The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-27 00:00:00

iva of the committee would determine him as to th
future course he should pursue.
FISCAL AFFAIRS (IRELAND).

On the motion of Sir D. NORREYS, leave was given
to introduce a bill for the better administration of the
fiseal affairs of counties in Ireland.

WAR IN CHINA.

Mr. COBDEN presented p titions from Darlington and
Brighton, protesting against the course taken in the recent
hostilities with China.

Mr. M. GIBSON presented a similar petition from
Manchester.

Mr. COBDEN then rose to move, " That this house
has heard with concern of the conflicts which have oc-
curred between the British and Chinese authorities in the
Canton river ; and without expressing an opinion as to the
extent to which the Government of China may have ir-
brd ed this country cause of complaint respecting the non-
‘ fulfilment of the treaty of 1842, this house considers that
the papers which have been laid upon the table fail to es-
tablish satisfactory grounds for the violent measures re.
sorted to at Canton in the late affair of the Arrow ; that
1 a select committee be appointed to inquire into the state of
1 our commercial relations with China." He said—Know-
ing to how large an extent the national
econscience has
been moved by the question to which I now invite the at-
tention of the house, judging from the manifestations of
opinion in ordinary organs of information from which we
learn what is passing in the mind of the people of this
great nation, knowing how large an amount of sympathy
the object I have in view has excited, I can only regret
that the subject has not fallen into abler hands. Let me
stipulate, therefore, that whatever may be the decision to
which the house may come, it may be taken on the merits
of the case, and that the question will not be allowed to
saffer on account of its advocate. I beg distinctly to say
that I have no party object, no personal or other motive to
serve—(hear, hear)—but to arrive at a just decision on
this important subject. Personally I have every motive to
avoid giving pain to any one, and still more to visit with
retribution the gentleman who now holds the office of Pleni-
potentiary at Hong Kong, and who, unless his conduct is
endorsed by that Government, I shall hold responsible ft I
the proceedings which have taken place. Sir J. Bowfin; is
a friend of twenty years' standing, and I can have no via•
dictive feeling against him and no desire for vengeance on
him or any other person. I wish the Government had rn.t
come to a hasty decision on this subject, so that we might
have come to the consideration of the question only with a
desire to deal with it on a principle of justice. To begin
at the beginning. It appears that on Bth Oct. last a vessel
called a lorcha, which is a name derived from the Portu-
guese settlement of Macao, at the month of the river oppo-
site Canton, and which means that it is a European vessel,
and not built in China, was boarded by the Chinese officers,
and 12 men taken out of the vessel, on a charge that sonic
of them had been engaged in acts of piracy. Twelve of the
men were removed, and two left in charge of the ship. Im-
mediately on this coming to the knowledge of Mr. Parkes,
our Consul at Canton, ne made a reclamation to the Go-
vernor of Canton, on the ground that according to the last
treaty between this country and China any malfeasance
towards the Chinese authorities by British subjects should
be taken cognisance of before the British Consul, and not
before the Chinese authorities themselves. To this he re-
ceived an answer that the whole of the men and the vessel
were not British, but Chinese. The matter was referred to
Sir J. Bowring at Hong Kong, which is about 12 hours'
steam passage from Canton. On the 10th three of the men
were returned, but nine, on the ground of grave suspicit a
' against them, were retained. Thus the matter stood, when
Sir John Bowring gave an intimation to the Chinese
authorities, that unless within 48 hours the whole of the
men were returned in a manner specified, an apology made
for the act of the Chinese officers, and a pledge given that
no such act should be done for the future, naval operations
would be commenced against the Chinese town. On the
22d of October the whole of the men were returned, and a
letter was sent with them, in which Yeh, the governor
of the province, stated that the ship in question was not
a British ship, and the English had no concern wi,h it,
but that he had returned the men at the instance of the
Consul, and he promised that no British ship should ever
again be visited by a Chinese officer. On the 23d opera-
tions were commenced against the Barrier Forts, and
they were continued until the 2,311; the Barrier, Bogue,
and Dutch Folly Forts, and 40junks, were destroyed. The
suburbs of Canton were pulled, or burnt, or battered down.
Now bear in mind that the suburbs of Cantor contain a po-
pulation entirely dependent upon our foreign trade, and
they are almost our only friends. These operations con-
tinued until Nov. 13, and in fact the governor's house was
shelled. Sheds were thrown at a range of 2,000 yards, to
reach the Tartar quarter of the town at the other aide of
the city. These facts are set forth in the pathetic appeals
to the inhabitants, and the depositions of leading sue I,
some of them of world-wide reputation, engaged in tzaue.
Mat was the state of things up to the date of the last ad-
vices. I lay these things before the house as the bases of
our investigation, not with the view of appealing to your
humanity, or in order to excite your feelings, but to show
that we are at war with China—that a great destruction
of property has taken place. What I want the house to
inquire into is this—How was this affair begun ? Why was
it begun ? And who were its authors ? Not for the bene-
fit of the Chinese, but for the vindication of our own hon-
our. I ask you to consider this case precisely as though you
were dealing with a stiodg power, and not with a weak one.
I have seen with humiliation the tendency in this.country
to pursue two courses of policy, the one for the strong and
the other for the weak. (Ele,.r, heal.) If I know anything
of my countrymen and of the House of Commons, that is
not the natural quality of the English. That never was
our reputation. (Cheers.) We have had the character of
sometimes being a little arrogant and overbearing, and
with having a tendency to pick a quarrel, but we never
had the chat after of being bullies to the weak and cowards
'to the strong. Let us consider this case as if we were
dealing with America. W e have a treaty with China which
puts us on an equality with that country as to our nati nal
relations. That treaty binds us to reciprocal conduct, and
in our dealings with that country we ought to observe
the same justice as we would with regard to the United
States, to France, or to Russia. Now, what are the
grounds for the devastation and warfare we are carrying on
in the Canton river? Our plenipotentiary in China says
that a violation of our treaty rights has taken place in re-
gard to the Arrow. In the first place I think that was a
question which might have been referred home before any
extreme measures had been resorted to. In the next
place I want to know what is the question of international
law ? I will take the opinion of the highest legal autho-
rity in the country, and after the authoritative declaration
made in another place on Tuesday evening by Lord Lynd-
hurst I should consider myself presumptuous if I attempted,
with my ignorance of the laws of nations, to lay down my
views on this occasion. Lord Lyndhurst has declared with
reference to the case of the ship Arrow that the Chinese
governor is right, and I heard him say that he could not do
better in expressing his opinion than by using the very
words of the Chinese governor that this vessel, the Ar-
row, is in no respect a British vessel. (Cheers). But we
have other gfountis of testing the legality of this affair.
When Mr. Parkes communicated the fact of the visit to
this lorcha to Sir John Bowring, Sir John, in reply, said,
" It appears, on examination, that the Arrow had no right
to hoist the British flag; the licence to do so expired on
the 27th of Sept., from which period she has not been en-
titled to protection. You will send back the register to be
delivered to the Colonial-office." And on the following
day, in another letter written to Mr. Parkes, Sir John
Bowring says, " I will consider the re-granting the register
of the Arrow if applied for ; but there can be no ttoubt
that after the expiry of the license, protection coda net
be legally granted." (He..r, hear.) I might step here,
for this is the whole case. But what course did Sir John
Bowring recommend Mr. Parkes to take under these
circumstances? I will ask you to consider yourselves
dealing with another party. I will suppose that in-
stead of being at Hong Kong dealing with Canton we
were at Washington dealing with Charleston. Not long
ago a law was passed in South Carolina which went
against all cherished predilections of this country, re-
uiring that when a coloured citizen of this country, who
is as much an Englishman as you are, arrived at Charles-
ton, he should be taken from his ship, and clapped into
gaol for safe custody until his ship was ready to sail. If
any measure could be taken in any country more calculated
toLwound our susceptibilities as a nation, it that was la w.
What did our consul do at Charleston? Did he send for the
British ships of war and bombard the governor's residence?
No; he informed the minister at Washington, and that
minister went to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs and ob-
tained an explanation—the explanation meaning nothing
more than this,—" We are in a difficulty, you must have
patience with us.' And we had patience; we did not resort
to force. If the case which we ate now considering had
happened at Washington what would have been the course
of our am bassador? When he received a letter from the
consul at Charleston saying he had made a demand on the
American authorities, and when the minister at Washing-
ton referred to the documents in his archives, and found
that, owing to the lapse of time, the instrument on which
the consul had proceeded had become void and of
eno effect,eri
and that he had no standing ground as against
can Government—which is
licence had expired 14 days before—what would _
precisely the cas-aienshtetrhhe,ar foerbetehne.
havethe
to our
the minister
consul,
t.
esaytinssg—as,h, ryngoutobnarvelibeeewhotuoold
,tahtaes;
betheencpapiactaedin
doi
in
tehne
illegal ship, b yproiseigtlie:Dt.i n g to.i3 You have
redress from the governor of
apology as soon as you can."
Lower makplbeireneecnnineptioo hasty in demean ing l
Kong ? After telling Mr. Parkes
Carolina—
Now,
what was the eonTilict of.rthjaohtntaßeoliwereinneog ahtaHdoenxg.
, p.Kiroona-,.that the Arrow had no right to hoist the Bri-
tish flag, andwhat did Sir J. Bowring say? "But the Chinese
had noknowleleelftearoifutntheeecoxpuinrytroyfituhtehleice7,inmcee.:When I
first read that newspaper
I did not believe the fidelity of that copy, anti sent for a
copy of the Gazdte in order that I might read the official
document ; and always wishing to save the character of an
absent man, and believing that it must have been penned
in a moment of hallucination, I must say that it is the most
flagitious public document I ever read. (Cheers.) The
statement itself being published reveals the state of mind,
which warrants you in saying, and compels you to say,
that the statement is false, because there is an avowal of
falsehood, and a disposition to profit by it. I have fre-
quently complained.that the public documents laid before
us are presented in a mutilated shape. I always view with
suspicion any letters headed " extracts." Why did not the
right hon. gentleman at the head of the department, in
revising these letters, omit that letter, or at least that por-
tion of it 1 For the credit of the country and his own cre-
ditt I wish he had done so. (No, no.) At all eve let
at'eutthe
be well understood that if we intend here to
i policy adopted by Sir J. Bowring moo
tion than that, the very fact of our 11
the responsibility of his deeds
Now, air, coupled with this transavcesi
questions of doubt whether ther
boarded, had her colours flyintogi
on board. I think that is.
atter what Iha i (.3
tistied that we have i share the guilt.
n °undoes
makeetoaen of the Arrow are
sel, when row
are
uncitibpfeoetliteerwfoonada.
had an English master
-al eether a secoadary matter,
a But lamby no means Ira-
- net reuaese respects better ground for our
gentlemen who have read the corres-
--H°l gin the first letter written by Mr.
pondene
boarded there was a Bii-
Parkes that when
rd, and that he remonstrated against
tish c.aptain
the Chess'
and that the British flag vessel was
was flying.
Now, the captain,
proceedings.tw hlluo observe
in his own declaration, says thathe was
but that he was brakfasting on
That, however, is a matter of se-
ni_thoetrta,dicit boardo f
another
the A
vessel.r r
4: )
wT.
07:1,u importance. But there are two illegalities to
contend with in this matter—first, the constitutional law
laid down by Lord Lyndhurst, when he says—" You cs,ll:
not give right to the Chinese shipowner as against ul
Government." And Commissioner Yeh
seems
arrived at the same conclusion. Ido not see
how
wwne
bto have
could invest ourselves with the power .ne at
Hon
, andg Kong
g-
of annexing the whole mercantile mearrniment. But, be-
ing them from allegiance to
their Gov
'Ado that illegality, there is another ; even admitting that