The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-29 00:00:00

TUESDAY EVENING,
fl SUN, LoNDorcl

every city, and rural police walk up and down the Lanka
of every canal. China always has been and always rnust
be a country of frequent revolutions, secret sooieties,
and powerful robbers. In all for -ner times, whenever
some great event lights up for a moment the iliatcric
gloom in which the common people live and suer, we
find all these influences strongly working. Chinese so-
ciety then comas out like that of a drop of Stagnant
water seen through a microscope. Water lions are de-
vouring the smaller ugly things, which in their turn are
feeding upon the still smaller fry, and thus downwards
to infinity. In 1224 years China, so famed in the West
for the gelidity of her institutions, has undergone
15 changes of dynasty. So ancient is this curse of
turmoil that the oldest known vase, attributed by Chi-
nese writers to a period long liefore the birth of Christ,
bears upon it as an inscription an aspiration for "Ten
thousand years' rest from violence and troubles." The
founder of the Ming dynasty in 1368 was a servant at a
Buddhist monastery, who joined a vagrant band of ma-
rauders. Whenever anything occurs of histOrie import-
ance we always find that some bandit had a hand in it.
The land was always full of them. When the Tartars
possessed themselves of China one of these bandit chiefs
had just possessed himself of Pekio, and the last of the
Ming race had just hung himself. In 1635 the interior
contained eight separate rebel armies, eash wide its
leader, its set of grievances, and its appetite for plunder.
It was a pirate who drove the Dutch out of Fermosa ;
the son of a "celebrated pirate" who helped the Can-
tonese to defend their city against the Tartars ; and it
is a pirate who the other day destroyed the Portuguese
piratical fleet at Ningpo. In all ages and at all times
China has been coasted by pirates and traversed by
bands of robbers.
When I was at Ningpo I used to watch these house-
less vagabonds. There was a large colony of them
always located in a huge ruinous square tower over the
Salt Gate. In early morning I used to sit upon one of
the two guns of Ningpo and look through the broken
walls upon the filthy scenes within that tower. There
was always a store of stolen dogs tied up, and one of
these. was killed for the morning meal. Then they sepa-
rated. for the day, to return at what hour of night I kno w
not, fur I took care not to make one of that party after
dark. There was no police to keep them in order ; but,
probably, if their depredations had become quite insuf-
ferable the Taontai would have called out a certain num-
ber of soldiers and exterminated them, or the tradesmen
would have banded together and destroyed them,
In such a country the merchant must make up his
mind to ran some risk ; but still this rebellion is some-
thing more than a normal element of Chinese society.
It is not a general insecurity, It is a positive stoppage,
It is an aneurism in the great artery of China. It is a
stoppage of the Yang-tse-kiang.
If the rebels had taken Pekin and changed the dy-
nasty it had been a matter of no importance to us. If
they had taken Kwangtung we might have treated with
them. But they have located themselves in a position
where they can do us nothing but positive mischief.
Th 7 do not move. They neither grow into a power, nor
sink into a rabble. So far as appearances show, the siege
of Nankin may last for 10 years longer. The rumour of
to-day is contradicted by the not more certain intelli-
gence of to-morrow. Nothing is certain, except that so
long as the people inside can get food, and so long as the
army outside get their pay, nothing will be done.
But something must be done in the interest of com-
merce. All the British Navy could rideiu that deep wide
river which rolls by Nankin. There are two convenient
islands there—the Gold and Silver Islands—which naighi
be garrisoned by the treaty Powers for the protection of
neutral vessels nutil these troubles are over, and the pre-
sence of a couple of steamers, such as the Inflexible and
the Fury, with a gunbsat or two, to act as runners
higher up, would not be to*O'great a price to pay for se-
curity upon the great trunk road of China. I don't think
there would be any objection urged at Pekiu agaiint this
course, and as to the rebels; Mr. Medhurst, who ie, now
in Pngland, and who made some reports to the Govern-
ment on the subject, can t-ll you if he ,pleases, what
manner of man they are, and what title they have to our
syinpathies,
/4. The fourth and most emphatic reason given for the
vary gradual increase in the sale of British produce is the
largo protective duties levied at the Custom-houses.
.:I came out to China strongly imbued with the convic-
t]. n,-so universal in England, that the inland Custom-
h uses shut in our British produce within a narrow area
coast country. I found the same belief prevalent in
oi
on; Kong and Shared by our English official,.
Mr. Rutherford Alcock, who in 1848 made some
inquiries in reference to these inland or transit duties
AS they bear upon the commerce of Shanghai, could
only discover that they. were censtantly alleged as a
canes of delay and difficulty- in bringing the produce to
t6at port, and that they had been found a serious impe-
diment to the ready circulation of our goods beyond
Soochow, so much so that the tea merchant would at
once get rid of the longeloths he had taken in exchange,
and incur a loss of 20 or 30 per cent., rather than incur
tile delay, trouble, and risk of endeavouring to carry
"tem with him into the interior. "In truth," he re-
arks, " the port of Shanghai is only open to trade so
filr as the inner cordon of Custom-houses are permeable
and allow ingress-to ourgOods."
; No doubt the Custom-houses of Hangchow, known as
Cie Tehein Kwan, and of Soochow, two of the largest
trading cities in the empire, are so placed as to be
Capable of intercepting nearly the whole of the, impperte
and exports of Shanghai, with the exception of silk,
ppon which are accumulated on it 3 arrival at that port
tee triple duties of the Tehsie, the Taeping, and the
'.an Custora-hOuies. This is the chain it would have
bad to pass had its destination been Canton ; and the
triple duties are consolidated at Shanghai in order that
I,he barbarians may gain nothing by having a new Oaip-
ping port nearer to the raw produce.
This arrangement was in accordance with the edict
published in the Pekin Gazette in September, 1844 :
"The amount of fixed duties to be sent to the capital
by the Canton maritime Custom-house was 899,064
ltaels ; and besides a surplus of about 1,000 to 40,000
I
/lad& However, since now the trade will be carried on
t the other four ports, the receipts at Canton will fall
short of that sum, and therefere Foochow and the other
ports must, after having realized their respective quotas,
make up the deficit at Canton.
Bat inasmuch as the trade of Shanghai was for the
last six months 14,990,0001., and as Shanghai alone
now returns to the Chinese treasury more than• two
millions of taels, all difficulty on this score has ceased..,
Again, the edict of 1844 provides tha`—
.

"The duty on raw silk, now fixed at ten taels per
picul, is less than it was formerly, and the five ports
being-now open merchants will go with this article to
the nearest market. But they must make up the lose of
the transit duties, which otherwise would have been paid
if they had pro:eeded to Canton in whatsoever'port they
sell their cargo."
I have now examined the four reasons usually given in
England for the uneatisfactory condition of our export
trade to China. They whose interest in the subject or
whose great patience has enabled them to accompany me
in this investigation, will, I hope, agree in my conclu-
sion that these causes are insufficient to account fey the
effect is the macriiitade in which we see them. I now
proceed to peint*out some other causes which, I think,
exercise a more important influence.
I must divide these reasons also into four classes. 1.
That we are beaten by fair competition in the Chinese
markets. 2. Ignorance of British manufacturers as to
the requirements of China. 2. That British exports are
an uapoptlar branch of commerce with British. mer-
chants. 4. That the country is not open to our merchan-
dise.

Three of these reasons will, I fear, not be popular
either in England or in Chinn. I must defend them as
shortly as I can in the order in which I have propounded
them.

lit. You are btaten by fair compLtion in the Chi-

Ile e markets.

Tee Arne:icans beat you in drills and *heetirigs. At
Shanghai, in 1556, the imports were 221,716 pieces of
American drills, aga;nq 8,745 English.; and 14,420 of
4..inericau sheetings, against 1,240 English. Toe reason
given for this is, that in these heavy goods the labour is
in sina.'l-propertion'to the cast of the raw material, and
ti e producer of the -raw material must have the wive,-
tage. LThie may be to; I only chronicle the fact that we
are beaten by fair competition.
In woollen goods you sustain a close rivalr: with the
Gerienne and Itus‘iarly. At Elong,kong itself 1 found the
table.-;Jovere were almost. universally of German manufac-
ture; At Niegpo examined a great znaoy pieces of
cloth of different oranulecturee. There Was a low quality
cloth of Leeds manufacture, which W 33 1 437 cash, or
about So., a-yard ; a 814soliy supe. fir.e. also of low cpality
are! Also of le,eils manufacture, 1,767 cash, cr about
10?.6 ~ e.-yerer:- These were a
,sera and a h ilf wide.
There -was a leirrewer E7gaill cloth ef- better quality
arid substance (-etre raperfine) which was 2,965. cash, or
about 135., iteyar:4. Bet there was also a strong tirek
Russian cloth, which was two yards Wide (.aeting two
inehio), and which :was sold for 2,210 cash, or 13.. 60.
u-yard. The Itussiau, therefere, taking the width into
consideratiane.wan about 33. a-yard dearer than the worst
of the English, .about the same as the Eoglish second
best, and not much mere than one-half the price of the
best English quality.
The Chinaman prefers the best English, but he cannot
afford it, and buys it in small quantities. Neat that he
prefers the Elessian, for it is stout and serviceable, anti
he says in his native idiom, although it " hairs "
roughens-, easier than the best English, it does not do
so so soon as the interior English articles. The great
balk of the cloth sold to the Chinese, therefore, is liras;
sian.

If we are undersold it is of no use t 3 cry out ; there
i an end of.the matter. If Leeds cannot ucnd thick E..er-
viceahle cbth to Caina cheaper than Rtissia can, and if
Ua.uchester cannot make cotton cfc,th of &given quality
cheaper than the old woman at the door of a Cainee
cottage can, we may as Well shut up shop. Manchtster
and Leeds ought not to he beaten in any of these a at!ers
and that they are is I htlteye simply the rtivit of !gm....
mance at home of Chinese waLts and habits.

2. This brings me to my second heading, whicli I
think, after the itIitrITICEM given in thiS paper, I,nn d oi.,t
now labour. No -doubt there are men in Chiva. who
have a I,n )wledge of th© Ma' cheater tr.tde, and tv,h ) can
calculate f r you how touch theexpLrimen'; would cost
of setring up a few: looms to spit, narrow widttss.
3. Intima'ely c,;,r,nected with the . FAA i. 3 my third'
prupositlon, that British export 3 are ao .unripular
ipir:i6c`lerts
1111,11nc.1,,:n:e,
,ti..
branch of et.,tuineica.with Biitish "merchattsio China.
~!vlr.Contil Thoth, in a report addressed to SinJolir
t-,
„.:4 in 1346, explains the working of the barter. trade
" China. Ile says •
be necessary to remind your Ex.eellency that
ahs4cthms at Shsughst there are two
. The Briti4h ra---1:„.z. the cash price and the barter pride:-
woollens gots a iitali,lt ou bartering his cottills acd his
would get -wers434,kr_ nominal. price for.them than he
day. Oo the other C.onel'‘hrtne
, adds an egaivaL.nt accretio
taelmta4n° ti.a, ;lls iPI k. iinea-erif just'the
n to the price of his silk Cr
tea. 'and to the account is balanced.
to chip a part; of Bri-
-1 6‘ Thus, if a manufacturer werehip

tieb goods to Shangha), with
auctions that his re-
tris:Da le made in bills, the'
, ...moat that ho can expect is
tl7 .at his agent shah "" . ills goods at the cash price. Put
B.'s account of sales of goods so:d for cash would be
very different from his neighbour C D.'s, which h td been
srtered. The particulars I am now oetniling are net
via ell understood in England, and when such a-circum-
sti ince happens it generally causes an unpleasant correa-
pe ndence between the constituent at home and the agent
Dint here."
1- am perfectly aware that the British manufacturers,
when the four ports were first opened, established houses
in Mina for the solo purpose of extendinc, the sale of
their produce, and that these houses did notb pay, Tee
profits come from tea, silk, and opium. The houses that
have this business in their hands have also, greatly,
the B.sitish exports in their hands. The British export
trade tsrill not maintain mercantile houses. But it would
pay for travelling agents acting in immediate connexion
with the home manufacturers, who should keep their
principals" at home well informed, and who should work
their operations through the established houses here.
After la rhat I have said, you roust not wonder to hear
some of the wealthiest men of China say that we are
going on very well as we are—that the demands for free
intercourse are unjust and impolitic—and that the ut-
most we want ii one or two more parts and an embassy
at Pekin. Such is not the opinion of the great body of
the mercantile community. But it is the opinion of men
who will be much listened to in England.
4. Bat the chief and all-sufficient reason why we are
not doing what we ought to do in China is, that China
is not open to our merchandise. _ _

Of course there is a Spitalfields hall sort of feeling in
China, as elsewhere ; and official persons, being all in
China of the good old Tory school, set their faces against
foreign_goodr. We have bean told of C'ainamen stating
they were ready to take shiploads of Manchester goods if
they could only be protected from the interference of
their own mandarins.

But this is a very minor consideration. The authori-
ties in China are strong against an individual, but utterly
powerless against a popular feeling. China in this respect
is the most democratic country in the world ; witness
the growth of the poppy, the difficulty of raising new
taxes, the immediate downfall of an unpopular officer,
and the utter failure of the Emperor and all his powers
at Pekin to force into circulation his debased 10-cash
piece. The evil is, that British goods are not brought
under the eyes of the Chinamen of the interior cities.
A Chinaman is the incarnation of what some people in
England would call common sense. He has no preju-
dices of any kind, patriotic, religious, or sentimental.
He has a strong clannish family selfishness, and that is
all. You have nothing, therefore, tee do bat to convince
him that you have that to sell which it'would suit him
to have, and that you can sell it at a lower price than he
can get it at elsewhere.
Convince the people of this, and all the. mandarins in
China will not stop your sales. •
'At present, however, you are only upon the outer
fringe of the great Chinese Empire. • You might have
made more of your sphere of action than you have made,
but you are not trading with, China.
All our ports, except Shanghai, are separated from the
inland waters of _China by a chain of mountains. A
continuation of the Himalayas, at a much lower
tracks the whole coast line of Caine at some distance:
from theses, and passes out at the Archipelago of Chtsan.
Inside those mountains lies the bulk ofthe Empire of
China—outside lie our trading ports.
The seaboard provinces extending southwards from
Ningpo to Canton are thus isolated from the interior,
and from the great inland routes of traffic by this barrier
ot mountains. Over these mountains goods transmitted
from the interior to any of these ports must be carried.
Even in passing from Ningpo to Hangchow there must
be two transshipments of goods. 'Amoy and Foochow
have the same position. Canton labonra under the same
disadvantages. Every piece of merchandise brought down
from or carried up to the interior, must ho carried for 20
miles over a chain of mountains, and carried on men's
backs. But, then, Canton has been fostered by its mono..
poly of intercourse, a race of carrying coolies has grown
into exiatence, and the difficulties are reduced to their
minimum. Ilsome strong and unreasoning power were
to declare that Southend should' be the only port in the
British Islands where commerce should be carried on,
no doubt Southend woeld have a still longer pier, and
docks would be dug, and a harbour Would be made, and
Southend would cease to be the uninteresting spot it
now is. Canton bribeen a Southend with its suggested
monopoly. Amoy, Foochow, and Ningpo are Southends .
without any monopoly.
There is a way of getting behind these hills and
into the central districts of the empire—a way wherein
the merchant may travel without toil or danger.;
where no robbers can assail him at a vantage ; where
secret imposts cannot spoil his markets—a way which
extends up to the furthest limits of the empire, and
whence convenient and innumerable ways branch forth,
reaching to every hamlet of this great central region.
The gate at which we must enter China is the mouth of
the Yang-tse-Kiang. Give us entrance there, in our
own ships, in our own steamers, and we can deposit our
goods in every great city of the interior of China.
Let us start from Shanghai, and make an imaginary
voyage up this river. With the exception of M. Hue,
no European has ever yet sailed upon its higher waters,
or has, indeed, been much above Nankin. M. Iliac has
added nothing to our knowledge for commercial pin:
poses ; but I 'have obtained access to some reports of
Chinese, who traverse the whole distance frequently with
commercial objects, and I may be able to tell something
more of this river than is known to Eaglishmon.
Having threaded err way through the sh%do we
at the mouth, we are in the largeet, the deepest,
the meet 0.13,50c1e.0t ever in the world.- We pp.,* for
200 miles through the rich province of Kiang3u, passing

towns and anchorages lass well known to ships c;1 war.
We will not now linger at Chekiang, or even at INTankn
for those great cities are now nothing more than the
seared and wasted strongholds of a piratical power. All
that was beautiful in the southerncapital of China—even
the famous porcelain pagoda—has been wantonly de-
stroyed. Shut in from the land by the Imperialist be-
sieger?, the rebels maintain themselves by plucderingthe
rich country up and down the banks of the river, and
the Imperialists are scarcely less burdensome to the
country behind their camp. Commerce has flsd from
these parts. All we can ask of these plunderers is to
let us pass in peace.

Hitherto w; have been in a tidal river. Hencefor-
ward, although we must still reckon its widtL by ralles
and its depth by tens of fathoms, our merchandise-IzOen
steamer !Lust be content to labour against an unchang-
ing stream. We traverse Vie rich and thicklyspeopie:l
province of Anhui, and in cur voyage of two hugdied
mile; through that province we find, besides a cliasLant
succession of towns, tiro first-class cities, at which we
may tarry awhile to display our merchandise and lighten
our cargo.

NOW we reach the provinces of Hupeh and Henan,
the former on the north, the latter on the south bank.
This is the country of the finest tea cs It is here that
the Oopak teas are grown, which, by an unnatural
route; a,:e forced down to Canton, being borne on men's
lxi.cks across the mountains instead of sent deftly down
the stream of the great river whose banks produce them.
Here are I:kes, and broad streams running int) them,
and networks of canals connecting, them.. But,, more
than this, here, just at this spot, is the confluence of
the Yang-tso with the great river Han, which is itself
banked with large cities and heavy with commerce..
At this confluence we have a congrega ion of enor-
mous -cities—Wuchung on the one -bank, and
Hannan opposite, with immense suburbs titandiLg
far away. The population of these cities is cliffs-
repay estimated at 3,000,000 and . 5,000,000 souls ;
but, what is of still greater importance, these two citie,
are andonbtAly the first great emporia of Chinese com-
merce. hers is a usarkct which may- set all Manch—ster
spianing, all Leeds weaving, all S:Afliell grindiug, And
al Nottingham throwing, if we only-have on board
samples of what these Celestials desiderate. It might
te worth while, if they are shy (I our new goods, to
anchor a depot ship in the broad deep waters,—ftr we
are told there are five miles of river from shore to shore
—and accustom them tu the sight of la:curies and ne-
cessaries which they may exchange for their cheap and
iihurhiant first class tea,,. .Surely it wooll be better
thus to gat ri.l of them than to send them down the
Yuen river to the Tungting lake, than by the capital
city of Ccangteh, up the Siang river to the Ching dis-
trict, across the mountain on men's backs to Loh-Chang,
and then down the northern river to Fatshan and
Canton, for such is the present route. What charges
Must accumulate upon English goods that should try to
come up the long devious route by which these teal
de tend, •

• We are only half way yet along our voyage. The river
fends na through the whole province of ; and wily
sh,ailti we not do a little business At the grea: cities. of
Kingchow and Tshang,, the walls of which we must pass I
To this city of Tchang j.iuks of 300 tons burden ascend
in great numbers, and the water is stilt4deep, though the
bottom is rocky iyid dangerous.
A little higher up than-Tchang we arrive at the town
of Kwei. We are now 900 miles from the mouth of
the Yang-tse, and here for the present our steamer must.
b.e content to atop, for here for the first time we meet
with rapids. When the summer sun has melted the-
snows of Central Asia the trading junks shoot down the
falls, and, empty of cargo, they can be forced up them.
But if' ever we are to pursue an unbroken voyage, be;
yond this point John Chinaman must add one other. to
his present innumerable canals, and English engineers
Enlist teach him the secret of constructing locks.
It will not do, however, to be et -pped by these rapids.
The 'whole basin of the Yang-tse is one vat coal:
fit Id.. From-Nankin to 82chnon we have no difficulty in
obtaining the means of locomotion. There are markets
higher up, and thither, in a-steamer to be put together
above the fails, we must go. Let us suppuse this7-no
greatlibour for us An2lo-Sasens—to have been aceoni-,
plisSed.- The stream is-still deep and navigable. It is
crowded •rnith junks, as M. and will tee
just linen the boundary line between Sz'elluen and '
• if upein and Sz'cbuen is the last province Of-China. , B__•:
yond that are the snows of 'Tibet and the swamp) of
Sz'ebuen is the finest pravince in all-Cuioaei
" You never see an ill-dressed man from Sh'ehnee," Says
the Chinese proverb. "It _grows more graineiff: one
year than it can consume in ten," says anu.h:rr nat've
authority, addicted, I fear, to ex-tggelatien. This pro
vinco appears to produce everything ; 1110:e side
any other province, inure and better wax and to-
bacce, grass-cloth of the finest quality, tea of the
coals et, grain in such quantities that the supplies act
upon the distant market of liangchow. Moreover, the
c iiriate is variable, oxtreme!.y :hot aed ,just
suited for our woollens. My Chinese authority asserts
'that •they penetrate there now oven thrieughthe ditt
culties pf the transit: from Canton ; and he says (1
,-uspect w:tb some exaggeration), that one-haled the.
long ells and ohirtings ls_nded at Cat:tan find
tediorti Way over the hills and up the la vpre.,te S7.7chueV.'
W 0 niu.,t go up, therefore, above the Kwei fails; and
must pursue our voyage till we reach tke confluence of
the Yang-tee with the Kialing, a river which cam, s

down from the north. At this confluence stands, the ;
great city Chung-king, the second great commercial
emporium of China. My authority states' that under
the walla of this pity of Chung-king the lusty young.,
Yangtze 'already as broad as the Canton river in front
f the dear departed factories, and very deep and very
rapid. You may go further if you pleats, for there is
the Western Soochow aid all the land of poppy-bearing
Yunnan higher up. But the stream grows rocky, and,
savages from Thibet and Burinah make the way dangereus.
We are getting to the weattra boundary of China
Proper. We have done our work. We have "opened
up the country." So here we will tarn our steamer's
head—shall we call her the Yang-tse ?---and pats swiftly
back, towing our junk loads of tea and silk and wax, nod
satisfied, I hope, with our speculative voyage.. I have
said nothing of consuls or consular establishments. The
merchants appear to incline to the opinion that they do.
not want them, and are better without them. They
say that Swatow and Woochow are growing into ire-
portance without consular protection, and that the want
is not felt. I differ a little here. If you do not want
consuls to protect, you want them to restrain. We must
not allow a vagabond European population to run riot
in the internal cities of China, or we shall change the
ptaceful character of the people. Wucbang and
Chung-king might, however, well maintain each a
consul or consular agent with extended jurisdiction,
and this would be ample for a commencement. A
consul may be a great nuisance. A fussy consul,
not now in China, drove the carrying trade at one
of our ports out of our hands. He made so many
petty difficulties that the Chinamen wrote up and down
the ooast not to charter British ships. We must have no
'deem of the Circumlocution-office in the Yang-tae.
As I have brought our voyage so I must bring this
paper to a close, for the subject is so vast that fresh fit Us
open upon me more rapidly than the past hive been tra
versed. Surely you can work oat for yourselves the tri-
butaries of the Yang-tse and the Grand-Canal-pierced
provinces of the north and the canals of the interior.
Bradshaw's railway map is a blank sheet compared with
these. I have spoken already of the advantages of the
northern coast when Pekin may be reached from the sea.
Give us free access to China ; protect us in the exercise
of our privileges until the Chinese are become accus-
tomed to us and understand us, and fix our duty pay-
ments firmly and explicitly, and everything else will
follow. The great piracy difficut y on the coast will find
its own solution, for the coalfields will be opened, and
some screw steam company will get possession of the
coasting trade. The Custom-house bugbear will disappear,
for the goods will be put down at the door of the cus-
tomer. Teas and silks will be bought cheaper, fur differ-
ent districts will be made to compete when we buy direct
from the producer ; and British manufacture, with
moderate energy and enterprise, will take a fair start.
I ought to say something of the trade with Thant
from India, but it is a long matter, and I have not cou-
rage to ask attention to it. Dr. Campbell, the superin-
tendent of Darjeeling, who I hope has escaped these
recant dangers, understands this subject thoroughly, and
should be heard upon it before our treaty terms are
settled.

Such are the facts and opinions I have been able to
gather upon the British import trade into China. The
subject is too vast to be fully treated in these columns.
If I have wearied !he public by saying so much, I am
dissatlsEed ravel at having left so much unsaid. Many
topics press upon me as 'resolutely close the paper. bet
me only add that all dealing with the interior ofChina
is impossible unless your agents speak the language of
the people, as I have done.

L:Lr's)ING OP TIE FILIBUSTBR3 IN

'NICARAGUA.

We learn by the arrival at New York of the mail
steamer Star of the West, that on the 25h of Nov.
" General" Walker landed with 200 men on the
coast of Nicaragua, in defiance of the United States
sloop of war Saratoga, which was at hand, but tha
commander of which, Captain Chatard, did. Lot
think proper to interfere. The filibusters were
conveyed:from Mobile in the small st-amer Fashion
which Walker had hired ,for that purpose. On
nearing Greytown a thick mist hid the land for some
time, upon which the Fashion slowed a little, when
Walker wished the captain to quicken his spee:l,
but suddenly the fog lifted, and the place was in
full view, the Saratoga lying at anchor in the har-
bour.

. Walker exhibited considerable nervousness at the
sight, and requested Captain Chatard to run in
towards the mouth of the Colorado river, about 12
miles to the eastward of Punta Arenas, in order to
land a portion of the men. The boats which 'were
biought out for the purpose were hunehed, and
some 45 men getting into them, under the cum-
mand of Col. Frank Anderson, one of the original
56 of the first Nicaragua invasion, they shoved off
and made their way up the river, into San Juan.
The Fashion then lan up, and landed the main part
of the force,. about 140 men, on Pants Arenas.
They took possession of some half-dozen fishing
huts, as also' the houses of Mr. Craig and Mr. Bar • .
den, a pilot, in which they were quaitcrod. Tee
stores were landed and put under cover on Captain
Scott's premises. There were lour small boats
about Scott's shipyard, which Walker had takers
possession of. The day the Fashion had left for
Aspinwall, Walker had sent one of these boats up
the river Sen Juan, to endeavour to intercept the
Costa Rican mail boat, said to have on board
5,000 dots. in money. Walker planted two of his
" lone star" flags over the buildings he occupied in
Punta Arenas on landing. He landed six field-
pieces, and the men were daily drilling, each one
with his rifle. When Leckridge abandoned the
river last March, he delivered over to the coin-
;mender of the British frigate Cossack about three
hundred stand of arms, which were deposited with
Captain Scott, on Punta Arenas, for safe keeping.
These arms were still there when Walker lands I,
so that if he wanted them he undoubtedly appro-
priated them. -
As soon as it was ascertained that the filibusters
were coming into port, the people of Greytown sent
a boat up the river to Costa Rica, and Ws.° to warn
the steamers and forts, but as the first detachment
of Walker's party was already on its way into the
river, by the Colorado, when he landed at- Punta
Arenas, it is not unlikely that these despatches
were intercepted. In C3SO they were not the- news
must have reached San Jose de. Costa Rica, by way
of the Serapiqui River, about the 30th of Nov.
The inhabitants of Greytown were greatly alarmed
for the safety of their pioPerty, and on the first
opportunity many removed their goods to Aspin-
wall. .At that port the Fashion, eta her arrival,
was overhauled by Commodore Paulding, but her
papers- were found to be coritct.
The Aspinwall correspondent of the Neve ' York
Times says:—"l am assured by an officer of the
British steamship Dee-that the Fashion was seen
-by the officers of the Saratega the day .before ofr
tenharbour; that there was ample time while she
was coming in for the Saratoga to have hove her to
with a-swivel-from-one of her boats, and to have
_bearded her. before she got in. Besid s, 'Walker
Wes two whole days. landing men, erovisions; and
munitions of war by the boats,of the steamer,whee
lying-directly under the guns of the sloop-of-war.
.When the.-Dee came, into the harbour, Capt. Cha---
ard requested her master to anchor inside of the
Saratoga, so. that she might nut be between hie
guns and the Fashion, but he took no steps against
the lauding of either men or sto es. Capt. Minot r,
of the Dee, knowing that there was c aesid.erable
pteriuntpetr.-,t .
British property in Greytown, `on the other-side of
Punta. Arenas, - asked Capt. Chat-Ara if he would
if lie should at-.
tothe town against.layitunderc Walker, if
to which he
repl:ed that he could give no assurances to. that
eff-ct—that his order s were very general in their
nature—that what lie did he must do on his own
personal responsibility, and as ho was dependent
.upoe his profession for the support of a large
family, he was not disposed tither to run the riek
of incurring the displeasure of his guverainent by
his'interference with matters on shore, or to lay
himself liable, personally, to suits on the part of
the filibusters or the merchants of Greyt styli. S.,
4 got, and. there was no
Bs n
ritoishgmuaarann-otfe-ewacroianld bporet, some of the -merchants
shipped the more valuable portion of their goods
to this place. The Dee brought away about 120
liege • packages, which she landed bore tu=-day."
On the afternoon of the 3d, the United States'
frigate .Wabash, beating the broad pennant of Com-
modore Paulding, s-sited from Aspinwall ,for San
Juan, followed- on the aeterneon of the 4th fey
H. B. M. ship-of-the-line Brunswick, and steamer
L op-Ird.- They will probably blockade the har-
bour of San Juane and at the same time:statien 'a
force to prevent Walker's passing up the river.
The United States steanysr Fulton was at B .ca del ,
Tore on 'the 2d, but veouldbe-ordered ta Sea Jua4.
Advices had-been received from the forts on tile
San Juan to the 28th ult. San :Carlos: was still
blockal:d by Gen: Cavity; in- the steauvr Sa.n
Carlos, evitheo ellen. It was held by 250 Ni6era-
onaos one--calf of whoin were sick. Aboht 4'30 all,
a'''tiviadls hol-i the Rapids, about one-half fit for duty.
Provisi,obs were very servee. .
' The Pcutama 2tar, of the 3d bf Dwembcr, gives
.o,e eee„,viee despach from Captain Walc3r;t; of
1113 West India Mail steam: r Doe -:—" Gonero
Valli:tn.; ha's:lauded at Greytown; On the 2•4ih
Nov. a small steetier, calledthe Fashion, appeared
downofft te.i
e
ptt ;- it did' not' attempt to enter, but ran
ie Celorado River, where Walker tended
50 men. On the following day she came into Grtiy-
,town, at full speed,. with only 10 men on deck, ran
alongside a Ilulk, and before the boats of the U.S.
sloop Saratoga could board her Walker and his
par y; aniountiug to 150 men,
ottpt. Cinstard, of the Saratoga, ord.ered theist away
bolongibg ;aided at MriScett's.
from the premises, and has taken iGreytewn and
the prOpertii. to the Transit Comp Any
under his protection. Re also • informed-- Walker
that he will not allow any depredations to be com-
mitted in either place."

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—Dec. 23,

MANSION-HOT,TE..—John Green was charged
with drunkennes3:

A policeman—On Saturday, evening,' at half-past
7 o'clock, in King William,street-, defendant was
driving two horses in a van, and there was a cry to
atop him, and I did so, and ho struck me violently.
He was the worse for liquor, and when we pulled
him from the van, which we were obliged to do, he
struck me again, and tried to escape between the
horses.

The street-keeper said—l saw defendant driving
violently, and I called on the policeman to stop
him, and lie was stopped, and acted with great
roughness. hie was in such a condition as to be al-
together unfit to drive, and the safety of the public
was much endangered by him.
The driver of an omnibus proved that defendant
bad knocked down_ both his horses with the van,
and the damage done amounted to 2/. 10s. The
defendant bad been galloping and no mistake.
The defendant said be had been drinking in the
course of the day, but not to intoxication, and that
the galloping was entirely upon the part of the
omnibus servants.

A boy, who had been with the defendant in the
van, said that the driver of the omnibus was to
blame, as be tried to rush along before the van and
got entangled in the wheels; which occasioned the
accident. The van had been going at the rate of no
more than six miles an hour.

The Lord Mayor fine I defendant 10s. for the as-
sault upon the policeman, and said that as to the
damage it must be decided in the county court.

GUILDHALL.—Thos. Emerson, a builder, at
48, Milton-street, was charged with stealing gas,
thelproperty of the Great Central Gas Consumers'
Company,

The Prisoner had been supplied with gas till
Feb. last, when the supply was cut off and the
meter taken down, inconsequence of non-payment.
On the premises being examined it was found that
the cap which stopped the supply had beau re-
moved, and a fresh conexion pipe attached. There
were two burners in the drawing-room, one in the
kitchen, one in the bedroom, one in the yard, one
in the stable, and two in the workshop, all of which
were fully supplied with the company's gas.
The prisoner, who pleaded guilty, was committed
to prison for one month with hard labour.

WORSHIP-STREET.—James Alfred Harman,
a trimming manufacturer in Anchor-street, Beth-
nal-green, who stood charred with having feloni-
ously set fire to his house, and caused the death of
three of his lodgers, mined John, Ann, and Julia
Metcalfe, was brought up forifinal examination.
Mr. Lewis, jun., attended as before on thQ pare
of the prosecution ; and Mr. Sleigh conducted the
defence.

The case attracted an extraordinary amount of
interest, and the following additional evidence was
proceeded with : _ _

- Sarah Harvey, a widow, residing at 33, Anchor-
street, immediately opposite the prisoner's house,
said—Between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning of
the 19th inst., I was suddenly awakened by my
grand-daughter, who raised an alarm of "Fire,"
and on going to' the window I saw the prisoner's
house in flames. At the second floor window I
obseved the deceased Mrs. Metcalfe dreadfully ex-
cited, who, addressing .the prisoner standing in the
street without his cat, exclaimed, "Oh, yob. wretch
—you villian—you have been the cause of this :
you have done it all, and you know it well." Pi i-
smer at once replied,- "Get out at the top," which
remark he repeated:several times, and deceased an-
swered that she was unable to do so.

Sarah Griffith, granddaughter of last witness, was
al,o examined, and fully corroborated the evidence
of her relative. • •

Inspector Weakford, Of the H division—M the
time the fire was raging I saw the prisoner,in the
street, and from a communication previously made
to me by the constable Andrews, I asked him if he
had not been robbed. He replied •' No, I've not."
I said, "Did you not report to a police-constable
that you had ?" which he also denied. I then
asked him if he had seen a policeman in the court,
which he admitted having done, but that no par-
ticular conversation had taken place between them.
' Ann Finlayson, housemaid to Mrs. Brown (the
prisoner's mother-in-law), residing next door,, was
then examined, and repeated the evidence given
before the coroner, -to the effect that at half-past
ten o'clock on the night in question she went to
his house, at which time there was not any fire
in the kitchen grate, and in cross-examination she
stated that the' premises were small—a wooden
partition lining the shop, which was furnipihed with
numerous card b)xes-for fringe manufacture, and
supplied with two gas burners.
George Cole foreman attached to the London
Brigade, said thatl on reaching the spot and ascer-
taining the alarming nature of the fire, he made
.his way to the second floor window, on entering
which he found the bodies of three persons in a
lifeless state from suffocation. He was afterwards
elgaged in minutely examining the lower part of
the premises and. discovered that the'eutbreak had
been at the rear .of the shop.
Mr. Henry Atkins, clerk of the London and
Liverpool Insurance Company, 21, Poultry, proved
that in the mouth of March last, prisoner effected a
policy of insurance - at that office on his personal
goods, to the amount of 3001.
Cross-examined by Mr. Sleigh—Am not aware
that insurance was traniferred from another office.
Believe there was a.pgevious insurance which was
cancelled by this one. We do not instruct this
prosecution. • ' -
It`lia,ving been intimated that there was no fur-
ther evidence on the pert of the prosecution,
•Mr. Hammill said, although he considered that
the entire conduct of the prisoner, who. had been
clearly proved to be intoxicated, was replete with
suspicion, there was•not sufficient evidence to sub-
mit to ajury, and he 'should therefore 'order him
to be dischar,,,ed.

WESTMINSTER.—Georte Allen, a mechanic,
was bt ought up on -a warrant, charged with neglect-
ing to pay a cab fare.
Henry Flock,. a candrver,.said that on the Ist of
Nov. last he agreed t):talco the defendant.and three
oth-r men froth Francis-street, Tottenham-court-
road, to New street, Brompton, for 6d. each. On
arriving there they all refused to pay, and' abused
him. Defendaut,....the only one of the fonr whose
name and addr4ss-tLe cabman could a-4certain,. was
summoned earl.k in- November at this court, and
fallingl2ap_pAar, a, warrant was issued against
him. He was out of the way until Saturday night-,
when a policemin succeeded in apprehending him.
Defendant caid he was out of. work at the time
he had the ride.- • •

Mr. Punter said that, under those circumstances
he should have walked, and adjudged him to pay
the fare, 2s.' and lls.. costs, or in default be com-
mitted fur 21 days t ) hard labour.

SOI7TLIWAtK.-11ichard Jallrich, a man of
dissipated appearance, was charged with cruelly
beating one of :his children, a little girl six years
of age.
Tee child, whole eyes were blackened and facie
very much bruised, said that on Satu, day evening
her father came home intoxicated, and commenced
beating her first with his fists and then with a cane
iu a very violent manner. She had not done any-
thing to deserve correction, and she begged of him
to save her life. _IF:4. mother called in a police-
constable, when he-left off beating her.
--A neighbour said he heard cries of murder before the
constable entereil tile house, when he went in and saw
the prisoner ill-using his little girl. He hdd her by
the neck till her face was quite black, and witness
was compelled.to-strike the prisoner several blows•
on the head to make him relinquish his hold, or he
really believedthe child would have been murdered.
Mr. Burchain iiskecl the prisoner what he had to
say in;ahswer to the charge.
He replied that he knew nothing at all about it as
he was drunk at the time. He denied being in the
habit of beating his children.
Mr. Burcham told him that it was one of the
most cruel cases he had ever before him, and his
being drunk was an aggravation to the offence. He
skfuld sentence him to six months' hard labour in
the House Of-Correction. He also ordered the pri-
soner's wife, a decent-Lioking female, to receive a
sovereign from the poor-box, as She was mainly
dependiag on him for support.

Oa Saturday morning an order from the Horse
Guards wai read-to the regiment of Louth Rifles at
Aldershot, reque Ling General Knollys to acquaint
Lieutenant-CO:a:Lel Sir J. S. Robinson, Bar,., in
commaud of the.reg,fiment, that the Commander-in
Chief bad li en much gratified at receiving from the
General Cominandino• in Ireland an account of ti:e
very order y and soldierliko embarkation of that
I)
regiment f r..ngland when it left Dundalk. Au:-
cording to tip te.rms,of the order in qUestion, " the
cleanliness and sobi lay of the men, as well as their
soldierlike: appearince, reflect credit on the coin-.
mantling
.officer,-the officers, and the regiment in
general."' .
Two SAILORS SUFFOCATED.—INQUEST.—An inquest
Was 11,-1d ya..t4rday on the bodies of Itobt. Hunt, 18, and
Robt. Duchan'an, 19. The deceased were part' of the
crew of the' Duke; of Queensberry brig, of Hull, lying in
the Pool COL/ Poplar.. On TueSday night they slept in
the " rounaillonse" on boird the brig, a place about 16
feet long, 14 feet: wide, and 6 feet high. They were
build deadlintheir berths by the olptainthe next wail-
i-,g. The siliight_ wks slut down, and there was a pap,
in which coals had-been. burnt, ose by them. The cap-
tain said he had no doubt that they had been suffocated
by the coal vapour. Verdict accordingly.

D EXT• BER 29, 18.7.