The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-22 00:00:00

THE CHINESE TREATY.

Lord Elgin has done his work so well, he has
succeeded so thoroughly against open foes, against
treacherous mediators, against timid coadjutors, and
against the grave infirmity of a Government pledged
to a passive endurance of Chinese insolence, that he
is now a fair mark for criticism. There was a time
when he required the full force of public opinion to
help him to something like an equality with his
onsetters and backsliders, and we gave him that
support fairly and fully. We should have thought
it a crime against the public good to carp too cap-
tiously at any small detail of his policy. Now, how-
ever, the case is entirely altered. We know enough
of the treaty of Tien-sin, and of the difficulties that
were necessary to be surmounted in order to its
attainment, to be able broadly to determine that
Lord Elgin. has proved himself fully equal to his
Canadian reputation, and entitled to any honours
which have been customarily bestowed upon diplo-
matists who have rendered important service to
their country. Thus far we give to Lord Elgin
only strictly meted justice. But the fact being
now accomplished with, we believe, a general ac-
claim of praise, any necessity for special support
from the voice of the public ceases, and we may cri-
ticise the details of the Tien-sin treaty when it be-
comes public, or we may remark upon the minor
points of Lord Elgin's policy, without any further
fear that we may be playing into the hands of
those who might use our criticisms for the purpose
of a captious and un-English policy.
Among the very few subjects connected with this
Embassy respecting which we have hitherto held
an advised silence stands Lord Elgin's policy with
respect to Canton after its capture. After the taking
of that city he restored the government to the
Chinese officials ; he faltered in the ceremony by
which this act was accomplished, and he accompa-
nied the re-installation by a speech wherein he
pledged his Government to restore the city to the
Chinese Emperor as soon as peace had been re-esta-
blished. We thought at the time—and the event
has but too surely confirmed our judgment—that in
this course of policy Lord Elgin was too much
swayed by his Sinologue advisers—honest, able, and
most valuable men, but warped in all such matters
by the errors of their education. He has learnt
better since, and perhaps they have learnt better
since ; but it was only men who had never pi. 4 on
the trammels of Chinese ceremonial who could then
see that to retain the machinery of Chinese govern-
ment in a captured city, and to proclaim to the
population that our occupation was only temporary,
was to leave our enemies completely organised for
hostility, and to warn the population that they
must not offend their Mandarins by any adherence
to their merely temporary captors. The proper
course would have been to sweep away every
Chinese authority, and to govern Canton as a cap-
tured city by a merely military tribunal. The re-
sult of the opposite policy may be seen in every
account which now reaches us from that city. A
war of assassination has been declared by the Man-
darins, and has been taken up by the people. The
" gentry of the province of Quantung" issue pro-
clamations offering rewards for the heads of all
foreigners, recalling the disbanded Tartar soldiers
to their duty, prescribing schemes for the enlistment
of braves, denouncing fire and torture against all
who shall fail to join in the crusade against the
foreigners, and predicting the moment of the ex-
termination of the barbarians. These are no mere
idle words. A Chinaman will do anything for
money, and to gain the rewards offered there are
thousands of Chinamen who prowl about every
night to surprise any straggling European and shoot
him or stab him from behind a lurking-place.
Among those who have thus fallen none is more
regretted than Dr. Turnbull, whose intrepid hu-
manity had saved hundreds of wounded Chinamen
from death, and whose great medical skill and
cheerful constancy had endeared him to the whole
force. He is only one of the victims whose heads
and hands have been taken as barbarous trophies
to the " gentry of Quantung" and paid for by
these cowardly wretches from the money which
the captors of Canton spared when they took the
city-. These " gentry of Quantung" are the people
who have been the special objects of our mercy.
Living principally in the western suburb they
have been untouched by our fire and unmolested
by our troops. They are not what we should call
gentry ; they are not landed proprietors and mem-
bers of professions, for such classes scarcely exist
in China. They are graduates waiting for place, or
placemen retired to pass the appointed period of
mourning for the death of a father, or enjoying a
recess, or retired to their own native place after
resignation or dismissal. These are all people
especially under the control of the higher Man-
darins and the Court of Pekin. They were suffi-
ciently, known to be obnoxious to arrest, and suffi-
ciently influential to be most useful as hostages.
What they have done has been done at the insti-
gation of the Commissioner sent.down by the Court
of Pekin, and by means of the influence which, as
we believe, was not wisely left in their hands.
Instead of coaxing this class, we should have con-
fined them as hostages, or expelled them as
enemies. There was no probability that they could
ever be friendly to a force which was avowedly not
a permanent power, while there was a certainty
that they had all the power to be dangerous.
But if there was in this respect a declination
froth the general ability which has characterised
Lord Elgin's conduct in this matter, something
must be allowed for the unaccountable imbecility
of the General left in command. We are, of
course, aware that when any man of a certain
rank is censured for his public conduct, every
one that wears a red coat thinks it a point of
duty to assure the world that the officer criticised
is a Cresar, a Napoleon, and a Wellington all
rolled into one. We care nothing for this ; but
we hare great regret in speaking depreciatory
words of General Straubenzee, because he was a
man of whom high hopes were entertained, who
was an excellent regimental officer, and who did
his work at the taking of Canton, if not with
egregious ability, yet with success. All that his
best friends could say for him has been said
in our columns, and we do not willingly take back
praise given, or confess to a disappointment in the
work of a man who doubtless does his best accord-
ing to his judgment. But it is impossible to hold
out against the concurrent testimony from Canton,
that the General in command is not equal to the
not very special exigencies of his position. He is
actually besieged by this miserable mob,—he has
come back defeated from the only expedition he
has undertaken, he loses his men by sickness and
assassination, and he strikes no blow. He seems
to live like an oyster in its shell, occupied only in
adding layer upon layer to its fortification from
outward assaults. If we had had there a man of
quick enterprise the vices which lay at the bottom
of the system extemporised by Lord Elgin might
have been kept from germinating. By rapid and
well-concerted movements he might have paralysed
the operations of those Mandarins who issue their
commands not only through the city of Canton,
but also through our city of Victoria. It was long
ago pointed out to us that we should have no rest
until we had made some severe examples of the
petty Mandarins who call back the servants and
invaders of Hong Kong to their villages whenever
they find it to their interest to do so, and who tax
them while they remain in our service. Every
paper we receive from these dependencies shows
that the evil is now grown up to harvest- height.
We want a quickwitted energetic man there who
knows his own mind, who can inspire confidence
into his staff, and feel confidence in them. We
cannot expect much from a general who, when sur-
rounded by a staff of alniost the best officers the
service could supply, either forced them from him
in disgust, or detained them in despair.
But, although these shortcomings have darkened
our campaign in China, we are not prepared to
endorse the lugubrious stories that come to us
thence through their press. Every petty depen-
dency naturally believes that it is the only impor-
tant child which England has, and that its danger
is always mortal. All we see at Canton comes
from above, and not from below. It all emanates
from the Court of Pekin, as represented by Hwang.
If the Imperial counsels are for peace, and if the
EmperorT
purpose to fulfil the Treaty of
iweresahll
ay in
shall hear no more of these attacks
en-sin, s
from braves, and, perhaps, we shall hear no more
of assassinations. llwang is now pursuing the
traditional Chinese policy against " rebellious"
foreigners. If General Straubenzee would take
him and hang him it would be a very good exam-
ple pour encourager les autres Chinese Mandarins
who offer rewards for Englishmen's heads, but we
are confident that this will all cease as soon as the
instructions from Pekin arrive at Canton. If this
should not so happen, we now th • hl
mow, y under-
stand that, although WC must punish the Cantonese,
the proper road to redress is by the waterway-of
the Peiho.— Times.

PRICE OF GOLD.—The quotation of gold at
Paris is about at par, and the short exchange on London
is 25'171 per sterling. On comparing these rates with
the English Mint price of £3 17s. 101 d. per ounce for
standard gold, it appears that gold is at about the same
price in London and Paris. By advices from Hamburg
tho price of gold is 4271 per mark, and the short exchange
on London is 13.7 per £1 sterling. Standard gold at the
English Mint price is therefore about 3-10ths per cent.
dearer in London than in Hamburg-. The course of ex-
change at New York on London for bills at 60 days' sight
is 1091 to 109 i per cent., which, when compared• with the
Mint par between the two countries, shows that the ex-
change is slightly in favour of England ; and, after
making allowance for charges of transport and difference
of interest, the present rate leaves a small profit on the im-
portation of gold from the United States.