The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-09 00:00:00

ccured for her Majesty and her Majesty's subjects
by the treaty of Tien-tsin, and he felt that he could
hardly, without indecorum, consent to become the
recipient of such a signal favour while the work on
which he was engaged still remained disfigured by
marks of incompleteness and imperfection. If he
overcame his reluctance to present himself before
the authorities as he had done, it was because he
considered their invitation to be a command; and
because he hoped that during the ceremony of the
presentation of the freedom of the City, an oppor-
tunity might be freely afforded him of pledging
himself to increased exertions and renewed sacri-
fices, to justify their favour and confidence, and to
show that his ambition was to deserve that good
feeling of which they had so generously, and by way
of anticipation, given him such gratifying proofs.
(Cheers.) He attached a special fee!ing to their re-
ception, because he trusted that in the judgment of
the Lord Mayor and the company he bad not alto-
gether failed in his endeavours to redeem the
pledge to which he had referred. It was perfectly
impossible for him on the present occasion to
attempt to enter into any detailed explanation
vindicating or justifying the policy which led
them that evening to thank Sir Hope Grant and
that distinguished Admiral to whom they were
so much indebted for bringing troops to the North
of China, and for his admirable organisation—it
was impossible to enter into any explanation of the
policy that led their army to Pekin, or to sketch
the vast results, whether affecting the interests of
commerce, civilisation, or reform, which might b-
expected to ensue from that international compact
which would bring their merchants, manufacturers,
missionaries, and mariners into close relation with
the people, not only of China, but of Japan. He
was anxious, however, to say a few words on those
points, order that certain misapprehensions
might be removed. Referring to the Canton quarrel
`of four years ago, in which 'the charge was made
that he had failed to discharge to the full extent
his duty, the noble earl reminded the company that
that quarrel was an event which produced feelings
of considerable anxiety and disquiet in the coun-
try. It affected the course of our domestic politics,
brought a powerful Administration into collision
with the House of Com Mons, and placed the House
of Commons in apparent antagonism with the con-
stituencies of the country. With the heavy re-
sponsibility which devolved upon me I left Eng-
land for China, but before I had reached my
destination I was placed in the strangest dilemma
in which any public man ever found himself. I
had to choose between a course of proceeding which
would no doubt have seriously imperilled my own
success in China, and another course, which would
have deprived my friend Lord Canning of the mili-
tary aid which must have been most important to
him at the time of his greatest need in India ; but,
after mature and careful deliberation, I preferred
the former of those risks to the latter. I attach
greater value to contemporary verdicts than those
which have been delivered after the event, apd the
most gratifying of these was contained in a letter
which I received from the late Sir Henry Ward,
then governor of Ceylon. I feel some scruple in
reading that letter, but I think it is important, as
the testimony of an able man to the propriety of the
course adopted. Sir Henry Ward says :—" You may
think me impertinent in volunteering an opinion
upon what, in the first instance, only concerns you
and the Queen and Lord Canning, but having seen
something of public life during a great part of my
own, which is now fast verging into the sere and
yellow leaf,'! I may venture to say that I never
knew a nobler thing than that which you have
done in Preferring the safety of India to the success
of your Chinese negotiations. If I know anything
of English public opinion, this simple act will place
you higher in English estimation as a statesman
than your whole past career, honourable and fortu-
nate as it has been; for it is not every man who
would venture to alter the distribution of a force
upon the despatch of which a Parliament has been
dissolved and a general night have been super-
seded. It is not every man who would consign him-
self for many months to political inaction in order
simply to serve the interests of his country, Yon
have set a bright example at a moment of darkness
and calamity, and if India can be saved, it is to you
that we shall owe its redemption, for nothing short
of the Chinese expedition could have supplied the
means of holding our ground until further rein
forcements arrived " (Cheers.) I think this is a
testimony, coming as it does from such a man, of
which any one may be proud. After this sacrifice
had been made I proceeded to China. The Canton
question had become already so complicated that it
was impossible to come to any terms of arrange-
ment with the local Government in that neighbour-
hood, and the capture of that city was a matter of
absolute necessity. But as soon as that capture was
effected—and I am very desirous to impress this on
your mind, because it is not sufficiently understood
in England—l deemed it my duty to take every
possible step in order to bring the war to a close,
and to arrange terms of peace and understanding
with the Chinese Government. With this view I
persuaded not only my excellent friend Baron Gros,
the French Ambassador, but also the admirals of the
United States and of Russia, to join me in a request
to the Court of Pekin that they should send a
plenipotentiary to meet us at Shanghai, in order
that we might arrange all differences between China
and the respective countries there represented.
Shanghai, though very distant from Pekin, was
then a port open to trade, and it was impossible to
have made a more salutary proposition to the
Chinese Government; but they not only rejected it
but they rejected it with contumely. It was not till
we reached Tien-tsin that we were able to find a
negotiator to treat with us. As soon as,we found
him we made a peace, and concluded that peace in
the most solemn manner. The Emperor of China,
influenced by the same evil counsel which had per-
suaded him not to send an ambassador to meet us at
Tien-tsin in the fall of the year, put obstacles in the
way of carrying out the treaty, and the consequence
was, that that great expedition was fitted out and
sent from this country, which has achieved such
wonderful success in so short a period of time, and
which has arranged all our difficulties with China
in the capital of that great empire. (Cheers.) Now,
I am quite aware that that narrative must be ra-
ther tedious to you, but lam, anxious that it should
be understood in this country that we have not
acted harshly or ungenerously towards tLe Chinese
—(cheers)—that at every stage of our proceedings
we have offered reasonable terms and conditions,
and only resorted to force when the obstinate per-
versity of the Chinese drove us to that alternative.
But I know that another question lies behind which
will probably be more interesting to you than this
review of the past, namely, What are the advan-
tages we are likely to derive from the new privi-
leges and rights we have obtained under the new
treaty with China. That question opens up a wide
field for speculation. If we can succeed in establish-
ing friendly relations not only with the Govern-
ment, but with the people of China—if we can per-
suade them to adopt some of our tastes and habits,
and though they are very averse to change, they
are not, like many other Oriental nations, cut off
from all communion with us by the inveterate pre-
judices of caste—if we can succeed in those objects
it is impossible to put a limit to the amount of trade
which is likely to grow up between two Rations so
industrious and commercial. But there is one par-
ticular advantage which is likely to arise from
having an ambassador of the Queen at Pekin, and
it is remarkably illustrated by what has lately
occurred in Japan. A serious crime was perpe-
trated in this country. An European—not a British
subject—was murdered under circumstances which
showed culpable indifference on the part of the
Japanese Government. What followed ? Our
Minister, acting with excellent judgment, retired a
short distance from the capital. He did not threaten
war, but he threatened what we all understand in
Europe by the cessation of diplomatic relations.
(A laugh.) If our former experience in China is
any guide to us, we may conclude with absolute
certainty that if such a threat were made to a sub-
ordinate Chinese functionary it would be of no effect
whatever. That subordinate would report
to i
ollit,
superiors that he had kicked the barbarians
and would claim all manner of honours and .rewards
forihis services. But Mr. Alcock was resident in
the capital of Japan, and in relation to the
Supreme
Government, and, seeing their danger, that Govern-
ment took alarm at his menace, and within a few
of his departure
dblaysboenfael
joefdtdhoe.
days they talkedpossi
future
ea gwahi
e,
ha nhde
greatest calamities wieic.
guaranteeMinlste for tor theeo
offered
d implored
hm
onyou r
chose to dereand. lam quite aware of the wide
difference between Japan and China, and that the
of the Emperor of China are not such in-
telligent people as those of the Emperor of Japan ;
taedlvisers
but I feel confident that the threat of suspension of
diplomatic relations will now have the same effect
in Pekin in the prevention of war and preservation
of peace as it has recently had at Jeddo. At the
same time,
one of the greatest
own countrymen in China is
I must say that the misconduct of our
difficulties with which a British representative
there has to deal. We send out honourable mer-
chants, devoted missionaries, who scatter benefits
in every part of the country they visit, and eleyate