The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-02 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, JANITAMY 2, 1867.

The origin of the new Chinese War really ap-
pears to be "a very pretty quarrel as it stands"
—altogether as pretty a quarrel in its way as
SHERIDAN'S memorable tiff in The Rivals between
Sir Deems O'Tarocm. and Captain ABSOLUTE.
Black and white are not more glaringly opposite
than the British statements and the Chinese
counter-statements. The nadir and the zenith
aro not more obviously remote from each other.
Looking at the facts of the case as recounted by
the English "Barbarians"--and then reversing
the inquiry, and looking at those same facts as
related with precisely the same alluring air of
candour and explicitness by the Chinese " Bar-
barians"—it is for all the world like examining
the same ingenious article of verta, first on the
one side and then on the other, first in "relief "
and then in " intaglio !" Had we space for it
we should produce elsewhere iu our impression of
this evening the arguments to-day brought before
the Bar of Public Opinion iu this country by
the Times, acting as the C mnsel for the Plaintiff,
and by the Daily News, acting as the Counsel for
the Defendant. According to Sergeant Buterz
—Nothing could be more manly, more dignified,
or more straightforward from first to last than the
conduct of the British authorities, as—Nothing
(viewing the matter from the same point of view)
could be more disgraceful, more insensate, or
altogether more wholly unjustifiable than the
course pursued by the Viceroy Year and
his outlandish myrmidons. According to Sir-
geant Brawea, on the other hand, the
tables aro turned with a vengeance the
arrogance, the folly, and the brutality lying
wholly on the side championed by Consul
PARSES and Admiral SEYMOUR, while the native
Governor of Canton is represented as acting
throughout, for the most part in a dignified man-
ner, upon the defensive. Never was there a more
startling or a more extraordinary discrepancy in
the accounts given of the very same transaction
simultaneously. Upon the principle inculcated
by the grand old axiom audi alteram partem, we
would (but that we are precluded from so doing
by the sheer lengthiness of the special-pleading)
have reproduced side by side the arguments for-
mally entered to day, as we have said, at the Bar
of Public Opinion, by our contemporary the
Times acting in its self-assumed capaeity as the
Counsel for the Plaintiff, and by our contemporary
the Daily News acting in its equally self-assumed
capacity as Counsel for the Defendant. Be it the
duty of The Sure--be it our office, however, on the
contrary, to hold the Balance of Justice suspended
equably between the disputants—to speak rather
from the Bench than from the Bar-to sum up
the evidence as yet adduced without prejudice and
without predilection.

It appears, therefore, upon weighing statement
against counter-statement, that the plain facts,
after all, are simply and literally as follows :
That upon the Bth of October, 1856, a small
trading vessel, or lorcha, called " The Arrow"—
then lying at anchor in the port of Canton—was
boarded by a party of Chinese soldiers, in obe-
dience to the orders of the Chinese Governor-
General YEH.

That these Chinese soldiers then and there
carried away as prisoners, taken upon a charge of
piracy, the crew of this small trading vessel, or
lorcha, called " The Arrow,"

That " The Arrow," besides being manned by
a Chinese crew, was built according to Chinese
fashion, and was the property of a, chinese

owner.

That two at least of the Chinese sailors
seized by Chinese soldiers through the order of
the Chinese Governor-General--had really, noto-
riously, and undeniably been guilty of c 3rtain
flagrant acts of piracy.
That the whole crew of twelve were, immedi-
ately upon their capture, conducted before Vic eroy
Yzn for examination.

It appears, however, yet further--nc VT,,V that

the Overland MAR which arrived yesterday, has
brought in the full. detail of the particulars :

That the national character of this lorcha "The
Arrow," is a matter in dispute between the
Chinese and the Englishmen : the latter main-
taining that, prior to its leaving the port of
Hong Kong (the port from. which it was but just
then very recently arrived) it had duly obtained
a colonial register, constituting it, to all intents
and purposes, a British vessel—the former bluntly
denying this, distinctly and explicitly.
It appears, moreover, from the data furnished
by the Overland Mail received by us only yes-
terday—
That the British Consul (PARRES) positively
asserts, in his communication addressed to the
Chinese Governor (YEnt), that when the seizure
was made, the English flag was flying on board
"The Arrow."

That Viceroy Dill, in his reply to Consul
PARKES, quite as positively, on his part, asserts
that the British flag was not flying on board
the lorcha at the time when the twelve
sailors were taken into custody on the Bth of
October. The Governor', letter of the 31st of
October, remarking, " When the lorcha was
boarded it was satisfactorily proved that no flag
was flying," and his subsequent communication of
the 2d of November, observing, "No foreign
flag was seen by my executive at the time of the
capture ; and as, in addition to this, it was ascer-
tained on the examination of the prisoners that
the lorcha was in no respect a foreign vessel, I
maintain that there was no mistake committed."

So much for the preliminary parts of the quar-
rel, for the initial " data," for the introductory
statements and counter-statements. As for the
rest—the consequence of these particulars—that
is soon told : the actual result of the quarrel
being altogether beyond the reach of misstatement
or misapprehension.
The British Consul, Mr. PARKES, apprized of
the occurrence by the master of " The Arrow,"
and indignant at what he conceives to be an out-
rage done to the British lag, at once demands
from the Governor-General of the Two Kwangs
the restoration of the whole of the twelve seamen
30 captured.
The Chinese Viceroy, while denying, as we
have seen, while distinctly and absolutely denying
that " The Arrow" was a foreign vessel, sends
back first of all to the British Consulate twelve
ragamuffins with chains round their Becks, who
are returned to him incontinently because they are
not the real " Simon Pures"—and then finding
his very characteristic ruse discovered, and conse-
quently of no avail, returns nine of the incarce-
rated sailors, retaining the two actually identified
as the parties guilty of piracy, together with the
witness necessary for their ulterior conviction.
Whereupon, diss ttisfied. with the result of his
negotiations, the Consul writes a peremptory letter
on the 12th of October, demanding "within forty-
eight hours" the restoration of the whole number—
the restoration, that is, of the two pirates and the
witness, together with a letter of apology for their
seizure Governor-General YEN takes no notice
whatever of this haughty teltimatitm from Consul
PARKES. On the 21st of October, in consequence
of this silence, an ultimatissimum is sent in ; threat-
ening that Unless &c. ! At noonday, on the
22d, the twelve Chinese sailors, including the
witness and the two pirates, are marched down to
the British Consulate with a message from the
Viceroy, that as two out of the round dozen are
criminals, they at least are to be sent back imme-
diately. Consul PARILESI is unsatisfied—he will
have the twelve, the whole twelve, and nothing
but the twelve—except, in addition to them, the
required letter of apology And so—in steps, at
last, upon the stage of public affairs at Canton, no
dealer in mere paper pellets, but, on the contrary,
one whose arguments aro just a trifle more solid
and authoritative —whistling-dicks, cannon-balls,
and bomb-shells—His ExcAlency Admiral Sir
MICHAEL SEIMOVE.

YETI continues to say Nay !—refuses to give
up the two pirates—refuses to write a letter of
apology for what he cannot, for the life of
him see, admits of any apology—declines,
at last, in the teeth of the first demand,
of the second the ultimatum, and of the
third the ultimeitissimum, to hold a personal inter-
view upon the matter in dispute with his "armed"
Excellency. Thereupon Sir MAMA EL, like a true
British sailor of the olden time—not the least bit
in the world like one of your new-fangled Mari-
time Fire-eaters—blazes away at Canton, takes pos-
session of a few of the river forts, makes a breach
in the city walls, and blows up the Tsing Hai
gate. Playing the very devil, as the phrase is,
with his antagonist, and then coolly writing to
Viceroy YEll, "Your Excellency sent no
reply to my message, and according to
the intention of which I had given notice to your
deputy, I breached the walls of your city, and
thus obtained access to your Excellency's residence,
which I visited yesterday afternoon. This object
accomplished, I withdrew my troops." And
so matters stood on the 30th of October. At the
period, however, of the departure of the last
mail, things were " moving on" again at a pace
apparently somewhat accelerated—Canton being
then, it would appear, still rather fiercely
bombarded.

And now, Gentlemen of the Jury, having sum-
med up the evidence given in open Court by the
opposing witnesses, it .remains with you to pro-
nounce the Verdict—" Guilty or Not Guilty ?"
Viceroy YEll—or Consul PARKES? His Excellency
the Chinese Governor—or his Excellency the
British Admiral ? Shall the Verdict be fur the
Plaintiff or for the Defendant ?

Is the voice of the public beginning to tell
Last Tuesday we had a Lord of the Admiralty,
who is an Admiral also, and therefore an out-
spoken sailor, assuring us that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer would never take advantage of
what he denounced as a paltry quibble, to gird a
two years' War Income Tax fast upon our backs.
This looked as if it was really feared that the
" ignorant and impatient" taxpayers might kick
rather dangerously under the operation. The
gallant Admiral took pains to inform us distinctly,
however, that he was not in Cabinet secrets, but
he had unbounded confidence in Lord PALMER.
STON'S superiority to " pettifogging tricks,"
and no little trust in that hard taskmaster,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer himself, a
confidence we quite share when the people do but
hold firmly the reins, and mako them felt too.
The same evening the War Secretary, a member of
the Cabinet, was feted at Perth ; principally in
honour of his official achievements during the
late war. Re said not one word about the Income
Tarr—yet, even he, contrived to insinuate hope
that some great remission of taxation was to take
place this year. Last year the army and navy esti-
mates amounted to 34,000,0001. This year Lord
PAN ;ARE assures us they are not to come within
20,000,000 i. of that sum ! And this was stated to
prove that "great efficiency may be maintained and
yet relief from, taxation achieved." Now, as our
army expenditure, including the Ordnance,
ranged, in round numbers, from eleven millions
and a half in 1835, Mr. COBDEN'S model year, to
more than seven millions above that amount in