The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-05 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,--As the subject of our fu; are military opera-
tions in China is one of such great national interest
and importance at the present juncture, I venture
to request your insertion of a few words in reply to
the remarks which have been called forth by my
letter of the 29th ult. As Captain Osborn objects
to initials, I have given, my name in full. This expe-
rienced officer has so satisfactorily disposed of the ob-
lections urged by J. C., that I only allude to his
etter for the purpose of correcting one or two
inaccuracies calculated to mislead.
And first as to myself. J. C. says :—" Fiom the
local knowledge and ready-writing of your corre-
spondent, one is tempted to believe that he writes
semi-officially." This imputation I must beg in the
most unqualified manner to repudiate. lam quite
unaware of the views of the Government beyond
what is generally known by the public, nor have I
discovered that "local knowledge' or "ready writ-
ing" are qualifications for which even semi-officials
are usually selected.
It is not, as J. C. says, 100 miles from Takoo to
Tien-tsin by water, but about half that distance ;
and if it is, as he suggests, beyond the skill of oui
engineers to remove the wooden obstructions with
which the Chinese may bar the river, for the allu-
vial plain does not supply them with stone,--it will
be satisfactory to know that it is only 35 miles by
land, over a dry level plain, admirably adapted for
the movement of troops.
I mentioned that beyond Tien•tsin the road was
in some places on a causeway. This, says J. C.,
implies the existence of a marsh; "they (the
Chinese), by cutting through the causeway, will
force the allied army, without any means of trans.
port, to march through a bog." Here he is again
quite wrong ; except where the country is flooded
at particular seasons, the most luxuriant crops ex-
tend as far as the eye can reach on each side of the
causeway, and during the spring, at all events, the
army will neither have to march through bogs no:
be likely to starve, even in the event of the total
destruction of commissariat animals predicted by
J. C.

The policy of J. C., however, if ineffective, has
the merit of being harmless, while that advocated
by Captain Osborn seems to me pregnant with such
serious and dangerous consequc nces to our commer-
cial interests in China that it is of the utmost

importance that the measures he urges should not
be adopted lightly. Captain Osborn must admit
that the residence at Tien-tsin of a few hundred
marines and blue jackets in 1857 obtained us the
treaty, but he denies that the occupation of that
city again with 22,000 men would produce a simi-
lar effect, unless we conceded the two most impor-
tant clauses in the treaty. The result alone can
prove who is right ; but he surely will not deny
that the Government would yield if they saw us in
I possession of Toong-chow. This, however, is ob-
jected to by Capt: Osborn on the ground of its be-
ing a petty war. "I do most earnestly," he says,
" deprecate any idea of partial hostilities—petty
war." "We must teach the Chinese from one end
of the empire to the other that peace is far better
than war with us outer barbarians.' " Captain
Osborn then suggests the nature of these hostili-
ties, and triumphantly points to the first China war,
which lasted for three years, and involved the sacri-
fice of upwards of 2,000 British troops, the destruc-
tion of many cities, and countless unfortunate
Chinese. As a proof of the advantage of this mode of
procedure, "a peace was obtained," he says, " that
lasted 14 years, a very fair duration for any Asiatic
engagement." But Capt. Osborn must surely have
forgotten that in 1839 the coast of China was not
dotted with British settlements. The effect of read-
ing this lesson to the Chinese from "one mid of the
empire to the other" will be the total destruction
of the foreign settlements at Shanghai, Foochow,
Ningpo, Amoy, and Swatow, all as exposed and
liable to incendiarism as were the ill-fated factories
at Canton. The British merchant building in China
who adopts Capt. Osborn's view will be careful not
to build a house that will last above 14 years.
Capt. Osborn accuses the mercantile guilds of the
north of being the instigators of the war. lam at
a loss to conceive how he has acquired this piece of
information: I question whether any Englishman,
however intimate his acquaintance with the inner
springs which set in motion the complex and intri-
cate political system of the Chinese Government,
can positively affirm such to be the case. Upon
this assumption, however, he charges them with
the expenses of the war—suggesting incidentally
the seizure of the grain fleet, and "an embargo
upon all taxes levied upon European exports in the
open ports of China." The revenue to be derived
from this latter source, with ini-" partial" hostili-
ties going on, and the settlements at the open ports
in ashes, would not be extensive. J. C. accuses
the Government of sending out 20,000 men to play
"a game at brag" with the Chinese ; he himself,
with his permanent acquisition of Nankin, may
very fairly be accused of a partiality for "crib-
bage," while the great end and object of Capt.
Osborn's policy seems to be a game of " beggar my
neighbour" once every 14 years. Unfortunately, it
is a game two can play at.
London, Jan. 4. LAWRENCE OLIPHANT.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN SPAIN.

A correspondent of the Beraid calls attention to
the case of Escalante, a colporteur employed by the
British and Foreign Bible Society at Gibraltar.
He is a British subject, born and bred at Gibraltar,
where he has a wife and five children. The crime
imputed to him is the distribution of the Bible.
The following narrative is given
" Towards the end of April last lie and a guide
left Gibraltar on horseback, to attend the fair at
Vehez (a town some few leagues to the east of
Cadiz), which was to be held there on the Ist, 2d,
and 3d of May. On the night of the 2d of May last,
about 12 o'clock, Escalante was aroused by the
entrance of six gendarmes (guardias civiles), under
a captain. He was immediately arrested and taken
to the local gaol. Seventeen diamond Testaments
were found in his possession, and nine had been
previously given away—and be it here remarked,
that all of them wereßoman Catholic editions, trans-
lated by Padre Scio from the Latin Vulgate, de-
clared to be authentic by the Council of Trent.
"For two days Escalante was confined at Vehez,
closely guarded, after which he was conveyed to
Chiclana, 12 miles distant, and there cast into a
loathsome dungeon. It was damp and almost dark,
and in this place he was kept for 20 days, by which
tinge, as was to be expected, he became very ill; On
the 24th May he was removed to Cadiz on horse-
back, handcuffed, having had a doctor's certificate,
stating that his health
,necessitated the removal,
the prison at Cadiz being somewhat bettor than the
dungeon at Chiclana. He has been in Cadiz gaol
ever since without having been, brought to trial.
His arrest was suggested by rfr. Scandella, the
Vicar Apostolic of Gibraltar, for it appears that on
Escalante's leaving the Rock he sent a message (by
telegraph probably) to Vehez, informing the priest
there that the hated Propagandista' was in that
direction, and advising his capture. The captain of
the gendarmes received orders from the cura: of
Vehez.

" It may naturallybe said that if a person chooses
to break the laws of a country he must take the con-
sequences. Granted. But what laws has Escalante
broken ? There is no law in Spain prohibiting the
circulation of the Roman Catholic edition of the New
Testament, in Spanish, and without notes; conse-
quently, Escalante cannot be legally imprisoned on
that ground. Neither will the fact of the books
being contraband (because printed in London) con-
demn him; for, in the first place, he is not com-
mitted to prison on a charge of smuggling; and, in
the second place, the small value of the Testaments
are not sufficient by the laws of Spain to condemn
him, even to a month's imprisonment.
" The charge on which he was arrested is his hav-
ing infringed the 128th Article of the Penal Code•
which states that the 'attempt to overthrow or
change (variar) the religion of the country, shall be
pumshed by imprisonment of from six to ten years.'
" Under this law Escalante is to be tried. When,
we know not. It may be years before his turn
comes—it may be only months. And now, sir, per-
mit me to ask two questions. Why has a British
subject been permitted to lie for nearly eight months
Ina Spanish prison, untried, uncondemned, and
neither convicted, nor likely to be legally convicted,
of having infringed the penal code? Why, and on
what authority, did 11.8. M. consul at Cadiz, Mr.
Brackenbury, delay for four entire days to answer
a request put by Escalante, at the instigation of the
judge of Chiclaua, asking for his (the consul's) pro-
tection, the judge having stated that on the consul's
appearing Escalante could be released ? This delay
obliged the judge to send the care to the Supreme
Court of Seville to be decided."