The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-26 00:00:00

THE SUN.
LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 26, 1860.

The impression made upon the Chinese by the
Europeans appears at last to have been overwhelm-
ing, Nor can this be wondered at in any way
under the circumstances. For what in point of
fact is it that has been now very recently accom-
plished out there, in the north-eastern quarter of
that vast empire, by the Anglo-French Expedition ?
What is it that history will have to relate in
respect to that henceforth most memorable enter-
prize. The annalist will tell how—tardily and
reluctantly, after a series of frightful and reiterated
provocations—the two greatest nations of Western
European, of the eastern hemisphere, of the world,
despatched at last to the remote shores of China
an armed expedition, consisting altogether but of
a very few thousand men. The historian will
record how this comparative handful of Europeans
—strong in the justice of the cause of which they
were the champions, resolute in their determination
to avenge the wholesale murder of four hundred of

their heroic fellow-countrymen (barbarously mas-
sacred in cold blood at the Mouth of the Peiho, by
a dastardly ambuscade) irresistible as opposed to

to the effeminate Chinese, those wonderful
half - civilised Asiatic barbarians, irresistible
no less as opposed to the savage hordes of the
Tartar conquerors and oppressors of the Chinese

There must be a certain pleasure in seeing bombs
falling around you, provided, that is, you yourself
are out of harm's way. What else can keep his
ex-Neapolitan MaJEsTT at Gaeta it is hard to con-
ceive. The last accounts tells us that he is now
exposed to a very vigorous fire—that the Spanish
Ambassador, who seems as partial to bombshells as
himself, has had notice to quit his " palace," by its
being riddled with bullets—that the KING, like
boys snowballing each other, was running from
shelter to shelter, and that the QUEEN was
enacting the Maid of Saragossa at the batteries,
till hurried away by the King to the better quarters
of the casemates. Very exciting all this, no doubt,
still it suggests to everyone the wish that if any
one be killed by all these shells and bullets, they
would have the good luck to send his MAJESTY to
purgatory, from whence we may be sure the Poi's
would soon release so faithful a son. One is
sorry to road, for instance, of the killing
of two officers standing the near KIN G—since, if the
shells could have made their choice, they would
have put an end to the siege, and the perfectly use-
less destruction of human life, by selecting his
MAJESTY himself. He is now but a private man,
de facto; and would cortainly be less loss than
many a better private. We can only hope that
the report will prove true, that the French fleet
is about to withdraw, and then, probably before
Admiral PERSANO makes his appearance, the King
and his brave QUEEN, and ejected Spanish Ambas-
sador, will all leave together.
COBBETT pitted paper against gold, but
from the midst of all this FRANCIS IL tries
what paper can do against bullets. He pub-
lishes a manifesto to his former subjects, breathing
the most ardent aspirations for his late people's
independence ; his own Crown is quite secondary,
in his present views. What grieves him is that
foreigners should domineer over his native land, of
which he can say :
" I am a Neapolitan; born among you, I have never
breathed any other air, never seen any other country; I
know no other than my native land. All my affections are
in the kingdom ; your customs are my customs ; your lan.
gunge is my language; your ambition is my ambition.
Heir of an ancient dynasty, which for long years reigned
over these beautiful provinces, and re-established their in-
dependence, I do not come, after having despoiled orphans
of their patrimony and the Church of its possessions, to
seize by foreign force the most delightful party of Italy. I
am a prince who is yours, and who has sacrificed every-
thing to his desire to preserve peace, concord, and prosperity
among his subjects."

—the historian will relate how this comparative
handful of Europeans, irresistible in being armed
with all the marvellous scientific resources of
modern civilisation, had, in a few weeks, with
the utmost facility, prostrated in the dust the
hitherto inscrutable and inaccessible Dagon of the
Chinese Government. History will tell how this
little advance-guard of European Civilisation ad-
vanced upon the Imperial forces and the impe-
rial Capital of a Power numbering altogether
from 300,000,000 to 400,006,000 inhabitants--
how, comparatively insignificant though they
were numerically, they routed again and
yet again the swarming legions of the
Tartar Cavalry, how they penetrated with
rapid steps to the very walls of the mysterious
capital of China, the ancient and heretofore in
respect to armed Europeans impenetrable city of
Pekin—driving thence before their approach at the
mere terror of their coming the haughty Sovereign
of those four hundred million Chinese—driving him
forth a fugitive with the remnant of his vast armies
far from Pekin, beyond the distant frontiers of
Northern China, away into the wilds of Tartary !

Fo complete and overwhelming, in truth, has been
the impression made alike upon the Chinese army,
upon the Chinese capital, and upon the
Chinese Government, by these deeds of
daring performed within the brief interval of but
a very few weeks by the merest handful of Allied
Frenchmen and Englishmen, that at length--and
no wonder—everything we had determined upon
demanding from the conquered race and from its
cowed and astonished rulers, bad been conceded,
and conceded, too, absolutely and without reserve.

:on .

The Ambassadors—French and English—are to
reside at Pekin permanently, at their own pleasure,
without let or hindrance.
The Emperor MEN FUN° is to apologise (what
a phrase !) for the Peiho ambuscade.
Tientsin—termed in these columns of yesterday
the Gravesend of China—is to be opened henceforth
to European commerce, and to be opened to it,
moreover, not next year, but immediately.
The interdict upon the Coolie emigration is to be
at once removed, and that system of emigration
allowed a full and unconditional development.
There is the ceding of one place to the British
Crown, but unhappily not the one we ourselves
could have desired—namely, Chusan. Chusan is to
be once more evacuated by the British, after we have
again been tantalised by its temporary and most
tempting occupation. But in place of Chusan—
which we acknowledge to have so long
and anxiously covetted for England, alas !
in vain—we are to take possession of a spot (not
without its importance too, it must be confessed)
ealled Cowloon. A little peninsula this is said to
be by the way—part of the mainland of China—a
little peninsula jutting out from the Asiatic con-
tinent opposite to Hongkong : greatly to the
advantage of the latter province, now that the
British Standard will fly hereafter at that portion
of the mainland hitherto infested by pirates—a
sheltering resort, from which those lawless ruffians
will be scared by the mere presence there of
armed Englishmen.
Finally—in asptri eacdte tboy tthhees ec choinnlepslee tien aonb de d •ebnscoe-
m a concessionsntl s forced Upon them by the stretched-
of France and Englanddoubling
in alliance—
otoutthearm
After of
capture of Pekin
in terror to Zhehol
u ing
ofl
fn at ye
' and to crown all, there is the dolndemnoiftyt.he
in Tartary_the English demand, instand the flight
ead of re-
maining, as it was understood to be, at
some
8,000,000 taels, has been sternly advanced to exactly
double that sum total, namely, to some 16,004,000
taels in all. This at least is what we

What Neapolitan would not for such a native
Prince be ready to drive with indignation the bar-
barian VICTOR EMMANUEL from the soil ? Appeal-
ing to his deeds, he points to his clemency as proved
by his amnesty; to his desire to avoid bloodshed,
shown in his retiring from Naples to save it from
bombardment, and his not suffering the destruction
of Palermo; to his liberality and loyalty, evidenced
by his granting a constitution, and intending to
grant a separate administration to Sicily; in fact,
there was nothing good he was not "preparing to
do" or had done. His misfortune is that old one of
despots, young or old—" too late." We wonder
while we read, what sort of memories the poor
young monarch can fancy allow his subjects to
have. He had actually the hardihood to -advert
to Palermo itself, and to take credit to hims elf for
humanity, for net completing an act of -barba-
rity at the horrors of which all Europe ,turned
pale, and while it execrated the young perpetrator
as the consisent son of a cruel and relentless race.

If Palermo illustrate his humanity—good heavenc—
what roust have been his severity ?

can alone understand—what we are alone will-
ing to understand—in regard to the position
of this question of the indemnity, viewing it
through the somewhat uncertain and hazy medium
of the first hasty telegram, flashed via Trieste, from
the direction of her MAJEsTr's Agent and Consul-
General at Alexandria. Supposing this to be
accurate and reliable information, so far as we can
yetmake it out after careful deliberation,and remem-
bering that the tact is equivalent to what would
be expressed in English money by six and ninepence,
otherwise a penny more than a lawyer's fee—a
mere trifle under a third part of an English sove-
reign—we may readily divide those 16,000,000
taels by three, and thus deduce as the result of
of that simple calculation the fact, that the amount
of the British indemnity alone may be stated at (as
nearly as • we can express it thus hastily), just
£5,000,000 sterling.
As to the melancholy record of the last occur-
rences of the late war out there in China—the
melancholy record of those tragical occurrences,
accompanying the epitome of the principal articles
in the newly arranged Treaty of Peace, arranged
between the Chinese and the Europeans—
we have scarcely the heart for comment
upon them, they are incidents so terrible, more
particularly because so irreparable. The
worst is now known in regard to the miss-
ing prisoners ! The gifted Correspondent of
our leading contemporary the Times, :the
lamented Mr. BOWLBY, in whose fate -we had as
journalists a fraternal interest and sympathy,
proves now to have sunk under the barbarous
cruelties of his Chinese captors, like those com-
panions of his in misfortune already reported as
dead from the same cause. Captain BRABAZON has
been beheaded, and so too, we grieve to learn, has
the world-famous Abbe Huc, traveller, man of let-
ters, priest, missionary—that emissary into China at
once in the interests of Christianity and Civiliza-
tion, from whose heroic researches, and from whOse
exquisitely graphic, witty, and eloquent writings
Europeans have learnt more about China and
the Chinese than from the researches and the
writings of almost any other author and traveller
that could be named. It is deplorable to thin k
of a man of rare genius, of brilliant intellect, of
kindly heart like this, falling a victim thus
to the otherwise impotent rage of a swarm of
barbarians. He dies a martyr, however, in the
cause of science and of religion—dies a noble
death as died our brave soldiers, from their
duty to the Crown andi ;country, as died
Mr. BOWLBY, of the Times, from his
duty to his high and responsible profession as
an English journalist. It is some slight consolation
to know, in reference to this barbarous massacre,
for it can be called no less, of the English and
French prisoners, that indemnities to the amount
in all of £lOO,OOO sterling, were to be paid
by the Chinese Government for distribution
among the families of the various murdered
prisoners. It is still more, if possible, a satis-
faction to know, that the Summer Palace
of the Chinese EMPEROR was in consequence
of these atrocities, burnt down to the ground after
its almost fabulous splendours had been sacked and
ravaged—that it was burnt to the ground, more-
over, by the British force—and that heaps of
smouldering ashes now alone mark the site where
shone but yesterday all the oriental magnificence
of Yuen-min-yuen.

The Government in the meantime had perceived
that their representative had gone too far and
thought to appease the indignant remonstrance to
be expected from the English Ambassador at
Berlin, by instituting an enquiry into the conduct
of M. MOELLER, which resulted in his being for-
mally reprimanded. But notwithstanding that
they thus admitted the justice of the protest the
individuals who signed that document were ar-
raigned at the bar of the Judicial Court at Bonn,
charged with libelling the character of M.
MOELLER, and its four principal mem-
bers were fined the following sums :
Dr. PERRY, whe had boldly avowed himself to be
the originator 100 thalers, or in default firs
week's imprisonment, The other three were fined
25 thalers, or, in default nine days' imprisonment,
This is a sample of justice in Prussia, a country
which boasts to be a free country with a cono-
stitutional government and liberal institutions.
OEI2 good result must, however, follow this mon-
strous act of tyranny and injustice. The
British Government cannot permit such an insult
to pass unnoticed. Lord JOHN RUSSELL may not
have power to interfere with the decisions of Prus-
sian judges, but it is his duty as Foreign Secretary
to express through our Ambassador at Berlin an
indignant remonstrance against such a mockery of
justice. Prussia is after all but one degree removed
from the despotism of Austria and Russia, yet has
sot the honesty to avow it. In fact, the policy
pursued by the Prussian Government is unworthy
of the ruler of a great nation. It has characterised
their proceedings for a considerable time past.
During the late Russian war, Prussia fear-
ing to provoke the hostility of the all power-
ful alliance of England and France, yet in

secret faTouring the course of the Autocrat,
declared herself neutral, which was in

reality a monstrous deception, for under the cloak

of neutrality sho rendered more essential service to
Russia, enabling the sinews of war to be
conveyed thither through the Prussian ports
than had she furnished an auxiliary army. But

:0 return to the freedom supposed to be possthed

in tltis land of despotism and injustice. Some time

past a member of the Prussian Chamber called at-

cation to the fact that a number of revolutionary

pamphlets had been circulated throughout Prussian
P oland so openly that he was convinced that it was

done with the connivance, if not by the authority
of the Director of Police. An inquiry was insti-

tilted, and, as is usually the case, a subordinate

officer was made the scapegoat, and the matter for

a time ended ; but it ultimately transpired that this

was but a subterfuge, and it wis proved beyond a

•
doubt that the Police authorities had caused th•

names of several of the principal inhabitants to be

forged to certain letters sent to a revolutionary
club in London inviting its members to

send delegates to confer with those then existing
in Poland, a-nd declaring that the country was ripe
for revolt, w hen in reality all was quiet and peace'
able. This was done to implicate certain influential

ivho were obnoxious to the Government.

Had such a statement been made in the British

He fights at Gaeta for his crown, but above all :
ParUamer.t all Europe would have rung with it,
for his country's independence ! Such is the
avowal which pervades the whole manifesto. For liut this Ilecrete Prussian Chamber passed it by as a
the crown, we have no doubt, he is willing to fight, ; nfitter of course, and the Free Press, we suppose,
provided he can be safe himself—and for keeping had OT ders to be silent. We have drawn attention
the Two Sicilies independent of the rest of Italy, to strange facts to show how absurd it would be
and independent of self-government also . to 'hope for any redress from the Prussian Go.
But can even this weak-headed yOUP
.ctr ,yer:rimer4t, unless it was wrung from it by the
~leanbe unaware that the King of PlEDmoas7 fear
1
of the serious displeasure of England: Let,

also speaks the same language as his new subjects ;
that he too, as an Italian, claims to be born among
them ; that he came by invitation, to brother Italians
who thought their real independence conditioned by
their relation to a free Italy; and who certainly were
not conquered by one patriot, advancing to the city,
with half a staff of officers only, and his little army
of Italians, of all provinces, several day marches be-
hind him. Did not FRANCIS 11. know all this
even -without any one to advise him? And, while
he points to temporary martial law, does he not
know that martial law is liberty itself com-
pared with the oppressions and cruelties
of his own police administration—an admi-
nistration utterly without law. Perhaps,
however, we have already bestowed too many sen-
tences on tnis long document, absurd, waste paper,
indeed, as it really is. We can only express our
hope that his late Majesty will in a few days accept
his real position, quit Italy for ever, and so show
to his late subjects that he really wishes them " a
happy New Year."

We have now the decision of the judicia
tribunal of Bonn, in the case of the eleven
English residents who had the temerity to
dare the displeasure of the Constitutional
Prussian Government in vindicating the national
character by protesting against the sweeping
abuse which the Deputy of the Provincial
Attorney-General thought fit to lavish on the
English people. The protest, considering the strong
cause of complaint the unoffending residents had,
was extremely moderate; but this very moderation,
together with the logical conclusion drawn from
M. MoLLER's intemperate address, which went to
show that this ornament of the Prussian Bar had
not only insulted the British nation, but in so doing
had slandered the consort of the heir-apparent to the
Prussian Crown. The public will remember that
in September last an English gentleman, one
Captain MACDONALD, was grossly insulted by cer-
tain military officials at Bonn, and confined most
unjustly in the common gaol, he being at the time
the aggrieved party. At the investigation which en-
sued on the 15th of that month. M. MOELLER made
use of the following polite and startling remark
that " The English, residing and travelling on the
continent were notorious for the rudeness, impu-
dence, and hlaguardism of their conduct."
If M. MOELLER be taken as a specimen of the
Prussian nation the cap fits much better, oar Ger-
man neighbour than ourselves. The English re-
sidents, feeling justly indignant, published the
following protest in the Bonn and Cologne journals :
We, the undersigned English inhabitants of Bonn, beg
to protest against the assertion made by the Staats-Pro-
curator Moller, on Tuesday, the 17th inst , during the
public sitting of the police court, that " the English re-
siding and travelling on the continent were notorious for
the rudeness, impudence, and blackguardism of their
coaduct" (Anmassung, Unverschamtheit, and Lummelei).
We may not have reached the height of refinement and
proper feeling en which the Staats-Procurator stands (we
are but Englishmen), but we cannot understand how a
representative of the Prussian crown could be so far carried
away by his private feelings of hatred as to insult a whole
nation to which the consort of the crown prince belongs.
Our royal princess is "an Englishwoman residing on the
continent ;" our Queen will soon be "an Englishwoman
travelling on the continent." Must they, too, quietly allow
themseves to be dragged out of a railway carriage by the
railway servants, called " dummes Volk and Flegel" by
orthopcedic physicians, as if they defend themselves, be
thrust into a dirty gaol for a week, and be then brought out
to to be told that they are "rude and impudent blackguards"
by the Attorney-General of the Crown.
Is the conduct of the many respectable English families
who live in Bonn as peaceably as the feeling which the
Staats-Procurator tries to rouse against them will allow, of
such a kind as to deserve so uncalled-for and cowardly an
attack on the whole British nation ?
What would bo thought of an English Attornsy-General
of the crown who should stand up in court and denounce all
the German resident in London and Manchester as "rude
and impudent blackguards.
J. S. M. 'Anderson, British Chaplain; 'Walter C.
Perry, P. J. H. Baddeley, E. Rapp, G. M. Cum-
berland, Major; C. J. Oldfield, Eieut •Colonel ;
Mortimer Pery Drummond, Francte P. Washing-
ton, G. C. E. Rochfort, George Williams, C. T.
Thurston.