The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-14 00:00:00

(From, the Times)
The Earl of Elgin has accepted the office of Plenipoten-
tiary to the Court of Pekin, and will proceed on his ardu-
ous mission as soon as he has been made sufficiently
acquainted with the views of her Majesty's Government.
It would not be easy to name a more unexceptionable man
for the office, or even one with so many positive recommen-
dations. Lord Elgin performed with admirable tact and
entire success the task of conducting Canada from govern-
ment by cliques and Imperial influences to that system of
self-government which has rendered the provinces of British
America an honour, and even a support, to the British
Throne, instead of a scandal and a thorn in our side. He
also successfully negotiated the treaty for reciprocity of
trade between British America and the United States. Of
course, there were those who opposed both these processes,
and therefore did not like the agent employed ; but they are
now a minority, if not converts to the system which he
helped to inaugurate. Lord Elgin is a man of great indus-
try, patience, and forbearance, with ready powers of ex-
pression, and a great desire to accommodate himself to the
habits of those with whom he has to deal. So well did he
discharge the delicate, and, as some thought, impossible
task, of turning Canadian rebels into British Royalists
without any sacrifice of Imperial dignity, that his popu-
larity extended even across the frontier, and ovations were
offered him by the citizens of the adjacent States. He will
not be objected to, therefore, by these who apprehended
that we weee goinz to carry matters with a high hand over
the silly bar barians to whom he is now accredited. It is
almost superfluous, however, to insist on his qualification
when not a single objection has been alleged against
him, though his name has been whispered about for
the appointment from the very day that it was an-
nounced. Other names, indeed, have been thought of, either
for their higher rank or their diplomatic reputation, but
not one for which so much could be said, and against which
so little could even be alleged. This becomes a matter of
serious importance when it is considered that not only are
two empires, the wide world apart, and as different as day
and night, to be reconciled, but factions at home almost as
discordaet and hostile to be won into concurrence. It is
not to be supposed that because politicians speak as if Lon-
don streets were full of competent men therefore they
would be satisfied with anybody; on the contrary, it is
from this glib and easy quarter that we are the most likely
to find any actual choice denounced and vituperated the
moment it is made. In Lord Elgin, then, we have a man
for whom the opinions of most men are already engaged,
and, though that does not secure him from criticism, it
must help to absolve those with whom rests the responsi-
bility of tho choice.
We apprehend, however, that Lord Elgin's instructions
will be so few and plain that he will scarcely have much
opportunity of going wrong. Of course, after the failure
of the Emperor of China to enforce the observance of the I
former treaty on the refractory and almost independent
Cantonese, and after the consequent rupture we have now
to deplore, it will be necessary to demand fuller means of
communication with the officials and population of China,
and that the engagement shall on no account be evaded or
postponed. Whatever demands are made will be in the
interest of all nations, and very much, as we firmly believe,
in the interest of the Chinese themselves. For our part,
we do not believe that any part of this earth was made for
the exclusive use and enjoyment of any one particular
race. In point of fact, millions of the Chinese cannot live
without us and the use we make of our share of the earth's
surface, and as little can we do without them and the
hill slopes they cover with the fragrant and restora-
tive tea plant. We allow the Chinese to enter our
colonies and our great commercial ports, to share our
commerce and divide our gold fields. They have the
free range of every town, village, street, ,or road in the
British dominions. It is only a matter of convenience
whether we insist on a reciprocity of communication to
this extent through the territory of China. But we beg
to observe very emphatically—and wo press it on the notice
of all whom it may concern—that since it is a matter of
necessity for us to give the Chinese something for their
silk and tea, and no trade on earth can be carried on for
ever on the condition of money and money only for goods
—and since out of this necessity has arisen that irregular
traffic in opium which the more narrow-minded philan-
thropists—that is, about ninety-nine out of a hundred of
them—are always laying to the charge of England—not
only our interest, but our reputation and humanity itself,
demand that we should have every opportunity of substi-
tuting some other merchandise than opium. It has been
said, indeed, that the Chinese have so few wants, and that
labour is so cheap there, that we can never hope to bring
our manufactures into competition with theirs, even if it
were humane to drive their labour out of the field. As
the same objections have been made to every step in the
economy of labour, the extension of trade, and the com-
mercial intercourse of nations everywhere and in every
age, we set them down at*their proper worth. For our
part, then, we admit no limit to what we may demand
from these whimsical, subtle, and faithless barbarians, so
long as our demands are regulated by equity and in the
interest of all nations. What it may at this moment be
convenient to demand is another affair, and one which we
presume way be left to her Majesty's advisers.
No doubt, any demands whatever which may be thought
an adequate result, for a great expedition sent across the
globe will be unpalatable to the barbaric pride or politic
jealousy of the Chinese Government. Nor are three hun-
dred millions of people to be despised who, ignorant as
they may be of the art of war, aro not the less crafty
and cruel. It is therefore a service both of difficulty and
danger that Lord Elgin has undertaken. Though he will
not advance sword in hand, and will not, therefore, fulfil
Lord Ellenborough's ideal of the only competent negoti-
ator, he will have his way prepared by a large naval and
military armament. When the Commander-in-Chief—
General Pennefather— has made the proper dispositions,
and is ready for an advance, the British Plenipotentiary
will, we suppose, invite the Emperor to a peaceful settle-
ment of affairs, and under the present deplorable circum-
stances of the Chinese Government it is not likely that our
chief difficulty will be in that quarter. It has, indeed,
been insinuated that we ought not to have taken advan-
tage of an hour of distress and perplexity to press our
claims • but it is the imperial crisis itself which has
brought on the rupture, Commissioner Teh having notori-
ously presumed for a long period on his security from im-
perial control. The Plenipotentiary will have to deal, then,
not only with the Emperor and his mandarins, but with
his insolent viceroys, and with a rebellion almost every-
where victorious. It is likely enough, therefore, that cir-
cumstances will arise which may require great discretion,
temper, and even courage. Lord Elgin, however, must
have counted the cost, and can form some estimate from
the experience of his colonial task. Should he meet with
success his will be a singular lot and a unique glory in
achieving two groat works of conciliation so wide apart
and under such various circumstances.