The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 25, 1861.

paign now-a-days could, under any circumstances,
prove in any way, to any serious extent, compara-
ble. The catastrophe of that dreadful winter in
the Crimea having swept clear from our warlike
system a thousand perilous abuses : insomuch that
it is not in the smallest particular an exaggeration
to assert, in regard to the late expedition sent out
from this country to the opposite extremity of
the hemisphere, that it was in every way
better equipped than any warlike expedition that
ever previously quitted the shores of England:
ft is one of the happiest recollections
connected with the late war in China, that remem-
brance of the attestation thereby afforded to
us of a better spirit having at length entered into
both the responsible departments of the public
service, of the combination at length of a rational
economy with a wise and prudential forethought
in regard to a variety of contingencies formerly
never taken into account, certainly never before
provided against. The attestation of that better
spirit, of that reasonable and almost despaired of
conciliation having at length in genuine earnest
entered alike into the military system, into the
maritime system, and last, but not least,
into that other and subsidiary system so
essential to the well-being of both of them, the
complex and comprehensive system of the Comis-
sariat Department. Looding back to the manner
in which the British Expedition to China has been
fitted out, we can say of it with perfect truth that
it reflects the highest possible credit upon the
forethought of Lord HERBERT of LEA, upon his
forethought and upon his genius for organisation.
Yet while-we are conscious that no reasonable com-
parison can be drawn between the happy position
and condition of our forces some months ago in
China and the most unhappy and neglected posi-
tion and condition of our forces seven years ago in
the Crimea—we cannot possibly do otherwise than
exult over the fact of the late war in China having
been so very opportunely brought to a favourable
issue—now that we learn tidings. of the severity
with which the wintry weather has set in there in
that remote scene of our recent warlike movements.
We have too painful a recollection of the horrors
of the winter campaign between Balaklava and
Sebastopol to read this suggestive intimation of
the Telegram (flashed to the Foreign-office from
her Majesty's Consul at Marseilles) with anything
like indifference.

' The same telegram, it will be perceived, that
brings us news of the complete freezing up of the
Peiho, announcing to us the satisfactory intimation
that the chief part of the expeditionary foroes had
by the 15th of IDecember safely arrived at Hong
Kong. Not, of course, that the whole bulk of the
Allied armament had been withdrawn from the
shores of the Asiatic Continent, 2,500 English
and " a quota" (it is not specified what is there the
precise number) of our French allies having been
left—(how agreeably reads every word of the
following !)—" comfortably housed with plenty of
warm clothing and fuel" at Tientsin. No more
green coffee berries served out as part of the
' rations ! No boot stores lying neglected in the
hold of one of the transport vessels while our
' gallant fellows are going barefoot in the
snow, their toes rotting off from frostbite and
gangrene ! Nothing more heard now of those
old familiar horrors, but instead of that the com-
forting intimation above particularised.
Further we learn from this agreeable little
telegram, that Lord ELGIN having reached
Shanghai by the 4th of Detember, when the
looked for mail left, was preparing to leave, nay,
for that matter had actually started with Sir HOPE
GRANT—on a friendly excursion to the Japanese !
Everything has gone so well with them in Chinathat
we can only in reason look for the happiest results
as likely to accrue from their visit now to Japan.
More particularly when it is remembered that in
dealing with the Japanese they are holding inter-
course with a far more civilised race than the
Chineso, degraded, enervated, and lowered deplo-
rably from a former happier state of civilisation
under the denationalising and demoralising in-
fluence of the reigning Tartar Government. In
respect to the increasing probabilities of
the eventual overthrow of which, we
yet learn by these last advices, not only
that the rebels are still in force, but
that their strength is steadily and appreciably
increasing. It is impassible for us to lose a recol-
lection of the fact that these Rebels (so called),
these revolutionary Taepings, are to a certain extent
believers in, it may be very moderately and very
confusedly, but still believers in Christianity.
And surely is it not now to bo regarded as
among those signs of the times that, according
to the phrase in the Book of Habbakuk, " those
who run may read"—is it not conspicuously
among those visible signs of the times in China
that, " under permission," the site of YEH'S
yamun, of all the sites that could have been
chosen in Canton, has been selected by the French
for a Cathedral ! Our course is now pretty
plainly marked out for us out yonder in
China—is it not that which is perpetually in-
sisted upon as alone applicable in Italy
to the solution of the problem there of Unification,
that, namely, of non-intervention. With the
civil war in China we have manifestly
nothing whatever to do—let us leave the Tar-
tars and Taepings to fight it out together.
The end will be, we doubt not, eventually, and in
a priceless degree, to the advantage of the Chinese.
It will lead them inevitably, we cannot but rest
assured, to the acquisition of " the benefits of know-
ledge and the blessings of religioa," to the diffusion,
in the fullness of time, of the divine truths of Chris-
tianity, and of the benign influences of European
civilisation through those hundreds of millions of
pagan and semi-barbarous Asiatics.

It will be seen by a communication from Turin,
that if FRANCIS 11, did not surrender at the end
of the armistice, it was not for want of terms which
ordinary prudence would have seized with avidity.
VICTOR EMMANUEL could hardly offer him more,
unless he offered to restore him the Sovereign rights
which the plebiscite of the people had conferred on
the King of PIEDMONT. Indeed, the envoy was
authorised to receive and accept any counter-pro-
position, with this single reservation, which the
ex-KING might make. The King of PIEDMONT
offered him and his garrison all the honours
of war, and something more too the
substantial gift of three months' pay ; and all who
wished could enter the Italian army each in his
own rank and standing. Even the foreign mer-
cenaries were to be taken to the boundaries of their
respective States and receive three months' pay.
The King himself was offered two of the Royal
frigates, under Admiral PERSANO, to convey him
and any other persons selected by him to any
place he wished. It is said that the King yielded
to the representations of foreign diplomatists and
refused the terms. A tolerable field for conjecture,
of course,hary is opened by such a statement, which yet
we
doubt; at present, however, we merely
dl
note the fact.

Lord and Lady Aveland have been entertaining
a succession of visitors at Normanton Park during the rad
fortnight.

LATEST NEW S
A •

FOREIGN OFFICE, lAN. 25.

The following telegram has been received at the
Foreign Office from her Majesty's Consul at
Marseilles, dated Jan. 24, 10,30 p.m. :
Great part of expeditionary forces had arrived
safely at Hong Kong on Dec. 15. The Peiho was
completely frozen up.
Two thousand live hundred English, under
General Staveley, and a quota of French, have been
left at Tien-tsin, comfortably housed, with plenty
of warm clothing and fuel.
Lord Elgin reached Shanghae Deeember 4, and
was about to start for Japan with Sir Hope Grant.
Sir Robert Napier had left Hong Kong for
Calcutta.

957 f 50c. ; Mediterranean, 911 f 25c ; Austrian,
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