The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-22 00:00:00

TilE FRENCH TREATY WITII CHINA.

The French have been in with early intel-
ligence of the exact advantage which is to accrue
to them in return for their part in the expedition
to China. Of course, they are to participate in all
that we have stipulated. They can go into all the
new ports, they can send Ambassadors to Pekin,
they can travel through the country, they can
establish commercial houses in the enormous cities,
and they can carry woollens and longcloths to the
gates of the Imperial Palace. But as these facilities
may very possibly not have the same value in their
eyes which they have in ours, and. as they happen
to have not more than two French houses of com-
merce in all China, of course they have desired
something special and uncommercial for themselves.
The telegram which came by way of St. Peters-
burg, and which has been so promptly printed in
the Ilion/tear, very succinctly states what these
specialities are. They consist, it seems, of three
objects, which aro perhaps not so entirely inconsis-
tent as they might at first view appear—money,
slaves, and the Roman Catholic religion. The money
is very reasonable. Sixty millions of francs cannot
exceed or even equal the expenses incurred in sending
out the French portion of this expedition; and indeed
the sum has been well earned by our allies by the
efficient protection they gave to the Imperialist
city of Shanghai—which has nothing in common
with the European settlement of Shanghai—when
it was attacked by the army of the King of Nankin.
The "Emigration of Coolies," as it is gently nhrascd,
is, we feer, a much less innocent matter. What the
emigration of Coolies is, as it has hitherto been car-
ried on in French ships, may be read in several
revelations, and notably in those which attended
the discussion on the case of the Charles et Georges.
No " most favoured nation" clause can give us any
part of this source of profit. The provisions of our
" Passengers' Act" must shut us out of this carry-
ing trade, unless it be exercised under conditions
which are not consistent with the habits of the
present monopolists of this traffic; and, although
we doubt whether the particular provisions of this
Act are wisely framed for the object in view, we
should be very sorry to see a word of them repealed
unless to be replaced 1-. y more effective enactments
to prevent a system of kidnapping and slavetrading
growing up under the disguise of an emigrant tran-
sport system. So much for the money and the emi-
grants. By the third special stipulation, France,
having undertaken to relieve China of her surplus
population, proposes to endow China with her own
surplus of religious establishment. Whatever back
stock of cotton and woollens we may have upon our
hands, it cannot, we fancy, be more embarrassing.
to us than some portions of Napoleon's Church Esta-
blishment must be to him. As Louis Philippe con-
quered Algeria to gain a field of enterprise for the
fiery spirits of his army, so his successor carves out
in China a new theatre of action for those enter-
prising spirits of the Church Militant at home who
are but too much inclined to turn their wordy
weapons against himself; and if he takes from Pio
Nono a few square miles of temporal dominion he
gives him with Imperial generosity a spiritual do-
minion over one-third of the human race. About
this time the edict is going forth that Coolies may
be " emigrated" from China, and le Deum and
Domino Salvum, have been already sung in the
Cathedral at Pekin.
The " Cathedral of Pekin" is a new scene added
to the properties of this Chinese drama. The exist-
ence of such an edifice comes upon us by surprise.
It has had the cross replaced upon its summit. We
are curious to know what purpose this cathedral
has recently served—whether it has been a Temple
of the Five Hundred Gods, or a yamun of some
State officer, or an examination-hall. Moreover,
it would be interesting to ascertain what " de-
pendencies" it has, and what portion of Pekin
those " dependencies" may comprise. Some of
these temples and yamuns have very large gardens
within their walls, large enough to hold a whole
army of monks, who might reasonably be provided
with means of defence against any sudden outburst
of Pagan fury. Roman Catholic bodies are, we
know, very tenacious of their titledeeds to long-
lost possessions. It is said that previous titles to
many broad English estates, the present proprie-
tors of which can date back to Henry VIII., are
still preserved at Rome. Still we should like to
hear how the Roman Catholic hierophants who are
now consecrating the " Cathedral of Pekin" can
prove their title and identity. It must, at any rate,
be quite 150 years since this building could have
been used as a Christian church, and 150 years is
a very long period in the age of a Chinese building.
This consideration strikes us as important, because
we observe that " all churches, cemeteries, and
their dependencies which formerly belonged to
the Christians in the whole empire are to be re-
stored." Now, this is rather a large stipulation.
It is scarcely possible to measure the extent of
claim which might be set up under such a stipu-
lation as this. What would the Scotch say if a
treaty in precisely the same terms were to be
forced upon their part of the kingdom by a Roman
Catholic invader ? In their case it would apply to
at least one-third of the land of Scotland. The
Chinese have never been so addicted to " super-
stitious gifts" as the Scotch before the Reforma-
tion were. But still there must be buried in the
dust of ages a great many Christian claims upon
the land of China. It is now 13 centuries ago that
Chistianity flourished in that far-away land, and
that the Nestorian monks brought thence to Con-
stantinople the silkworms' eggs which endowed
Europe with a new and profitable manufacture.
Perhaps the Nestorians may have neglected their
advantages. But it is also nearly three centuries
since Matteo Ricci, that plausible and politic Jesuit,
conquered a position, rather for his Order than for
Christianity, at the Court of China. We may
depend upon it that he, at least, and his successors,
did not neglect their opportunities. There are
proofs of his presence at Nankin and Soochow and
at most of the large cities of the Empire, and we
have very authentic details of the manner in which
he worked his advantages. Ricci, we know, had a
special aptitude for making rich converts, and,
although an eminent Bishop of his Church, point-
ing to his habit of co-operating at the worship of
idols after surreptitiously hiding a cross among the
flowers or attached to one of the candles of the
Pagan altar, asserts that Ricci " was a faithful
servant of he Devil, who, far from destroying,
established his reign among the heathen, and even
extended it to the Christians," yet Ricci did make
converts. Ricci moreover made his converts give
substantial proof of their sincerity. Sin baptized
Paul, and his daughter baptized Candida, who
were very important people; and we read in
"Du Heide" that the daughter alone built 39
churches in different provinces. The memory of
these generous founders have not passed away, for
they are even now worshipped at Shanghai as a
Pagan god and a Pagan goddess. But it may not
be unimportant to know whether the sites of those
39 churches can still be identified, or whether any
plausible claim has been set up upon the strength
of Du Halde's description of them. It seems a very
simple thing that the Roman Catholics in China
should have their churches restored to them with the
cemeteries and dependencies upon those churches:
But it may chance to happen that the Chinese have
admitted a principle that may be pushed to an
extent of which they are not quite aware. Dido
• was a very sharp young woman, and the cuttingaip
of that skin into thongs was a bit of smartness that
might have deserved the admiration of a New Eng-
lander. But what is the sharpness of one Tyrian
Woman to the astuteness and resources of the whole
Order of Jesuits, so renowned as scholars, so excel-
lent as antiquaries, and so industrious in discover-
ing, or in imagining, invaluable proofs of antiquity?
if there should be any truth in the report current
some time ago, that the'Emperor of the French had
meditateatisl
•4. e partition of the spiritual dominion of
the Pope,
‘s well as the abolition of his temporal
power, here fine opportunity • a portunity for him to com-
mence his new
ecclesiastical reign with tremendous
eclat. To the title of
Supreme Head of the Gallican
Church he might add
that of Defender of the Faith
in China, and Patron and Protector of the Chinese
With a,properl_
Church., y organised establishment
of missionaries, 11)°,L60, u 111. might make in China
euceessfui rival -
a not very un.Jto the GI and Lama of
Thibet. He has some
lie very
till very eebstantial advantages
over the Lama, and s greater advantages
L
over the Pope. By t has
of a discreet use of this
stipulatiou for hunting up. old traditional titles to
ancient Christian possessions, and
for restoring
two to thirteen
pieces "preferment
in his hands which the Grandveryplea Lama of rhibet has
not ; and, by dint of his imperial power, he . „ %the
means of preventing his missionaries from Ruarrel-
ling amono. themselves, as the Jesuits,
the Francis-
cans, and the Dominicans did, and thus furnishing
plausible excuses for beingturned out
of
Chu theirrch
glebes and losing the head of the Gallican
so valuable a portion of his spiritual dominion.,
However, we are, of course, delighted to see 001
Our allies have been influenced in conducting and
concluding this war so entirely by their charitable
and religious sensibilities. Nothing can be more
laudable than a desire to relieve the overcrowded
shores of China of their necessitous population and
to make the Roman Catholic religion the esta-
blished and endowed religion of China. We only
venture to express a hope that our brethren in
arms will, not pursue these good works with too
indiscreet a zeal. Conveying away too many
Chinamen at a time has sometimes been found to
produce public scandals, and, what is worse than
this, to cause a certain disinclination among the
remaining population to submit to the process of
being made " emigrants." Very largo " resump-
tiona" of church lands and their Christian depen-
dencies in China may have a bad effect in a different