Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1841-12-20
From the Boston Courier
HON. J. q ADAMS LECTURE.

THE CHINA QUESTION The Lecture of Mr.
Admins, before the Historical Society, the othei
evening, WINS calculated TO excite the surprise o
most of the audience, because it adopted posi-
ton regarding The dispute between Great Britain
and China, wholly at variance with all the opln-
IONS that are commonly entertained among 81
its real merits As some curiosity has been ex-
pressed to know the mode BY y.hicn mir. Adams
maintained the justice Of the Brush cau.e we
have Undertaken TO give, in brlei, the heads OF
the argument, MS we understand it.
! Mr.. Adams commenced his lecture by sugges
ting four questions for considerations rs growing
out of the controversy.
| !. Which party has the righteous cause
g The prospects of lis progress and conclusions
g. How the interests of other nations are oi
may be affected 10y it, particularly the United
| States.
| 4. The duties of the American Government
and people resulting from il.
But although he made this extensive disribu-
ton of his subject, the limits of his lecture al
lowed him only to dispose of portion of the
first point. To the full understanding of this, he
went into the examination of the law of nations
and the four sources from which it springs, de-
scrbed by Vae as The necessary, the voluntary
The conventional and the customary. The nj ces
sary law is the application of the laws of nature
! to the intercourse between nations wholly indie
pendent of each other, aud eau be enforced only
between those which acknowledge that the state
of nature is state of peace. The voluntary law
of nations is the application OF some law vounla.
ry assumed, as, tor example, that OF Christianity
among the European nations, and their descend E
ants all over the world, which law has been rec
ognlzed by the Uniied States rs obligatory, in The
Constitution. The question, as between China
and Great Britain, must be tried by The first of
these laws. The rights of other Christian ma
TONS go far as they may be involved in the issue
must he tried by the second.
By the law OF mature, property springs from iwC
sources occupancy and labor But occupancy
which gives exclusive right to the soil, must be
permanent. To he permanent it must be definite
by metes and bounds, which can only be 10y com
pact. These points being established, the right
of exchange, barter or commerce. necessarily
follows from properly. And the state of / ure
being II state of peace, and the pursuit of happl-
ness a natural right of man, it is the duty of men
to contribute US much as they can to the happiness
OF one another. No way of doing this is so GER
tain as that OF the natural exchange of equivalents
Commerce therefore among the Natural rights
ard duties of men.
These propositions being distinctly laid down,
the lecturer went into an examination of the res
trlctions which Vntel had imposed upon the du-
ty of commercial intercourse between nations and
alter separating from the question The right of any
one naiion 10 enforce the performance OF il upon
another, he endeuvored to show that the second
and third general laws laid down in that authors
preliminary chapter were at variance and whn ~
inconsistent with the first. He maintained thai
it was impossible 10 admit. with Vatlel, that each
nation ought TO contribute all in its power to the
happiness aud perfection OF others and after
wards aiirn with him thai each nation is bound
10 do whatever it can 10 promote lis 0rn happi-
ness, making itself The exclusive Judge of what
TINT is, without reference TO thai oil any other.
This argument was The foundation of Mr.. Ad-
ans whole edifice. He built upon it the duty OF
reciprocity between nations Of commercial in
tercourse with each other, not from exclusive or
paramount considerations of their own respective
interests, but from equal regard TO The interests of
both. Al the same time, b. qualified this general
rule, sn lar MS TO admit every nation To he The
judge of what species of traffic 10 injurious nnd
10 have the right To interdcI it when no longer
fulfilling The condition upon which commercial
intercourse is enjoiUed. This was dwell upon at
Considerable length, and with great force and in
genuy, but we find ourselves utterly unable To
follow ii further at presen, lhan this brief synop,
sis.
The basis having been thus made, nothing re-
NAMED but 10 apply the principles evolved TO the
history of The controversy. Mr. Adams review
ed the relations with China, first ofihe Portuguese
and The manner in which they became possessed
of Macao, aud then OF the British, through the
East India Company, and the mission which had
been instituted in the person Of Lord Mccartney,
IN 1922 He endeavored to show ly il that the
policy Of the Chinese empire had always been
based upon an'i-commerclal principles, and that
the manner IN which IL hud been carried on
IN the highest sense AN outrage upon the rights OF
human nature, and upon those nations. He did
not spare sarcasm upon the modes by which the
sovereigns Of Europe, and especially Great Brit
ain, had endeavored heretofore to conciliale the
maintenance of the trade with China, with their
sefesteem. He considered the formation Of the
East India Company as having been comproni-
gent to accept terms, and occupy the position OF
a tributary, which The principal, in his own per-
son, would not consent TO. Lord MacarlDey had
been called upon TO perform The ko-Tow, cere-
mony Of proslration Of the person, and knocking