The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-30 00:00:00

[PRIOR 4D. STAMPED 59

ties of Europe. And therefore, when lam told my
policy is turbulent and aggressive, why then, gen-
tlemen, I appeal to the past, and evidence is not
wanted in regard to these accusations when applied
to the future. The present dispute is one of far
greater importance in principle. than per4ons may
imagine. It is a mistake to suppose that we are at
war with China. As yettbe collision hasbeen purely
local, and the Emperor of China may yet disavow
the barbarian who caused it, but at the same time
I don't expect. that when Lord Elgin reaches China
that will have actually happened. lam inclined to
think he will find things much in the same state as
when the last accounts left, and that the Empe-
ror has trusted to the chapter of accidents.
(Hear, hear.) But then it was said that Sir
J. Bowrin:r and Sir M. Seymour made a second de-
mand which the officers in China had been forbid-
den to make in despatches sent out some 8 or 10
years ago ; and a noble friend of mine, with whom
I was talking before the division in the House of
Lords, said he should vote againstthe Government,
and that his reaQon for doing so was a 'despatch I
had written in 1847. I said don't attach import-
ance to what any gentleman wrote in 1847, but
look to the circumstances of the present case. Now.
the case at the present is different. We said, in
1847, don't you be on unfriendly terms with the
Chinese Government at Canton, but trade in the
usual_ course ; don't you commence hostilities to oh-
tam the fulfilment of our rights according to the
treaty of Nankin, which gives the British subjects a
right to trade in every one of the five towns, of which
Canton was one. True, we thi uk there would be advan-
tage in it-ra manifestad vantage there would be if the
British merchant out of the town and the Chine,e
merchant in the town cordite hold direct °amain,
nication instead of through agents, broken, and
people of that sort, for the British merchant at
Canton is at the mercy of this class of people ; he
cannot carry on his business advantageously as in
the other four towns ; therefore there there is a real
value in the thing. Besides, in order to keep the
English out of Canton the Chinese Commiss-oner
ordered the people to insult them, while the people
outside treat the English respectfully. Sir John
Eowring himself, accompanied by two or three
gentlemen and two English ladies, walked round
the suburbs of Canton, and he says that he found
the Chinese themselves a trading people ; that they
are not a cruel or insulting race as the mandarins
are, and if left to themselves would treat our
people with the same civility and good will as out-
side Canton, or as they are treated at Shanghai ;
and that everywhere else. where the Chinese and
English- are associated everything went on on
the most friendly and comfortable footing. There-
fore, I say, the obstacle was artfully created,
and its removal would be attended with commar-
cial advantage to the merchants at Hong Kong and
Canton. But we said don't interrupt peaceful re-
lations for the sake of this advantage, but it was
interrupted on other grounds, and then it was ob-
vious the personal intercourse betty en our officers
and Chinese officers would and right probably
tend to settle difficulties on the occasion, and if
continued in the future toprevent future misunder-
standing also. Well, that which Sir J. Bowring
told Sir M. Seymour to ask for was not for permis-
sion which I and my colleagues had desired the
Superintendent and Plenipotentiary not to acquire
by force of arms—it was not to enter Canton—it
was the right to have personal intercourse between
our authorities at Canton and the authorities within
the town—it was for a freer communication, and
not for the indiscriminate entrance of all British
subjects. I say it was a proper demand, propeely
demanded, and there could be no pretence to re-
fuse, and the obvious effect of it would have been
to prevent future mistakes and to heal the present
differences ; and supposing Commissioner Yeh didn't
mean to bring about a rupture, I will undertake 'to
say if we had had direct communication at the time
the Arrow was boarded and her crew carried away
—I say if it had been possible for Sir J. Bowring
or Sir M. Seymour to explain the nature of the
question, ' and to argue the question in a frieirdly
manner with the Chinese authorities—the result
which has since taken place would have been pre-
vented. Well, gentlemen, great injustice has been
aone to Sir J. Bo wring. Sir J. BOwrin.g was chosen
by me to go as consul to Canton, and when a va-
cancy in the government at Canton occurred he was
transf-rred to it by Lord Clarendon. Bizt what is
Sir 5. Bowring, and what was he ? It has been said
to be the fashion to place in responsible situations
none but members of the aristocracy—it has '
been the fashion to say these appoirtments go
by favour, and not by merit. lie was not a
member of the aristocracy ; he had not a poweil'ul
influence to protect and support him; he was.a
man like many others in this country, and as many
others will, I Lope, continue to be—he raised him-
self by his own ability and exertions—by his in-
dustry, his talents, and his attainments he raised
himself to the high position in which he is now
placed. Was he a man of wild temper—a firebrand?
Why he was formerly secretary of the Peace Society
—(cheers)—a man of the quietest, most kindly, and
benevolent disposition—a man, I believe, who
never had a• quarrel with mortal man, who loved
peace, whose life had been devoted to questions
connected with the social intercourse of nations,
with commerce, with trade, with the removal of all
impediments which checked and confined the inter-
course of nations—he had, been employed in con-
junction with Lord Clarendon to arrange a better
tariff of duties between England and France, and by
him also employed to induce the Government of
Austria to liberalise their tariff with a view of increas-
ing the commercial relations between Austria and
England, and he WP.S therefore peculiarly adapted to
the office, which consisted mainly in guarding the
commercial interests of this countryin ourcommer-
cial relations with a nation like China, and he was
therefore one of the last men to misuse his power
or to plunge the country into difficulties and
war. And therefore it would have been the greatest
baseness for the sake of a few votes to try to re-
verse the adverse verdict of the House of Commons
by throwing over an agent who performed his duty
to the best of his ability, and whose conduct in our
hearts we approied. We felt that every English-
man with a British heart in his bosom would have
done exactly the same thing under similar circum-
stances. (Cheers.) I will venture to say I could
name some gentlemen who are the organs of the
peace party who would not have been less vigorous
thanfiir J. Bowring. It was no disparagement to
Sir Bowring in appointing Lord Elgin to go out
to settle this difficulty. When special difficulties
arise special men are sent out to settle them. Lord
Elgin has thus gone out without superseding Sir J.
Bowring, who will continue to be what he is, trusted
and confided in by the English Government. Lord
Elgin's mission is for a special purpose, and when
it is finished, as I hope it will be in a twelvemonth
or a little more, he will return and leave Sir John
Bowring in exactly the same position in which he
is now. Well, gentlemen, I have taken advantage
of your kindness. (Cries of "Go on 1") I have
made what is a great deal more than an after-din-
ner speech ought to be, but lam sure you feel a
great interest in the events passing, and I felt it
my duty to give these explanations, such as they
are, for I am satisfied the more these matters are
looked into, the more they are understood, and the
more the details are looked into by the people of
this country, tins more the nation will be confirmed
in the choice of representativea, the more we shall
feel that we stand upon sere ground, and that this
week; and the next week, and the week ac er will
give opportunity of showing us the sentiments of the
electors of everypart of the country. 1 beg to thank
you on the part of myself and colleagues, and I
assure you the moments which official duties enable
me to spare among my friends in this town are
among the most agreeable and happy. (Loud and
long-continued cheering.)

AryvapApErt
DISGRACEFUL R
DERMIN /4•4
rt4l4.'
<es paCcr.l- J-Z
The contest in Kidderminster been has
ass re
one between the Right Hon. R. Lowe, the late
member, and the Conservative candidate, Mr. W.
Boycott, a local solicitor. On Saturday
_last—the
polling day—the electors were allowed to exercise
their privilege in a comparatively quiet manner up
to 2 o'clock in the afternodia, nothing beyond a
little senseless groaning occurring at either of the
polling booths. The various carpet mills( closed on
Saturday at 2 o'clock, and shortly after that hour
the liberated workmen hastened towards the south
polling, boot":: • tetoedon Blakeway-green, and by
about 3 o'clock there could not have been less than
5,000 or 6,000 men and women of the lower orders
assembled upon this large open space. This vast
congregation of Boycott's supporters soon dispersed
the respectable persons who had attended at the
booth during themorning, and a scene ensued of
the most abominable and barbarous character.
Every one who was thought to be in favour of Mr.
Lowe was hissed, groaned, and vilely treated.
Forty special constables, and one or two regular
policemen, under the superintendence of the chef
constable, Mr. Merrifield, contrived to preserve a
space for voters to pass through the crowd to the
booth, but whenever an elector gave in his vote
for Mr. Lowe the mob assailed him with groans
and execrations, spat upon him, kicked and cuffed
him, and subjected him to the most dastardly ill-
usage.
The cars in the service of the unpopularcandidate
were stoned and broken, but those of Mr. Boycott
were allowed to pass along smhartned.. Mr. Lowe
remained in the south booth front o'clock in the
day until after the closing of the poll, and Mr. Boy-
cott visited the 'place occasionally, amid the up-
roarious cheers of his admirers. Between 3 and 4
o'clock, when the mob ascertained that their mkn
was lisely to lose, stones were hurled into the
booth at intervals. Mr. J. Holmes, Mr. J. Par-
doe, and Mr. G. Hoornan, friends of Mr. Lowe,
wet e wounded by the missiles. Oahe close of tie
poll, at 4 o'clock, Mr. J. Kiteley, the mayor, an-
nounced the numbers of votes recorded.. This as-
surance of Mr. Boycott's defeat seemed greatly
to-exasperate the. mob, and several senseless and
malicious individuals were obsei ;sea 'inciting the
people to atack the right hon. gentleman and his
friends, who had triumphed. Stones were thrown
into the booth. Loud imprecations were uttered.
against Mr. Lowe and Mr. James Pardoe, and nu-
merous Tory adherents prepared themselves with
Manifest premeditation to attack Mr. Lowe audit's
supporters. Loud calls were made for Jl4 Boy-
cott to "come out, and let us kill the --," and
with a desire to quell the rising fury of the multi-
tude Mr. Bsycott and one of his friends, Mr. Best,
mounted the hustings and requested the people
quietly to disperse. The ruffians did not heed the
advice given, and threw a volley of stones into the
booth, injuring most of those inside it ; upon which
Mr. Boycott and his friends retired and proceeded
towards the town, the mob making way • for them
and cheering them as they passed. Their depar-
ture was a signal to the cowards surrounding the
booth, and instantly missiles of every description,
stones, brickbats, palings, and even pennypieces,
were thrown at Mr. Lowe and his friends, accom-
panied by oaths of the most fearful character. Mr.
Superintendent Merrifield, by the direction of the
Mayor, then proceeded to form his policeman ; and
Mr. Lowe, with Mr. James Pardoe and Mr.
Holmes and others, walked up the lane, preserved
here by the special constables. By this means the
right hon. member got in front of the mob, although
stoned all the way, and waited with the Mayor fur
a few moments while the constables formed them-
selves into an escort. Before, however, Mr. Mer-
rifield's men could arrange themselves in order,
-showers Of missiles literally rained upon Mr. Lowe,
his supporters, and the officers. Mr. Lowe was
bleeding copiously from a wound in the head, and
nearly every person around him was cut on the face
and head. Under these circumstances a retreat
became necessary, and the right hon. member and
his friends retired towards Mr. Shepherd's school,
some 300 yards distant, hotly pursued by the
infuriated mob, who stoned them with re-
volting brutality. Luckily the peirsued gentlemen
gained refuge iu Mr. Shepherd's house, which
stands back from the road, and is protected by high
iron gates and a seven-feet wall. The mob eudt a-
voured to force an entrance into the place, and
tried to wrench the locks off thegates ; the attempts
were unsuccessful, but they did considerable da-
mage. I,,ltmdreds prowled about the spot for several
hours, swearing that they would kill both Mr. Lowe
and Mr. Pardoe, and it is pretty certain that they
would have carried out their murderous intent had
an opportunity offered. Mr. Lowe was so seriously
injured and weakened from kiss of blood that it was
found necessary to secure the services of Mr. Stret-
, ion, surgeon, forthwith. The mob allowed the
medical man to pass through them into the house,
and directed him to inform his patient that they
were determined " to do for him" before be left
Kidderminster. Mr. Stretton discovered that Mr.
Lowe had sustaiiied a fracture of the right parietal
bone of the skull, in addition to a lacerated scalp
wound and two severe contusions on the side of the
head. Mr. Pardoe hid suffered contusions ou the
head and body. Mr. Holmes received an incised
wound on the scalp, from which blood flow.d freely.
Before the surgeon had attended to the gentlemen
named Police-con-table Jukes was carried into the
house in a state of insensibility, coveredavith blood.
The poor fellow had been struck nearly all over with
stones. One missile had fractured two bones of
his nose in a frightful manner, and. another had
caused a large lacerated wound of the skull. It
appears that part of the mob, on being foiled from
further injuring their higher victims, commenced
stoning, beating, and kicking the policemen ; they
very soon scattered the specials, every one of whom
exhibits marks of the fray, and it is almost miracu-
lous that Mr. Merrifield and his nine regular officers
(all there are in the town) escaped comparatively
unhurt, notwithstanding that they were struck re-
peatedly on their heads and bodies with stones.
Having pelted the police as long as they pleased, and
imagining that Mr. Lowe had escaped from Mr.
Shepherd's by the back way to the Albert Inn, in
Be wdly-Areet, kept by Mr. Potter, the mobsmasbed
every window in front of the building. Mr. Merri-
field and what few of his men were not yet disabled
made a bold stand against the crowd while they were .
committing this outrage, but of course seven or
eight persons were powerless against hundreds.
Tne crowd then defiled into the town, amusing
themselves by the way with occasionally smashing
windows, insulting every well-dressed person they
met, and lustily yelling "Boycott for ever." For
several hours hundrsda of the populace paraded
the thoroughfares, shouting and screaming. In
order to vary the entertainment, the throng also
engaged themselves in.pulling down the shutters of
establishments kept by unpopular persons, and iu
bonueting all who dared to remonstrate with them.
About 12 o'clock symptoms of a row were mani-
fested by the mob collected in High-street, the
preparatory tokens of hostilities being the breakage
of windows in the Lion Hotel. At this juncture,
however, the clatter of arms and horses' hoofs an-
nounced the arrival of a troop of 50 Hussars from
Birmingham, which had been telegraphed for
shortly after 4 o'clock, and the fear of cold steel had
quickly a quieting effect upon the rioters.
The Mayor and magistracy, whohad been sitting
en permanence, made their appearance under the
protection of the military, and his worship at once
reat the Riot Act, orders were given to clear the
streets, and the soldiers and the police effected this
operation in the course of two hours. The Hussars
remained on duty until 4 o'clock in the morning, .
and will stay in the town for one or two days, as it
is feared another outbreak may occur on Monday.
The police managed to apprehend four of the
ruffians engaged in the riot, and will summon be-
fore magistrates a number of the local mobocracywho are known to have taken an active part in the
melee.
Mr. Lowe was removed from Kidderminster be-
tween .10 and 11 o'clock at night. In addition to
the gentlemen we have named Mr. Green, tax-
collector,' Dr. Ronald, and. Mr. Stockdale, of the
Swan Inn, have been
Wounded. Hundreds of the
people were cut and bruised about the head and
face, for when the riot was at its height the mob
attacked both friend and foe.

NAVAL REVrzww.—The naval reviews to take place at
Toulon on the occasion of the Grand Duke Constantine,
about the 21st of April, are to rival the
e Saturdays famousts
eFvteuxnswbiilineibergier.
tiors at Portsmouth.
GC—Rol:AC:a:or:81:os: snylwee, tsrd;Nli ttdelhaopelinh lo ednfeoto, r;nwtly:Ti. gevAyiev, nenSnoenybgnmy
Lieutenant-Colonels
, comp aWalker,nNy
evilts,
Hon. w. Scarlett, Hon. It. Charteris ; General Knollys ;
Captains Farquharson, White, Moore, Viscount Kirk.
wan, now, Hay, Lambton, Wheatley.; Majors Lindsay,
Fraser, Astley,Gipps, Gage.
.Two BOYS DROWNED.—Yesterday afternoon four boys
saving surreptitiously unfastened a small skiff from iti
moorings near Dockhead were borne along by the tide
against a tier of colliers and upset. Two of the bey;
contrived t 3 take hold of the mooring-chains of the cot-

!kers and were saved ; but the others, named Alfred
Harris and Charles Hatch, living in Long-lane, Ber.
mondsey, were drowned.
OFFICIAL APPOINTMENTS.—Lord Cowley, her Ma.
jesty's Ambassador at Paris, is to be immediately raised
to an earldom, by the style and title of Earl Cowley, in
consideration of his eminent public services. Mr.
Donald M'Laohlan is appointed her Majesty's Consul at
Sourabaya, in Java. Mr. William Lawiese is appointed
her Majesty's Consul at Guadaloupe. Mr. G. F. Cros.
thwaite is appointed her Majesty's ConSul at Cologne.
---04erver.