The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-01 00:00:00

SOUTH-WEST LANCASHIRE ELECTION.

Mr. Gladstone has addressed the following letter to the
Liverpool Albion:--" Sir, since the poll of Tuesday I have
received so many letters of the kindest sympathy,
many of them from persons upon whom I have no
claim whatever, that, unable as I am to acknow-
ledge them individually, I ask you to allow me to
tender to them, through your columns, my respectful
thanks. Many of them touch on topics and convey ex-
hortations or assurances necessarily most grateful to me,
but too sacred for this letter, so far as public matters arc
concerned. I beg them and all my friends to believe that
the local reverses we have sustained, amidst the
general triumph of the Liberal cause, have no effect what-
ever on my mind, except producing an equally local
regret in particular. I see no reason whatever for
despondency in South-West Lancashire, where (to
omit naming other circumstances), while other dis-
tricts have gone back, we have improved our position
since July, 1865, by 700 votes. Rest assured that, in the
district where, under the circumstances of the present
juncture, Liberal principles have been supported at the
poll by 71 voters for every 76 that the adversary has pro-
duced, those principles cannot remain at other elections
excluded from a share of the representation of the
division."

OUT.RAGES ON MISSIONARIES IN CHINA.

_--d--.

The Times correspondent, writing from Shanghai,
October 13, gives a detailed account of the recent outrages
upon missionaries at Yangchow. It will be remembered
that on the 22nd of August several thousand people sur-
rounded the missionaries' house at Yangchow, broke into,
and set fire to the lower story. The occupants were
maltreated ; the ladies had to throw their children
out of window and jump out after. Mr. Reid
lost one of his eyes. Eventually the party
were rescued by an official guard, and shipped off to
Chinkiang. After their departure the contents of the
house were burnt, and its lessor was imprisoned and tor-
tured. The causes and consequences of this affair are
worthy of note. Her Majesty's ship Rinaldo was called
in by the British Consul, and,
,though the excitement
spread to Chinkiang, the guns of the war-ship overlooking
the town very soon produced order. But there can
be no doubt, says this writer, that the riot was promoted
by the authorities, not by the common people.
On the Bth of September, Mr. Medhurst, the British
Consul, went to Yangchow, and demanded redress from
the Prefect. He could get none, and therefore went to
Nankin, to the Viceroy himself, and an interview, with
all due ceremony, took place between the two. The
following is the account given by the Times correspondent
of the issue of this negotiation :—" His Excellency shewed
every disposition to concede the different points asked
—the punishment of the instigators, the payment
of an indemnity of 2,000 taels by the actual
rioters, the release of the lessor of the house, and
the engraving on stone of a proclamation declaring
that foreigners had a right to live at Yangchow unmo-
lested. Everything promised a speedy settlement of the
affair, when suddenly Captain Bush withdrew the Rinaldo
and left Mr. Medhurst to finish his negotiations in a
Chinese house-boat. The result may be imagined. Relieved
from her presence the Viceroy retracted everything;
abandoned politeness for insolence ; became obstinate
instead of yielding ; refused to punish anybody or to
remove the magistrates ; offered 1,000 taels only as com-
pensation ; and though offering to issue the notification,
declined to give it the required importance by engraving
it on stone. Her Britannic Majesty's Consul had, of
course, no option but to reject these terms, withdraw to
Shanghai, and place the matter in the hands of Sir
Rutherford Alcock, where it now rests. Captain Bush's
departure was occasioned by illness ; but his withdrawal
of the Rinaldo was utterly unnecessary. The magnificent
steamers that ply between Shanghai and Hankow pass
Nankin nearly every day, and he could have gone to
Shanghai in one of those in as great, if not greater comfort
than on board his own vessel. It is needless to say that
the strongest feelings of annoyance and disappointment
are entertained here at the termination of the affair,
which has now become ten times more serious
from our temporary defeat. The Chinese looked on this
as a trial of strength between their own and our officials,
and have gauged their estimation of us by its result. Our
prestige has gravely suffered, and we must insist on the
complete and literal fulfilment of every one of the condi-
tions demanded, and on a full apology, in order to restore
it. It is probable that all this (i.Meulty would have been
avoided had the Rinaldo staid eel ee days longer at Nankin.
The effect of our temporary defeat is every day apparent. A
proclamation posted in Chinkiang by order of the Viceroy,
declaring that foreign missionaries had a right to reside in
the interior, and that officials must aid them in obtaining
houses, evoked a counter-proclamation signed 'The People
of Chinkiang,' declaring that they would burn any house
so let, and throw the missionaries and the landlord into
the flames ; that any official favouring the lease of a house
should have his yamen burnt down, and that he himself
should be similarly treated. A placard has been posted
outside the East Gate of Shanghai violently abusive of
Catholic missionaries ; but at the instance of the French
Consul-General it has been torn down, and a proclamation
by the Taotai substituted condemning the terms of
the original. It will be observed that through-
out the whole affair the people shew forth as the
opponents of missionaries ; the whole demonstration is
against them, not against foreigners generally. But it is
believed by all who are familiar with the circumstances
and with the country that the people are quite indifferent
in the matter ; that the proclamations are issued by the
literati with the connivance of the Mandarins, and that
the mob is only collected at their instigation. By literati'
must be understood men who have passed the Govern-
ment examinations, and are either Mandarins or
expectant Mandarins. These men form the really hostile
party in China to foreigners, and they specially dislike
missionaries, because they dread their influence over their
converts, and because missionaries travel about and reside
in the inland cities instead of keeping themselves, as other
foreigners do, to the open ports. It is true Protestant
missionaries have never arrogated any political influence,
but Roman Catholic missionaries have done so, and
have created grave difficulties on different occa-
sions. A strong feeling is excited against mis-
sionaries, too, by their violent denunciation of the sole
creed which a Chinaman holds dear —the so-called ' worship
of ancestors.' rhis is condemned as idolatrous, and the
whole system of Chinese social polity, the whole frame-
work of his belief, is thus attacked and outraged. The
missionaries act, of course, according to their conscience,
but, I think, injudiciously. Instead of conciliating, they
excite antipathy. However this may be, the case has now
grown beyond a mere question of reparation for injuries
sustained. Our political prestige has been injured, and
must be recovered."

Sir Bernard Burke has just been made a Com-
panion of the Order of the Bath.

It is related as one of the jokes circulated in
Westminster-hall, that shortly after Lord George Hamil-
ton addressed the electors of Middlesex he received a
letter from Earl Russell, stating that the fight
would bo a hopeless and most expensive one.
" And besides, my dear George," adds the ex-Pre-
mier, " you are too young to represent such a constituency."
To this disinterested epistle Lord George Hamilton replied:
—" My dear Uncle,- Thanks for your letter. I assure you
I do not regard the contest for Middlesex as hopeless, and,
as for my age, I am a year older than Amberley was when
you sent him to Leeds."
CORNELL UNIVERSITY. —Mr. Goldwin. Smith
writes this to the Daily News from Ithaca, New York :
" I receive numerous letters from Englishmen who
are desirous of advice as to the expediency
of coming over to America for the purpose of
entering at the Cornell University. It may save
some correspondence if you will allow me to state
in your columns that though the Cornell University
opened on the day prescribed by its charter, it is still in
an incomplete condition, its buildings unfinished, and its
power of accommodating students very limited. I would
therefore not advise any Englishman at present to turn
his thoughts in this direction."
THE RETURN OF SIR SYDNEY WATERLOW.—OUF
London correspondent intimates that an awkward mis-
chance threatens to annul—for a time at least—the effect
of the strenuous, praiseworthy, and successful exertions
made by the Liberals of Dumfriesshire for the return
of Sir S. Waterlow. There is a well-known rule
which prohibits a Government contractor from becoming
a member of the House of Commons. In deference to it,
Sir S. M. Peto had to resign his seat when making the
Balaklava Railway. Other instances of the stringency
with which it is enforced are plentiful. It is said that Sir
S. Waterlow is exposed to its operation. If so, it is pro-
bable that his contract is only some paltry affair which
he had forgotten, for we read that he is prepared to get
out of it. The question is whether by doing so bcfore
be comes forward to take the oaths and his seat Le
will be in time ; and the answer which any committee
would give, should it be raised, must be 4, N 0.,,
The Act (22 George 111., C. 45) is particularly
explicit. It declares a contractor incapable of being
elected, as well as of sitting or voting—though it is only
as regards the latter that penalties are imposed. These
are severe. An offender is liable to forfeit £5OO for every
day on which he may sit or vote, to any person who may
me for the same. The new member will of course take
care to avoid this liability; but we fear he will not be
permitted to take his neat without challenge,—.llrort4
British Mail

MR. MILL ON FREE TRADE.

A. letter from Mr. John Stuart Mill to Mr. G. It.
Holden, of Sydney, has furnished some material to the
Free Trade versus Protection question, which is always
more or less the subject of discussion in Australia.
Kr. Mill's letter came as a reply to one from Mr.
Holden, who requested his " maturer present opinion" on
the passage in his " Political Economy" recognising an
exceptional case in which a protective policy would be
allowable in a young community. In his letter
Mr. Mill writes :—" Your impression is quite cor-
rect that I was appealed to from Victoria in con-
sequence of the use made by Protectionists of the
passage in my "Political Economy" which speaks of the
occasional benefit in a young country of aiding the natu-
ralisation of an industry suited to its circumstances. I
did at that time return an answer, which was published
in a Victorian newspaper, to the effect that if
this encouragement took the form of a pro-
tecting duty, it should be strictly limited to a
moderate number of years, and not continue
beyond. I have not altered the opinion that such encou-
ragement is sometimes useful, and that in many cases the
most just mode in which it could be given is that of a tem-
porary protecting duty, on condition that it should be known
and declared to be merely temporary, and of no very long
duration. But I confess that lalmost despairof thisgeneral
understanding being ever practically established. I find
that in Australia protection is not advocated in this form,
or for this purpose, but that the vulgarest and most
exploded fallacies are revived in its support. As far as I
can perceive, those who contend for protection in
Australia mean it to be as permanent as any
other legislative arrangement, and hold to all
the false theories on the subject of which Europe
is rapidly ridding itself, and which are declining
even in America. In such a state of opinion as this, I
should resist with my utmost strength any protection
whatever, because it is far easier to withstand these false
and pernicious doctrines before they have been carried
into practice to any serious extent than after powerful pro-
tected interests have been allowed to grow up under tb.ix
influence."