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

2RE THIRD CHINESE WAR.

(From the Times.)
Much correspondence, has recently been pressed
upon us in reference to this third Chinese War, for
which we are now fitting out our ships and trans-
porting our troops. As happens to us in all these
cases we are addressed by people who know much,
people who know little, and people who know no-
thing. One correspondent contends that we ought
to chastise the Court of Pekin for the slaughter of
our sailors and. the loss of our ships by taking the
city of Nankin from the rebels, and holding it as a
material guarantee until the Imperial Mandarins
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, we 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 nego-
tiations, how muca attention we should pay to the
obstructions on th.e Peiho, and what we shall do if
we get into the C ainese capital. These letters have
called forth Captain Sherard Osborn, whose com-
munication appears in another column, and who
has, perhaps, the srery best title to be heard upon
this subject, for he has bombarded and escaladed
Canton, driven the Chinamen out of those Taku
forts, tracked all tle windings of the Peiho river,
and explored with. lead and line that great and be-
fore unknown Yr.ng-tse 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 be heard. for he has no interest in the
matter but that of an English sailor and a man of
science. Other people have class interests, and in
the conflicting character of those interests we may
often trace the cense of the bias of their caunsels.
Merchants who ar e making great gains under the
present system, and despise all articles but tea and
silk and opium an d exchanges, would dissuade us
from doing more t an we can help. Manufacturers
who produce all that is sold are not eager for a
change which mar draw on competition. People
who arc out of the trade have only a purblind
notion of it, but have an indolent desire to get into
it. The tea-consveners 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 ithe circumstances of their respec-
tive careers to sonic special policy, and naval and
military men hay e frequently their own ' special
reasons for taking Qarticular 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 Eke 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 consolatoeey 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 fight 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 will, of course, continue
to increase their exactions. Lord Elgin may make
what treaties he can, and the Court of Pekin may
issue any orders ftiat 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 has to be gathered from
long distant int erior 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, an d 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 Ch inaman 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 have force
present to support it. It may be that this de-
erepid 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. How
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 these 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-
cerned; 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 important 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
we are now embarking—if, indeed, it cannot be
stayed by negotiation—must be short and decisive.
If by any amount of punishment we can once and
for all teach the Chinese Government to respect
its engagements, we shall not grudge the necessary
exertion. But it had better be at once understood
by the dwellers in Hongkong, in Amoy, in Foo-
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,
aed 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 mi4ht estimate at
their proper value the information that they may
have to give, or appreciate the motives which may

/bias their opinions. So far as J. C.' is concerned, 1
don't think I ever read more errors within an equal
quantity of print. Yet lam hardly prepared to
wade through as much manuscript to refute them;
but I may tell your readers briefly that the idea of
blocking up the Peiho river, which flows through
an alluvial plain, is simply folly, and it affords
water carriage to within 12 miles of Pekin, to
place called Tung-chow, and that few, if any, canals
intersect the province of Pecheli, and this because
between 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
Mansfield as consummate asses, who are going to
throw themselves, with 20,000 men, into the city of
Pekin, like the leaders of a mere African razzia,
without looking to their supplies, their supports, Bze..?
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 valley of the Yang-
tze, has been in the hands of the Taepings, without
in any way alarming the Emperor for the stability
of his empire. Our occupation of Nankin, unac-
companied by operations elsewhere, would have
about as much effect as the Taeping movement or
the holding of Canton has had. Lord Elgin ,was
never coerced by home authorities or indiscreet
individuals' in China to insert those two most im-
portant clauses in his treaty—namely, the right of
visiting the interior of China by our traders er
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; tti our
merchants and smugglers fighting and finding their
own way to every part of China, and protecting
themselves. 'J: C.' and another writer, M. N.
—advocated drawing in our horns, and remaining
where we were in 1856. I will undertake to say
that any such policy will be perfectly misunderstood
by the Chinese from one end of the empire-to the
other, and there is not a consul or a captain of a
man-of-war who will not have another lorcha,
affair' 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 have prohibitory duties laid on them,
when suen duties arc contrary to treaty? And,
above all, why should not English merchants or
political agents dwell in Pekin as well as Russian
priests, students. and ambassadors ? And On that
hcadyour 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 LordElgin 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 Tien-tsin to get another treaty. I disagree
with him, unless lie 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 be 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 really
in earliest 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 Northern
China who supplied Prince-o-losin with the funds
and means to make one more effort on their behalf
to preserve the enormous monopolies which fall to
the ground the day the Elgin Treaty comes into
force ; and I do trust that this treaty, and not one
jot less than it, will be insisted upon, together with
ample imdemnity for all expenees. Impoverish the
Emperor of China! impoverish China 1 Not while
there are 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, 1858 ; 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 fight
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-kiang, 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 beatus 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 inlemnification 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 ports
until the charges to which we have been put are
defrayed.
" I am, sir, yours, &c.,
3 London, Jan. 3. " STIERAD 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 character.
There has been a fair attendance of bu3ers in the
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 are offered in the
public markets, the stocks in which were rarely
lower at this Set:18071 of the year.
MAN CII ESTER, Jan. 3.—The attendance on
'Change has not been numerous to-day, 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.
ItociiDALE, Jan. 2.—The wool and flannel mar-
kets are very firm, but there has been a rather thin
attendance 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.
Soule alvance on recent prices for Lancashire and
Welsh imitations has to be 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 manu-
facturers have many orders on hand.

AN UNFORTUNATE J OURN AL—The Baqrshire
ifero;ry, after a career of thirteen weeks—during which.
(says the editor) "a similar conglomeration of mishaps
never before fell to the let of any journalist since the days
of Caxton"—issued its last number, "for a time at least,'
on Friday week.

ROYAL

ENGLISH OPERA,
COVENT-GARDEN.

Under the management of Miss L. Pyne and Mr.W. Harrison.

THIS EVENING, VICTORINE. Messrs. Sant!ey, H.
gaigh, H. Cori, G. Honey, Bartleman, etc. Misses Parepa,
Thirlwall,

Condactor, Alfred Mellon.
To conclude with the new grand pantomime, called PUSS
IN BOOTS ; or, Harlequin and the Fairy of the Golden
tem& _ _ .

Doors open at hall-past 6—Commence at 7 o'clock.

THEA TRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Lessee. Yr..l. R Buckstone
THIS EVENING, the comedy of THE EVIL GENIUS.
Miss Reynolds.
After which, the new Haymarket Comic Christmas Panto-
=me, VALENTINE'S DAY; or, Harlequin and the Fairy
of the True Lovers' Knot. The pantomimists the unrivalled
igolercqs.

THEATRE-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 orig,inal character) Madame
Celeste.

After which, will be produced a new Grand Christmas Ex-
travaganza and Pantomime, KING THRUSHBEARD, the
LITTLE PET and the GREAT PASSION. Clown, Mr. H.
Marshall—Columbine, Miss Rosino.

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-
Lessee, Mr. A. Harris.
Re-engagement of the Wonderful Dancer, Mons. Espinosa.
First appearance of Mdlle. Marietta Rosetta, Principal Dan-
sense of La Scala, Milan ; and first time of the Delapierre
Family. These highly-talented Children will appear every
night. The Royal Princess's Rifles on parade every evening.
"PHIS EVENING, the new Petite Comedy, entitled
GOSSIP. Messrs. Ryder, Meadows, H. Bland, J. G. Shore;
and Mrs. C. Young.
After which, a new Christmas burlesque pantomime, by H.
J. Byron, called JACK THE GIANT KILLER; or, Harle-
quin King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Jack, Miss Louise Keeley—Harlequin, Mr. Cormack Panta-
loon, Mr. Paulo—Columbine, Miss Caroline Adams—Clown,
Mr. A. F. Forrest.

W THEATRE - ROYAL, ADELPHL
STEW
Proprietor and \Tanager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
Holiday Attractions.— The Christmas Carol and the New
Spectacular Extravaganza, by H. J. Byron, Esq., the Nymph
of the Lurlyberg ; or the Kniuht and the Naiades.
THIS EVENING, THE CHRISTMAS CAROL. Messrs
J. L. Took, C. Selby, Paul Bedford, Stuart, Billington, C. J.
Smith. Romer: Miss Woolgar, Mrs. Billington, Mrs. Chatte-
rley, Miss Laidlaw.
After which THE NYMPHS OF THE LURLEYBERG ;
or, The Knight and the Naiades. Messrs. Toole, Bedford,
Eburne, Smith, Powell, Romer, Miss Woolgar, C. Webb, K.
Keay, Laidlaw.

Doors open at half-past six—Commence at seven. Box-
Oflloe open from 10 to 5. No charge for securing seats,
nor for bills of performance. All fees to servants of this
establishment are 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 performances will commence with
GARIBALDI'S ENGLISHMAN. Messrs. Barrett and C.
Young.

Followed by MAGIC TOYS, supported by Miss Lydia
Thompson, Clara St. Cassc, &C.

Followed by a new sketch, A HOUSEHOLD FAIRY.
Miss Wyndham and Mr. 11. T. Craven.
To conclude with the new pantomime of PUNCH AN D
JUDY. Introducing Miss 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-ofhee open
from 11 to 5 daily. Doors open at half-past six ; perform
once commences at 7.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE,
Westminster-road.

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

THIS 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. P.
Abbot, Columbine, Maddle. Mazzoni; Clown, Mr. Hilde-
brand ; a family of Sprites by the Elastic lncomprehensibles.
Morning performances of the Pantomime, and Scenes in the
Cirele every Saturday during the Holidays at Two o'clock.
Stage Manager. Mr. R. Phillips

CANTERBUR V HALL CONCERTS.-
EVERY EVENING. Sterndale Bennett's MAY

QUEEN.
And a Grand Se ection from Meyerbeer's new opera of
DINORAH.
- - -

Comic Vocalists —Messrs. eor-re Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. T. Critchfield, and E. W. Mackney.
Several interesting. Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and
beautified. and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant
eights of the metropolis.
ROSA BONHEUR'S ceiebrated PICTURE of the HORSE
FAIR is now added to the already maznificent Collection of
Paintings in the Canterbury Hall Fine Arts Gallery. The
gallery is opeu from 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OF-Fre-R. JAN. 4, 1860.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
55—highest since noon yesterday.
47—lowest this morning and during the night.
52—this day at noon.

BxßomETErt-28.95.
"WiND, Westerly ; rather fresh, with fine sunshiny weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
This DAY.—Morning, 9h. 2Sm.—Afternoon, 10h. 4m,
To-mortitow.-Morning, 10h. 41m.—Afternoon, lib. 16m,

7114:
1.%*,5"
dAti
're) _ •
41.4 •
A r
. 73,‘
QT. • 2,4~
1,4; t. t • •, 3i* *

THE SUN.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 4, 1860.

Captain SHEPARD OSBORN, 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-
Dens correspondents. The communication of
" J. C."—or, 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
Paetolus 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 RICHARD
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 Peiho 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 easili, 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 avroc Etre, of J. C. All this, the incontrover-
tible ipte dixit o f that Correspondent Extraordinary.
ft 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
B URLETGII.

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

or M., as the case may be, but Captain SHERARD
OSBORN, R.N., C. 8., who has been in those Chinese
waters, andtrodden those Chinese coasts, and who ac-
companied Lord ELGIN, a couple of years since, from
those portions of the mainland of the Asiatic to
the chief islands among the great Japanese Archi-
pelago. An authority no less reliable and instantly
credible than Captain SHERARD OSBORN, R.N.,
has condescended to take the aforesaid J. C. in
hand, to trot him out by way of display-
ing his paces over again, and then to
show him up, succinctly and seriatim,
for public edification. "So far as J. C. is con-
cerned," says Captain OSBORN with comical em-
phasis, at the very outset of his remarks, " I don't
think I ever read more errors within an equal
qnantity of print." Disclaiming, however, imme-
diately any intention whatever on his own part " to
wade through as mueh manuscript to refute them,"
Captain OSBORN cannot help adding at once, " But
I may tell your readers briefly that the idea of
blocking up the Peiho river, which flows through
an alluvial plain, is simply folly, and it affords
water carriage to within 12 miles ofPekin, to a place
called Tung-chow, and that few, if any, canals in-
tersect the province of Pecheli, and this because be-
tween the Peiho and the Great Wall the province
is not overblest with water privileges." He imme-
diately goes on to remark, " J. C. sees nothing but
difficulties—nothing but errors." Asking then
with some reason, " Why should he write down
Generals HOPE GRANT and MANSFIELD as consum-
mate asses, who are going to throw themselves,
with 20,000 men, into the city of Pekin, like
the leaders of P. mere African razzia, without
looking to their supplies, their supports, &c. ?"
Referring next to J. C.'s astounding piece of infor-
mation to the effect that Pekin is an open town,
Captain OSBORN contents himself with rejoining
in these few simple words—" We all know it to
be a walled one !" And further quoth he—still
speaking of J. C., and alluding now to his sin-
gular notion that Nankin should be attacked in
preference to Pekin : " He ignores the fact that
for five years, not only Nankin, but an area of 200
miles in a due east and west lino of the valley of
the Yangtze, has been in the hands of the Taepings,
without in any way alarming the EMPEROR for the
stability of his empire. Our occupation of Nankin
unaccompanied by operations elsewhere, would
have about as much effect as the Taeping
movement or the holding of Canton has had."
It may be remembered by those who chanced
to glance the other morning at the strange
communication we are referring to, as having re-
cently appeared in the columns of our chief morning
contemporary, that the writer there spoke of Lord
ELGIN'S having been either coerced or cajoled into
the insertion of certain clauses into his treaty o'
peace between the English and Chinese—such,
for example, as the clause requiring the
Court of Pekin to have permanently accredited to
it thenceforth a high diplomatic personage from the
far West (from the outer barbarians) with the title
of British Ambassador ! Upon this insinuation, or
rather we might say more correctly this daring and
even audacious assertion, what says Captain
OSBORNE ? Quoth he, " Lord ELGIN was never
coerced by home authorities or ' indiscreet indi-
viduals' in China to insert those two most impor-
tant clauses in his treaty—namely, the right of
visiting the interior of China by our traders or
missionaries, and the permanent residence of an
accredited British agent in Pekin." The gallant sea-
captain observing still further, " 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 the mer-
chants and smugglers fighting and finding their own
way to every part of China, and protecting them-
selves." For the rest we cannot do better than refer
our readers to the gallant officer's admirable refuta-
tion of the rest of these absurdities, as given in
full in that extremely lucid and unanswerable
communication of his in another part of our im-

pression of this evening.
Happily, the course to be taken by our com-
bined military and maritime armaments along
the Chinese coasts will be directed by some
wiser and more skilled intelligence than
that dictating J. C.'s egregious lucubration.
A glance at an.y chart of those seas, at any
map of that portion of the great Asiatic continent
is sufficient, in truth, to suggest to a rational and
reflective mind that the attack upon Pekin is pre-
cisely the one upon which the Anglo-French allies,
or one or other of their armaments, ought in reason
to adventure. It is the key of the whole position.
It is the central point, the core, the nucleus of that
vast network of a government extending north-
wards to the borders of Russia and Tartary ; south-
wards, to the Chinese Seas and the Gulf of Tonking ;
eastwards to the frontiers of Assam and Burmah—
extending far north, far south, far east, the net
work of that huge authority through all its wide
and complicated ramifications. Advance up the
Yungtse Kiang, of course; and seize Nankin. But
beyond doing that as all•essential in this new cam-
paign, carry your maritime armaments southwards
across the Yellow Sea, and so through the Gulf of
Pecheli, come direct upon the coast there within a
distance of twenty miles from the imperial capital
of the Empire. Nankin taken—Pekin taken—
and the Anglo-French troops have but to attempt
both to do both—the Allies would have merely to
send a portion of their land forces
southwards from the latter city, the capi-
tal of China, a little distance of some
twenty-five or thirty miles or so to Tsang,
upon the margin of the Jung Hang, and they would
then be in possession of the whole of that immense
Imperial canal of the Cha-ho, connecting Tcim
with Hang-tchou, and all but uniting the
remote cities of Nankin and Pekin by a
broad and unbroken sweep of inland navigation !
Having Pekin and Nankin—and commanding the
whole course of the Imperial Canal between them
—we must have the Chinese Government at our
mercy, at our dictation. We might starve them
into any terms we might deem most advisable.
England and France would have their heels upon
the neck of the Celestial Emperor, and it would
then be our own fault if this Third Chinese War
did not form the last of the series.

Upon the eve of appearing before the English
public in a new character, namely, as Editor and
Projector of the Army and Navy Gazette, Dr.
WILLIAM -HENRY RUSSELL has once more taken
pen in hand as the " Times' Correspondent." Ills
communication has reference, this time, immedi-
ately to the .vitally important subject of our Mili-
tary Organization. It is an argument upon this
theme, possessing the value naturally accruing
to it from the fact of its being v, rit-
ten in the light of Dr. RUSSELL'S personal
experiences in Italy, in India, in the Crimea—his
experiences, that is to say as an eye-witness, of the
working of the military systems of England, of
France, of Russia, under circumstances of extra-
ordinary importance. Dr. RUSSELL, indeed, ob-
serves upon this point, in the first paragraph
introducing his remarks—" I present them not as
a system, but as stray thoughts, suggested by ob-

servations made during the two great wars of our
times—namely, the war in the East and the late
Italian campaign." Furthermore, he observes, " We
see on these', two occasions the four most powerful
nations of Europe, besides two second-rate Powers,
display their military resources in the field after
40 years of peace." He reminds us that " 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 ;
Attstria. against Piedmont and in Hungary ; but,"
he adds yet further, "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 shortcomings of
their military organisation, which could only be
judged of in a trial where the forces were more
equally balanced." And now what is the con-
clusion deliberately arrived at by this keen-witted
eyewitness ? Eyewitness especially of the working
of the rival systems in the Crimea, and afterwards
at remote points in India and in Italy. It is a con-
clusion stated quite clearly and uncompromisingly.
It is this :—" The only Power," writes Dr. Rus-
SELL, " which stood the test on both occasions
[that is in the Crimea and in Lombardy]
was France." And he take care to remind us
particularly that upon those two occasions
the trial was stood by the French military
system under entirely different circumstances.
" The military organisation of France," he says,
and says most truly, " proved good in 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." And he adds, "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 an 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." Having recalled these facts to
recollection, this able and competent writer then
goes on to ask point-blank the Why and the
Wherefore ? The Reason of this painful and
at the first blush, perfectly inexplicable
difference between the admirable working
of the French, and the utter and deplorable break-
down of the British scheme of Military Organisation.
The deductions drawn from these premises in
the course of the immediately ensuing argument
are of such obviously vivid and vital importance
that to direct attention to them by another word of
reference were surely an act here of the merest
supererogation.

THE BRAZILIAN MAIL.

SOUTHAMPTON, WEDNESDAY.

The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company's ship
Tyne has arrived with the Brazil and River Plata
mails.

Amongst her passengers are Mr. Stuart, H.M.'s
representative at Rio ; Mr. Fagan, charge d'affaires
of Monte Video; Prince Hohenzollern Sigmaringen
and suite, from Lisbon.

The Accrington, from Liverpool, with soldiers'
wives, put into Pernambuco on the 4th December,
in charge of the second mate, the captain and
chief mate having died from poison administered
in their food. Surgeon recovered. Scarlet fever
on board-69 dead. Ship under Consul Cooper's
inspection.

BUENOS AYRES;—The news of the conclusion of
peace between Buenos Ayres and the Argentine
Republic is confirmed. Treaty of peace signed by
Commissioners of both parties, countersigned by
General Lopez, and ratified by General Urquiza.
A disbandment of the National Guard had com-
menced. The election of deputies to convention
was fixed for the last Sunday in December.
Parties at the head of affairs bound up in peace
and tranquillity the Argentine provinces, now one
Federal Government.

Business is improving daily.
Doubloon, 365 to 42. Last quotation on balsa,
3 46. Exchange on England, 695. to 695. 6d.