The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-13 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

In consequence of the many disappointments experienced by
parties wishing to obtain copies of the STANDARD of
Friday last, and in compliance with the suggestion of se-
veral friends, we have reprinted in the SUPPLEMENT the
opening remarks of Mr. Cresswell on the will cause; and
the purchasers of the STANDARD of to-day will thus have
the whole of this important case laid before them.
A brief abstract of the important news from China appeared
in the STANDARD of Friday last. Further extracts will be
found to• day.

ti Stamp Supplement is presented with the STANDARD of

this day

Ebt Eibirpoot &tanbarb.

TUESDAY

MORNING, APRIL 13, 1841

The treaty agreed to by Captain Elliot, hastily an-
nounced as a complete and satisfactory settlement of
our differences with China, by no means affords, on
examination, all that contentment which the trumpeting
of the ministerial press would induce us to look for.
Not to dwell on the fact that a treaty with this people
—unratified—and a treaty especially which has been
extorted from them at the cannon's mouth—and the
" fulfilment" of it, are, as we have reason to know,
quite different things—there is not an article in the
protocol, however apparently favourable to our interests,
to which a drawback, which completely nullifies it,
may not without straining be suggested.

The first article cedes " the island and harbour of
Hong-kong to the British crown ;" but this cession is
coupled with a condition that "all just charges and
duties to the empire, upon the commerce carried on
there, are to be paid as if the trade were conducted at
Whampoa"—which throws a doubt over the extent of
sovereignty which it was intended we should exercise
there, and the, commercial advantages we shall derive
from it. On the 26th of January the British flag was
to be hoisted at Hong-kong, and a force was to be dis-
embarked to take formal possession of the island in the
name of her Majesty, and as a military station as well
as commercial entre-pot, it was supposed it would
afford us superior advantages; but, as a set-off against
these, there are the disadvantages of British traders
leaving a large city where a profitable traffic has been
carried on for centuries, to take up their residence in
an insulated and unfrequented locality—disadvantages
so great that it is questionable if Canton will not still
he preferred as the seat of business.
The second article is an agreement, on the part of
the Chinese, to pay to the British Government "an
indemnity of six millions of dollars (or about £1,250,000
sterling), one million to be payable at once, and the
remainder in equal annual payments, ending in 1846."
But how far will this sum go towards indemnifying all
who have incurred cost and loss by the capricious
orders and outrageous tyranny of the Chinese govern-
This monetary part of the transaction has
caused the utmost dissatisfaction—and the East India
merchants speak with great, and we think not unrea-
sonable, indignation of our plenipo for making so bad
a bargain. " Not only," say they, "has he neglected
the just claims of private individuals, but he has sacri-
ficed the honour of his country. The terms which he
has accepted are by no means an equivalent for the ex-
pense which has accrued to the British nation on
account of the expedition, much less do they afford
satisfaction for the indignity inflicted in his own person
on the representation of the British crown ; and still
farther are they from securing an indemnification to
the British merchants for the property which he (Cap
Elliot) caused, by the exertion of his influence an
authority, to be placed at the disposal of the Chinese

In fact,.the opium dealers seem to be thrown overboari
altogether—and this is certainly unhandsome treatmen
of them on the' part of her Majesty's plenipo. WI

were assured, on the return of Admiral Elliot from
Peckelee, that £3,000,000 were to be paid as a satis-
faction for all the damage we had sustained at the
hands of Lin; but these three millions sterling have
dwindled down to less than half, and even this half i 3
only to be paid by annual instalments not to be com-
pleted till the end of 1846. It is certain that out of
this sum little or nothing will ever reach the hands of
the injured merchants. Now the whole affair of our
difference with China is so made up that it is impossible
to separate one part from another, and we take it as a
clear point that, if aptain Elliot had a right to insist
upon an indemnity at all, he had a right to demand one
that would pay for the confiscated property of the India
merchants, and this he certainly has not done.

The third article is an important one, but wants ex-
planation : it is, that there shall be " direct official
intercourse between the countries on an equal footing."
Does this mean that a British ambassador shall reside
at the court of Pekin ? If so, it is a great point gained
—a result which we agree with a metropolitan contem-
porary in regarding as pregnant with very considerable
consequences to China, England, and the civilised
world, and worthy of every pecuniary sacrifice that
may have been made to gain it; but " details remain
matter of negotiation," and we are left in suspense as
to the proper interpretation of this article, which, after
all, may mean no more than that a British consul at
Canton shall have new facilities of communication with

provincial viceroys

The trade of the port of Canton was to be opened
within ten days after the Chinese new year ; to be car-
ried on at Whantpoa till farther arrangements are
practicable at the new settlement.

Such, for the present, seems to be the grand result
of our expedition to China. That it is not a failure

altogether we have, perhaps, reason to be thankful.
One thing, however, is certain, that if it be short of

what we had a right to expect, neither our gallant red
coats nor blue jackets have any portion in the blame,

The honour, without alloy, belongs to them; the dis-
credit, if any there be, to others. As to the celestials,
although it is evident that they are quite unequal to
cope with us in war—(less, perhaps, from want of
courage than from want of acquaintance with modern
European arts of destruction)•—and although they have
been taught an humbling lesson in naval and military
matters which, it is to be hoped, may induce them to
treat us with a little more deference hereafter—yet we

must say that, on the whole, we have learned nothing
through this expedition which tends to lower them in
our eves. That they possess considerable talents for
diplomacy is admitted. Nothing can depress the mag-
niloquent style of their official papers, " The English
barbarians are now obedient to orders," says the great
Ke-shen, the imperial commissioner, with inimitable
gravity. "At present all affairs are perfectly well
settled." And thus did he announce his own submis-
sion and the good behaviour into which our lighting
men had just been at the trouble of thrashing him.
This may be laughable, as certainly it is ; but words
are sometimes " things," and who can tell how much
the very existence of the celestial dynasty may depend
upou this pre-eminently celestial and top-lofty mode of
speech in all the official servants of the government ?
The Chinese character and nature becomes every day
a more interesting subject of speculation.

All who admire purity of election must feel deeply
indebted to Mr. Blackstone for obtaining an order to
print the evidence taken before the St. Alban's Com-
mittee. It is no libel to say that there never was
grosser or rn.sre manifest bribery than the circumstan-
ces of that case disclose. This, indeed, was admitted;
but the committee were of opinion that it was not le_
gaily brought home to the principal, and that they
were, therefore, bound to dismiss the petition. Strange
as their decision must appear, it was contended in the
House of Commons that it was according to rule, and
all perfectly right. Sir R. Peel said that he did not
consider the committee at all in fault, and Mr. Black-
stone himself declared that he did not mean to cast
any censure upon them by his motion. What, then,
is our conclusion to be ? There is a palpable case of
bribery to carry the election of a Whig lord of the bed-
chamber, and plenty of evidence to satisfy any twelve
men out of parliament that the individual who actually
paid down the wages of corruption was the agent of
the noble lord—and yet a parliamentary committee may,
it seems, dismiss the case as unproven, without the
slightest imputation on their impartiality or discern-
ment. If this be so, then, our inference must he•that
the law is in a most imperfect state, and calls loudly
for amendment.

By way of set off against this flagrant transaction,
as it affects the purity of parliamentary election, the
morals of reformers, and an individual holding an
office so near the crown, it is said that a case of retali-
ation would have been made out against Mr. Smyth,
the conservative member for Canterbury—but that a
compromise took place which withdrew both from the
committee ordeal. We know not how this may have
been; but there is at all events a wide difference be-
tween a case actually proved, and one which we have
only somebody's word that it might have been so. The
counsel for the Canterbury petition threw up his brief
in an early stage of the business, finding that, with the
rule as to agency in his way, which the committee of
the St. Alban's case had set up, he could not progress.
After this, petitioning parliament on grounds of
bribery must he regarded as a joke. If Dr. Webster,
of St. Alban's, was not deemed a sufficiently-proved
agent of the bed-chamber lord, it would be impossible
to prove any man an agent, except one that could shew
a written authority from his principal, and that would
be fool or knave enough to shew it if he had.

We are not half sensible of all the prodigious ad-
vantages and benefits we enjoy under a reformed House

of Commons

We read with very great pleasure the leading article
of the Mercury of Friday, which, amongst other re-
commendations, had that of being particularly " short
and sweet." " Would to Heaven," said our contem-
porary,—it was thus he began,—" that men would
keep their hands from picking and stealing." Ay, in-
deed, we wish they would, and we wish also that there
were no " best pOsiible instructors" abroad to en-
courage them in so evil a practice. One might sup-
pose, in their simplicity, that the Mercury, who was so
good and so pious on Friday morning, (we certainly
approve of his choice of the day for being so, although
it comes round but once a year,) would be the last in
the world to recommend to others, or to practise him-
self, that " picking and stealing" which he appears to
deprecate so strongly. Yet, if we mistake not, it is
but a short time since we had to reprove our ancient
brother of the quill rather sharply for hallooing on the
Dissenters to a wholesale plunder of the Church ; and
everybody knows that on the subject of the corn du-
ties he rarely keeps his pen from lying and slandering,
and is, perhaps, only prevailed upon by the terrors of
a gaol from keeping his hands from picking and steal-
ing.

When levelling doctrines were, once upon a time, in
great vogue, it was a fact obvious to remark, that the
most prominent leveller was invariably one who would
indeed bring all things down to his own level, but was
as strict and severe as any other against bringing any-
thing or anybody up to an equality with himself. And
really when we hear a full-figure advocate of the abo-
lition of church rates and corn duties—a whole-hog
promoter of church and gentry spoliation—praying
that "men would keep their hands from picking and
stealing," we are reluctantly compelled to put this con-
struction on his devotions—namely, that he very sin-
cerely desires they may keep their hands out of his own
pockets, but that he may be at perfect liberty to dip his
fingers into theirs, so far and so often as he feels in-
clined.

But our contemporary's doctrines, it appears, come
back upon him—(yes, Whig doctrines are apt to play
this trick)—and the cousequence is, that " appalling
record of human crime and depravity of the deepest
dye" with which he complains that he is obliged to fill
his pages. Such records it is certainly most grievous
and deplorable to have to compile ; but under what re-
gime, let us ask, is it that we have this terrible harvest
of iniquity to reap ? Whigs rule in the land. Whig-
gery presides over the councils of the Sovereign—is
taught by journalists, anti-corn law lecturers, political
dissenters, and various others ; the church and the
aristocracy are arraigned before the people, and plenty
of false witnesses are brought forward to support the
charges against them ;—and is it wonderful, is it sur-
prising that crime abounds, and iniquity is rife in the
land
? Here is a Whig journalist confessing and la-
menting the fact. He is grieved beyond measure that
twice in the year he is forced to overload his pages for
Successive weeks with an "appalling record of human
crime, and depravity of the deepest dye." And do we
go too far when we say that there is here something
more than a mere concomitancy, and that between the
ill-omened ascendancy of Whiggery, and this lamenta-
ble prevalence of crime, nay " depravity of the deepest
dye," there is the positive relation of cause and effect ?

We think not ; nay, we are persuaded that the relation
is real, and might be traced with little difficulty. Im-
morality is the natural fruit of Popery; but when Po-
pery forms a matrimonial alliance with Whiggery, we
may expect the brood to be more numerous, though
we can look for no improvement by the cross. The
Whigs make light of church instruction, and do their
utmost to confine and restrict its agency; but what
do they offer, or what have they given in its place ?
Whatever influence they possess is bestowed in favour
either of superstition or scepticism ; and is it astonish-
ing, we say, nay is it not a result naturally to be looked
for, that crime should abound ? The population has
increased beyond the reach of the church's ministra-
tions. There is nothing more obvious nor certain that,

unless the people are to be abandoned to ignorance
and criminality, which will be every year growing
worse, mean's must be taken to extend the church's
services in proportion to the increase and wants of the
people. But do the Whigs shew favour to proposi-
tions for this purpose ? Quite the contrary ; they
oppose them : for whatever their own sentiments, or
of some of them, may be, they are bound down by
their Popish and dissenting 'connexions, and private
opinion must give way to positive compact. What
wonder, then, we repeat, that crime should flourish,
and that heavy groans are drawn forth even from a
Whig journalist, under the intolerable weight of the
record ? But we have done. We might perhaps ask
why the Mercury., who expresses so much distaste to,

and disapproval of, long assize reports, and thinks hig
columns might be so much better occupied, does not
act manfully on his conviction, and shorten these
Meliora video, he seems to say, probo (pee ;
pejora sequor. We might ask this question, but as it
touches on a matter of " trade" in which vro, journal-
ists are all alike concerned, we shall say nothing about
it : on such points it becomes us to be delicate.

The anti-corn-law gentry had an out

-door exercise

yesterday, in Clayton-square, but the attendance was
remarkably thin. On the platform all the old familiar
faces presented themselves to view, and Sir Joshua
Walmsley was, of course, president. We cannot call
him chairman, for we understand his knightship had
no chair to sit upon. The orators were sadly at a loss
for something to say. Every body now knows that
the free-trade in corn talk is all a mere hum-bug, and
any money would have been given yesterday for a topic.
On the last gathering of the "giants" the Conserva-
tives had kindly supplied them with a little ammunition
for their pop-guns, by the meeting which they had
held shortly before at the Amphitheatre; but yester-
day, poor fellows, they were obliged to depend entirely
on their own resources—and, really, coming forward
upon such a dependence, we must say, that they were
very far from being giants, Titans, or even Patago-
nians, but agitators of very small calibre indeed, and
less force.

One reason for the thinness of the attendance, we
conjecture to be, that the Irishmen not being quite so
absurd as the knight and his clique suppose, did not
think proper to support a scheme so utterly ruinous to
their country as this free-trade in .corn monstrosity
would necessarily prove. The stage orators talk of
giving a cheap loaf to Manchester and the manufac-
turing people, but have they any idea how dearly Ireland
would have to pay for this accommodation ? Open
markets for corn to all the world, and how will rents
be paid in Ireland, we should be glad to know ? No
matter, say the orators, the tenantry will be as they
were : if the rents are not to be got at their full amount,
the landlords must take what they can get—and thus
all the loss occasioned by the revolution will fall upon
them. But how many thousands would,be reduced to
absolute beggary by the process ? This is only one
instance of their narrow-minded, selfish, and heartless
schemery which these mountebanks contend for. But
their cry is only a pretence. Free-trade in corn is not
what they want—but a subversion of society by the
degradation and impoverishment of the aristocracy, and
to become aristocrats themselves by the ruin of others.

By the by, old Colonel Williams gate a good hint
yesterday to the free-trade Radicals, especially the opera-
tive classes. "Do you forget," said he, " that upwards
of thirty millions are spent annually in ardent spirits?
Now ardent spirits are made from corn, and see what
waste is there. Do give up burning your insides, and
join Father Matthew's society." Good, colonel, very
good, indeed. Let the Reformers only reform them-
selves, and they will find bread cheap and plentiful
enough as it is, without any repeal or even modification
of the corn duties. A clever man is the colonel, and a
pleasant. We may possibly notice some more of the
oratory, in more leisurely fashion, in our next.