. It was
also a mistake to suppose that Mr. Hart, or any of the gen-
tlemen who composed what might be called the committee of
management for the Chinese Government, had had anything
to do with the treaty in a sense hostile to British
interest. As to the concessions which Lord Elgin obtained
from the Chinese Government, they must recollect there was
not one sirgle thing which was not unwillingly given ; there
was nothing which they did not consider was extorted from
them by force, and at the cannon's mouth. The Chinese
looked upon the Treaty of Tientsin not as an advantage
but as a degradation. Undoubtedly they had derived bene-
fit from it, and they had acted up to it, but it was
to a great extent because it had been enforced.
If they had allowed it to proceed in the usual
way, the same as with other countries, he believed
that much of it would haVe fallen into desuetude. They
must remember that having a treaty with China they placed
her in the rank of civilized nations and they must treat her
as au equal dealing with equal. They must endeavour no
longer to carry things by force, but to act as they
would with France or Austria, by mutual concessions.
An opinion bad been expressed that Sir Rutherford
Alcock had made all the concessions, and that the
Chinese ha.-1 given them nothing as an equivolent ; but they
must not forget the difliculties with which any concession
could bo had. It had been said that a concession had
been made reducing the duty on tea ; but it could not be
pretended that this was done for the benefit of the Chinese
any more than it was for the benefit of Italy. His lordship
then dealt with the details of the question, his general
opinion being that the Convention wits framed, as well as
it could be, in the interests of England. However, it was
not yet ratified, and he was glad tv have heard the views
of the deputation.

TILE .NEw DOMINION.—In the Winnipeg New
Nation. of January 28 it is stated that it was decided at
th,3 Red River Convention, held at Winnipeg, to draw up
a list of the rights demanded by the people, and to submit
it to the Canadian Government as a basis for becoming
a part of the Dominion. A discount rate for American
silver has been established by the Dominion Govern-
m

STOCKTON-ON-TEES, FEB. 28.--This morning th©
lifeboat Crossloy, stationed at Middlesborough, belonging
to the National Lifebo t Institution, was happily the
means (reports Mr. liohnes, Collector of Customs) of say-
ing the crew of six men from the Johns, of Sunderland,
bound from Santander, which was wrecked on the North
Garo Sand•.

- _ •
The very extensive Distil!ery now being erected
at Belfast, with all recent i►uprJvem,ents for the manufacture of
Irish whisky, by Illessts. DUNVILLE & Co., who have gained
a world-wide celebrity for their fine old Irish whisky, is to be
called "The Royal Irish Distillery."

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Xorning-,. Evening
~50 min past 1 10 min past 2

TUESDAY..

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THURSDAY 5 miu past 3 24 min past !s
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