The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-07 00:00:00

THE CHINESE TREATY.

Within the last few hours we have been put in
possession of sevc ral private letters written from
the Peiho to persons in London, and these enable
us to understand in more detail the negotiations
that have taken place between the European
Powers and the Court of Pekin.

Our readers were previously informed that on
the 4th of June two Chinese Ministers of high rank
had arrived at Tien-sin. One of these was a
Chinaman, the other a Tartar. The senior, Kwci-
hang, is described to be about 73 years of age,
a benevolent-looking old man, not overbearing
in speech or manner, and evidently a• " Soother
of Barbarians." The Tartar is a quiet Tartar,
thoughtful and intelligent, and in the possession
of a feature unusual in a Chinaman's face—a very
large nose. One of the letters from which we quote
describes him as not unlike our Oliver Cromwell.
These people declared themselves upon their cards
to be " Plenipotentiaries,' and upon the faith of
this declaratiop. the English and French Ministers
consented toimeet them. An isolated joss-house on
the steppe south of Tien-sin was the appointed ren-
dezvous. It was arranged that Lord Elgin should
have his interview first, and then Baron Gros ; the
Russian was to come third, and. the American last.
All this took place according to the programme.
On the sth of June, while the thermometer in the
sun stood at 137, Lord Elgin and his entire
suite, with not a few naval officers as spectators,
and with a guard of 150 marines, proceeded in long
proce,-cion cf t 3 the Hull of Conference.
The Chinese were civil and ceremonious, and after
tea' and. compliments Kwei-liang opened the Dur-
bar by saying that his Imperial Master had re-
ceived Lord Elgin's letter, and had, instead of an-
swering it, deputed his servants to arrange matters
speedily. Lord Elgin replied that he was glad. to
see the 'lmperial Ministers, and that his Queen had
granted him certain powers to arrange all matters
on a safe and proper footing. He added. that he
was prepared. to show his credentials publicly if the
Imperial Commissioners would do likewise. The
Mandarins assenting, Lord Elgin's powers were
produced, and a Chinese translation was read aloud
by Mr. Wade. The scene is described to us to
have been at this moment very -interesting. The
Ministers were eager in their attention, and a troop
of secretaries and clerks who had been taking notes
in the background pressed forward to the table.
There was evidently more surprise than pleasure in
the effect produced by the ample terms of the
document. It was now Kwei-liang's turn to show
the commission under which he and his brother
Commissioner were :to act. A piece of yellow
waxed cloth was first produced by a very in-
telligent-looking young Mandarin. called "Pion,"
sub-prefect in some district in Chi-li. Kwei-
Hang received it most reverentially, held it' above
his head for a moment, then opened it, and took
from it a very scrubby bit of paper, which he handed.
to Mr. Wade. While Mr. Wade read off in Eng-
lish the contents of this paper we are told the scene
was as dramatic as a Chinese sing-song. Every
Mandarin's eye was slily watching the expression
of Lord Elgin's face, and:as that expression grew
more and more severe as the reading progressed,
exclamations were interjected by Kwei-liang,
" Such powers as Lord Elgin possesses are unknown
in China ;" " Seals are never attached to commis-
sions in China," and so on. There was good reason
for Lord Elgin's grave displeasure, for the edict
ran somewhat as follows :—Kwei-liang and Hwa-
shaka, &c., were directed to proceed to meet the
strangers of England and France, and. to inquire
into their purpose in ascending the Peiho. If they
found them sincerely. desirous of putting an end. to
the war, the Commissioners were to grant them
their demands, provided such demands did not in-
fringe the customs of the Celestial Empire, the
dignity of the Emperor, or the will of the people ;
and in the event of the demands being of such a cha-
racter they were to refer them to the Emperor for
his pleasure to be made known. When this docu-
ment had been read to an end Lord Elgin arose,
and ordered his chair to be brought, saying to
Kwei-liang, in a curt manner, that the powers of
the, Imperial Coinmissioners were unsatisfactory.
The Earl's chair was hurried up, the guard pre-
sented arms, the band played "God save the Queen,"
the staff entered their chairs, and the mandarins
were left making speeches to demonstrate that' t
was quite impossible that they could ever receive
larger powers than those they had just opened.
Thus ended the first act of this comedy. The cir-
cumstances are worth recounting, for they show the
character of the people with whom we have to deal
—their impudence and their duplicity. No false-
hood is. too bold, no subterfuge too transparent for
them. They obtained the interview upon the solemn
assurance that they had full powers • then they
exhibit a mere commission to receive demands, and
there can be no doubt that they had behind fuller
sets of powers increasing in degree up to any neces-
gary point. The next act was of a very similar kind.
On the Bth of June it became known that Keying,
our old friend of 1842, who deceived Sir Henry
Pottinger into a belief that he (Keying) entertained
a friendship for all the barbarian race, and a pri-
vate and personal friendship for Sir Henry himself
—it became known that this Keying- had arrived
at Tien-sin. Keying had been degraded on account
of the treaty of Nankin ; he was now sent down to
redeem his credit by confounding the barbarian
councils. Poor Keying's tactics were only an imita-
tion of those which he had seen succeed for a while
at Canton. He intrigued to get himself appointed a
co-commissioner, and succeeded. He tried through

the Americans to induce the English to move their
ships " ever so little way " down the river, promis-
ing that upon that he should obtain mastery of the
negotiations, and would settle all things. At the
same time he ordered the populace to manifest ill-
will to the strangers, and, as at Canton so at Tien-
sin, quiet Europeans were insulted and stoned. But
Keying was not so fortunate as Hwang in having a
Straubenzee to deal with. Lord Elgin and Sir
Michael Seymour were equal to the occasion. Capt.
Sherard Osborn, with his galley's crew and with
Captain Dew and Mr. Oliphant helping him as
volunteers, scaled the great gate of Tien-sin, kicked
the Tartar post before them, and let in a hundred
marines who were in march upon the city. This
force marched through the city with a band and a
couple of howitzers, administered a good fright to
six delinquent householders who had encouraged the
mob, and quieted Tien-sin for the rest of the English
occupation. Keying's industry was not confined to
this imitation of the great Yeh and his successor
Hwang. He entered into strict relations with the
Americans and the Russians. Some of the letters
before us speak confidently to the truth of reports
current in the expedition that the Americans had
offered to guarantee that if Lord Elgin would not
insist on opening the Yang-tze, and would give up
the demand for a Minister at Pekin, a treaty should
be at once arranged. The Russians, on the contrary,
were said to be doing the utmost to prevent any
Europeans but themselves being tolerated at Pekin
and the Americans, who, to do them justice, have
not much secrecy in their diplomacy, were loud in
their expressions of a virtuous horror of the opium
trade, and urged the Commissioners to stick to that
as their point of conflict. Keying was becomingly
embarrassing. Fortunately, however, Mr. Wade
had found among Yeles papers a report from Key-
ing to his master, urging him to make no account
,of the Treaty of Nankin, and describing it as a
mere snare to delude the barbarians. The next
move in this plot and counterplot was to send Mr.
Wade and Mr. Lay to the two Ministers to read
this document in their presence, and to declare that
Lord Elgin and Baron Gros could hold no commu-
nion with a man who had officially put forth these
disgraceful counsels. This coup was decisive. The
two Commissioners, who had their own reasons for
hating their new colleague, communicated this in-
telligence to Pekin, with the further information
that the confidence of the barbarians in Chinese
Commissions was now so much shaken that there
was much danger they would soon believe in
nothing but the sign manual of Hien-Fung him-
self, affixed in their presence. This opened up the
difficulty of the K ow-tow, which is still said to
be so strong a point with the Emperor that he
would rather lose his throne than waive it. We
shall probably see how far this is true. We have
heard these tales. Of Chinese obstinacy and devo-
tion too often ,now to be much guided by them.
However, the terror was great enough to induce
the Emperor to recall Keying to Pekin, and to
authorise his Commissioner to sign a letter pro-
miFing a treai y in the leans of lord Elgins de-
nittiLd:, and couched in language dictated by Mr.
Lay.

'this letter forms the next important step in these
negotiations, and marks the term of their progress
when our last news left. It is not now, we hope, the
most important document ever signed in China, for
its importance has now been superseded by the
treaty, but up to the evening of the 11th of June,.
when that letter was written, no such concessions
had ever been dreamt of by a Chinese Minister.
Our correspondent's knowledge of this official docu-
ment is necessarily not exact, but we believe it
will be found that the conditions which this letter
promises as the basis of a treaty are as follows :
First.—The residence of a British Minister at
Tien-sin, with access to Court, and direct communi-
cation with the Ministers. An official yam= for
him during his visits to Pekin. All official docu-
ments to be written by him in the Eriglish lan-
guage (to be accompanied by Chinese translations
until the Court of Pekin has procured interpreters).
An English college similar to that kept up by
Russia to be allowed at. Pekin.
Second,--China to: he opened to all the -wolid

persons to go whither they please and do what they
please under a passport system.
Third.—The Yang,tze to be opened to its com-
merce from its mouth to its source.
Fourth.—Christianity to be tolerated.
Fifth.—lndemnity for the war find losses at
Canton to be paid Yfor by the two Qiiangs, the
amount to be agreed on by special Commissioners
at Canton. The tariff to be corrected, the Custom-
house system revised, and the English to aid the
Chinese in the suppression of piracy.
Sixth.—ln proof of the friendship and goodwill
of the Emperor of China towards the Queen of
England a special embassy shall be sent to England
forthwith.

If we are justified in our confidence that these
are the terms:of the Treaty which was signed at
Tien-sin on the 28th of June, 17 days after the sig-
nature of the letter, Lord Elgin has fulfilled all
our desires and has surpassed all our expectations.
The terms are familiar to the public as identical
with those the necessity of which has been so
importunately urged in these columns. So far as
diploinacy is concerned we shall have no more to
say in this matter than to speak words of thanks
and welcome to the man whose sagacity and un-
swerving purpose have brought about such great
results. Of course we know that all these condi-
tions, though signed and sealed and ratified with
all solemnity, arc but points of departure whence
the Court of Pekin will shuffle ; but this is another
matter, and for other men. The game has been
brought down ; it is for the cooks to prepare it for
the table.--Times.