The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-06 00:00:00

if peace were made with the barbarians, four conditions ( he has injured ; will Government forget itself so far as to
must be insisted on. ) make terms with the barbarian by persecuting Hwang ?
Firstly, he would on no account allow trade from Han-
(10.) The despatches to the Emperor are returned to the
high officers authorised to address them, with some slight
khow to Nankin. observation written in red ink by the Emperor, If his an-
(Secondly, this condition is omitted, most likely by mis- I swer is of great length, or requires deliberation, he writes
take, as the text below shows the question to have been merely, " Our placet will be given separately." In the lat-
ter case he sends down what we call an Imperial Decree to
the residence of a Minister at Pekin.) the Great Council for transmission to the officer or officers
Thirdly, he would not allow (foreigners) to circulate in concerned.
the different provinces. (11.) _Lit., where there is a determined bias and self-
Fourthly, ho would have the provincial city of Canton opinion there is indeed ao such word as happiness (or for-
evacuated at an early date. tune).
On receipt of his Majesty's commands as above, the com-
(12.) A place near the Yellow River, at which the Go-
raissioners had several consultations with the barbarians. vernor-General Ho was to have
they came down. The rumour he met the commissioners as
re alluded to is probably
They, alas I would give in one point only, to wit, the evacua- a revival of the above, which was in circulation in August
tion of Canton ; in the other three they held out for what and September.
(13.) The form in which the inferior addresses the sure-
hactbeen proposed at Tien-tsin.
The commissioners and the Governor-General Ho ac- rior official.(l4.) Rather, spy out.
cordingly made up (4) another memorial, to the effect that (15.) Baron Gros did not sign the tariff, Sce.. until some
the barbarians had promised to evacuate Canton ; that a
sbditaoa(ylt se6dba;ttliieTteeteLtsnuoor departurenrhudiisesEfErlloigxlmiicsnes'llliisoennacri
question
wHaasn
underkow .
discus-
to _s
regarded admission into Pekin, they would not be allowed
to ge and come in large bodies, nor to build churches there, and the Commissioners.
but that the admission of four or five on any future occasion, 16.4.) The Commissioners sat more than once to the
when they might have business of importance to transact, Honourable N. Jocelyn, who photographed them at the
need not be prohibited; that, as to circulation in the pro- British smeulate.
vinces, no one was to travel save with a passport, to be (17.) Howque, and some other ex-hongists had been
issued under the seals of the local authorities and the con- eil,xiNettedamtnS(oionicehnot Soo-chow, ttLt adviseff the Commissioners regard-
suls of the barbarians ;no one would take on himself to go '''klB.) This report probably grew out of the collision of
without one ; so that, as it would still rest with the local the Ngan-king rebels with the squadron escorting Lord
authorities, when the time came (5) to give or withhold a Elgin, of whose approach, to judge from appearances, the
passport, this point might, in their opinion, also be con.. Imperialist
are
ial,gefrorceendeavoured to make some use.
re than one doctor of the Han Lin
of k
ceded. There thus remained no question but that of the this surname at moCanton. (Signed) T. WADE.
navigation of the river up to Hankow, whither it would
really be difficult to prevent the barbarians from proceeding.
To this representation they received for answer from the
Emperor, "Try again with all your might, and you will
succeed again."
The commissioners and Ho, after receiving this, again
put their seals to the treaties, and exchanged copies of them
as concluded ; and it was agreed that in the third moon
(April, May), the barbarians should go into the capital
again to exchange national letters (letters between the Go-
vernments). Ho, the Governor-General, returned the
same day to Soo-chow ; the Treasurer Wang also returned
on the sth. The English leader Elgin had started up the
Great River on the 3d, with five steamers for Hankow.
Just before his departure, he said : " Provided that the pro-
vincial authorities behave well to me, I shall not insist on
ready money (or immediate payment) (6) at Shanghae, and I
will write to Canton, and have the city evacuated at once; but
if there is any more fighting (on my journey), I must post-
pone action (on these points)." The commissioners an-
swered—" We will write to prevent any one giving you
matter of offence; at the same time there are several posi-
tions along your road in the hands of the rebels, and we are
responsible for any trouble these may occasion you ; nor
will it be our affair if your vessels come to harm by getting
aground on any of the numerous shoals in the Great River."
" It does not concern you, of course," said he, " I can take
care of myself ;" and so he started. The following day he got
aground off Fu-shan, and after transshipping his guns, &c.,
to a smaller vessel, on the sth, he got off by dint of great
exertions on the Bth, and was reported to have passed
Nankin on the 11th. It was also said that the long-haired
men (the rebels) had fired upon him, though this is not cer-
tain. On the 10th, however, a number of devils were
brought back, the barbarians said, ill of the small-pox, but

the people have it, wounded by the rebels. Which is the
truth I know not.
In conclusion, I may remark that everything relating to
the barbarians is kept so quit that it is hard to learn the
facts. To give an instance : since the commissioners ar-
rived here every conference they have had with the chiefs
to discuss business questions has been held either on board
a steamer or in some out-of•the-way place, and, their mea-
sures agreed on (the conferring parties), have gone home
to carry them out. This is for fear they might be overheard
by the native servants of the different houses of business,
who understand the devil-language.
The Emperor has been moved to abolish the restrictions
on opium, and to admit it into port at 30 taels per picul im-
port duty, and into the interior at 15 taels transit duty. The
tariff is settled. All goods pay 5 per cent. ad valorem. This
is proposed as the import duty. If barbarians go into tho
interior to sell merchandise, they are to pay 2/ per cent. (as
a transit duty), whether they pass eight barriers or ten. On
tea and silk there are some augmentations and some dimi-
nutions. The rules are now in force, and, as soon as the
seal has been put to them, a copy shall be submitted to
yeu.

Touching the money payment to be made to the barbarians
(to the English) 6,000,000 dollars, and to the Americans,
600,000 dollars, the latter, some time ago, expressed their
readiness to the commissioners to give up 100,000 dollars;
they would require only 500,000 dollars, namely, 100,000 to
be paid at Shanghae, 100,000 at Foochow, and 300,000 at
Canton, to be deducted during three years, from the
duties. The commissioners had settled the form of in -
strument, so that the American question may be looked
on as decided. A despatch to this effect must (soon) reach
Canton. The English indemnity will, most likely, follow a
lika rule of apportionment, a quota being levied on the (cus-
toms of the) places aforesaid, or the whole may be laid on
the Shanghae duties, in which case the people (of Canton)
need feel no alarm. These barbarians are very anxious,
nevertheless, to make Canton pay the largest share. This
would delight them. Indeed, so deep-seated is the
with which they regard the Canton officials, gentry, and
people, that they actually talk of shutting up Canton as a
port altogether, and never trading there again. They have
several times pressed the Commissioners, with all their
might, to denounce the Governor-General (Hwang), and
the three gentlemen (Lo, Lung, and Su), as a condition of
peace (or before they would treat of peace). This has net
only been done by word or mouth, but there has been cor-
respondence upon it, of which I enclose copies.
The Commissioners, I should humbly suppose, can hardly
have been so stupid as to give in to everything in this way
(7). They may be holding such language as a means of keep-
ing (the barbarians) within range (8 ). It is impossible to
say. Should they have moved the Emperor, as was
suggested, his Sacred Majesty would not surely have ac-
cepted their view of the case. Never, since the world be-
gan, was there such a doctrine as that the official, instead of
punishing the robber for his theft, is to conciliate him by
doing whatever his malignity may dictate against the per-
son he has robbed (9). (My remarks, I am sensible, are
presumptuous). How should an officer of my low estate
and mean abilities venture on propositions at random It
is our duty to abide his Majesty's decision.
Another statement is that Ho is strongly urging an ap-
plication to the Emperor to transfer the seal of High Com-
missioner for the Five Ports from Canton to Kiang-su, and
and that the commissioners will very presently address the
Emperor to that effect. After his return to Soo-choo, the
Governor-General Ho addresses to the Emperor two memo-
rials in succession, setting forth how difficult it was to ne-
gotiate peace ; that after all his pains he had only got so far;
that the barbarians when they had got a foot wanted ever
an inch more ; that they were quite ready to add something
to the 56 Articles they now had, but would not abate a single
letter. Further, he said that he knew it was in the hands
of the three Princes that the direction-general lay, and if
his Ma)esty would not agree (to what he, Ho, recom-
mended), he must beg him to send the three Princes to
manage the things for themselves. To this the Emperor in
his autograph rescript (10), rejoined, " No luck, of a truth,
can attend such perversity and opiniativeness" (11).

. .
The Treasurer Wang was at the same time commanded to
return with all speed to Soo-chow ; the Emperor would not
allow him to remain at Shanghae interfering in barbarian
affairs.

It was subsequently asserted that the Governor-General
Ho had been deprived of his button, and five commissioners
ordered to proceed from the capital to Tsing kiang Pu (12),
whether for this or some other matter it was not clear. But
(these two last statements) are but a report, which, as I have
not seen the documents, Ido not venture to affirm is true. I
purpose, as soon as I have despatched this letter (13) (W.,
petition), going in person to Soo-chow to see the Treasurer
Wang, and find out (14) the truth from him. I shall ask
him for copies of some of the despatches, which I wilt for-
ward in a separate cover.
The French were away last month at Japan and
in Anam. They were not by when the English
and the other nations were negotiating. Since their chief's
return to Shanghae he wanted to go to Pekin to build
churches there, a proposition which induced much discus-
sion, without any satisfactory result (15). The tradespeople
(or mercantile Chinese) say that no harm will come of this ;
they (the French) must talk in this fashion ; and that
when the English Chief returns (16), everything will be
settled, all and sundry.
The Russians are not at Shanghae, and have taken no
part (in what has passed).
The Commissioners themselves are entertaining every
day, or sitting for their portraits (16.4.), or paying visits to
the devils, taking their fill of enjoyment with nothing
whatever to do.

Pwan Si-ching (Pontinqua) reached Hangchow on the
12th of the moon, but has not yet arrived at this place. The
man the Commissioners and the barbarians really want is
Howqua (17). It is a matter of indifference to them whe-
ther Pontinqua comes or not ; by the time he arrives, I
imagine, there will be nothing for him to do.
Another rumour is that the Commander-in-chief
Yang has retaken Nganking (18). The Prefect
Wu says that he has written full particulars of all that has
been reported in this letter to Chang, the Han-lin (19), and
gives me to understand, consequently, that I need not
trouble your ear with a repetition of them.
I have, therefore, the honour to transmit you this sum-
mary.

Inclosure 2 in No. 10.

Memorandum by Mr. Wade, intended to accompany the
translation of a letter forwarded by Mr, Parkes, from
Canton, to the Earl of Elgin, on the 15th January, 1859,
pr6cis of which was inclosed to the Foreign-office.
The letter forwarded by Mr. Parkes, of the genuineness
of which I see no reason to entertain any doubt, read by
the light of the correspondence of the Imperial commis-
sioners and earlier proceedings of the Chinese Government,
ever since negotiations fairly commenced at Tien-tsin, fur-
nishes, to my mind, a duo deserving of attention to the
course the Government has in this last instance pursued.
According to the writer, evidently an official who has
access to good information, the Emperor determined, the
moment our backs were turned, to cancel the whole treaty
extorted from him in June, 1858, and for this purpose sent
Kweiliang and his colleagues south. This accords with a
rumour current at Shanghae in August; Kweiliang was
said to be in deep disgrace for his negotiations, the first
public notice of which by the Chinese Government was in
a decree of the 25eh July, to the effect that the barbarians
who " burst into the river" with their ships had retired in
obedience to the affectionate commands of Kweiliang.
The use of the term ' barbarian," as Lord Elgin com-
plained in a letter to the commissioners of the 7th Septem-
ber, was itself an infraction of Article LI of the Treaty,
committed within one month of its signature.

The mission of Kweiliang and his colleagues, ostensibly
to revise the tariff, was remarkable as being so much more

than what the treaty required. It had been stipulated
merely that a high officer of the Beard of Revenue should
repair to Shanghae. Two ex-commissioners of the Canton
Customs were indeed added to the commission, but one of
of these was replaced by Twau Chingshih, one of the under-
secretaries most actively employed during the treaty nego-
tiations. His leave-taking memorial, also published in the
" Gazette," assured the Emperor, in stock phrase, that he
would be zealous in "soothing the barbarians."
Rumour, as I have said, made the object of this mission
anything but a revision. Nothing, however, very positive
was stated, nor did the reports oa the subject command
general attention.

Meanwhile, as Kweiliang and his colleagues had pro-
mised at Tien-tsin, on the 4th July, to obtain from the Em-
peror, as soon as they returned to Pekin, a decree appoint-
ing a Commissioner to revise the tariff, which decree
would reach Shanghae as soon as Lord Elgin, his Lordship,
after ten days' delay at Shanghae, had written on the 21st
July to complain that he was still without a line from Pekin
on the subject.

On the 27th he received a letter from Ho Kwei-tsin, an •
nouncing the appointment of the Commission, composed,
with the addition of himself, of the members enumerated
above, who, he said, would arrive about the 18th of Aug.
Lord Elgin visited Japan ; and having made his Treaty
there, hurried back to Shanghae, to learn, by a letter from
the Commissioners themselves, that they could not be at
Shan, me before the 6th of October.

It is, I repeat, quite clear that Kweiliang- and Hwashana,
the highest officers of the Civil establishment, were not
coming to revise a tariff. Indeed, another object of their
mission was eventually stated in their own letter of the
22d of October, to which we shall cone in due time.
Ho Kwei-tsing's assurance that they would be down by the
18th of August, was given, I imagine, to prevent the possi-
bility of Lcrd returning to the Peiho.
The decree he forwarded was dated the 15th July. The
prescribed time for an official journey of the distance is 55
days. This would have brought the commissioners to
Shanghae by the 10th of September. I presume Ho chose
a middle term for safety's sake.
I attribute the Commissioners' delay of their departure
from Pekin, or their loitering by the way, to the one cause
- the fears of the Government that, when the commission-
ers had declared their errand, we might revisit the Peiho.
We knew from the Gazettes that the forts were being re-
built—this of course was in-itself no matter of surprise; that
t imber was purchased to stake the river, at which we could
not either be astonished , but lastly, and this is noteworthy,
that these operations were conducted under the special au-
thority of Sung-ko lin-sin, a Mongolian prince allied by
marriage to the Imperial family, distinguished as the con-
queror of the rebels on the occasion of the Tai-ping incur-
sion into Chih-li in 1853-54, and appointed during our stay
rt Tien-tsin High Commissioner of War and Commander.
in-chief of a force stationed at Tungehow to cover the ca-
pital should we advance upon it. It is also important that
his labours had proceeded with such rapidity, that, by
the 21st November, he was enabled to report the com-
pletion of the works on the Tien-tsin river ; for which ser-
vice, by a decree of the above date, he was rewarded by a sur-
coat of honour.

My impression is confirmed, by all that has since occurred,
that the arrival of the commissioners was delayed purposely
until the river defences were in a state of forwardness. For,
once more, they were coming, not to revise the tariff, but, as
Canton letter states, and their own correspondence presently
shows, to discuss modification if not abrogation of three
important privileges which distinguished our treaty from
any other ; to wit, the residence of a Minister at Pekin, cir-
culation of British merchants in the interior, and the navi-
gation of the great river ; also to require the rendition of
Canton.

Ho Kwei-tsing, as in duty bound, went to meet the
senior commissioners as they entered his jurisdiction;
and the statement in the Canton letter that it was on
the strength of his representations, supported by those of
his provincial Treasurer "Wang, that they were led to iio-
dify materially the course prescribed by
their instructions,
is borne out not only by the gossip of the period, but by a
communication subsequently made by an indisputable au-
thority, which I do not feel at liberty to name, that they had
come down charged to make war rather than concede the pea-
manent residence of a minister. The words stated by Ho,
when remonstrating against such policy, wire " that war
would be absolute madness." I confess that, with some
faith in the narrator, I believed him, at the time he stated
this, guilty of a simple exaggeration, a la Chinoise.
It must not be forgotten that throughout the whole of
this period, from June to October, affairs in the south were
in a condition that augured ill for peace.
Long after the Treaty was signed, Hwang, and a com-
mittee of three Cantonese of high standing in the class we
style " the gentry," who held an Imperial commission for
the enlistment and control of militia, were persisting in acts
of war. After the tactics of 1856 and 1857, when Yeh was
in power, the native servants were called home from Hong
Kong, and the supplies of that colony cut Toff by semi-
official committees estabished in the adjacent districts. Sol-
diers of the Canton garrison were kidnapped and assassin-
ated. A proclamation, under Hwang's seal, offered a high
reward for Mr. Parkes's head.

Even so late as the 22d August Hwang had supported the
special c•mmittee in its war-taxation, on the ground that
though a Treaty had been concluded at Tien-tsin, he knew
not its conditions, and that it was as necessary as ever to be
ready for banditti.

I see no reason to doubt, when we road the Emperor's
decree of the 21st October, in which he rejects the com-
missioners' censure of Hwang and the committee, that the
court was encouraging the latter to persevere in their at-
tempt to expel the allies from Canton, whore by treaty they
were to remain till the indemnity agreed to was paid.
The commissioners arrived at last on the 6th of October.
They had been duly apprised of the dissatisfaction occa-
sioned by the tardiness of their movements ; and having
first apologized in a private note for not visiting Lord Elgin
until the ostensible business of their mission—the tariff re-
vision—was en train, they dispatched an official letter, in a
most conciliatory strain, to beg Lord Elgin to appoint de-
puties who might meet their own for the revision of the
tariff. The officers they named were Wang, the Commis-
sioner of Finance, chief civilian of the province, and Sieh,
for the three years previous Taeutae, or Intendant
at Shanghae, one of the few Chinese I have met who, not-
withstanding much ignorance and prejudice still remain-
ing, really appreciates the power and probity of the foreigner,
or who appear soberly to contemplate, without abatement
of pride in their own country, the possibility of utilising
barbarian ability to her advantage. He had been named
to the commissioners by Lord Elgin at Tien-tsin.
Lord Elgin met their proposals by demanding, first,
an acknowledgment of two letters, written early in Sep-
tember, complaining of proceedings in the south, and still
unnoticed. _ _

Their reply was pacific enough; they excused Hwang's
ignorance on the grounds of the distance from Pekin; his
vhoolsutinleteattitude
raose
lno aimt being
passured
do f
beenour inn
ct ;no tt ijoant
esd; and
with
England, France, America, and Russia.

It does not appear for all that was promised on the sub-
ject, that even this meagre notice,;which promulgated none
of the conditions of the peace, was ever published elsewhere.
At Canton, indeed, the High Committee's Militia oon-
tinued to annoy the foreign garrison until January, when
one of their positions at iShek-tsin was destroyed. The

wheper thing-I at. Canton had beeu dine with or without
his authority.
The commissioners wrote to assure, him that, -Hwang
should now be- certainly removed, and ithe special com-
mittee dissolved ; but Eord Elgin, inclosing them a copy
of the letter for arded by Mr. 'Parkes, announced his
intention to I. koceed'himself to Canton.: On:his return to
Shangh-ie in thacourse of six weeks, should he not ilnd
the commissioners there, he would proceed to Patin,
Tha commissioners wrote, roundly abusing diwang and
the comtnittee. The Emperor's decree must arrive in three
weeks. In, theinterim all pending questions conld be•dis-
cusSed. They were quite competent to deal with the Can-
ton question:' They prayed him to remain.
Lord Elghtwas inexorable. The conditions of the Can-
ton question, he wrote, 25th,of January, were specified in
the , treaty:. Had the Emperor chosen that the commis-
sioners should close it, he would have given them the re-
quisite powers. They had not kept faith about Canton.
They had promised
.months before to effect an improve..
meat there. None had been effected. He would himself
enforce a better order of things. This done he would re-
turn to discuss whatever iemained for consideration, peace-
ably or otherwise, as the Chinese. Government might see fit.
Lord Elgin then departed, and on the 14th of February
the commissioners forwarded a deciee, not,' indeed, re-
moving Hwang from the Governor-Generalship, but still
transferring, his seal of Imperial commissioner for the
superintendence of foreign trade to Ho Kwei-taing.
This decree was, doubtless, shaped so as to save the im-
perial.dignity.. The Emperor would not disgrace the Go-
vernor-General (who has since been transferred to, Sze-
chuen), under pressure, and his eboice of HO, as Hwang's
substitute, he had reason to believe would soothe us.
I have gone thus at length into this section of the cor-
respondence, from, October to January, to show vrith
what reluctance the Chinese GoVernment took a minimuni
of action against an officer notoriously corrupt, and
flagrantly tyrannical in his jurisdiction, , and denpunced
by the highest in the land for a course of foreign
policy prejudicial to the interests of peace. My convic-
tion is, that the Government, or, to take a hint from the
opening clause of the Canton letter, that portion of it
which had, the credit of establishing the special committee,
and authorising its operations, never abandoned the notion
of recovering Canton until their defeat at Shek-tsing, a
village near Canton, and other movements of_ the allied,
forge broke the spirit of the militia.
It is also my impression, however contradictory the
statement may appear, that the strong language held-to the
commissioners by Lord Elgin throughout this period, while
it deterred them from attempting any of the changes I am
perauaded they were sent 'southward to effect, enabled thein
at the same time to hold their own with the Emperoi by re,
presenting the impossibility of retracting what he is as
sumed to have required from people so violent and deter
mined.

garrison were then made to patrOrtheireighVoirhood, the
result of which measure was a speedy restoration of order;
The commissioners' overtures did not 'yet satisfy Lord
Elgin. He took them. to task for having allowed near four
months to elapse without making known the existence of a
treaty ; and he demaanded the removal of Hwang, and the
dissolution of the Imperial committee before he could con-
sent to go into the tariff at all. This line of action of course
greatly perplexed the commissioners. As Chinese statesmen
they would be slow to comprehend why the barbarian
should postpone commercial considerations to any other
and they hastened to soothe him accordingly. They had
already, they said, denounced Hwang, and would again
denounce him, praying the Emperor, at the same time,
to withdraw their powers from the Comnaittee. Lord
Elgin, on this, engaged if they would promise to
communicate to him the Imperial rescript to their me-
morial, to commence the discussion of the tariff, and this
promise given, named Mr. Oliphant and myself as his
deputies.
Up to this time they had not breathed a word regarding
the real matter of their' mission. They were doubtless in
much embarrassment as to the mode of introducing it ; and
the opinions of Ho, who drew his inspiration from Wang
and Sieb, the two chiefs of his provincial staff, both able,
and intimately lies, had, I feel satisfied, in no way dimi-
nished their difficulty in approaching the retractation of a
treaty concession.
At length, on the 22d October, reassured by the favour-
able progress of the tariff and its concomitants, they, with
evident delicacy and diffidence, declared the true object of
their coming. Moralising briefly on the end of negotiations,
they pointed out that those at Tien-tsin were conducted so
completely under pressure of an armed force as to leave no
place for deliberation; the Emperor had, accordingly,
specially commissioned them to come to Shanghae, " ear-
nestly to press a matter which would be to the advan-
tage of both parties." Among the conditions extorted .
there were some of realinjury to China, which-there had
been no opportunity of explaining; of these they name one
only—the residence, in permanence, of a British Minister
at Pekin. As the Queen of England has an option, by
treaty, they beg her Majesty may be prayed to decide that
the Minister shall only visit Pekin en occasions. They avow
that this condition is most irksome to China, and in Chinese
fashion they strive to show how irksome it will be to us. A
rude and numerous Tartar soldiery; the unacquaintance of
metropolitan officials with foreign affairs ; the temper of
the population—these are the dangers which should incline
us to forego this one—to us melds., and, for the reasons
enumerated, perilous—privilege ; the more readily to forego
it, as, on the other hand, we are gainers to a considerable
extent in the many which we should still retain.
Looking back to the Tein-tsin period, we call to mind
that the commissioners, although committed in their
letter of the 11th June, 1858, to the declaration, that
'to a Minister's permanent residence there was properly
no objection," and to the proposition that, the recent
collision considered, the Minister had better live at Tien-
tsin—an official residence being assigned him at Pekin—
had attempted on the 21st June to recede from these
proposals.
They had, they said, received a decree, desiring them to
do their best to persuade Lord Elgin to give up this invi-
dious privilege, " the north being cold and excessively
dusty" also with it the right to open Chin-kiang, the right
to circulate in the interior before the people should have
been duly warned, the right to navigate the Great River,
by which we should drive the Chinese out of the field.
On all these points they again made a fight at their con-
ference with Mr. Bruce on the 24th June. On the evening
of the 25th they made a last effort, through Count Poutia-
tine and Mr. Reed, to dissuade Lord Elgin from insisting
on the residence of a Minister, and the right of British
merchants to circulate in the interior, pleading that, unless
his lordship gave way on those points, their lives would be
forfeited.

Lord Elgin standing firm, they urged, even on the morn-
ing of the 26th itself, a modification of the text, by ,which
the Minister might be authorised to be constantly in resi-
dence at Pekin, instead of entitled to reside there, without
moving, a change which, as liberty of his movements is
secured in another article, was adopted.
These, with the addition of the surrender of
Canton, are the questions on which, according to
the Canton 19tter, the Emperor instructed the
Commissioners to stand out, and it is upon these I gather,
from their letters of the 27th and 28th May, the Commis-
sioners would have engaged Mr. Bruce in discussion, had
he accorded the interview they proposed. They had, withal,
another end to gain.

Lord Elgin met their request of the 22d October by an
emphatic declaration that it lay not with him to abate one
tittle of the Treaty. He pointed out the real object and
advantages of diplomatic relations as established in Europe,
and briefly adverting to past misunderstandings between
our countries, expressed his doubt that the Imperial Go-
vernment could provide guarantees for the maintaining of
peace, equivalent to that supplied by thepresence of a Mini-
ster at Pekin.

The Commissioners, on the 28th October, admit that our
Minister's right to permanent residence is incontestable, but
the exercise of it will humiliate China in the eyes of her
subjects. They, therefore, again pray Lord Elgin to move
the Queen to use the option the Treaty leaves her Majesty
in their favour, and there is no satisfactory arrangement
they are not ready to make. •

Lord Elgin undertook to submit the correspondence to
her Majesty's Government, and to recommend that if her
Majesty's Minister were properly received next year, and
full effect given to the Treaty in all other particulars, the
Minister should be directed to choose aresidence elsewhere,
and to visit the capital either periodically or when business
required it.

The tariff negotiations were now brought to a close, and
Lord Elgin announced his intention to proceed up the Yang-
tze, to see what ports it would eventually be desirable to
open.

The commissioners acquiesced with a good grace, pro-
mised to send an officer to wait on his lordship, and to ad-
vise the authorities of the provinces he would have to tra-
verse of his approach.

This was partly in fulfilment of their under taking to make
any satisfactory arrangement, partly, I feel sure, from
words that fell from the Judge, in the hope that we should
have a profitable collision with the insurgents at Nankin.
At llankow we found a proclamation announcing that the
English, French, and American nations were come to look
at the place, but not to trade, so the people need not be
alarmed. There was not, it is scarcely necessary to observe,
any signs of alarm, except that produced by the
official runners and such persons, who at first insisted
on forming our escort, and in that capacity unne-
cessarily thrashed the crowds that assembled round us, and
used every effort to prevent the tradespeople from taking
our money. The people themselves were here, as through-
out the whole 600 miles of our journey, civil, inoffensive,
and eager for trade.

I regard the policy of the Government in this to have
been the same it has long adopted at Canton—to promote
an aversion to foreign intercourse among the people, and
to impress on foreigners that the people are hostile and
hard to control. The doctrine finds its place, as we have
seen, among the arguments against a Minister's residence
at Pekin.

On his return to Shanghae in January, Lord Elgin found
the news from Canton still far from satisfactory. Just as
he was about to start for Hankow, the commissioners had
mooted the question of that city's rendition, and the
payment of the indemnity, but had received no positive
answer as to the course his lordship proposed to take.
They had also requested us, by letter, to adopt the same
arrangement as the French. They had written, besides, a cir-
cular to the British, French, and American ministers, regard-
ing the future issue of pessports, and various other points
which would be raised under the new treaties. Lastly,
they prayed for some settlement of the duties owing under
the provisional system adopted during the occupation of
Shanghae by the rebels in 1853 and 1854.

These letters had been sent in but a day or two before
Lord Elgin's departure, and he, consequently, had delayed
replying to them until his return. On receipt of the
Canton intelligence, he rec uniiuonooa nnrrearn7lden. L,r—
inquiry whether the promised decree removing Hwang
had been obtained. The commissioners sent him a
decree of the 21st October, acknowledging their denuncia-
tion of Hwang, " for conduct calculated to produce mis-
chief ;" defending him, however, as having acted on the
offensive only until the Treaty was concluded ; defending
the committee as simply engaged in keeping the peace;
and concluding with the observation that it would be for
the Emperor himself to deal with Hwang should he have
committed himself since the treaty was signed.
The commissioners must have received this rebuff before
Lord Elgin left Shanghae, but were doubtless in no haste to
show how their advice had been relished by their master.

Before their reply had reached him, Lord Elgin had
answered their circular of the 7th Nov. I need notice but
two items of his answer. He undertook most readily to
guarantee that every precaution would be taken to prevent
the abuse of the passport system by British subjects. At
the close of his letter, he replied to their remark that
their queries had been put by reason of their ignorance of
foreign affairs, by observing that the most evident remedy
of this defect would be, in sending a Chinese Legation to
England.

The commissioners rejoined at length, but noticeably
about passports, which, they observed, the consuls would
have to apply for to the Chinese authorities, to whom they
must be, in due time, surrendered to be cancelled.
This was on the 14th. On the same day, Lord Elgin had
written to express his serious dissatisfaction at Hwang's
continuance in office. He would now call on the commis-
sioners to settle the indemnity in strict accordance with the
provisions of the soparato article, or, as instructed by her
Majesty's Government, he would eject the Chinese autho-
rities from Canton.
A very crestfallen answer followed from the commission-
ers. They had done their best. The Emperor alone could
decide. The Canton question they had not had time to
settle since Lord Elgin's return.
On the 20th of January, Lord Elgin, having received
news of the Shek-tsing affair, wrote again. He reviewed
his correspondence with the commissioners since their ar-
rival in October. He was now convinced that Canton was
to them a question of ultra vires ; he should, therefore,
desire our executive there to act with vigour, and when the
ratifications were exchanged, the Emperor should be asked

His withdrawal of the seal from Hwang was probably
balinced somewhatin the Emperor's mind by the opportu-
nity afforded him of declaring in his decree, that our ac •
counts from Canton (of kidnapping. assassination' &c.)
surprised him much, as, in the " soothing and bridling" of
foreign nations, China had never been treacherous.

Lord Elgin acknowledged the receipt of their last letter
on the 3d of Mar Ch. He therein told the commissioners of
the appointment of hie successor, charged with the ratified
copy ef the. Treaty, to be exchanged at Pekin, and of, his.
own immediate departure for England. He communicated
to them the consent of her Majesty's Government to make
the' British Minister's residenco at Pekin but occasional,
on the conditions before recited ; and, bidding them fare-
well, reminded them them that peace was only to be kept
unbroken by a strict observance of the Treati--by a mu=
tual recognition of the equality of nations, between whom,
he took occasion to remark there could be no such relation
as that implied in the words " soothing and bridling."
The commissioners received 'this on the 29th of 'March:
They made no move north,*notwithstanding ; on the con-
trary, on learning Mr. Bruce's arrival, they moved from Soo-
chow, where they had spent the new year, to Shanghae.
Mr. Bruce's despatch to Kweiliang; of the 16th MaY,.
announcing his arrival, and requesting that suitable repara-
tions may be made for his reception at Tien-tsin, and his
journey to Pekin with the ratified treaties and the auto-
graph letter of her Britannic Majesty, reached the commis.
sioiers on the 27th, and, their proceedings from this date
ire' deserving of close attention.

Mr. Bruce found at Shanghae, on the 6th June, three
des'patches from the commissioners, the first dated the
27th May, the day on which the second admits his letter
of the 16th May had arrived ; also admits that Lord Elgin's
last letter, announcing his departure, had reached them
on ' the 29th March. They had remained, neverthe-
less, because his lordship had said he would return, to dis-
curls various questions, which they d 9 not enumerate. His
successor, who is, of course, equally competent with him-
sell, is bound, they think, to take up the pending discus-
sion with them, and with all speed, as the day named for
the exchange of ratifications draws near.

The second, which is dated the 28th May, acknowledging
Mr. Bruce's of the 16th, urges that an important affair like
the exchange of ratifications cannot be hurried through as
he, proposes ; repeats that Lord Elgin's letters had kept
them at Shanghae, the journey from which place to Pekin
wrld take two months ; none but they themselves could
represent the Chinese Government in the matter; there
was no one, to receive Mr. Bruce at Tien-tsin, and nothing
ready; they therefore propose that Mr. Bruce instead of
waiting "up there," where he will find it very hot, should
put off his departure, and grant them an interview.
This is accompanied by another of the same date, in which
insisting again on Lord Elgin's engagement to return and
discuss various questions, theY beg to enumerate those of
which he had disposed and those left unsettled.
He had agreed, they say :-
13t. That the coming visit to Pekin was to be exceptional ;
the Minister was not constantly to be at Pekin.
2d. That his visit to Hankow was exceptional ; our move-
ments were henceforth to be in accordance with the Treaty
stipulations.

3d. That none but respectable persons 'were to obtain
passports, for the issue of which regulations must be de-
vised, The Canton question was not settled, and Lord
Elgin had promised to go further.

To take the last first, Lord Elgin had expressly told
the commissioners that the Canton question must be
settled, and promptly, according to the Special Article,
which prescribes payment at Canton to be arranged by
the Cantors authorities. Before he left the south, Mr.
Bruce had ascertained in May that the Canton authorities
had no knowledge of this stipulation, or, if they had, were
without any instructions to give it effect.
The other three are the ever-recurring clauses of diffi-
culty ; the original modification of the first being further
modified by total omission of the conditions on which her
Majesty's Government, as the commissioners had been
duly apprised in Lord Elgin's last letter, would consent to
modify it. The other two are stated as they stand, I can
only suppose to draw from Mr. Bruce some such ac-
quiescence in what would have been literally hard for him
to dispute, as might preclude the possibility of his sug-
gesting any arrangement for the :anticipation of the treaty
terms, the far receding extinction of the rebels, before
which no British subject can by treaty claim to enter the
region they infest.
Recalling the pertinacity with which the commissioners
have revived their objection to our enjoyment of the privi-
leges here adverted to, the statements in the Canton letter,
and in other quarters, of the Emperor's vio'ent opposition to
the concession of them, when we see them now, we should
have said needlessly, reproduced once more, we can only in-
fer that some further limitations were contemplated.
A Chinese, last year my head clerk, but promoted, after
the treaty, for his supposed knowledge of foreign
affairs to a mandarinate of the fifth grade, and now
attached to Kweiliang, called twice on Mr. Lay in
the spring, first to ascertain whether we would agree
to exchange ratifications at Shanghae ; secondly, if we
would consent to proceed, overland, thence to Pekin.
The latter, be it observed, is the time-honoured form of
introducing the periodical missions from Anam, Lewschew,
and other dependent States, into Pekin ; the form which
1... coat snow
of surveillance and patronage by which she ha* ever 'sought
to negative a barbarian State's assumption of equality with
herself. The American treaty enables China to give the
United States' Minister such a reception. So long as he
does not insist on an audience, no tradition will be violated.
It does not practically secure him access to Pekin for any

diplomatic purpose.
The above proposal accepted, our circulation under pass-
ports would infallibly have been infected by the precede t.
No one would have travelled except under an official pie-
tection, resembling that proposed years ago by Kiying fgr
the neighbourhood of Canton—a protection so irksome
and profitless to the few who availed themselves of it,
that travelling, if it were to be under such auspices, wag
soon foregone altogether.

This is, of course, speculation ; nor is it more when I de-
clare my belief that the commissioners rather hoped than
expected that we should halt at Shanghae, as they proposed,
within three weeks of the day we were by Treaty to be at
Pekin. They were, I imagine, acting under orders to try
everything that might prevent our visit to the capital.
On receiving Mr. Bruce's peremptory reply of the Bth of
June, followed by his supplementary note of the 11th, the
commissioners laid down their arms. His letter of the Bth,
they wrote, had been sent to the Emperor, who would receive
it in some nine days. They had moved him to send a high offi-
cer to Tien- tsin to meet Mr. Bruce, whom they recommended
to leave his ships of war outside the bar, and proceed in light
marching order to Pekin. They cannot themselves take
steam as Mr. Bruce proposes, as the Emperor has has not
authorised them to do so, but in obedience to his Majesty's
commands (when received does not appear), they will go
north with all speed. The suggestions respecting the an•
chorage of his squadron is brought in, as it were, casually :
" The commissioners would wish," &c. There is no hint
that the route by the Tien-tsin River is condamnee, or that
the attempt to ascend it will be opposed.
Yet they must have known that opposition was immi-
nent. The high authority, cited before, assured my in-
formant that so certain was he of a collision, that he should
keep himself out of the way. The Court, he said, was not
disabused of its invincibility, nor would it be without
another defeat. It was for all that not too proud to
be treacherous, as we have found to our cost.
Admiral Hope had sailed before the commis-

sioners'. ;his first pceedings, filleif the
measure of their requirement. He approached theliar'on
the 17th, with only one -tifelner and tivO" gunboats, ar4l- the
officer Sent in to eorumailc4'e with the forts crossed the
bar in a ship's gig. . .
Oh the 20th, :finding that the
.peoPle On the spot, who
maintained, as on the' former day, that they-had closed the
passage of the i iver Without the orders Cif Government, had
not,ias they had'proinitied, removed, but, on the contrary,
had greatly multiplied the obStaales in the way of a free pas-
sage, he gave notice to -the Int6d6t of Tien-tsin that his
squadron would remain at the moutfi of the river while Mr.
Bruce was at Pekin; he; therefore, wiShes his men to land
to purchase supplies. _ The Intenclent only opposes their
landing lest they should lose' themselves in winding ilithsi
amongst the camps and field-works which, he says, abound
along the way between Ta-koe and Tientsin. -r
He says no-
thirig of the Government's objection to leave the river open,
and he doe's say that the defences he alladeS to are not to our
address.

All this while no official, 'the Militia and peasantry on
shore atfir:in, is near the spot. Mr. \\ the American
Minister, is told tle same story by the same people on'the
evening ,a the 24th; the batteries 'appear deserted until'
the following forenoc,n, when, as the foremost gun boat
acc4rding
.to notice yen the previous evening by Admiral'
Hope, attempts to pass the booms, they pour forth a fire from
70 guns,which for strength and direction is with'butprecedent
in our annals of Chinese warfare. Still no official appears
at Taku. On the other hand, Hang, the Governor-General
of the province, does send a letter to Mr. Bruce,-frOin
point some ten miles up the coast r It is dated the 23d, but
doe's not reach him till the 25th;
11tow Mr. Bruce's letter of theTdi-h;`AiKlihad eleCtrified
the .commissionrs, was to reach Pekin in nine days—say
before the 20th. We know, by experiekee, that communi-
cations between Taku and Pekin do hot take more than 24
hours. The Court, if it were prepared to disavow thelosttile
act Of the Taku garrison, Must have forgotten that it could
hardly, under the circumstances, plead ignorance of the
great danger of a collision between the large force it had
placed, months before, at Taku, and a foreign squadron
which had now been waiting since the 16th to hail) the
river opened for the British Minister's admission. If it were
bona.fideiniel4 On: the &eserVation of peace, why should no
official have presented himself to the Admiral at Taku or
why should the
made
move of the character of a pacifiC
overture been made at, ihe e/iVenth hOnr, by a circuitous
route and with a want of alacrity at first sight ineiplicable?
For the despatch had been the best part of two days coming
ten miles.
It invites Mr. Bruce to wait for the arrival of Kweiliaug
and his colleague, promising him that. when he,
. Hang,'
shall have moved to the southward the garrison and arma- ,
ment of the position from which he writes, he will-come out
to welcome him to the place,-Peli-tang-Ho by namef a port,
if it deserve the designation, wiiich the Americans found
in a few days was &MANI), accessible even ,to a ship's
boat. •
' '

; •I• feel satisfied that, our object Considered, the fulfilment
of the treaty, not in the letter but in
the spirite should , w
make a mistake in approaching the capital otherwise than
by its recognised highway, " Ido not see that the Ameri-
cans can refuse to proceed to Pekin by Pek-tang-Ho, or by
any less desirable route ; Artiple V of their Treaty im-
posing on them almost all the restriCtiens which it is the
very aim of our Articles 111 and Tyo • Withstand. The
American Minister may visit Pekin once a year, with 20
people for a suite ; he is to give intimation of his ap7
proach through the Board of Rites ; and is to complete his
business without necessary delay; he will be held, as I
have before hinted by the Government and people of,
China, at precieely the same value as a Lewchewan or
Siamese Envoy. This:, some will say, is of little conse-
quence.
It is at least of this much, that little attention
will be paid to the 'representntions of an officer who takes,
so low a place, and it is only by insuring the attention which
must be yielded when t he question of equality is no longer in
dispute, that We can
.hOpe, for a peaceable settlement of mis-
understanding with a people whose bigotry, arrogance, and
insincerity are kept in check only by their fears.
To close observations which have greatly outrun their
intended length, I am persuaded that its aversion to con 7
cede, even limited by the three privileges so often alluded
to, is what has betrayed the Chinese Government into an
act of war, which, with its usual, pusillanimity, it was pr e-
pared to disavow had its forces suffered defeat. It has never
accepted the changes, forced upon it—the novelty, in the
sense in which Western' nations understand it. It vias
ready, more suo, to fend off those without fighting, and the
commissioners were,, I: make no doubt, to detain us at
Shanghae under one pretext or another, until the year.was
so far spent that we might be induced, in our greOci for
commercial advanMges, to accept an etchange of ratifica-
tions at Shanghae. Foreign relations, which in Chinese
are simply synonornous with a Superintendence of Trade,
would then have been handed over to Ho, whose "sooth-
ing and bridling," we are evidently assumed to prefer, and
the great gain of the Treaty, the one means of'preventing
lacal misunderstandings, viz., the right.of appeal to the
central Government against the acts of its subordinates,.
would, in defaUlt of precedent, have been as lunch in abey-
' ance as though it had never been concluded.
Diplomacy failing, the Government still veiled its readi-
ness for war—possibly from doubt in its powers, perhaps in
the hope of taking us completely unawares.
Mr. Hart's interesting memorandum on Sungkolin-sin's
temper and arrangements, together with Mr. Morgan's in-
formation on the same head, are more or less corroborated
by the junkmen who lay off the Peiho, lamenting grievously •
the interruplion of their trade.

It must be noted in qualification of Sunko-lin-sin's prow-
ess, and of the court's resolution, that his victory was not
adopted by the Government for some four or five days; at.
tho end of which time the forts first showed the flags of five
out of the eight banners under which the Tartar force is
enrolled.
Since my return to Shanghae I have learned that many
Chineses ascribe the collision altogether to Sungko•lin-sin,
and entirely acquit the Emperor. They represent him as
unable to restrain the Mongols, who, on learning that the
Emperor was decidedly opposed to overt hostility, declared
that, at all events, they would not admit the barbarian by
way of Tien-tsin. The statement is very possibly the truth
—it corresponds, more or less, with the report brought by
M. Mouly from Pekin. It would consist perfectly with the
timid treachery of the Chinese Government that, having
placed its responsibility, as it hoped, a couvert, by with-
drawing its official presence from the scene, it should bide
the issue of a course which, if unsuccessful, it was thus
armed to condemn ; and with the short-sightedness which,
in my opinion, distinguishes its policy, that it should over-
look the more terrible consequence of a success such as that
it has obtained.
(Signed) TIIOIIIAS WADE, Chinese Secretary.

No. 11.

MR. BRUCE TO THE EARL OF MALMESBURY.
(Received Sept. 13.)

Shanghae, July 15, 1859.
My Lord,—Your lordship has been informed in my pre-
vious despatches that the American minister, Mr. Ward,
had associated himself with us in our demands to exchange
the ratifications of the treaty at Pekin, and had further
stated to the Imperial commissioners at Shanghae that he
was instructed to deliver in person the letter of the President
of the United States of America to the Emperor of China.
He could only claim these privileges under the most favoured
nation clause, and therefore awaited the results of the at-
tempts made to detain us at Shanghae. When they failed
he expressed his intention of going to the Peiho, and re-
ceived an invitation from the commissioners to accompany
us there.

On the 24th he crossed the bar of the Peiho in a small
steamer, with the intention of proceeding to the booms, and
making the attempt to advance up the river, leaving it to
the Chinese to fire on him if they chose to do so. His
steamer, however, grounded before reaching them, and was
with difficulty got off by the gunboats, after considerable
delay. He therefore contented himself with demanding a
pabau/se, and was met by a refusal on the part of the mi-

litia, who gave themselves out as the garrison of the forts.
He remained at the mouth of the river during the attack,
determined to push up had we opened a way through the
barriers; and it is very gratifying to me to bear testimony
to the friendly feeling and assistance we derived from him-
self 9.nd Flag Officer Tatnall on that day.
After we had decided on abandoning the attempt to reach
Pekin, Mr. Ward considered himself bound to effect, if pos-
sible, the exchange of ratificaticias under the provisions of
the American treaty. He had received no communication
since his arrival from the Imperirl Government, but he ad-
dressed a letter to the Governor-General, expressing his
wish to proceed to Pekin and exchange the ratifications
there. This letter ho despatched in his steamer to Pe.
tang-ho, with his secretary and interpreter. I enclose
a memorandum, sho wing the nature of the approach to
Pe-tang-ho and its defences.
I have heard indirectly that when the boat from the
steamer approached the shore, most of the villagers fled.
With difficulty two men were found to whom the object of
the visit was explained and the letter delivered, on their
undertaking to forward it to the Governor-General, whose
place of residence they would not, however, divulge. They
at the same time urged the bearers to return without delay
to the boat, to avoid being attacked by the horsemen who
were seen in the neighbourhood. It was fortunate they
did so, for they were chased by the cavalry, two of whom
pursued them into the water.

Soon after a junk came off with provisions, and a mes-
sage from the authorities of the place to say that the letter
had been forwarded, and an answer would be shortly re-
ceived. On the sth of July, Mr. Ward informed me that
the Governor-General had appointed Friday, the Bth, for
an interview at Pe-tang-ho. Having left on the 6th, I do
not as yet know the result.

I do not think that the Chinese will make difficulties
about exchanging the ratifications of the American treaty.
The conditions under which the American minister is alone
entitled to visit the capital, contain nothing offensive to
Chinese pride, or inconsistent with its claims of national
superiority. The treaty does not open the Yang-tze river,
or any port to the north of Shanghae, nor does it give the
right to travel in the interior of the country. It leaves also
untouched the important question of transit duties. The
true policy of the Chinese would be, therefore, ty, recein

111/Lla9,