New-York daily tribune., 1858-11-18
rpxu vopx nAuy TRIBUNE THURSDAY NOVEMBER 49, 1853

" humliatipg conviction that our ignorsnce Of
China ia q darkne IS that may be felt" On the
other hand. Mr. T. W Henley, the President Of the
Brtish Board Of Trade, answers in . letter that
has been published, to the N, >tion. Whether
there i. evidence that such internsl duties cx-
4" it ," very plainly II an unable to furnish
:" you with the Information you ask. as TO the evil
dence Of internal duties in China" Thus, beside
the ratber uncomfortable conviction that Lord
Elsin, in stpulatipg for an indemnity fixed no time
forits payment, and carried the war from Canton
10 the capital merely 10 make treaty which should
.a,a The Briti.h forces back fIom the capital to
sobt at Canton, The dsrh suspicion has broken IN
unon John Bulls mind, that he himself VIII have
70 "a, out Of his own pockets the indemnity
stipulated for, since Article INV Ill VIII pro'ea
strong inducement 10 the Chinese authorizes 10
establish transit duties of 4 per cent on the bF'''h
manufactures 10 b.. on demand converted INTO IA
per cent import duty. To divert John Bun from
lcosinc too deeply into his own treaty, The Londo"
Tins found il necessary to affect great wrath al
the American ambassador, aud iercely denounced
him AZ the spoiler of the mess although, IN idc''
he had shout a, much 10 do with the failure ot tne
second Anglo Chinese war as the man IN the moon
So the peace, 80 far as English commerce Is con-
cerned, results in new import duty, and 10
series Of stipulatons which are either without any
practical value, or cannot be kept by the Chinese
and NAV. at any moment become the pretexts oil
. new war. England has not o5tsined any accession
of t.rritory-she could not claim that without
allowing France to do the same and an Engllsh
war resulting in the establishment of French pos
sessions on the Chinese coast would have been
altogether improbable. As to Russa, the case
il quite different Beside sharing III all tue
ostensible advantages, whatever they be, secured
10 England and France, Russia has secured tue
whole of the country on the Amoor, which She had
80 quietly taken possession OF. Not satisfied win
this ste has obtaired the establishment OF
Russo. Chincse Commission to fix the boundaries.
Now. we all know what such Commission Is IN
the hands of Russia. We hsye seen them at work
on the Asiatic frontiers Of Turkey, where they
kept slicing away piece after piece from that
country for more than twenty years until they were
interrupted during the late var, and the work has
NOW TO be done over again. Then there is the
article regulating the postal service between
Kakta and Pekin. What was formerly an lrreg-
uar and merely tolerated line of communication,
w. now be regularly organized, and established as
q Iiaht. There is to be monthly mail between
the two places and the journey, about 900 miles,
is to be performed in IL days; while once every
three months a caravan is to 60 over the same
. Iut fha 4
either neglect this service, be unable to carry it
out, and as the communication is now secured TO
Russia as right, the consequence Will be that il
will gradually fall into her hands. We have
seen how the Russians have carried their lines of
poets through the Kirghiz steppe; and We cannot
doubt that in very few years similar Line will
be established across the deser of Cobb, and then
adieu to all dreams of British supremacy in China;
for then Russian army may march on Pekin any
day.
Ii is easy to imagine what will be the effect Of
the establishment Of permanent Embassies at
Pekin. Look to ConstantinOple OF Teheran.
Wherever Russian diplomacy meets English and
French, it is uniformly successful. And that Il
Russian ambassador, with the chance of having, u
lew ytulS LcuS', ou amy othVnS cnoubH ioi ""y
purpose at Kiakta, months march from Pekin,
and line Of road prepared for its march all the
way-that such Russian ambassador will be all
powerful at Pekin, who can doubt
The fact is that Russia is fast coming TO be the
first Asistic Power, and putting England into the
shade very rapidly on that continent The coa-
quest Of Central Asia aud the annexation Of Mant-
chooria increase her dominions by an extent OF
country as large all Europe exclusive of the
Russian empire and bring her down from snowy
Siberia to the temperate zone. In short time
the valleys of the Central Asiaic rivers and Of the
.imoor will be peopled by Russian cooniss. The
strategic positions thus gained important for
Asia a. those in Poland are for Europe. The pos
session of TnTsn menaces India; that of Mant-
rhooria menaces China. And China rnd India.
with their i50. 600 900 of inhabitants are now the
decisive countries of Asia.