The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-11-05 00:00:00

LATEST NEWS FROM CHINA.

(From the Singapore Free Press, July 25.)
We have had the perusal of further private advices from
Macao to the 27th of June, from which we learn that two
edicts had been issued by the Canton authorities, the one pro-
hibiting all native vessels from trading with the foreign ships
outside, in any description of goods, under penalty of death,
and any foreign trade, except Portuguese, to be carried on at
Macao ; the other, ordering all foreign ships to enter the port
within five days, or to take their departure altogether, and
threatening them with extermination by fire ships should they
fail to comply I The chief superintendent had taken up the
Cambridge, Captain Douglas, to act as a guardship, for the
protection of British property ; she is said to be chartered at
£6,000 for four months. A private letter says, thatin the event
of the commissioner taking hostile measures with regard to
Macao, British residents there will find it necessary to seek
shelter on board ship, as the Portuguese do not possess the
power to protect them. Sales of the drug are reported at 750
to 780 dollars per chest, and the trade still going on along the
coast. There were about 60 sail of shipping detained outside
already, independent of the numbers that had still to arrive.
Accounts from Canton to the 24th June had reached Macao,
that the commissioner had directed the Ameriean ships tkathad
gone to Whampea to be secured, which it appears from other
and somewhat earlier accounts, the hong merchants had re-
fused to do, on the ground of their having British property
on board.

There was only one British merchant at Canton at the date
of the last accounts received at Macao from that quarter. The
destruction of the surrendered opium is said to be going on at
the rate of 3,000 chests a day ; foreigners had been invited to
witness the process.
At a meeting of British merchants held at Macao, on the
17th June, the following resolutions were passed :
" That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the public no-
tices of her Majesty's chief superintendent, coupled with the
explanation contained in his letter on the 14th inst. are to
he considered as conveying a positive order from him, as the
organ of his government, prohibitory of British ships and pro-
perty being sent within the Bocoa Tigris, in the existing state
of our relations with the Chinese government.
" That it now becomes necessary for British subjects to
make some proper arrangements for the disposal of ships and
property in the outer anchorages ; and that the committee be
authorised to communicate with the chief superintendent,
with the view of determining what course is most proper to
be pursued.
" That with the implicit reliance on the chief superinten-
dent, and the most entire dependance on the justice, wisdom,
and power of the government of England to redress the
wrongs of British merchants, this meeting is of opinion tha
the interests of all connected with the China trade will b
best promoted by a cordial unanimity and a strict adherenc
to the orders of the chief superintendent." a
The chairman refused to publish an amendment which was
moved and lost, as part of the proceedings of the meeting.
The object of the proposed amendment is stated to be, to
avoid expressing doubts, after they had already acted on pre-
vious notices of much greater moment, in delivering up the
opium, and in quitting Canton, where they had left behind
so much valuable property.
Captain Elliot had published a declaration, dated Macao,
21st of June, the effect of which it was expected would be,
to cause the commissioner to put a stop to all foreign trade
whatever for the time. The following are the principal
passages extracted from amongst a great deal of rubbish :
Elliot, &c., learns that official notices have been pub-
licly placarded and sent to the ships of his nation, inciting
the English merchants, commanders, and seamen, to dis-
regard his lawful injunctions, issued in the name of his most
gracious Sovereign. But wherefore are these notices silent
upon the causes which have produced the conclusion of trade
and intercourse at Canton ? The high commissioner has
published his own communications to Elliot, but where are
the replies ?

That proceedings are highly inconsistent with the princi-
ple of peace and dignity ; and Elliot must now declare the
motives which have compelled him to require the merchants
of his nation to leave Canton, and the ships no longer to re-
turn within the Bocca Tigris.
He then goes on to describe his own acts and the treatment
which he received, and observes :—That servants were not
faithfully restored when one-fourth of the opium was deli-
vered, the boats were not permitted to run when one-half
was delivered ; the trade was not really opened when three-
fourths were delivered ; and the last pledge that things should
go on as usual When the whole was delivered has been falsified
by the reduction of the factories to a prison with one outlet,
the expulsion of 16 persons, some of them who never dealt
in opium at all, some clerks, one a lad, and the proposal of
novel and intolerable regulations.
It is certain that the late measures of the commissioner
have retarded the accomplishment of the imperial pleasure,
given an immense impulse to the traffic in opium, which was
stagnant for several months before he arrived, and shaken
the prosperity of these flourishing provinces.
It is possible that they will disturb the whole coasts of the
empire, ruin thousands of families, foreign and native, and
interrupt the peace between the celestial court and England,
which has endured for nearly 200 years.
The merchants and ships of the English nation do not
proceed to Canton and Whampoa, because the gracious com-
mands of the Emperor for their protection are set at nought ;
because the truth is concealed from his Imperial Majesty's
knowledge; because there is no safety for a handful of de-
fenceless men in the grasp of the government of Canton, be-
cause it would be derogatory from the dignity of their Sove-
reign and nation to for4et all the insults and wrongs which
have been perpetrated, till full justice be done, and till the
whole trade and intercourse be placed upon a footing honour-
able and secure to this empire, and to England.

A. correspondent of the Silurian Advertiser states that the
presence of alumine is to be found in the iron ores of Rad-
norshire, and that is well worth the consideration of those
iron masters who are at a great expense in importing the red
ore of Lancashire.

DOCKING OF HORSES.—In this country the horse's tail
is regarded as a useless or troublesome appendage. It was
given to ward off the attacks of blood-sucking flies. But
men choose to remove it without being able to give the horse
any other protection from the insects against which it was
intended to operate. They say that the long tail conceals
the horse's quarter, diminishes his apparent height, heats
him at had work, and soils his rider. It is also supposed,
that amputation of the tail renders the back stronger. These
sage sayings have been promoted so extensively from one to
another, that it seems to be universally decided that all horses
must be docked. These, it will be observed, are very strong
objections to a long tail. It is a terrible thing to hide the
quarters, and to make the horse look lower by an inch than
he really is. Evils of such a nature are not to be suffered,
The tail may be useful in some respects, and in the good old
times it was permitted to flourish as it. grew, being only
bound up when it troubled the horse's rider. But in times
like these, when men clamour for freedom, and practice
tyranny, it must be cut off. It is said, that the back becomes
stronger after the tail is docked ; that the back receives the
blood which formerly went to the tail. There is no truth in
this. The small quantity of blood saved can be furnished
by one or two additional ounces of corn, and there is not the
slightest proof that the back becomes stronger. Some
writers have contended, that the tail of the horse, like that
of the greyhound or the kangaroo, assists him in turning, in
the same way that a helm guides a ship. Whether this be
true or not, there can be no doubt about the utility of the
tail in keeping off flies, which in some horses give extreme
torment. I have heard or read of a troop of cavalry em-
ployed, I think, in some part of India, that was quite useless
in consequence of the annoyance the docked horses received
from a large species of fly. In this country, for two months
of the year,thin-skinned horses suffer excessively, and many
accidents happen from their struggles or their fears. At
grafis they are in constant fever. It is surely worth while
inquiring, whether all that is gained by docking balances the
loss. In comparing the two, it ought to be remembered
that lock-jaw and death are not rare resulte of the operation.
Stewart's Stable Economy,