The Sun.
London, England, 1860-07-17 00:00:00

THE . SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY - EVEN:O4G, tilrk.JLY - 'l7, 1860.

INTEiL ATIONA L SIATISTLCA-t,

CONGRESS.

The fourth session of the International Statistical Con-
gress was opened yesterday, in the great hall of King's
College, Somerset-house.
Among the noblemen and gentlemen present were Lord
Brougham, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Earl Stanhope, Mr.
Dallas, the American Minister; Lord. J. Russell, Lord
Ebrington, Lord H. Vane, Lord Monteagle, Mr. Cowper,
M.P., Mr. Bouverie, M.P., Mr. Slaney, M.P., Mr. Milnes,
M.F., Sir R. Murchison, Mr. T. Chambers, Dr. Farr, Dr.
Guy, Alderman Salomons, Major Graham, Mr. B. Carter,
Mr. Valpy, Mr. Newmarch, &c. _ _ _

The officers of the Congress were then appointed and the
rules confirmed. The following gentlemen were announced
as delegates from foreign nations and the colonies; most of
them were present when called, and took seats on the plat-
form :
Austria—His Excellency- Baron Czcernig.

Bavaria—Dr. F. B. W. Hermann.

Belgium—M. A. Quetelet, M. A. Visschers, and M. X.
Heuschling.
Brazil—His Excellency Senhor De Co.rvalho Moreira.
Denmark—Dr. C. N. David.

France—M. A. Legoyt.
Hamburg, Lubeck and Bremen—C. W. Asher LL.D.

Ii
anover—Professoi Wappaus. • •
'flollaudt-Dr. M. M. DS flauwhauer.

Meeklenbarg-Schwerin—:Dr. T. Aekersdyek and Baron
Maltzalen.

Ndrviay—ProfessOr 'L. Daa.
Prussia-1)r. E: Inm .aid x F.i 9., :SOalibprt.
B.'Wet*A44:tfp4;*,-tikwesßiigavileflap
Saxe-Coburg and Saxo .2.leiningen—M. G. Hopf.

Spain—Count de Ripalda. ,
Sweden—Dr. F. Th. Berg.

Switzerland—M. Vogt and M. Kolb.

Turkey—Agassi Effendi. •
United States—Judge Longstreet and Mr. Lawrence.

Australia.—New South Wales—Messrs. James Mac-
arthur, Edward Hamilton, and Stuart A. Donalds n.
Queensland —Mr. M. Marsh, M.P. Victoria—Mr. W.
Westgarth. South Australia—Mr. E. Stephen. Tasmania
—Mr. J. A. You]. New Zealand—Mr. J. E. Fitagerald.
British Guiana—Mr. W. Walker, Colonial Secretary.
Canada—Mr. J. T. Galt, Finance Minister.
Cape of Good Hope—Mr. W. Field.
Ceylon—Sir Charles M(Carthy.
Jamaica and Barbadoes—Mr. Stephen Cave, M.P.
Mauritius—Mr. G. Fropier.
lonian Islands—Mr.• H. Drummond Wolff, C.M.G.,
Civil Secretary.

At four o'clock his Royal Highness the Prince Consort
arrived. He was received in the outer hall by a guard of
honour of the King's College Volunteers. Having taken
his seat in the president's chair,
His ROYAL HIGUNBSS addressed the meeting as fol-
lows :—Gentlemen,—The Statistical Congress of All Na-
tions has been invited by the Government to hold its fifth
meeting in this metropolis, in conformity with the wishes
expressed by the late Congress held at 'Vienna in 1857.
Although under these circumstances it would have been
more properly within the province of a member of the Go-
vernment and Minister of the Crown to fill this chair and
open the proceedings of the day, as has been the case in
previous meetings of the Congress in other places, the na-
ture of the institutions and the habits of the people of the
country in which the assembly was to take place could not
fail to make itself felt and to influence its organisation. We
are people possessing and enjoying the most intense politi-
cal life, in which every question of interest or importance
to the nation is publicly canvassed and debated. The whole
nation, as it were, from the highest to the lowest, takes an
active part in these debates, and arrives at a judgment
with regard to them on the collective results of the thoughts
and opinions thus called forth. This Congress could, there-
fore, only be either a private meeting of the delegates of
different Governments, discussing special questions of in-
terest in the midst of the general bustle of political acti-
vity, or it bad to assume a public and a national cha-
racter, addressing itself to the public at large, and in-
viting its co-operation. The Government ' have
chosen the latter alternative, and have been met by the
readiest response from all sides. They have, I think, wisely
chosen ; for it is of the utmost importance to the object the
Congress has in view—namely, not only the diffusion of
'statistical information, but also theaCquisition of a general
acknowledgment 'of the usefulness and importance of this
branch of human knowledge,—that the public, as a whole,
should take up the questions which are intended to be in-
vestigated, and should lend its powerful aid. Gentlemen,
this ekplains, and must serve as an apology for, my presum-
ing to hold the post of your president, -for which I other-
wise feel full well my unworthiness. 'When, however, the
Commissioners for the organization of the Congress ex-
pressed to me their desire that I should do so, I felt it in-
cumbent upon me not to withhold my individual co-opera-
tion, carrying with it, as it would, an assurance to the
British people that the object of the meeting was one which
had enlisted the sympathy of their Queen, and testifying
to the foreign delegates the esteem in which she holds them
personally, and her appreciation of the science which they
serve. Let me new welcome them to this country, and
welcome them on behalf of this country. It is here that
the idea of an International Statistical Congress took its
origin, when delegates and visitors from all nations had as-
sembled to exhibit in noble rivalry the products of their
science, skill, and industry in the Great Exhibition of 1851;
it is here that the statistical science was earliest developed;
and Dr. Farr has well reminded us that England has been
called, by no less an authority than Bernoulli, " the cradle
of political arithmetic," and that we may even appeal to
our Domesday Book as one of the most ancient and com-
plete monuments of the science in existence. It is this
country also which will and must derive the greatest-bene-
fits from the achievements of this science, and which will
consequently have most cause to be grateful to you for the
result of your labours. Gentlemen, old as your .seience is,
and undeniable as are the benefits which it has ren-
dered to mankind, it is yet little understood by the multi-
tude, new in its acknowledged position among the other
sciences, and still subject to many vulgar prejudices. It
is little understood, for it is dry and unpalatable to the
general public in its simple arithmetical expressions repre-
senting living facts (which as such are capable of arousing
the liveliest sympathy) in dry figures and tables for com-
parison. Much labour is required to wade through endless
columns of figures, much patience to master them, and some
skill to draw any definite and safe conclusions from the
mass of material which it presents to the student ; while
the value of the information offered depends exactly upon
its bulk, increasing in proportion with its quantity and com-
prehensiveness ; it has been little understood also from the
peculiar and often unjustifiable use which has been made
of it ; for the very fact of its difficulty and the patience re-
quired in reading up and verifying the statistical figures
which may be referred to by an author in support of his
theories and opinions protect him, to a certain extent, from
scrutiny, and tempt him to draw largelyupon so convenient
and available a capital. The public generally connect, there-
fore, in their minds statistics, if not with unwelcome taxa-
tion (for which they naturally form an important basis),
certainly with political controversies, in which they are in
the habit of seeing public men making use of the most
opposite statistical results with equal assurance in support
of the most opposite arguments. A great and distinguished
French Minister and statesman is even quoted as having
boasted of the invention of what he is said to have called
" l'art do grouper les chiffi-es ;" but if the same ingenuity
and enthusiasm which may have suggested to him this art
should have tempted him or others, as historians, to group
facts also, it would be no more reasonable to makethe historis
cal facts answerable for the use made of them, than it would
be to make statistical science responsible for many an in-
genious financial statement. Yet this science has suffered
materially in public estimation by such use, although the
very fact that statesmen, financiers, physicians, and natu-
ralists should seek to support their statements and doc-
trines by statistics shows conclusively that they all acknow-
ledge them as the foundation of truth, and this ought,
therefore, to raise instead of depressing the science in the
general esteem of the public. Statistical science is, as I
have said, comparatively new in its position among the
sciences in general, and we must look for the cause of this
tardy recognition to the fact, that it has the appearance of
an incomplete science, and of being rather a helpmate to
other sciences than having a right to claim that title for
itself. But this is an appearance only ; for if pure statistics
abstain from participating in the last and highest aim of all
science—viz., the discovery and expounding the laws which
govern the universe,—and leave this duty to their more
favoured sisters, the natural and political sciences, this is
done with conscious self-abnegation, for the purpose of pro-
tecting the purity and simplicity of their sacred task—the
accumulation and verification of facts, unbiassed by any
consideration of the ulterior use which may or can be made
of them. Those general laws, therefore, in the knowledge
of
which
we recognize one of the highest treasures of man
on earth, are left unexpressed, though rendered self-appes
rent, as they may be read in the uncompromising, rigid
figures placed before him, It is difficult to see how, under
such circumstances, and notwithstanding this self-imposed
abnegation, statistical science, as such, should be subject to
prejudice, reproach, and attack ; and yet the fact cannot be
denied. 'We hear it said that its prosecution leads neces-
sarily to Pantheism and the destruction of true religion, as
depriving:in man's estimation, the Almighty of His power of
free self-determination, making His world a mere machine,
working according to a general pre-arranged scheme, the parts
of which are capable of mathematical measurement, and the
scheme itself of numerical expression ; that it leads to
fatalism, and therefore deprives man of his dignity, of his
virtue and morality, as it would prove him to be a mere
wheel in this machine, incapable of exercising a free choice
of action, but predestined to fulfil a given task and to run a

prescribed course, whether for good or lot evil. These are
Pave accusations, and would be terrible indeed if they 'were
true. But are they true ? Is,the power of God destroyed
or diminished by the iiscovery Of the fact that the earth
requires 365 ireivolfetiims upon its own axis to every revolu-
tion round the sun, giving us so many days to cur year, and
that the moon changes 13 times durlng that period, that the
tide changes every six hours,-that water boils at a tempe-
rature of 212 degrees according to Fahrenheit, that the
nightingale sings only in April and May, that all birds lay
aggs, that 106 boys are born to every 100 girls ? Or is man
a lees free agent because it has been ascertained that a
generation lasts about thirty years, that thereare annually
posted at the post-Offices the same number of letters on
which the writer had forgotten to place any address; that
the number of crimes committed under the same I.ocal,
national, and social conditions is constant; that the full-
grown man ceases to find amusement in the sports of the
child? But our statistical science does not even say that
this must be so ; - it only states that it has been so, and leaves
it to the naturalist or political economist to argue that it is
probable, from the number of times in which it has been
foam-110'13e so; that it will be so again as long as the same
causes are operating. It thus gave birth .to that part of
mathethatiealrseience.called the calculation of probabilities,
and even established the theory that in the natural world
there exist no certainties at all, but only probabilities. Al-
iheugh this edoetrine, .destroying man's feeling of security
to a certain extent, has startled and troubled some, it is no
rlesti tiue that, while, we may reckon with a thoughtless
'security on the sum rising to-morrow, this is only a probe-
'ble eivent, fheprobauilitynt which is capable of being ex-
,,pressedpr a determined-mathematical fraction. Our in-
- siniitiCe t from their vest collection of statistical
facts,. established to such a /3-recision the probable duration
af,ttran's life that they are able to enter with each individual
into a precise bargain on the value of this life ; and yet this
does not imply an impious pretension to determine when
this individual is really to die. But we are met also by the
most opposite objection, and statistics are declared useless,
because they cannot be relied on for the determination of
any given case, and do only establish probabilities where
man requires and asks for certainty. This objection is well
founded, but it does not affect the science itself, but solely
the use which man has in vain tried to make of it, and for
which it is not intended. It is the essense of the statistical
science that it only makes apparent general laws, but that
these laws are inapplicable to any special case ; that, there-
fore, what is proved to be law in general is uncertain in
particular. Herein lies the real refutation also of the
first objection, and thus is the power, wisdom, and
goodness of the Creator manifested, sh wing how tie
Almighty has established the physical and moral world
on unchangeable laws conformable to His eternal nature,
while He has allowed to the in: ividual the freest .
and fullest use of his faculties, vindicating at the
same time the majesty of His laws by their remaining un-
affected by individual self-determination. Gentlemen, I
am almost ashamed to speak such homely truths (of which I
feel myself at best to be a very inadequate exponent) to a
meeting like this, including men of such eminence in the
science, and particularly in the-presence of one who was
your first President, M. Quetelet, and from whom I had the
privilege, now 24 years ago, to receive my first instruction in
the higher branches of mathematics—one who has so suc-
cessfully directed his great abilities to the application of the
science to those social phenomena, the discovery of the
governing laws of which can only be approached by the
accumulation and reduction of statistical facts. It is the
social condition of mankind, as exhibited by those facts,
which form the chief object of the study and investigation
undertaken by this Congress, and it hopes that the results
of its labonrs will afford to the statesman and legislator a
sure guide in his endeavours to promote social development
and happiness. The importance of these international
congresses in this respect cannot be overrated. They not
only awaken public attention to the value of these pursuits,
bring together men of all countries who devote their lives
to theM, and who are thus enabled to excleenge their
thoughts and varied experiences ; but they, pave the way
to an agreement among different Governments and nations
to follow up these common inquiries, in a common spirit,
by a common method and for a common end. It is only
in the largest number of observations that the law becomes
apparent; and the truth becomes more and more to be
relied upon, the larger the amount of facts accurately
observed which form the basis of its elucidation. It is con-
sequently of the highest importance that observations iden-
tial in-character should embrace the largest field of obser-
vatiOn attainable. It is not sufficient, however, to collect the
statistical facts of one class over the greatest area and to the
fullest amount, but we require, in order to arrive at sound
conclusions as to the influences operating, in producing
these facts, tite,simul tanbous collection of the greatest'variety
of facts, the statistics of the increase' of population; of mar-
riages, births, and deaths, of emigration, disease, crime,
education, and occupation, of the products of agriculture,
mining, and manufacture, of the results'of trade, commerce,
and finance. Nor, while their comparison becomes an essen-
tial element it the investigation of our social condition, does
it suffice to obtain these observations as a whole, but wa re-
quire also, and particularly, the comparison of these same
classes of facts in different countries, under the varying in-
fluences of political and religious conditions, of occupation,
races, and climates. And even this comparison of the same
facts in different localities does not give us all the necessary
materials from which to draw our conclusions ; for we re-
quire, as much as anything else, the collection of observa-
tions of the same classes of facts in the same localities and
under the same conditions, but at different times. It is only
the element of time, in the last instance, which enables us
to test progress or regress—that is to say, life. r bus
the physician, by feeling the pulse of the greatest num-
ber of persons coming under his observation, old and
young, male and female, and at all seasons, arrives at the
average number of the pulsations of the heart in man's
normal condition ; by feeling the pulse of the same person
under the most varied circumstances and conditions, he ar-
rives at a conclusion on this person's pulse ; again, by
feeling the pulse of the greatest variety of persons suffering
from the same disease, he ascertains the general condition of
the pulse under the influence of thatdisease ; it is now only
that, feeling a particular patient's pulse, he will be able to
judge whether this person is afflicted by this peculiar ells-
ease, as far as that can be ascertained by its influence on the
pulse. But all these comparisons of the different classes of
facts under different local conditions, and at different times,
of which I have been speaking, depend, not only as to their
usefulness and as to the ease with which they can be un-
dertaken, but oven as to the possibility of undertaking them
at all, on the similarity, nay, congruity, of the method em-
ployed and the expressions, figures, and conditions selected
under which the observations have been taken. Does, then,
the world at large not owe the deepest obligations to a Con-
gress such as the ono I am addressing, which has made it
its especial task to produce this assimilation, and to place
at the command of man the accumulated experience upon
his own condition, scientifically elaborated and reduced
in a manner to enable the meanest intellect to draw safe
conclusions ? Gentlemen, the Congress has at its vari-
ous meetings succeeded 'in doing a great deal in this di-
rection ; the official statistics of all countries have been
improved, and in regard to the census the recommen-
dations of the Brussels meeting have been generally car-
ried out in a majority of States. I fun sorry to have to
admit the existence of some striking exceptions, in
England in this respect ; for instance, the census of Great
Britain and Ireland was not taken ore precisely the same
plan in essential particulars, thereby diminishing its value
fer general purposes. The judicial statistics of England
and Wales do not show a complete comparative view of the
operation of our judicial establishments; nor, while wo are
in all the departments of the State most actively engaged
in the preparation of valuable statistics, can we deny cer-
tain defects in our returns, which must be traced to the
want of such a central authority or commission as was re-
commended by the Congress at Brussels and Paris, to direct
on a general plan all the great statistical operations to be
prepared by the various departments. Such a commission
would be most useful in preparing an annual digest of the
statistics of the United Kingdom, of our widely-scattered
colonies, and of our vast Indian empire. From such a
digest the most important results could not fail. to be
elicited. One of the most useful results of the labours of
the Congress has been the common agreement of all States
to inquire into the causes of every death, and to return the
deaths from the same causes under synonymous names,
sanctioned by the Congress. It has in this instance set
the example of establishing what is most desirable in
'all other branches of statistics, namely, the agreement
upon well-defined terms. There ought to exist no greater
difficulty in arriving at such an agreement in the case
of the various crimes than in that of " causes of death ;"
and it must he remembered that it is one ( f the first tasks
and duties of every science to start with a definition of
terms. What is it that is meant by a house, a family, an
adult, an educated or an uneducated person, by murder,
reanslaughter, and so on ? It is evident that as long as a
different sense is attached to these terms in different returns
their use for comparison is nil, and for simple study very
much deteriorated ;,and still we have not yet arrived at such
a simple and obvious desideratum 1 The different weights,
measures, and currencies in which different statistics are
expressed cause further difficulties and impediments. Sug-
gestions with regard to the removal of these have been made
at former meetings, and will no doubt be renewed. We fancy
here that our pound, as the largest available unit, with its
fain, offers' great advantages, particularly if further sub-
divided decimally. We hope to lay before you, as far as
Great Britain is concerned, the Registrar- General's analysis
of the causes of death and the dangers that people encounter
at each period of life; complete returns of the produce of
our mines ; the agricultural returns of Ireland, in which
the Registrar-General of that country has given every year
the breadth of land under every kind of crop, with an esti-
mate of its produce as well as its value, and has proved by

his success in obtaining these facts, at a comparatively muo•-
derate expense, and by the voluntary assistance of the land-
owners and cultivators, as well as of the clergy of all deno-
minations, th at the apprehension was groundless that it could
not be done without inordinate cost or without injuring indi-
vidual interests. We must hope that, considering its import -
azice with regard to all questions affecting the food of the
people, this inquiry will not only be extended to England and
Scotland, but also to the continent gnerally, wherever it
may not already have been instituted. Our trade returns will
exhibit the great effects produced, on our commerce by the
changes in our commercial system; our colonial delegates
will exhibit to you proofs of the wonderful progress of their
countries, and proofs at the same time that elaborate statis-
tics have rendered them conscious of that progress. And I
have no doubt that tht foreign delegates will more than
repay us by the information which they will give us in
exchange. These returns will no doubt prove to us afresh
in figures what we know already from feeling and from ex-
pression—hew dependent the different nations are upon
each other for their progress, for their moral and material
prosperity, and that the essential-condition of their mutual
happiness is the maintenance of peace and good will among
each other. Let them still be rivals, but rivals in the noble
' race of social improvement, in which, although it may be
the lot of one-to arrive first at the goal, yet all will equally
share, the' prize, all feeling their own powers and strength
increase in the healthy competition. I should detain you
longer than .I feel justified in doing, and should perhaps
trench upon the domain and duties of presidents of sessions,
if I were to allude to . the points which will there be speci-
ally recommended to your attention and consideration; but
I trust it will not be thought presumptuous in me if I ex- ,
hurt you generally not to lose yourselves in points of
minute detail, , however tempting and • attractive they
may be from their intrinsic interest and import-
ance, but to direct your undivided energies to the
establishment of those broad principles upon which the
common action of different nations can be based, which
common action must be effected if we are to make real pro-
gress. I know that this Congress can only suggest and
recommend, and that it must ultimately rest with the dif-
ferent Governments to carry out those suggestions. Many
previous recommendations, it is true, have been carried out,
but many have been left unattended to, and I will not except
our own country from blame in this respect. Happy and
proud indeed should I feel if this noble gathering should be
enabled to lay the solid foundation of an edifice, necessarily
slow of construction, and requiring for generations to come
laborious and persevering exertion, intended as it is for the
promotion of human happiness by leading to the discovery
of those eternal laws upon which that universal happiness
is dependent. May lie who has implanted in our hearts a
craving after the discovery of truth, and given us our rea-
.soning faculties to the end that we should use them for this
discovery, sanctify our efforts and bless them in their results.
His Royal Highness resumed his seat amid the loudly-
expressed applause of the assembly.
On the motion of Lord BROUGHAM, a vote of thanks was
carried by acclamation to his Royal Highness for his able
address, Lord Brougham observing that he was sure that if
any one had three hands to hold up he would do so. (Cheers.)
His Lordship also congratulated the Congress on the very
numerous attendance in spite of the rainy weather.
His ROYAL HIGHNESS assured the Congress that he ren-
dered his services to them with a deal of pleasure, and
thanked them for the complimentary vote.
Lord BROUGHAM, seeing Mr. Dallas, the American Mi-
nister, present, said—l hope my friend Mr. Dallas will for••
give me reminding him that there is a negro present, a
member of the Congress. (Loud laughter and vociferous

cheering.)
After the cheering had subsided Mr. Dallas made no
sign, but the negro in question, who was understood to be
a Dr. DELXNY, rose, amid loud cheers, and said—l pray
your Royal Highness will allow me to thank his Lordship,
who is always a most unflinching friend of the negro, for
the observation he has made, and I assure your Royal
Highness and his Lordship that I am a man.
This novel t and unexpected incident elicited a round of
cheering very extraordinary for an assemblage of sedate
statisticians.

M. DE CARVALIIO MOREIRA, the Brazilian Minister, on
behalf of the foreign delegates, begged to express their pro-
found admiration of the address to which they had listened;
in the most elevated language it pointed out with prec sion,
and defined with clearness, the objects the Congress had in
view. To that tribute of admiration he begged to add the
warmest expression of their obligation and thanks.
The PRINCE CONSORT then declared the Congress
opened, and adjourned the meeting till 10 o'clock this day.

TH.E• WAR IN CIIINA.

What are the objects of the China war ? The
question has been askecleover and over again by the
Country, and has hitherto received no explicit an-
swer. British and French troops are now moving in
tens of thousands in the Chinese waters, Chiles n has
been occupied, the narrow channel which leads
northwards from the crowded harbour of Hong
Kong is filled all day by a long procession of ships
of war and transports; Sir Hope Grant has in all
pronability already gone north, and the Admiral.
who was waiting only the arrival of Lord Elgin, is
doubtless by this time escortiug him towards the
scone of his former diplomatic exploits. The French
are evidently far on their way to the general rendez-
vous, for we find that one of their largest storeshipe
has been lost upon the dangerous coast of Amoy.
Those yellow, muddy, shallow, northern seas, where
usually nothing is seen but timorous fishing-
boats, huddled together under the convoy of some
'Portuguese lorcha, while a pirate hovers in the dis-
tance to cut off a straggler or to pounce upon a
sugar junk—those turbid, dreary seas . are now
clouded with the smoke of gunboats, covered with
the white sails of the square-rigged ships, and
peopled with soldiers and sailors whose homes are
in the West. At what expense these demonstra-
tions have been made the House of Commons has
only just discovered; but what this great warlike
force is going to do no one seems to know. Per-
haps it may pass the hot months and the sharp
winter in Japan, or in utilising the hitherto
neglected opportuuities of surveying the northern
coast and internal water's; perhaps our sOldiers
and sailors may go right on, and do their work
off-hand,. laughing at that terrible bugbear of a,
Pekin winter, and believing that an English
soldier is not iikely to perish of cold which an
Asiatic can endure. But what this work is no one
seems to know. The House of Commons on Fri-
day night persistently, but vainly, tried to draw
the secret from the Government. Having paid the
bill, SirJ.Elphinstone, and Mr. Osborne, and other
members, thought they had a right to be told what
species of value they were to receive for it. To Mr.
Osborne's question the Chancellor of the Exchequer
was obstinately silent. Lord John Manners only
succeeded in drawing from Lord J. Russell a sort
of hint that he hoped at this vast expense to obtain
an apology and a ratification of the treaty. Lord
Palmerston told us that the object of the war was
" to prevent our subjects being murdered,our treaty
torn up as waste paper, and every indignity and
outrage heaped upon us," but the intimation was
rather too general in terms to add much to our
knowledge.
Why is this? Why is it that there is no defined
national policy in our relations with China ? The
answer is very easy. We have only to note the
men who rise to take part in these debates, to re-
collect their previous conduct, and to know their
connection, and we see at once why every one
advocates a different line of action, and why nearly
all would be ready to combine against any really
national policy which a Minister should be bold
enough and, we are afraid we must say, indiscreet
enough to declare. There are a dozen different
objects which a dozen different classes see in this'
war. First, and perhaps most contemptible of
all, is the vanity of a few antiquat€d military
and naval men, who desire to avail themselves
of the accident of a seat in Parliament to direct
from their places at Westminster operations
which would never have been committed to their
professional control. These unemployed officers
are anxious to'override in their quality of burgesses
the responsible counsels which Ministers obtain
from the heads of their respective professions.
They are ready to dispute with a Minister every
military probability, and to demonstrate that every-
thing is impossible, and that ships and armies are
good only to be paid for. It is only by concealing
every military or naval plan that the anxious and
obtrusive interference of these zealous volunteer ad-
visers can be avoided. They are men with votes
and men with tongues, and a Minister dares not say
to them " This is a professional matter which has
been considered by your superiors in your own pro-
fession ; I am unable to argue it with you in detail,
but the Crown, in whose province it is to make
choice, has confidence in their judgment, and has
none in yours." The House of Commons would re-
sent so curt a truth, and the public will listen to a
Parliament man who talks. Next to these in per-
Atte y, and before ,influence, we 'have the
(Ina commercial intereSl. Bi‘it ish pub.-
lie of : es nearly all that harrowing news which from
time to time disturbs its equanimity. The rebels are
always threatening Canton or destroying the young
teas just at some critical moment for the markets.
The silk crop is always going to fail. British manu-
factures are very dull, and the markets overstocked.
The exchanges are very bad. The interest of this
class is to keep things exactly as they are—to buy,
things cheap in China and to sell them dear in Eng-
land, and to buy things cheap in England and to sell
them dear in China. That is their business. It is
the spirit of commerce, the true policy of the trader.
No one complains of it, but it gives a special chan-
nel to their desires and carries out for them their
object. In their eyes the object of a China war
must be to keep things exactly as they are—ships
of war always on the coast, troops always within
hail, the Chinese authorities always in alarm, Man-
darins too frightened to be very particular about
dues, and too much in dread of a barbarian force
to make much noise even if a Chinese Custom-
house officer should be slain, and a Hong Kong
jury should acquit the slayer. These are the
natural objects of one class which has great autho-
rity in England, and in order to attain these ob-
jects that class must, of course, oppose any large
measure which would put our relations upon a solid
footing, open the whole country to trade, and
destroy that profitable mystery in which China has
ever been shrouded. Mr. Baring must speak in the
name of this interest, and this interest only, when
he affects to speak in the name of commerce.
Thirdly, we have the diplomatic class, which be-
lieves only in treaties and in the phrases used in
diplomatic correspondence; which thinks that the
best object of a China war is to make some Man-
darin admit that a British Consul is his equal in
rank, that the highest success is to have the name
of our Queen placed as high up. in a column of
Chinese characters as the name of Hienfung, and
that a sufficient compensation for 10,000 lives and
twenty millions of money has been obtained if
the Emperor can be got to tolerate a Resident
Ambassador at Pekin—where he must always
necessarily be the fruitful occasion of more wars
and of a constant succession of expeditions. This
class also has its object. To them the expedition
is of use only to alarm the Chinese—to go to
Tien-tsin, but not to go so far as to frighten
the Emperor and his Court into flight, lest they
should lose their beloved ceremonies, and be baulked
in their d6ire to sit upon the same bench as a fat
man with a peacock's feather in his cap. There
are other classes besides these who have their spe-
cial objects. We cannot here deal with them all.
We must pass by the professional humanitarians
and the committed party men, and speak only of
that interest which we wish to prevail.
This, then, is the Great National Interest. The
country has a true instinct that such an interest
exists, but has only a vague perception of it. The
general election showed this so plainly that our
party men have not even yet forgotten the lesson.
This National Interest requires an entire disregard
of the effete counsels of. home-staying warriors,
an impartial dealing with the special interests
of those who now monopolize the China
trade, and a discouragement of official digni-
taries, uneasy at being thought not good com-
pany by a barbarian with a ball of red coral on
his head. The national interest is to open China
to all, to make the people our friends and our cus-
tomers, and to show their corrupt oppressors that,
with them or without them, we will exercise our
treaty rights to traffic with those who are desirous
to traffic with us. This is what we consider to be
the only proper object of a China war. To this
object we believe there is but one effective course
of action. That is, that we should once for all go
direct to Pekin, enter that city—as we should do
without any real opposition—and there have our
treaty properly signed and ratified. We saw after we
had bombarded Canton that the bombardment was
utterly unnecessary, and that we might have entered
it with half our force. We shall never have again
to use force at Canton. We never have had to use
force a second time at Amoy or Ningpo, or in any
other city where we have adopted a decided policy.o hold the city
So it would be at Pekin. '1
for any time would be unnecessary ; to main-
tain a Resident Ambassador there would, as we
venture to think, be a blunder. But to show our-
selves there in force as masters of
the city is a
Unless we do this nothing necessity.
Unless we show the Court of Pekin that oar arm
is long enough to reach them We may slaughter
Chinamen and burn cities, and Weep crocodile tears
as we do so, but we shall make no impression upon
a court whose only instinct is a selfish fear. The
public object which we hope to
attain by this is
not one which will find favour with China
mer-
chants or with politicians Who have