The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-19 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON FRIDAY

;cha

26th February. There has therefore been no /a
ou their part—nothing that even the most captious
opponent could complain of. They found that
their predecessors had acquiesced in the claim set
up by King BOMBA—that they had virtually
acknowledged that our two compatriots should_
answer for their alleged complicity in an off'cnce
against the law of Naples, committed in the
Neapolitan territory, and for which they were
arrested therein. It was, however, discovered in
December that they had been misinformed on
this point; but still nothing was done between
December and the end of February. Two months
were wasted. Our brethren were unnecessarily
detained for that time, during which ppor
WATT succumbed to the terrible pressure. Had
Lord CLARENDON displayed the same energy and
determination manifested by his successor, the
grievance would already have been redressed
the prisoners would have been set at liberty, =id
the terms of compensation, or what might reaLly
be designated as the damages for the false impri-
sonment, would be nearly arranged.
As it is, all the papers relating to the subject,
which are Very voluminous, will be colle&ed
and laid before both Houses of Parliament
without delay, and with them the opinions of
the law officers of the Crown on the important
question of international law. Then the public
will be enabled to judge for themselves—to
understand the real merits of the case. The able
opinion of Mr. PEILLIM•P.E, which appeared in
The Su* last week, seems to be conclusive. Hav-
ing waited, however, for ten months, and WATT,
the chief sufferer, being already liberated, we can
afford the brief interval that now remains, and
we have no doubt that the result will show that
the Derbyite Government will prove that in that,
as in other matters, the nation will have no cause
to regret their accession to power. The suggestion
that the matter should be referred to the Judicial
Committee of the Privy Council was properly
answered. There has been uo precedent for such
a course, and it would not be right that those
who may ultimately have to decide the question
should commit themselves by any premature
opinion which could not properly be argued before
them.

It rentains to be decided what we shall do, not
only with YEH, but—a matter of much more im-
portance—with Canton. It signifies compara-
tively little what becomes of the sanguinary old
Governor, who set a price upon the heads of
Englishmen as though they were, in his enlight-
ened estimation, mad dogs rather than barba-
rians. The burly old Mandarin, now that he has
been fairly run down and trapped by Mr. Consul
PARKES, may be trundled off, at Admiral
SEYMOUR's leisure, to our -Ultima Thule,
here in England to be displayed among the spolia
opirna of the Chinese War of '57-'5B as a sort of
an expanded burlesque of the tragic "show"
presented to the old Romans in the stately and his-
torical form of CIRACTICITS. However this may
be it matters scarcely anything at all, either to
the Chinese Empire or to the British Empire,
what becomes of the old bullyragging Viceroy of
the province of Quangtong. So far asJOHN BULL
himself is concerned in the affair, his personal
wishes in the matter might be expressed in that
verse of the comic love song--" He may go to
Hong Kong for me !" It is hardly worthy of one
moment's consideration. Governor Yrr, for all
anybody cares about him, may be sent—pre-
cisely as Sir JOHN BOWRING'S whim may dictate
—either to Coventry or to Jericho. It is
not thus with regard to Canton in any way a
matter of indifference. In Yea we may have a
worthless hostage ; but in Canton at least we have,
indeed, what the CZAR of all the Russias delighted
Ito call a material guarantee. With that most
important of all the ports indenting the whole
sweep of the Chinese seaboard actually in our pos-
session, we are in a position, without the anxiety of
firing another gun, of fixing another bayonet, of
biting another cartridge—we are, literally and
strictly speaking, in a position to dictate our own
terms to the Imperial Government.
The Chinese trade is, of course, a serious con-
sideration to us, but so also it is, of course, to the
Chinese themselves. It is important to us
that we should have tea to consume,
but it is equally important to them that they
should have customers to consume it. According
to our modern habits, tea is no longer a luxury,
as it was with our great-grandfathers. It is one
of the commonest and homeliest necessaries of life
among all ranks and classes of the community.
Insomuch that the stoppage of the supply would
be even less of a deprivation, if possible, to the
Duchess in Belgravia than to the thriftiest
laundress in the humblest court of the poorest
bye-lane in Bloomsbury. Mrs. NUBBLES over her
ironing, little Mr. NANDI in his Union Work-
house, would miss the accustomed solace of the
cup that " cheers but not inebriates," more even
than the Dowager Lady KEW or the Most Noble
the Marquis of FARINTOSH. It is an universal
necessity with us, the consumers. But it
has also long since come to be a necessity
with the producers, that the black leaf
and the green leaf, the souchong and the bohea,
should be taken off their hands and consumed by
the outer barbarians. The requisite in this case
as in so many others has its duplex action, its ine-
vitable reciprocity. There is our security as to
keeping up amicable relations in the long run even
with an impracticable and insulated race like the
Chinese. They must be friends with us if only out of
the merest considerationfor their pecuniaryinterests.
Shortly after the closing of the last China war
our imports and exports at Canton alone amounted,
in 1844, to a total value considerably over seven
millions sterling ; and in 1845 to very nearly
seven millions sterling. The imports in the for-
mer year being 3,451,3121., and the exports
3,883,8281., giving an aggregate exactly of
7,335,140/. While in the latter year the imports
reached a total of 2,321,6921., and the exports
4,498,370/., giving an aggregate of 6,814,0621.
Since then our trade with China has increased
considerably—and this not simply at Canton, but
at the consular ports of Amoy, Foo-shoo,
Ningpo, and Shanghae—the value of our aggre-
gate trade with which in 1844 amounted
very nearly to 8,500,000/. sterling, and in
1845 to something not far short of 9,500,000/.
sterling. A trade of 20,000,000/. annually is
not a trifle to be thrown away by any race in any
quarter of the globe as a matter of no considera•
Lion. The traders may be aliens, may be barba-
rians, sea-monsters, anything you please out of the
pale of our sympathies—still if they are ready, nay,
o
tune f 2re Ots,too to 0,
rather eager, to barter with us year after year to the
ne
boeoo/.,
prepared,wea et
to
prepared,k keep
u p amicable
i cisa
br
our
interest e
relations with the f •
no other than Chinese ()reign savages—be we even
than
Englishmen, sTe, and. be they
therefore, that tie pol:te - even no other
Is very little doubt,
security for an early pacification, Canton gives us
with ourselves now--Khan ‘`'':" a rests entirely
aa. ara hove
be established with the Chinese C Pe""
shall
OVrlinleUt.

party or f
Last night the Lord Mayor and a large
attended one of tke public suppers at Christ's Ilor•
sTjali
The Duke of Cambridge, governor of the institution,
was alio present,

THE THEATRES.

DRURY-LANE,

Mr. E. T. Smith, the lessee of this house, takes
i Lis benefit to-night, when the entertainments will
1 ,e varied and attractive. Mr. Smith has conducted
1 ), very arduous undertaking with commendable
i spirit and enterprise, and it is to be hoped that
i the public will avail themselves of this opportunity
i to testify their sympathy and approval.

LATEST NEWS.

RELEASE OF WATT, THE ENGLISH
ENGINEER.

NAPLES, MARCH 18.

A Royal decree signed this morning by the King,
and officially communicated, allows Watt to return
to England immediately.