The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-03 00:00:00

combines avec les forces de la Grande Bretagne,
lni infiigera le ch'utiment de sa perfidie." There is
no L'esitation there—nothing dubious—no attempt

at pr,,varication . It is a distinct intimation of
what is
.ntended to be done to the Chinese in

punishment of a great wrong before any new ar-
rangements of a specific kind can be negotiated
with them by the Allied Governments. And the
statement thus made, we will admit, comes to us in
a manner quite refreshingly, after the very mealy-
mouthed and hesitating allusions to the new
Chinese expedition uttered of late by one or two
of the leading members of our own Government.
Examining these remarks, we might almost
have been led to believe that the expedition was

really intended to be inaugurated, upon its arrival
on the coast of China, by some more meek ad-
vances to the treacherous Asiatics, with a view to
induce them to satisfy tho offended majesty of

England, by simply saying—" That affair on the
Peiho was nothing more, believe us, than an unhappy
casualty, the result, purely, of an unfortunate mis-
apprehension. We are very sorry for it [as
though the miscreants were schoolboys], we will
never do so again"—and so an end of the matter !
Instead of this being the intention of this new
"expedition serivaise"—the EMPEROR declares,
point blank, that " lui (l'expedition) infligera le
choliment de sa perfidie"—the perfidy of the
Chinese. So that we are now, of course, to under-
stani all the soft speaking of Ministers here in
England, in, regard to the actual significance of
this expedition, as just so much evidence of frater-
nal consideration for the prejudices of their peace-
at-any-price intimates, whether in the Cabinet or
out of it! By the wisest arrangement that could
by possibility have been hit upon, under the cir-
cumstances, the Earl of ELGIN and KINCARDINE,
the successful negotiator of that brilliant treaty of
Tien-tsin, has been chosen by her MAJESTY, at the
instance of her MAJESTY'S present advisers, to lire-
ceed once more over to the scene of hislate diplomatic
triumphs, there to preside over the pacific negotia-
tions which will follow, as a matter of course, sooner
or later, upon the preliminary retribution which, in
itself, is inexorably requisite, also as a matter of
course,
as a preliminary. Before the newly-ap-
pointed pleniptentiary takes his departure for the
old seat of war, he has received from the ancient
Corporation of the City of London the customary
recognition accorded by the City to Distinguished
Public Servants. A gold box, valued at 100 guineas,
containing within it the freedom of the City, was
on Thursday handed, in the Guildhall, to the Earl of
ELGIN and KINCARDINE, K.T.—not long hence we
doubt not to be Marquis of ELGIN, and very pos-
sibly into the bargain K.G.—" in testimony of the
high sense entertained of the important services
rendered by his lordship to the country and its
commerce in Canada, China, and Japan !" In
responding to the eulogistic address of the City
Chamberlain, with which address, according to
custom, the gold and parchment testimonial was
accompanied, Lord ELGIN observed, among other
things, " I know that the freedom of the City is
not conferred upon me only because I occupied that
important position (that of Governor-General of
Canada) at an important period in the history of
Canada, not only because of the part which I took
in the conclusion of the Treaty of Washington, to
which the City Chamberlain has referred ; but I
may remind you that when I went to Washington
a British admiral and an American commodore were
sailing upon the coasts with instructions founded
upon opposite conclusions, and that a single indis-
creet act upon the part of one or the other of those
two naval officers might have brought on a conflict
which would have involved us in all the horrors of
war." A propos of which Treaty, Lord ELGIN
remarked on Thursday " there has been a good deal
of talk lately about reciprocity treaties, and I may
say that if all such treaties work as satisfac:
toriiy as that between Great Britain and the
United States, I think we shall not have
much reason to complain of reciprocity trea-
ties." In testimony of the force of which
last remark, the English negotiator of that
Washington Treaty forthwith imparted to his audi-
tors this agreeable little anecdote. " I happened,"
said Lord ELGIN, " to meet Mr. BUCHANAN—then
ambassador here, but now President of the United
States— about two years after the conclusion of
that treaty, walking in Hyde-park, and I said to
him, I hear, Mr. BUCHANAN, by the reports of the
Chamber of Commerce at New York, that the trade
under the treaty has trebled.' He said, Oh, that
is not what I hear ; I hear it has quintupled !' "
Si sic omnia ! "But so it will be with this French
Treaty"—no doubt would be the remark uttered at
once by the hon. members for Rochdale and Bir-
mingham. But then—let both Mr. COBDEN and
Mr. BitIGHT keep vividly in remembrance that the
Earl of ELGIN was referring to what was really
and truly (as he called it) " a reciprocity
Treaty" whereas the reciprocity part of the
Treaty just entered into between France and
England is certainly the oddest reciprocity
yet heard of! Whereas in regard to the
Washington Treaty the reciprocity was six on
our side and six on the other—in this new Treaty,
concocted in the Palace of the Tuileries between
the Emperor NAPOLEON and Mr. COBDEN, the reci-
procity is six to France and nil to England ! In
Heaven's name, if we needs must have commercial
treaties at all—luxuries which it was imagined
Free Trade had a dozen years ago put quite out
of date, as belonging rather to the regime of Pro-
tection—let us the next time we have occasion to
negotiate one, be it with the Great Mogul or the
King cf the Sandwich Islands, let us send to the
Government with which we are about to negotiate,
not a " political bagman," who is enamoured of the
phantasy of Peace-at- any-price, but some plenipoten-
tiary like the Earl of ELGIN, who will see well to
that fair play which the proverb tells us is a jewel,
and who will not, for the sake of propitiating the
goodwill of the despotic master of 60Q,000 armed
men, bind England hand and foot (for ten years to
come) to the policy of the high personage thus con-
ciliated—rendering her liable (when so bound) to
be dragged during the ten years in the dust after
the wheels of his triumphal car. England, it has
been said, wants no cousins. Still less does she
want any merely huckstering agents on the sly as
Negotiators.
Ltly 1 her

AI)ELPIII THEATRE RoYAL.—Her Royal High-
ness the Duchess of Cambridge, the Princess Mary, and
suite, honoured this theatre last evening to witness the per-
formance of the successful new comedy of " Paper Wings"
by the author of "The Dead Heart."
WRECK ca"ruE NINIROD.—ST. DAVID'S, March 1.
—A quantity of cargo, consistinr, of various articles, has
bent saved from the Nimrod, from Liverpool to Cork, lost
at the Head.

leee,:tne,dp.denl
ibsute
TH E CORK ELECTION .—DUBLIN, LIN, Attorney-GeneralFriday.—
e; lisebeaten by a large
exact numbers
majority.
haveTh not been receiN'
TH E BALLOT.—MR. E. CRAuFutlD's M
The postponement of this. important motion '
until OyION.-
day, March 8, gives the inends of the ballot inthepro-
vincesl'hurs-
an °port unity of writing to their local menit .
attend 2n(l support the motion, of which it is hoped EIS to
many
will avail themselves
THE BALLOT MEETING AT NORTHAMPTON
A crowded public ni.xting was held in the Guildhall, Nor-
thampton. on Thursday evening last. The Mayor, Edmund
F. Law, Esq., presided. The principal speaker was Mr.
Whitehurst (from the Ballot Society), who explained the
system of the ballot used in Australia, and laid before the
meeting a body of evidence in favour of the measure. Other
addresses were delivered byW. Shoosmith, Esq., W. Dennis,
Esq., J.Vernon, Esq., and other gentlemen. After a slight,
but wholly ineffectual attempt at opposition, petitions to
both houses pray;ng for the ballot on the Australian system
were adopted by an oyerwhelrainz; majority.