The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-03 00:00:00

' Consul this attempt has proved a signal failure, and the in- I
habitants of a.Tioraon of the- suburbs of the city have been
ordered to evacuate their houses• that the foreigners may cc-
cupy them. The locality allotted, though good, is not ,the
most favourable, being at some distance from the quarter of
the city where business is carried on. Both houses and land
are, however, to be rented very cheap—the latter at from 20
to 30 taels per mow (equal to from ,2/. to 31. per acre). Mer-
chants-resorting to Shanghae Will probably prefer paying the
Chinese residents in the quarter of the city where business.
is carried on at a somewhat higher rent, in consideration of
the facilities offered there for carrying on business; and as
the attempt to hamper the trade has proved unsuccessful, no
difficulty will arise to prevent them fro:» so doing. It Was to
be expected that, finding themselves unable to cope with us
in the field, the Chinese would endeavour to counteract us in.
carrying out the articles of the treaty ; and though they have
been foiled in this, the first instance, it will require the strict-
est vigilance, on the part of her Britannic Majesty's officers;
to prevent restrictions from being imposed. As an instance of
the disposition of the authorities, we may quote the follow-
ing:—The schooner Mazeppa arrived at Shanghae, and de-
clared a few bales of cotton and woollen goods to pay duty as
musters ; these, however, she did not land, finding thcre was
no market for them, and as she wished to depart without de-
lay, her commander applied to the British Consul to permit the
Chinese officers to suvey the goods on board. The Taou-tai took
alarm at this; well knowing that he bad been'the cause of no
sales havirgbeen effected, and proposed that, as such was the
case, no duty should be pal/41. The Consul, however, insisted that
the duty should be received, and next day, it was accordingly
paid. Trade is extremely dull, but there is every prospect of
an improvement now that the Chinese are made aware that
their attempts to establish a monopoly will not be allowed- to
succeed, and we doubt not that our next arrivals will bring
us information of a more pleasing character than the present.
We must again repeat that it will require constant
on our-part, to prevent ourselves from - being overreached;
though foiled in this instance, the Chinese will not be dis-
couraged from making other at! empts, and we hope a remon-
strance will be made by his Excellency the Plenipotentiary
on this gross attempt to violate in the outset the terms both
of the original and supplementary treaties.
The restriction imposed by her Majesty's Cor.sul with regard
to the carrying of fire-arms' was- removed immediatly upon.
the sailing of the American barque Valparaiso, and a party of
officers, who arrived from Chusan on a sporting excursion,
had no cause to regret the trouble they had taken.
(From the Canton Press, Jam. 13.)

By accounts from Manilla, we regret to learn that the
Spanish brig Campechano, from Liverpool, bound to Manilla,
was, on the sth of last month, totally lost on the Montufar
Shoal, in the Straits of San Bernardino. The sea was run-
ning high at the time the vessel struck, and she broke up al-
most immediately after, leaving to the crew the only alter-
native of saving their lives
~by swimming on shore, ivhich
most of them reached in safety, but four were unfortunately
drowned in the attempt. The vessel had a very valuable
cargo of piece goods, worth between 30,000/. and 40,000/.
In the Manilla paper, of the 17th December, we observe
a Government order, permitting to the Chinese of Manilla
the smoking of opium from the beginning of this year, and
directing the sald of the drug by retail to be farmed out, as
is now done at Singapore, Batavia', and other place 3. The
Indians• and other inhabitants of Manilla are not, however,
permitted to smoke opium ; this permission applies to the
Chinese only, and these are not to be allowed to smoke, ex-
cept in such place as pointed out by the authorities. Into
the public opium smoking house no 'lndians or other inhabi-
tants are to be permitted to enter, and the magistrates are
directed strict'y 'to enforce this regulation. :We knew not
whether the Manilla Indians have a taste for the cltug; it is
likely they have it in common with most of the islanders of
the Archipelago, and if so, they will soon know how to cir-
purovent the authorities in proctirillg the drug. The number
of *.O h i nese alone at Man i hough, eonsidenabler,.iys.,not
liltefy tornnike:tWibpirtili faiig "fry, juvfitabic); brittrli, of
revetme toitteCtiVerthtielit. 4 -• '`

. .
Her Majesty's ship Dicta, Hon. Captain Keppel, returned
from Manilla on the 7th, with his Excellency Lord Saltoun,
Commander of_her Majesty's military force in China. Lord
Saltoun gave over his command to Alajor-General d'Aguilar
on Thursday last. It is said his Lordship has taken his pas-
sage in the Charles Forbes, for Bombay. The visit* of the
Vice-Admiral and the General to Manilla has been produc-
tive of much gaiety there, and balls and dinners were almost
daily given to the distinguised visitors by Spanish and foreign
residents of Manilla. Her Majesty's ship Cornwallis had left
Manilla for Singapore. •
(Front the Canton Press, Jan. 20.)
Her Majesty's ship Dido, lion. Captain Keppel, is now at
Whampoa to receive three millions of dollars from the Chi-
nese, as part of the money due by them according to the
treaty. The Honourable Company's steamer Proserpine ar-
rived here yesterday morning from Hong•Keng, and left
again for Canton a• few hours after, with Mr. Stewart, the
treasurer to the superintendent. A portion cf thii sum will,
we underst.md, be applied to the use of the Hong-Kung Go-
vernrwmt ; part will be sent to England ; and about two-
thirds be remitted to Calcutta.
(From the Hong-Kong Register, Jan. 30.')
EDICT OF THE KWANG CtIOW FOO TO THE

HONG MERCHANTS.
Hwang, the treasurer, issued directions to the acting pre-
fect of Canton, Lew, to inquire into tho payment of money,
amounting to about 3,600,000 taels owed by the Hong !mer-
chants to the public treasury.
For Ginseng.—The Hong merchants received this ar-
ticle and sold it, but have not yet paid for it.
2. Tribute forwarded to the court.—They engaged of their
own accord to discharge this in yearly instalments, but when
it comes to the point, they want to throw it upon the new
merchants.

3. Payments made to the army in Turkestan.—lt was
agreed in 1834 that this sum should be forwarded in annual
instalments. But though the term for discharging this
liability is extended, still they must not endeavoer to escape
the obligation.
4. Payments made to the superintendent of the grain de-
partment and other small items. They ought not to think,
that on account of the newly-established regulations they
will avoid the discharge of these sums.
5. The payment of 2,800,000 taels to foreigners for which
they gave.a bond.—This they have to pay within four years.
Already, has one year's respite been granted to. them in con-
sideration of their remaining debts, but let them not cherish
delusive hopes, because we have postponed the time, for no
farther delay will be allowed.
Now, in the original petition, the Hong merchants state,
that on each pecdl of tea they will pay five mace, and on
cotton two mace. But they can form 'no estimate of the
sum of mosey they would be able thus to furnish annually.
They also say, that tea and cotton should not be the only
articles that ought to pay towards the clearing of the debts.
Moreover, they show. that the new establishmentS, without
specifying them, should likewise bear a share in. liquidating
the sums they owe.

They must, however, first pay up their. instalments, as
they have become due, and, we shall then take into conside
ration and report to the throne whatever items ought to be
remitted. Thus the new merchants Will have nO pretext to
excuse themselves of being involved on behalf of others,
neither can the old merchants get rid of their liabilities..
Let the Hong merchants, therefore, after mature delibera-
tion, report on the above.
Taoukwang, 23d year, 11th month, 20th day,
9th January, 1844.
THE HONG MERCHANTS' REPLY.
We now beg to lay before your Excellency, in obedience to
the orders received, the following statement
Hitherto all the sums either paid on public tt.count or to
discharge debts were taken from the Consoo Fund and levied
upon the trade, which is on record.
We are willing to pay for Ginseng and other items, and
although the time when the money was due has elapsed, still
we shall make up for the delay.
Respecting the six millions of dollars, paid in 1841 to the
English, we received orders from the officers of Government
to contribute in the first instance two millions of dollars,
whilst four millions were advanced from the public treasury ;
and the remaiuing expenditure on aecount of public emer-
gency, is not below several lake of dollars. To this we must
add the three millions of Hong debts which we discharged to
the foreigners, and moreover, above 310,000 taels on account
of the conflagration of the factories. Our non-payment and
discharge of liabilities, did therefore not arise from any un-
willingness on our part, but was owing to the heaVy contri-
butions we had to make for public purposes.
Our distressed circumstances have frequently been laid
before Government, and since the Hon"' monopoly is now
abolished, and our privileges have ceased to exist, it is only
proper, that the new mercantile establishments who share in
the same advantages, should also bear the same burdens.
And for this purpose they should give a bond, and a certain
sum whi-h they could annually furnish in payment co
debts should be stipulated. Nor should these contributions
solely fall upon tea and cotton only. And though these are
the staple articles of trade, and-the consumption may vary
from year to year, still we shall be enabled to fix an average
sum, which they annually will yield, payable in instalments
Elponeding to the extension of the terms, to be fixed by the
Supreme Government. We should, moreover, feel deeply
obliged, if the result of our deliberations were communicated
to the Court.