The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-29 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

A very numerously attended meeting of this society
was held on Monday evening, at their rooms, No. 15,
Whitehall-place—the president, Sir R. Murchison, in

the chair. •
The minutes of the previous meeting having been
read and confirmed, a number of nee members were
elected, among whom were Sir G. Simpson, Major-Gene-
ral Sir It. Alexander, and Mr. Layard.
The CHAIIMAN opened the proceedings by announc-
ing that a subscription list was about to be opened to the
public on behalf of the private search which Lady Frank-
lin is about to undertake at her own cost. Without at all
questioning the decisions that had been come to as to the
desirability of the Government taking upon itself this
expedition, be would only remark that it was with re-
gret her Majesty's Government had come to the determi-
nation they had arrived at. A men of science, that
society had always .advocated those A rctic researches,
and they still hoped that some relios of the much
lamented traveller, Sir John Franklin, might yet be
found, although they knew that the area to be searched
was extremely limited. They, however, knew that it
was easily approachable, that ships had gone to it and
returned from it without the loss of a man. He then

proceeded to read an address, which it was intended to
place befora the public through the medium of the press
in furtherance of the object in view, adding that before
the appeal was actually made very nearly 8001. had been

lrei:iy received. ,
Sir J. F. DAVIS then read a lengthy paper on Canton
and its forte. He wag aware that be could offer very
hate that was new on the subject of China to the en-
.. _

lightened audience before him. He would, however, say
a few words on the scene of the late operations, and the.
probable place of our future ones. All our troubles since
the late war had been at Canton, which, however, had
escaped chastisement. It was, in his opinion, the best
policy towards the Cantonese, and justice and humanity
towards the population of the north-east coast of the
Canton River, that if a lesson is to be ministered to
the Chinese at all, it should be in the right quarter,
Canton, the source of all our grievances. If we were to
leave Canton to itself, as we had done before the other
provinces which were really nnoffending would with jus-
tice complain of our not addressing ourselves to those
who bad offended us--the Cantonese being really the
source of all the inholences practised towards the British
people. Moreover, there was nothing to lose in the cap-
ture and occupation of Canton, Hong Kong being
capable of supplying us with all we require from the
natives. The whole distance from Canton to Hong
Kong was about 77 nautical miles ; Whampoa was
about 10 miles below the provincial city, which was a
great drawback to the trade: The principal defences on
the Canton river were the Bogue forts, which, in ap-
pearance, were very formidable, though in reality they
had been three times taken by the British. A little
•higher on the left of the river was a long battery, on the
Tiger Island, and no other defence occurred until the
first Bar battery was reached, also on the left bank,
erected in 1841. - Toe principal defences towards Canton
were at the point called the barrier, where there were
ab out six batteries, and where the two divided channels
of the river unite, and this position would be impregnable
were it not for the absurd plan epee which the defences
were built. The remaining defences on actually reaching
Canton were—first, the French Folly fort, formerly on
the east of the city, but which had been blown up and
destroyed by Sir M. Seymour ' • next, the Red Fort, and
. another called the Shah-min Fort. Nearer to Canton,
in the ease° passage, is the MaCon Fort and the Bird's
Nest battery, a little higher on the left bank. Sir M.
Seymour on temporarily leaving the south position bad
wisely occupied Cow Fort, and had placed his' ships
within signal distances et each other all down the de-
fensible portion of the river, so as to avail himself of
their co-operation in case of need. Considerable diffi-
culty was occasioned by the numerous creeks and inlets
existing along the river, from whence the Chinese pirates,
of whom there were a considerable number, might seed
oat fire rafts with impunity. The species of vessels
most wanted according to the last accounts were
gun oats to follow these men 'to their retreats, and
cicst e'y their means of carrying on. these practices,
Alirdlest every Chinese afloat near Canton was a pi-
rate, and perhaps one of the most beneficial results of
destroying Canton would be the ridding the river of
these pirates. The excuse for these man arming their
vessels is that of self-defence against pirates. Both the
internal and external troubles of China seemed to have
conspired to favour the progress of our own colony,
Hong Kong, which now contains 70,000 Chinese in-
Chinese inhabitants, having occasionally 100 European
ships in the harbour, which was one of the finest in the
world. Leaving Hong Kong, at a diitar cc of 247 miles
was Amoy, the harbour of which, and the approaches to
it, were conducive to trade ; the chief objection to the
port being the small trading capital possessed by the
native merchants. Then came Kin-tchou, Ning-po, the
Maud of Chusan and Shanghai, which is 900 miles from
Canton, and two-thirds only of the whole distance along
the coast to Pekin. Shanghai as a place of trade had
far exceeded all expectation, having outstripped Canton,
notwithstanding the troubles that bad ensued there in
consequence of he having been taken by a party of rebels
some years ago- Toe position there of the British was
very different from that at Ca,ton, having obtained far
more than our treaty right. In fact, the Brittah sub-
jects had been &lowed to fortify the place, and in his
(Sir J. Davis's) opinion, the best way of 'showing the
' Chitsese that it was not their territory, but their trade,
that v.e wanted, would be to reduce those fortifications
at the earliest possible opportunity. Next in order came
Nankin, wbioh afforded the greatest facility for trading.
With regard to the greet rebellion which distracts the
Chinese Empire, he said there could be no doubt that
the existing insurrection in Clifina was the result of oar
own war with that country. The number of robbers
and criminal associations were very great, the army
never having recovered from the want of success in "the
barbarian business"—as they call the late war. The
condition of the Chinese as a military people bad but
little, if anything, improved during the last 21 years-
Mr.
CRAWiroRD said, though he had never been in
China he bad lived for a considerable period amongst the
Chinese people. They knew that Chink was a very popu-
leus country, but there bad been some mistakes Mout the
extent of its population. It was not, as was supposed,
the most densely populated in the world—not so much so,
indeed, as Great Britain and Ireland. With regard to
the emigration from China, it was caused mainly by the
protection afforded to Ceine-e emigrants by the Euro-
pe.n governm'-nts, and especial y by our own govern-
ment, which had encouraged them to settle. They were
composed of men in the prime of life, not a boy, nor an
' old man was to be seen among them. Chinese women
never emigrated ; and, as it was not good for man to be
alone, it was supposed that this absence of their own
country-women was a great cause of the turbulence and
ill conduct of the men. Every Chinese c xpec's to return
home at some time or other, although the majority never
did so. They were in the Eastern Islands an exceed-
ingly industrious and well-doing people, and he bad
never experienced the slightest inconvenience from their
. misconduct—in fact, he had received assistance from
them in cases of emergency. It had been said the Chi-
nese were conspiring against us wherever they were
found, in our pos.sessions or otherwise, but tbie ho be-
lieved to be entirely without foundation. He then pro-
ceeded to refer at come length to the import and export
trade of China. He said there was one great article of
import into China—viz., opium—about which much had
been said, but he considered it was far less injurious
than ardent spirits, either British or Chinese. He had
good authority for this statement—that of Sr Benjain.n
Brodie. His words were to the effect that opiuin
soothes the nervous system • and brandy or alcoholic
spirits irritate it exceedingly ; the one is compara-
tively innocuous, the other is very noxious. Both were,
no doubt, liable to abuse, but Le believed opium more
rarely abused than ardent spirits. Three millions of the
revenue of India was derived from opium, owing to the
great stupidity of the Chinese, for if they were a people
• of sense they would endeavour to regulate aid control
that which they cannot stop. It was not our business
to put a stop to that which the Chinese thenagehes
would not set their face against. In conclusion he said
the only point upon which he ventured to differ with his
friend Sir F. Davis was as to the mode of carrying on
the opeiations in China • be seemed to think that the
capture and occupation of Canton would be all-sufficient.
It had not been sufficient before. It was 1,200 miles
, distant from the seat of the Chinese Government, and
•' he (Ntr. Crawford) thought the most effectual way to
bring the Chinese Government to its senses would be to
. ' cut off the communications, by means of the canals, with
• the capital.
• Mr. DEVITT wished to know whether the same port of
- piracy that existed in the Canton waters existed on the
other portions of the Chinese seas, as if so itevould have
- a 'nest important bearing upon the proposed extended
trade.

Sir F. DAVIS said the piracy which prevailed was very
much the res4l-, of the physical construction of that part
of the coast, which had a number of small island's and
creeks—extensive fishing also created those maritime
'-' habits so essential to the profession of a pirate. This
piracy did not, however, extend far al ing the coast, and
Abe thought that the possession of the gunboats to be
taken out would afford an -opportunity to our authotities
of disarming every armed boat thev came in cnitact with.
With reference to Mr. Crawford's scgtzestion.tbat the
capture and occupation of Canton would not have the •
desired effect, he must remind that gentleman that on
the former occasion alluded to the fine levied upon Can-
ton did not in reality puni.o the Cantonese, as it was
paid by the Governtrieut. He thought that if our troops
were gar:isoned there, and they were pot to some of the
other inconveniences of- capture, it, would effect the ob.
ji•ct desired: In referenco to the opium trade, he
quite agreed with Mr. Crawford as to the physical effect
of opium. Since the war the Chine,e had virtually
abandoned the prohibition of its use, and it was publicly
used and traded in. It would be an act of intrusion on
our part to interfere with that which was sanctioned and
permitted in open day ; w.a hal no more business to in.
terftro with the use of opium in Caina than the Cainese
had to interfere with, our consumption of spirits, which
were far more baneful in their cAisequences.
The SECTETART then read a brief paper by Mr. Gre-
gory. "On the Completion of the North Australian Ex-
penition," in which that gentleman described the re-
sults of his investigatinns in that territory in the most
lavonrab!e terms, stating that the country, as respects
climate, fertility of soil, and extent of it, and its capabili-
ties, far surpassed Western Australia.
prepar-
ing a map of the route which he ha. re trazts ea;tedfrln
Victoria to Moreton Bay, and which
would doubtless be
published as soon as possible.
Some diesas,ion then took place upon the paper ; after
which

The CHAIRMAN announced that one of the society'
gold medald had been awarded to Mr. Gregory, to
whom the voeiety was greatly indebted for the great and
valuable information ho had eo frequently bestowed milt,
arming from hia expioratiorpi.
The proceelings terminated at a late hoar.