The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-17 00:00:00

CHINA.

" A letter from London," says the Pays, "gives
us some details relative to the instructions given
to Lord Elgin for his mission to China. He is
to have the superior direction of all affairs
in that part of the world, and for that purpose
he is to receive full powers from the English Go-
vernment, with whom alone he is to be in corre-
spondenee. He is to decide on the opportuneness
of all warlike operations, and to fix the time for
commencing them. In case the authorities of the
country should think fit to send propositions of
arrangement, he is to endeavour to obtain the fol-
lowing concessions :-Ist. The old treaties are to
be renewed and extended to eight ports of China,
in place of five ; and, in addition, English
trading veisels are to have the right of putting
in, from stress of weather or for repairs, to
every point on the coast ; 2d, England is to have,
like Russia, a college at Pekin. The head of that
establishment, which is to be composed of five
members at least, is to be charged with all official
relations with the Chinese Government ; and 3d,
the English are to have military posts in all the
towns in which they have consuls or agents. A
piece of ground shall be conceded to them at Shang-
hai and another at Canton, on which to raise forts
and form military establishments, the strength of
which shall be fixed by common accord. Indepen-
dently of these principal conditions, other secon-
daryipoints are left to the judgment of the English
commissioner."
A private letter from Lisbon, of the 10th, gives
some information of the intentions of the Portu-
guese Government with respect to the affairs of
China. An expedition is in course of preparation
in the ports of that kingdom. It is composed of a
corvette, a brig, a steam despatch boat, and a trans-
port. The garrison of Macao will be raised to 400
men, se:ected from the best troops of the army.
Macao was ceded to the Portuguese in 1579, in the
reign of Henry, the successor of Sebastian, in re-
compence for the services which Portugal had ren-
dered to the princes of the dynasty of Taitsing. In
virtue of that concession, which was renewed in
1725 by the Emperor Yungching, and again in 1796
by liiachihg, Portugal bad the property of the esta-
blishment of Macao, which was administered by a
Portuguese governor, while the Emperor of China
preserved the right of appointing a mardarin to
watch over the interests of Chinese subjects. For
the last 50 years, however, matters have changed.
The Mandarin was allowed to assume the right of
administration of the settlement, and cruelly op-
pressed the foreign population, while the authority
of the Portuguese Governor dwindled into a merely
nominal one. Some years ago the Portuguese Com-
mander, Do Amaral, who represented the Sovereign
of Portugal, tried to enforce respect for the Porta-
gue e flag, and he was assassinated by the Chinese.
Portugal, supported as she will be by other and
mare powerful Governments, appears determined
to profit by the present occasion, and maintain her
rights in China. The garrison of Macao will be
placed under the command of a Governor, whose
instructions are to re-establish in the settlement
the authority of Portugal.