The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-04 00:00:00

L LT.I 11 1" OP GA NIZ TION.

(PROM THE TIMES' CORRESPONDENT LATE WITH
THE FRENCH ARMY IN ITALY.)
At this moment, when the martial spirit of Eng-
land has been aroused, when every one is thinking
of national defences, increase of the army, organiza•
tion of volunteer corps, and when all those who
have something to say on the ma INT are coming
forward to promote this work, I hope you will like-
wise, accept's mile remarks which I have to.offer, in
this respect, and which may servo to illustrate this
.all-absorbing subject from a different point of view.
'I present them not as a system, but as stray thoughts,
suggested by obseryhtions made during the two.
great wars of our times—namely, the war in the
East. and the late Italian campaign.
We see on these two occasions the four most
powerful nations of Europe, i)esides two second-rate
Powers, display thei: military resources in the field
after 40 years of peace. Each of these nations had
had, indeed, one or more smaller wars during that
long period of peace—England in India, France in
Algeria, Russia in the Caucasus, against Turkey,
Persia, and in Hungary ; Austria against Piedmont
and in Hungary; but in each of these cases the
strength between the two combatants was so dis-
proportionate that it does not offer a fair compari-
son as to the real advantages and shortemnitti,s of
their military organization, which could only be
judged of in a trial where the forces were more
equally balanced.

The result of this trial was evinced by the fad
that, before even the Crimean war was over, com-
missioners were sent •by England to inquire into
the causes which produced the failure, and the
country itself took up warmly the subject of military
organisation. Immediately after the Eastern war
the Emperor of Itussia also appointed a commission
to inquire into the abuses and maladministration
of his army, in consequence of which almost all the
officers in high commanil were either dismiss(d, or
at any rate fell into disgrace; and now, a few
months after the short. Italian campaign, we see
Austria intent on re-organizing altogether her army,
even to the uniforms. That is, three out of the four
great Powers found their army not " up to the
mark" the first time it was called upon to show its
efficiency in the field.
The only Power which stood the test on both oc-
casions, and under entirely different circumstances,
Was France. Ifer organisation proved goodin a long
siege, carried on at 2,000 miles from her shores, and
it proved itself efficient in a short and brilliant cam-
paign in the open field. These two occasions offered
almost every species of trial to which an army can
be subject—camping out in a severe winter on an
inhospitable shore, subject to all kinds of privations,
forced marches under un Italian sun, tedious trench
duties and roadmaking, brilliant attacks, and ob-
stinate defences ; and through all these trials the
French army passed successfully enough to insure
ultimate victory.
In the face of such facts, and with such an ex-
ample before us, one of the first things seems to me
to be to inquire to what the superiority of the
French organisation is owing. Indeed, this thought
is so naturally suggested that it must occur to every
one.

Your own columns in the years 1855 6, afford
sufficient proof that the expediency of such an in-
quiry was understood by the BritiSh public, and by
the-pressure of this latter it was communicated like-
Wise to the military authorities. The press was teem-
ing with correspondence, letters, articles an d remarks
on the subject, making; comparisons between the
Military organisation a France and England, sug-
gesting improvements in the latter on the model of
the former in some points, and showing the impos-
sibility of applying to the British army the French
system in others. It may be supposed.that the sub-
ject was likewise taken into consideration by the
War Department, for divers changes since made
show traces of the influences of such a study.
There has been no occasion as yet to show whe-
ther this inquiry has practically produced salutary
results or not, but I hope to be able to show that it
ha 4 not been followed .by all the advantages which
might have been expected from it, and: that the
great lesson which the inquiry ought to have
taught has been altogether overlooked.
By an effort which England had made her army
at the end of the War was, according to outward
appearances at least, in as•fine a condition as any
army ever has been. Sceptics, indeed, suggested
that if it took the field the results would be mot
much different from those attained before ; but most
people contented themselves with the idea that it has
always been, and must always be so—that England
must needs sacrifice her first army before she can
create a second efficient one. The spirit of inquiry
was by degrees allayed by this consoling thought,
and the general convict:on produced by it was that
England is England and France is France; each
has her own genius, and must have accordingly her
own organisation—a result, I believe, 'which might
have been obtained almost without the trouble of
inquiry. '
If this result was so small, it is owing, according
to my opinion, to the circumstance that the inquiry
was not undertaken in the spirit in which it ought to
have been pursued; that it started from a wrong
principle, and lost itself in details. It began where
it ought to have ended—namely, by the question,
" What is there in the French organisation that

• •
might be conveniently rxdopted in En edam d instead I rent the military systems ought to. take advantage
of beginning with a study attic history ►and spirit ►. of all the newest improvements in this respect.
of the French military organisation, taking it in That in this age of easy communication and, rapid
It: ensemble first before it descended to, details, • intercourse between nations eaeli ought to look
It pulled to pieces the nrehinery,.and examined about and profit by the skill or follies of the others.
wheel by wheel and spring after spring, while the That this ought to lead, not to 'imitation, but to
success of the machinery lies not in one or another emulation ; it might to stimulate invention,
.and
part, but in the fitness- of the whole -engine. and thus develope the particular genius of each-by the.
consequently it did not comprehend the true prin. proper application of the improvements devised by
ciplcs of it.
the others.
With your permission I will endeavour to place That in a system, military or any other, there
this Ixelure your readerss , must be harmony,,and that if one essential part be.
11rhett the great European war was brought to a changed the others must be Modified likewise.
close, in 1815, the victors, great and small, lay down I These. are.the principles the application of which
on their laurels, full-of the consciousness of their hive secured to the French military organisation
superiority, and lulled by the sweet hope of having ita:superiority, and these are the principles which
attained the greatest amount of perfeetion in their ought to be 'followed in the national defences of
military organisation. They had beaten doWn the England. Whether this has been. the.. ease, and
legions of the. modern conqueror of Europe, and all how far; [ hope you will allow me to develope
that nsw remained sculled to be to keep .up the another letten .
system which had done such wonders.
While•this was the case of the victors in the rest
of Europe the very. reverse cif it took place in France,
the vanquished. Iler great military or-railisation
had broken down, and left only the debris of that
powerful machinery which made Europe tremble
so ofte9, but which had been .used up. Even under,
ordinary circumstances it would have been Clan-,
cult, nay, almost impossible, to come back to the
past ; but there were peculiar political co-nditiona
which not only were in the way of such a course,
but which propelled altogether in an opposite direc-
tion. •It was not only the imperial •legions which
had been destroyed) by the battle of Waterloo, but
the empire likewise, and the. Restoration which sue.
-ceeded came baCk With a feeling of hatred and .irk •
ge.ance against anything connected with the empire
and with revolution. So high did this spirit run in
the beginning that, had it been possible, these Very
names and ,everything which reminded of them
would have been eliminated from France. Like
Sultan 'Mahnioud, who, after the destruction of the
Janissaries, had the tombstones abraded which
bore on them the distinctive turban of these
tested Pretorians, • the powers that ruled then in.
France were ready to do anything to efface the 25
years which had preceded.
The result of this disposition was a complete re-
organisation of the French army; all the Bonapar-
tist elements were carefully eliminated from it, and
every effort made to break the thread of tradition.
It was -a hard struggle, but as by degrees the olsl
dropped off and 'new men succeeded the purpose
was, in the space of a decennium, effected .
Fortunately for the French army, there were
some principles in its organisation dating from
the • revolutionary epoch which were so aleeplye
rooted that the reaction in all its .omnipotence,
supported as it was by a foreign occupa-
tion, did not dare to touch them.: There were,
besides, many parts in the military organisation
and administration introduced by the genius of
the First Napoleon so adapted to the purpose
and suitable to the ideas of the French -people that
therwere kept up in principle, modified in details,
and changed merely to be improVed. The men
charged with this tusk were most of them the gene-
rals of the great captain, but who had rallied round.
the new dynasty ; they studied now to combine
their own experience in military 'slitters with the
new state of things in which France found herself.
The result of all this was -that at the time when
all other nations almost of Europe were only intent
on keeping -upher old traditions, France remodelled,
and in many respects improved, the Napoleonic
system, bringing it into harmony with the necessi-
ties of •the situation.
The Military prornenale in Spain in 1823 was not -
an occasion to show the efficiency of the new system ;
but those who saw it might have already brought
back the conviction that France had entered a new
road in her military organisation—that while else-
where people dwelt with delight on their old vic-
tories, France was preparing for new ones.
This tendency to progress, this endeavour to
adapt the military institutions to the wants of •the
times which manifested itself already, received new
stimulus after 1830, the year of the first occupation
of Algeria. As it would have been wrong to see in
the army of the Restoration the continuation of that
of tho Empire, so it would be wrong to see in that
of today that of the Restoration. The year I‘3o
is the starting point of the present French army,
and that since that time there is scarcely one single
thing, tither in gulls, accontiements, manoeuvres,
system of promotion, organivation, or achninistra-
tion of the different branches of the service, which
has not been thoroughly remodelled or altogether
ehangsd. These last 30 years were one continual
study to make the single soldier, as well as the whole
system, efficient. Inventions were made to supply
deficiencies, chance discoveries were applied to use-
ful purposes; the great advance in mechanics, in-
dustry, and manufacture was put. into requisition ;
improvements made by other nations were studied,
adopted, and perfected.
It would be too long to go through this lift of
changes one by one ; it will be sufficient to bring
forward some, in order to show the true reason of
the superiority of the French army in its org,auisti,--
tion.
The fatigues, heat, and bivouses of Algeria soon
convinced the French military authorities of the
absurdity of encasing the soldier in clothes which
do not allow the free action of every limb, and we
see the result of this conviction in the loose trou-
sers and the comfortable capote of the French sol-
dier ; marching in sand or mud for long hours ne-
cessitates light shoes, easily taken off and put on,
and the soldier has them, and light leather gaiters
besides, to protect the ankles, at the same time to
tuck the trousers in. All sensible people have come
to the conviction that cheap things arc not the most
economical in the end, and you see the French
soldier's uniform made of a stout but rather elastic
cloth, something like light pilot cloth ; every ar-
ticle of his uniform not only lasts twice the time it
did before, but his-health likewise is better. Means,
of transport is a great difficulty in all campaigns.
but nvire especially against Arabs and Kabyles.
Instead, therefore, of starting from the premise that
such and such means of transport were required for
the soldier, the soldier has been taught to carry
everything which heswants. The lode d'abri was
invented to dispense with this encumbrance, and
the soldier accustomed to depend upon himself even
for his food for several days. It required no great
acumen to see thet a human being stiffened accord-
ing to the practice of the old school would succumb
under the load, and paces were accordingly adapted
to this self-evident truth.
It was found that the rift ordinaire of La Belle
France was injurious in the climate Of Algeria, and
that the natives used coffee as a stimulant. It was
tried, and found to answer, not only in Algeria, but
everywhere else, being the most harmless stimulant,
and enabling the soldier to fight a long day at Sol-
ferino or stand a wet day of Crimean trenches.
The Arabs were no match for the regular French
soldier, but it was often difficult to reach them.
They made up by quickness what, they wanted in
steadiness. Well might the War Ministry shrug its
shoulders at the poor ignOrant beings, but it did
not; on the contrary, it stoopedsdown to learn from
these poor benighted creatures how to tight in loose
order and make the most of individual strength
and agility; as well as of the obstacles of the
ground. One Captain Minie, invented a new arm,
or, if you like, adapted an old one to the par-
pose, and the two together have reformed the man-
ner of fighting.
Some of those who had seen this loose warfare in
Africa were put together to devise anew system for
the new arm, and the Chasseurs de Vincennes were
organised. It was found that this new mode of
fighting required net less but rather more qualities
than the old machine system, and that in an army
raised by conscription this could not be applied,
thus the Zouave Volunteers were imagined, and the
Tirailleurs Indignes.
But if all that large army could not be made into
picked troops, it was not necessary that the great
majority should remain automatons, especially after
the more general introduction of the rifle, and in-
sensibly, without changing the onion/twice of 1831,
all the French army adopted- more or less this looser,
or more properly freer, order of fighting and march-
ing of the picked troops. It was a necessity engen-
dered by the arms of precision.
One Lancaster in England succeeded in making
a rifled gun which did not prevent the French
army, four years after, having their whole artillery
on the model of a rifled gun, which answered ex-
tremely well.
It would he too long were I to continue to enu-
merate all the changes, but those already adduced
will show the real reasons of the French superiority,
which lies in the application of a very few principles
applicable to all countries.
The first of these is that the military systems of
standing armies, lira everything
else, have to follow
the spirit of the age, and that the race
n tins matter
belongs to the swiftest.
That our age, which is so often accused of mate-
rialism and egotism, has given a value to the indi-
vidual, as such, which he never possessed before ;
that consequently it would be folly to keep up the
machine system, which was formerly the pattern of
standing armies.
That in this age of wonderful material develop-

Much correspondence has recently been pressed
upon us in reference to this third Chinese War, for
rawhich we are now fitting out our ships and trans-
-liorting our troops. ,As happens to us in all these
cases we are addressed by people who know much,
people who.kuovi little, and people' who know no-
thing. One correspondent contends that we ought
to chastise the CoUrt bf Pekin for the slaughter of
our sailors and rate loss of. our ships by taking the
city of Nankin from the rebels, and holding it as a
material guarantee until the Imperial - Milularins
shall come to terms. Upon the principle. of return-
ing good for evil, this would be undoubtedly a very
Christian proceeding, and if advocated upon this
ground, or even upon the ground of commercial
advantages to be thus acquired, there would be little
,to be said against it. But, if it be proposed as a '
measure of retaliation, are fear it savours somewhat
of the ridiculous. It would be as if the Emperor of
Morocco were to fit out an expedition against Mexi-
co to punish the Spaniards for their descent upon
the coast of Africa. Other correspondents do battle
upon other questions of military detail, and are. at
variance as to how far we should advance towards
Pekin, where we should condescend to open nea.bo., •
tiations, how much'attention we should pay to the,
obstructions on the Peiho, and what we shall do if
we get into the Chinese capital. These letters have
called forth Captain Sherard Osborn, Whose com-
munication appears in another column, and who
has, perhaps, the very best title to be heard upon
this subject, for he has bombarded and escaladed
Canton, driven the Chinamen out of those Taku
fcrts, tracked all the windings of the Peiho river,
and explored with lead and line that great and be-
fore unknown Yang-tae River which washes the
walls of the great inland cities, and waters the pro-
vinces whence we get our best teas. Capt. Osborn
ought to he heard, for he has no interest in the
matter but that of an English sailer and a man of
science. Other people have class interests, and in
the conflicting character of those interests wo may
often trace the cause of the bias of their counsels.
Merchants who are making great gains under the
present system, and despise all articles but tea and-
silk and opium and excaauges, would dissuade us
from tieing more than we can help. Manufacturers
who produce all that is sold are not eager for a
change which may draw on competition. People
who are out of the trade have only a purblind
notion of it, but have an indolent desire to get into
it. The tea-consumers and the cloth-workers and
the calico makers cannot measure what interests
they have at stake in the matter, but generally think
it necessary to say something, and generally act in
ignorance of their own proper good. Diplomatists
are committed by the circumstances of their respec-
tive careers to some special policy, and naval and
military men have frequently their own special
reasons for taking particular views of this large and
distant subject. All these things concur to con-
found counsel, and cause a strange variety of opi-
nion in a country like ours, where every man has
his opinion upon every point of national policy, and
every one strives to make that opinion prevail.
Meanwhile we are going off at once into another
Chinese War. Notwithstanding Captain Sherard
Osborn's consolatory promises, we cannot quite
bring ourselves to believe that there is any great
chance of being able to make: this war pay itself,
It will be certain to have its rebound in the dis-
agreeable form of inflamed estimates and increased,
income tax. It is, to be sure, a Chancellor of the'
Exchequer's war. We are going to light for some:
ten millions of revenue. It is also a tea-consumers'
war. The transit duties upon tea in China have been
upon the rise for some years, and, as the Mandarins
have discovered that this is a simple plan for taxing
the distant barbarians, they kill, of course, continue
to increase their exactions. Lord Elgin may make.
what treaties he can, and the Court of Pekin may
issue any orders that may be dictated to them ; but
SO long as tea has to be brought through half a dozen
local jurisdictions and carried upon men's backs
over mountains before it can be brought down to
Canton, and so long as it kits to be gathered from
long distant interior localities before it can be sold
at Foochow, so long will it be in the power of every -
petty authority in its course of transit to obstruct
its passage and levy a blackmail upon it. Opening
up China" means going up to the places where this
tea is grown, and buying it of the 'producer, and
bringing it away. We must be strangely ignorant
of the ordinary impulses of human nature, or fool-
ishly credulous of some great difference between the
instincts of a Chinaman:and an European, if we do-
not understand that this is a privilege which inter-
feres with the gains of all the bureaucracy of China,
and that it is a privilege we must fight for if we
wish to enjoy it. But, still, these considerations
do net, make us look upon the third Chinese War
with one whit more complacency. The Chancellor
of the Exchequer's ten millions will be by no means•
so pleasant an item of revenue if we have to spend
two or three millions every year in order to keep
it going. Even to buy tea cheap, or to sell opium
dear, or to provide Lyons and Spitalfields with
cheap silks, we cannot afford a perennial distant
war. We have now seen enough of these bar-
barians to know that no treaty they may concede
will be of use to us any longer than we nave force
present to support it. It may be that this de-
crepid and rotten empire is near its dissolution.
The Russians have crumbled away large portions of
it in the north. A little circumstance which hap-
pened the other day in one of the Japanese islands,
when the murder of a Russian sailor drew at a
moment's notice twelve Russian men-of-war to the
spot to resent the outrage, shows how strong the
Lords of Siberia have taken care to make them-
selves in these Eastern Seas. The French also have
come to see that they have something more than a
spiritual interest in this part of the world, and that
it is not impossible for them to push a barter be-
tween French manufactures and China silks. Hew
this will end no one can tell. Russia has always
shown herself insatiable of territory ; and France,
although she has not been very fortunate in retain-
ing outlying dominions, has always had a taste for
acquiring them. If either or both of those Powers
should have cast an eye of covetousness upon any of
the.rich plains that have silted up from the debris of
the mountains of Central Asia, it is quite certain
that the present governing powers of that land will
not leave them destitute of a good excuse, or even
of a sufficient provocation. So far as we are con-
c2rned, we do not see that we have any interest in
keeping China intact. After what we have already
experienced it is quite certain that for purposes of
trade, for which alone we apprehend civilians would
ever wish to go to China, any change which would
substitute a rule of good faith for the present rule
of imbecile falsehood must be an advantage.
Unfortunately, however, we also are embarked
in this general crusade, and it is impertant at this
moment that we should come to a firm resolution
as to how far we will suffer ourselves to be carried
into it. There is one thing to which all our home
interests must steadily lay their account, and that
is that we certainly will not continue these Chinese
,wars. We cannot afford them, either in men, or
in money, or in reputation. The war in which
be short and decisive.
for all teach the Chinese Government to respect
IswtfaeiTyea(lia.cnbynyoanwmegoe°unit!lat)taoil(f.)k'niplugnm-i—sulisittn indeed, it cannot be
ien t we can once and
its engagements, we shall not grudge the necessary
exertion. But it had better be at once understood
by the dwellers in liongkongrin Amoy, in Poo-
chow, in Ningpo, and in Shanghai that in the face
of the horrible mortality of seamen and of soldiers
both on the coast and at Hongkong., and with the
knowledge of the expense of such an undertaking,
the public at home Will never endure the mainte-
nance of a large permanent force in the China Seas,
and will certainly never undertake the responsi-
bilities of an Anglo-Chinese Empire.

The following is the letter above referred to :

Sir,—lt would be much better, at this important
crisis in the Chinese question, if writers upon the
subject would sign their names, instead of putting
their initials, in order that we might estimate at
their proper value the information that they may
have to give, or appreciate the motives which may

bias their opiuions. So far as C.' is
don't think Lever rend more errors with,
quantity of print. Yet lam hardly pe
wade through as much man tneript to refuts
.1)01 may tell your readers briefly that the ides.
blocking up the Peiho river, Which flows thiough
an alluvial plain, 'simply folly, and it affords
water carriage to within 12 miles of Pekin, to a
place called Tung-chow, and that feee if
intersect the province of Pecheli, and this because
bet Ween the Peiho and the Great Wall the province
is' not overbleSt with water privileges. J. C.' sees
nothing but difficulties—nothing but errors. Why
should he write down Generals Hope Grant and
;Minefield as consummate asses, who are going to
throw themselves, with 20,000 men, into the cit v of
Pekin, like the leaders o 1 a mere Arlie:in rezzia.
without looking to their suPplies,theirsupports, &e.?
'He says Pekin is an open town ; we all know it to
be a walled one, He ignores the fact that for five
years, not only Nankin, but an area of 200 miles in a
due east and west line of the vanes' of the Yantr-
tze, has- been in the hands of the Taepings, without
in any way alarming the Emperor for the stability
of his empire:. Oar occupation of Nankin. unac-
companied by operations elsewhere, would have
about as much effect as the Ta.eping movement or
the holding of Canton • has had. Lord Elgin was
never coerced. LY home authorities-or' indiscreet
individu.als' in Chitni to insert those two moat im-
portant clauses in his treatytnamely, the, right of
visiting the interior of Chitra by our traders or
missionaries, and the permanent residence of an
accredited British agent in Pekin. I fancy his lord;
ship knew,pretty well that he might as well have
stayed at home if he could not wring these clauses
from the Court of Pekin, and I have no hesitation
'in-saying that without these clauses we had better
leave all treaty making alone, and trust to our
Merchants and 'smugglers fighting and finding their
own way to every part of China, and protecting
themselves. J. and another writer, 'M. N.'
—advocated drawing in our horns, and remaining
where we were in 1856. I will undettake to say
that any such policy will be perfectly misunderstood.
by the Chieese fleas one end of the empire to the... e
other, and there is not a consul or a captain of a,
man-of-war who will net.. love smother.' lorcha
afLir' on his hands within 12 months.- And why,
may I ask, is it unreasonable for us to seek to trade
honestly and fairly with every Chinaman. Why
should we, who live by the sale of our manufactures,
submit to lease prohibitory duties laid on them,
when sucn duties are contrary to treaty? And,
above all, why shovld not English merchants or
political agents dwell in Pekin as well as Russian
priests, students. and ambassadors? And on that
head your news of to-day fully assures us.
The two objectionable clauses are closely and im-
mediately connected. Wecannot have one without
the other; yet J. C.' says we want more trade
with China; he has hit that nail on the head ; but -
how are we to have that without guaranteeing
protection for our traders by being able to lay all
grievances or give all explanations direct to the
Court of Pekin ? ,Another assertion is made. lam
curious to know upon what grounds Lord Elgin says
that indemnity for war expenses is out of the ques-
tion. I reply that the seizure in the winter of 1857-
58 of the vast Imperial grain fleet, which was at one
time entirely in our hands, would have realised more -
than enough to meet our expenses in what has
been dignified with the title of the second China
war,' and an embargo upon all the taxes levied
upon European exports in the open ports of China
will nearly meet all our current expenses for this
third war, and divert them profitably from the de-
fence of the capital. L. 0. says we have but to
go to Tiere4sin to get another treaty.. I disagree
with him, unless he is prepared to forego the two
clauses, and, in fact, make concessions to the
Chinese, instead of forcing them to adhere to their
engagements; and I do most earnestly deprecate
any idea of partial hostilities—petty war. If we are
in earnest, let us b.l so, or the Chinaman will soon
see through the imposition, and the third war will
drag on as the first one did, for many a long year;
or we, shall get a worthless treaty, and have that
chronic irritation perpetuated under which China
and England have been living for some years.
" We must teach the Chinese from one end of the
empire to the other that peace is far preferable to
war with us outer barbarians.' The force that
will be there by Mey next is ample for all purposes.
Lord Elgin's policy of war in one quarter, peace in
another, has resulted in a blow-up of our treaty
within 12 months, for it is folly to tell those who
know anything of China that we are merely fighting
the Court, Council, or Emperor. There is not a
Chinese merchant who has not voluntarily contri-
buted, and who will not contribute, to keep us out
of the interior of China until they see we are teeny
in earnest about it, and then they are far too practi-
cal a race to persevere in opposition to the point of
ruin. It was the great commercial guilds of Nort here
China who supplied Prince-o7losin with. the funds
and means to meke one more effort on their behalf
to preserve the enormous monvolies Nvhit h fall to
the groand the day the Elgin Tleaty comes into
force ; and I do trust that this treaty, and not one
jot less than it, will he insisted upon, together with
ample imdemnity for all expellees. Impoverish the
Emperor of China ! impoverish China ! Not while
there. arc 400,000,000 of people in it who have but
one object in life, the acquisition of wealth.
" The first war with China lasted from 1839 to
1842, because we attempted to carry on a petty war
in one corner of the empire. It was only after Sir
W. Parker's arrival, in 1841, that we went earnestly
into the work, and then nearly one half the empire
was so severely shaken that a peace was obtained
that lasted 14 years—a very fair duration for any
Asiatic engagement, whether pecuniary or commer-
cial. The second war commenced in 1856 and
lasted until June, 1838 ; it was first a petty war in
the South of China, then an equally partial one in
the North. We were juggled, and shall be again if
we merely undertake a military expedition to Sght
.for the possession of the forts at the entrance of the
Peiho. I advocate that the' executive be given the
means and ordered to operate judiciously and ener-
getically against all the seaboard of Northern
China, and to select a good base with a view to an
advance upon Pekin after a winter of starvation
shall have told Court and people what. it is to war
with us; that an expeditionary force ascend the
Yang-tze-kianz, to intercept supplies from Southern
China ; and that the Quang provinces be thoroughly
kept in hand, so that when a treaty is really being
signed by a submissive Emperor and Council in the
North we shall have no Cantonese braves shouting
defiance in the South. • Our diplomatists might dis-
port themselves wherever they pleased until the
Court of Pekin was ready, without argument or
correspondence (for they are sure to beat us in lying
and knavery), to sign, seal, and carry into execu-
tion upon the spot every clause of the Elgin Treaty,
with improvements, such, for instance, as an abro-
gation of our engagements to keep English men-of-
war wherever a consul flies his flag, and other such
drains upon our exchequer, and, above all, to in-
sist upon in lemnification for all expenses. The
Government of Pekin will screw the commercial
-guilds and gentry of Northern China to pay it.
Let them do so ; for they are really at bottom the
cause of the Emperor and Court repudiating the
treaty of 1858, and we can always at any rate re-
ceive the Custom duties collected at the open porta
until the charges to which we have been put are
defrayed.

" I am, sir, yours, Sc., , .
"I.4ondon, Jan. 3. " SUERAD OSBORN, Captain."

STATE OF TRADE.

BARNSLEY, Jan. 2.—The linen trade of this town
and district, which was rather dull during the
greater part of the past year, has lately shown some
signs of improvement, and the operatives of the
trade are tolerably well employed. There is a
better demand for yarns and goods, and hopeful
expectations of a prosperous trade for some time to
come are entertained. The coal trade, which was a
good deal depressed in the past summer, is also
more active, and its prospects are deemed to be
satisfactory.
LEEDS, 3d.—The opening cloth-market for the
new year has been of a satisfactory eltaracttere.
There has been a fair attendance of buyers in h
cloth halls, the tone of the market has been firm
and healthy, and, the time of the year considered,
a good bulk of cloth has changed hands. The
deliveries direct from the hands of the manufac-
turers to those of the merchants are increasing,
so that less quantities of goods arc offered in the
public markets,- the stocks in which were rarely
lower at this season of the year.
MANCHESTER, Jan. 3.—The attendance on
'Change has not been numerous today, and the
business done is but limited ; nevertheless, the
tone of the market is somewhat improved, and
higher prices are asked for some sorts of yarns and
cloth.
llocrinat,E, :Tan. 2.—The wool and. flannel mar-
kets are very firm, but there has been a rather thin
attendafice of merchants to-day, which may be ac-
counted for by the fact that many of them are en-
gaged in stocktaking and balancing of accounts.
Some advance on recent prices for Lancashire and
Welsh imitations has to bex given in order: -to
secure goods to order, and more money is asked for
Saxony and some sorts of Yorkshire goods. The
flannel trade altogether has been very good for the
last half of the year 1859, and it opens well in 1860.
The machinery is fully employed, and the malltl•
facturers hare many orders on hand.

AN UNFOBTUNATE J OURNAL.—Tho Banffshire
Mercury, after a career of thirteen, weeks—during which
(says the editor) " a similar conglomeration of mishaps
never before fell to tho lot of any journalist since the days
of Caxton"—issued its last number, "for a time at least,"
on Friday week.

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA,
COVEN T -G A RDEN.
Under the management of Miss L. Pyne and Mr.W. Harrison.
THIS EVENING, VICTORINE. Messrs. Santley, 11.
Haigh, H. Cecil, G. Honey, Bartleman, &e. Misses rarepa,
Thirlwall,

Condactor, Allred Mellon.
To e,onclude with the new grand pantomime, called
Pi 'BOOTS; or, Harlequin and the Fairy of the Golden
Palms.
Door's open at hall-past ii -Commence at 7 o'clock.

THEATRE-10) Y A II AY MARK ET.
Mr. J. K. Itnei,dune
THIS EVENING, the comedy of TitE EVIL GENIUS.
bliss Reynolds.
After which, the new Haymarket Comic Christmas Panto-
mime, VALENTINE'S DAY; or, Harlequin and the F
of the True Lovers' Knot. The pantomimists the unrivalled
Leclercqs.

THEATRF.-ROYAL LYCEUM.-
Sole Lessee and Directress, Madame Celeste.
Last night but one of the Spanish Dancers.
THIS EVENING, the popular Drama of THE SISTER'S
SACRIFICE. Genevieve (her original character) Madame
Celeste.
Atter which, will be produced a new Grand Christmas Ex-
travatranza and , K G- T KU BE All u,
ii.rrri.E PET and the G it EAT INPASSION.SH Clown, Mr.the If.
Marshall—Columbine, Miss Hosing.

Commence at 7.

LOYAL PRINCES S'S THEATRE.-
Lessee, Mr. A. Harris.

Re-enfragement of the Wonderful Dane r, Mons. Espinosa.
First appearance of Mdlle. Marietta Rosetta, l'rincipal Dan-
sense of La Scala, Milan ; and first time of the Delapierre
Family. These hiehly-talented Children will appear every
night. The Royal Princess's Rifles on parade every evening.
—THIS EVENING, the new Petite Comedy, entitled
GOSSIP. Messrs. Ryder, Meadows, 11. Bland, J. G. Shore;
and Mrs. C. Young.
After which, a new Christmas burlesque pantomime, by 11.
J. Byron, called JACK TILE GIANT KILLER; or. Harle-
quin King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Jack, Miss Louise Keeley—Harlequin, Mr. Cormack Panta-
loon, Slr. Paulo—Columbine, Miss Caroline Adams—Clown,
Mr. A. F. Forrest.

NEIV THEATRE - ROYAL, ADELPHI.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
Holiday Attractions.—The Christmas Carol and the New
Spectacular Extravaganza, by H. J. Byron, Esq., the Nymph
of the Luriyberg ; or the Knight and the Naiades.
THIS EVENING, THE CHRISTMAS CAROL. Messrs
J. L. Toole, C. Selby, Paul Bedford, Stuart, Billington, C. J.
Smith. Romer: Miss Woolgar, Mrs. Billington, Mrs. Chatte-
rley, Miss Laidlaw.
Atter which TIIE NYMPHS OF THE LIJRLEYBERG ;
or, The Knight and the Naiades. Messrs. Toole, Bedford,
Eburne, Smith, Powell,,Romer, Miss Woolgar, C. Webb, K.
Kelly, Laidlaw.
Doors open at half-past six—Commence at seven. Box-
Oftice open from 10 to 5. No charge for securing seats,
nor far bills of performance. All fees to servants of this
establishment arc strictly prohibited.
Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith.

ROYAL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE
King-street, St. James's. Lessee. Mr. T. B. Chatter-
ton. The nearest Theatre to Chelsea, Pimlico, and West-
minster, the Park being open to carriages and foot passen-
gers all hours of the night.

THIS EVENING the perforrnannes wfll rorttmpnee with
GARIBALDI'S ENGLISHMAN. Messrs. Barrett and C.
Young.

Followed by MAGIC TOYS, support2d by Miss Lydia
Thompson, Clara St. Cassc, c.
Followed by a now sketch, A HOUSEHOLD FAIRY.
Miss Wyndham and Mr. H. T. Craven.

To conclude with the new pantomime of PUNCH AN D
JUDY. Introducing .Hiss Lydia Thompson and the Corps
de Ballet. Clown, Harlequin, Columbine, and Pantaloon, and
the wonderful Performing Dogs.

Reduced Prices—Gallery, 6d; Pit, Is. The Box-ofEce open
from 11 to 5 daily. Doors open at half-past ; perform
ante commences at 7.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE
Westminster-road.

Sole Lessee—fir. William Cooke, his Farewell Season.

• --- --
TIIIS EVENING, the grand entertainments will—com-
mence at 7 o'clock with new and extraordinary features in
Horsemanship by the best Riders in Europe. After which,
the successful sporting Pantomime, abounding in comicality,
called HARLEQUIN TOM MOODY ; or, Old Towler the
Huntsman and the Goddess Diana, with songs by Miss
Esther Jacobs.—Gorgeous and Dazzling m.chanical transfor-
mation scene. Harlequin, M. Richarde ; Pantaloon, Mr. I'.
Abbot, Columbine, Maddle. Mazzoni; Clown, Mr. Hilde-
brand ; a family of Sprites by the Elastic Incomprehensibles.
Morning performances of the Pantomime, and Scenes in the
Cirile every Saturday during the Holidays at Two o'clock.
Stage Manager, Mr. R. Phillips

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.-
EVERY EVENING. Sterndale Bennett's MAY
QUEEN.
And a Grand Se ection from Meyerbeer's new opera of
DINORAR.

Comic Vocalists -Messrs. (leor'e Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. U. Critclifield, and E. W. Mackney.
Several interestinsr Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have b<.,11 re-decorated and
beautified, and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant
sights of the metropolis.
ROSA BON HEUR'S celebrated PICTURE of the HORSE.
FAIR is now added to the already magnificent Collection of
Paintings in the Canterbury Hall Fine Arts Gallery. The
gallery is open from 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening.

THE WEATHER.—SITX OFFICE, JAN. 4, 1860.
lIIER3COMETER, IN THE SHADS.
55—highest since noon yesterday.
47—lowest this morning and during the night.
52—this day at noon.

BAnomETER-28.95.
WIND, Westerly ; rather fresh, with fine sunshiny weather.

lIIGII WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Txia DAy.—Morning, Oh. 23m.—Afternoon, 10h. 4m.
To-Iscon.now.-Morning, 10h. 41m.—Afternoon, 11h. 16m.

.11
.f 4;
( i•ti:-•4121P

THE SUN.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4, 1860.

Captain SIIERALD Osuorx, R.N.—a most com-
petent authority—has certainly smashed with one
sledge-hammer blow all the fine-spun fallacies
built up on the subject of our " Third Chinese
War," by a certain " J. C.," one of the Times' anony-
mous correspondents. 'the communication of

" J. C."—ar, for that matter, as it might just as
well have been, " J--S"—We very well remem-
bered glancing through with a sense of derisive

amusement the other morning, upon the date of its

appearance. It occupied a corner of our contem
porary's broadsheet somewhat in the same whim.

sical fashion as the winged dragons and sea

monsters, unicorns and hippogriffs that the old
geographers used to pencil in the waste
places upon the maps of the middle ages : before
VASCA DE GAMA had gone southwards, or CHRIS-
TOPHER COLUMBUS or AMERIGO VESPUCIO west-
wards—when Cathay rolled rivers of gold, and
Cipango dropped fruits of gold, like the current of
Pactolus and the apple trees of the Hesperides—
when El Dorado was a city to be believed in as
implicitly as the right-minded school-boy believes
in the cat-won fortunes of good Sir IticHARD
WHITTINGTON. Precisely in the same man-
ner that the waste places upon those rare old
maps were adorned with effigies of hideous rep-
tiles that never existed—introduced there by way
of filling up vacant places and hiding the ignorance
of the old world geographers and hydrographers—
that little missive penned by S. C. was filled to
repletion with the most astounding pieces of
unlooked-for and hitherto unheard-of information.
It informed the world, among other things, for
example, quite in an off-hand style—as if speaking
of things so
generally known indeed that
they scarcely required even mention—that
the Pciho river was altogether inaccessible by
any class of war vessels! That where it
was not naturally it might be rendered so
easily enough artificially by means of a judicious
application of warlike engineering on the part of
the Chinese! That the allied armies of England
and France, marching upon Pekin, would be alto-
gether without commissariat! That Pekin itself
was an open town, and easily taken for that very
reason it was true, but when taken wholly useless
and indefensible ! That the blow, if aimed
at all at the Celestial Empire ought to be
directed against Nankin in preference! With
divers other equally novel, equally surpris-
ing, and equally overwhelming fragments
of unexpected but oracular information. All this—
the auror EIiTCV of J. C. All this, the incontrover-
tible ipso dixit oFtbut Correspondent Extraordinary.
It was a series, in fact, of astonishing Chinese reve-
lations vouchsafed to us by—Somebody. The said
somebody revealing his mysteries to the uninitiated
with the voice cf Sir ORACLE and the nod of Lord
13[1:LEIGH.

Several days have elapsed since the dis•
play of these very curious and enthralling dis-
closures. And now Captain OSBORN—not any
ot.4er letter or letters of the alphabet, not N.