The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-30 00:00:00

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FORMER EMBASSIES TO .CHIN 4, ceiN D
THEIR RESULTS.

It is a curious fact that though the Venetians,
the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the Court of Romo
have all Sent embassies to China with a view of es-
„or-114X3pirding comnaeneial, Interco arse,
they have all met Vie seine fete—tailitre. The em
bastsy of Nicholas and Matthew Polo, in 1260 ; that
of Mare° Polo, in 1295 ; of the Portuguese Jesuits
at Mame, 1573 ; of the Dutch embassies in 1655
and 1795 ; of the Russian Mission, 1693 ; of the
Papal Embassy, in 1720 ; of L, rd Macartney's in
1793 ; and that of Lord Amherst, in 1816—all pro-
ceeding from commercial views, have all faile I to
procure anything approaching to a treaty of al-
liance or the establishment o free trade. Their
effect on the minds of the Chinese Government and
people • has moreover been the very reverse of salu-
tary. To propitiate a barbarous power they
have carried I+ I.Jug wi, h them valuable presents
from their Governments ; ut so far from effect-
ing the desired end, these very bribes have tended
to defeat the object they were meant to further.
They have been regarded by the Chia eEe as tributes
to the universal rule of their Emperor, who, in
their opinion, has conferred an overwhelming obli-
gation on the various Courts by which they have
beau sent, by receiving them.
-If we consider the Mince of the Portuguese at
the Court of Pekin, the means by which they made
their settlement at Macao, and the multiplying re-
sttietions under which they were allowed to remain
there ; if we consider the humiliations of the Dutch,
and their expulsion from Formosa ; if we consider
our own establishment, the mode its which we have
been trifled with, and the humiliations to which
Lord Amherst and his suite were subjected, we
shall find it intolerable that Europe should be thus
insulted by a barbarous power, and should yet ap-
proach the Emperor of China with presents in sup-
port of petitions.
In no instance has, anything been gained from
the Chine-e except by force, or kept without force.
There was, indeed, a time when the Emperors of
the Mantchoo dynasty, reversing 'he example of
their Ming predecessors, who erected brass stakes
to repel the ingre3s of foreigners from the South
and West, did all in their power to encourage fo-
reign intercourse. At their Court there was tolera-
tion of all religions. Christian and Mahommedan
foluad an asylum ; letters and the sciences were fes-
tered, and commerce was deol,red free. But the
shock to the prejudices of the Cbiuese was too
great. Rebellion broke out in several province.,
and an army of a hundred thousand men declared
war against the Liberal principles of Shang-hi,
the second Emperor of the Mautchoo race, who was
thus compelled to yield to his people. The ports
were closed against the Europeans. As in religion
and bravery the Tartars have exchanged their na-
tive character for that of the people they have con-
quered, they have also adopted their bigoted anti-
pathy to foreign intercourse ; and though in all pro-
bability the reigning Emperor deplores the con-
duct of Commissioner Yeh, he has not only the
prejudices of his faithful subjects to contend with,
but those also of the rebels, who have formed a
point of amicable contact with the Imperialists in
the late outrages against the foreigners—Morning
Advertiser. •

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They are als invaluable for shooting, deer-stalking, and
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same great power. tier Maje tv's nowt-Guards aro making
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dilly--opposite the York Hotel.

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THE UNFORTEIN.A rB E.HIP "TRANSIT.
INEWSPAPER
(Front the Times)
It seems that in our military and naval •
ment the thing that has been shall be. 'O pa •-a_es •' Sse\
years the storm roused by the misdo.
• - -;r
East has raged, and the public might bee. 4.faeia,
thinking that. it had swept away the evi a .Ce.
e.sk.
brought. on such great calamities. Of late a s
world in general, and we with the rest of the worl ,
had begun to think that enough had been said. •
Let the Crimean delinquents and the Scutari delin-
quents return to. the obscurity from which they •
had emerged to an unhappy notoriety. The cause
haci ',leen won, the proper effect had been produbed,
and no future war in our time would exhibit the
incapacity and perverseness of 1854. A Lucan or
an Airey would be impossiWe within the next
quarter of a century. But we have been deceived.
Here it is all over again. The spirit of our late
heroes of misrule still animates their successors who
are to carry on the Chinese war. If the "insolent
barbarian" himself were represented at the Ad-
miralty we could not have proceedings less calcu-
lated to insure the speedy chastisement of our
enemies. We will say nothing at present about
the delay in sending out the steamers and gun-
boat, in default of which Sir Michael Seymour is
lying on the defensive at the mouth of the Canton
River. But the Transit bas turn©d up again. On
the 19th of this month she was in Corunna harbour,
where she had put in "in deep distress:"• Two
days of the Bay of Biscay had sent her in to be
fresh rigged. A writer on board tells us what all
acquainted with the vessel knew before :—" You
never saw a worse seaboat in your life—crank, top-
heavy, and everything that is bad." . . . Such
an old tub you never saw ; the rigging never set up
or anything secured ; we had hard work to keep
the masts from going over the side." . . "I
am certain," he add?, she will never weather the
Cape, or she will , deceive all on board, beth
soldiers and blue jackets." . . . "You must
think what she must be when I tell you for a
truth that there are not 'a dozen-meu (troops) on
board with a dry hammock, every seam in her
deak letting in water." Such is the condition of
a Government vessel with 800 troops on board, just
commencing her voyage of 16,000 miles ! Now, is •
•
not sue Iran irreidenb- eiss this attiCaeiontto jar stifystP4SeesSes
unceasing Vigilaliee and the urrafiaring latignaideof See--571,1.7 a
ts'.*.
the press '? Here is a vessel which has been proved
over and over again unfit for the conveyance of . •
troops, and which broke down with the Howe of
Lords a year ago in a trip of a few hours, and now
we ha:ve, it sslected by ttie au horities to perform a
voyage of immense length • and difficulty wish. as
entire regiment of British troo!. s on board. Odicial
indifference to advice and criticism has been dis-
pleyed in the most provoking manner in the whole
affair. The surprise of naval men, the remon-
strances of the press, and even the warning of the
accident at the Needles, have been alike disresarcled,
and the miserable craft, with its doomed fcieght,
haslspea sera off, perhaps to destruction, certatnly
to disaster and danger. What a teing it is for this
great nation- with its „abundant resources and its
boundless liberality, toereflect upon, that the men
who are sent out to fight its: battles are soalied
through nightly whenever there is any .ee,,, end
that they es.-e c almly epeculatine on the peebability
cf aIL g0i.14 toetheebo ttoin to&tI ler !
. The Transit enibarkel the 9Uth Begimeet nearly
a month'ago, arid she is pi obab'y by this time
hardly out of Corunna. So, if even she meneges to .
prosecute her voyage without any fatal mishap, we
may form some idea of its duration. The unfor-
tunate 800 will, of course, make a coasting voyage
after the- antique fashion, stopping at every point
in the way to refit after centiuually recurrent
breakdowns. The end of this medera Odyssey it
is•impossible to predict. The 90,h may arrive in
China old men with seOWy,beirds, to tell the sad
experience of long years of .wandering..` As their
spectral craft enters Hong Kong harbour—Of course
,breiking down once_ more .in the attempt—they
i
may find them Selves n the midst-of a nets civilisa-
tion, among vessels propelled 'by electricity, an it
aerial maclbines in the place of Carta.' AN to their
arriving in time to take any part id the operations
of the present summer, that is, of coulee, out of
the question. . However, we have done ouy.part in
exposing the folly and recklessness of employing •
such a vessel on such a service, and for the rest the
.Admiralty must reckon the nation, and with
a neW Parliament, which will not, we hope, be so
toleFant of flippaet replies and. shallosv excuses as
the old. " •