The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-10-05
The New War in China.

some British official, and expressed ourselves
TO that effect Every fresh detail confirms the
impression. Those who took the pains TO read
what was published In the newspapers last
year. about the new treaty, will recoliect that
the Chinese Commissioners expressed the mt
mos, repugnance to allowing the residence OF
European Ministers at Picking. II WAS Sio-
latioa Of all the traditions of the Empire, anu
therefore, permanent humiliation To the ha-
ton Being the weaker party, however, my
were forced 10 submit. and they agreed 'ha'
the Eas,ish and French should eaeh seho
minister to reside at the capiiai, ana iha' othei
s,..as .h,p,d do the same. The visit of the
nr,t;.h minister, Mr.. BRUcE, the brother oil
rnra Elayx. on the present occasion, was
,,,.,e,v for the purpose Of exchanging ratinca-
,ion. This exchange might just as well nave
been made At Shanghai, where TWO ChiheSe
Commissioners. kwRILANG and kwAsHANA.
were sen, TO meet the European Envoys' for
what reason the Enyoys declined. we are un-
able to say, for we can hardly beiie'e tha'
given by them--that they could hold no oDe'as
intercourse with the Commissioners except at
Peking.-the true one. They did reinse' now
ever and KwgiLANG then assured them t''"'
they would find a high official parsonage At
the mouth of the Pei-Ho who would receive
them and conduct them 10 Picking 10 INC
mouth of the river, therefore, they proceeoeo'
and arrived there on the Doth June. lheohi-
IA Mail. an English newspaper published III
China. gives the following account oi "h''
then took place;
..The Pei Ho found tn he st1oasy oeienu ass
by forts aud piles, as To- make II dhco.. 10 P as
up 70 ,rrre Informed that they ,oer, 10 be
,sr,irsd at n, Northtrn snfraa,e or .t;.
cont messengers to the forts on the 2ith, and was
Todd b, one of the garrison that Gorernor- usatrat
aHJ h ,rofJ ths,s ,eeeir, the Ministers, and BY
~. E,ap.roy's orders. eondncffhem TO Pektns.'
In the North China Herald, paper also de-
voted to British interests, is published letter
.rom the scene of action, from which we make
the following extract. The letter is dated llth
July
"A message was sent to the jetty leading up to
had beon made to meet the United States Minis
tar The party was met by three men dressed as
aud swords. which remained In the roar, While
these three came to the end oil the Jetts 10 see
what was wanted To the enquiries made they
answered that they were militia men who had
baen appO nted defend the river; that orders had
g goy"isn Ministers to The capital, and that the
f;UrsrHor General and ProriHrtaf 1redSpreT had
that day gone TO The upper tranea me rs' ,, 20
n, american resSel trsnt thsre-p0Hhhg our me
place to the party by some Jnnk asts sesm aerosJ
could pass this ,cay, and if they attempted to re-
move the stakes. they rronld oe .hTsd INTO Az me
other end erery cement for thsJ0nfHsy ic0hd
| b, mnde. That night the Admiral blew up or re-
| moved the first row of stakes and two shots were
fred from the fort; but the second a5dfis was VOC
| strong to be put aside. Durin. the forenoon OF
| the 25th, lHnk brought MESSENGER 10 or.
| BRuck,tfhe British Mintster.} from the Goreraor
tirnsyai, at the upper entrance, stating that ne
| rad arrired, and thnf the MtatsteT. H0kta oe re
| rstrsd there but the exact wording oil the mes
sac il not known generally. thong its tenor was
! peaceful and corresponded, on me whoie, witIl
| The assertions at the Imperial commissioners az
| Snanshae. IL tcas conStdered erdstre - -.
The China Mail, AT the close of the article
| from which our first extract was made in
dulges in the following brief comment, which
must be considered conclusive, coming
from a quarter in which British interests are
ALWAYS advocated with peculiar zeal.
| "Wb-n kwHILAsG assured the British MintSter
thai upon MS arriraI at tbs mouth Of ne Pet- Ho
| mir, sincerity. The correspondence wih him
| could carry eonrietion on ms psinf u 1t gre
teyronrss ioith Chnes. officials upon ecery subject
| II the assertions Of the l1nptrmt LommisStoHerS
.pon thfS point are 10 be regarded as decspftrs.
The Lion has found 4 historian this time
| at any rate. and that in the very camp OF his
enemies.
| During the Chinese troubles last year, we re-
| collect having SEEM in print a letter from an
| American MlsSlOidIy; ioNb ie'ioc"I AZ CAAi'-N'
| and well acquainted with the people, their
habits. their modes of thought, their preJu-
| dices. and the incidents of their intercourse
with foreigners during the last twenty years.
It was the opinion OF this man that the Eng
| lish had rendered themselves unnecessarily
odious 10 the Chinese, by the oyerbearing man
| ner in which they uniformly conducted them
| selves toward them Nor was this insolence
fla;r init
with the Chinese. 1t broke out on all oc-
casions, whenever the English came in con-
tact with Asiatics. Their common language
was "If you want to have any dealings with
an Asia,ic, YOU must begin by knocking him
down" We see, in the proceedings OF the
British Minister, on the present occasion,
full development, on q large scale, OF this AFRO
CANT sumption of superiority. He seems to
have taken it for granted that every thing told
him by the Chinese Commissioners, must of
course be a lie, and he did not even take the
trouble to examine, and see whether he might
not by possibility be mistaken. 1fany man
ever deserved severe punishment, for leading
his fellow creatures to death, through his own
bull.headed arrogance this man does. In
stead OF sending army to cut the Threats of
the Chinese, the British Government had bet
most ex tent of their power
After reading the extracts which we have
published above, there can be no doubt about
this matter. The British Minister is wholly
to blame throughout. Without the slightest
provocation wii.fully and deliberately-he
violated the treaty. II is impossible to blame
anybody else; he was the whole and sole cause
of the disaster, and he should be made to suffer
a n n a al
forces deserved exactly what they got, would
hardly be to speak the exact truth. They did
nothing more than obey orders, which they
burst not refuse to do. But if the whole pun
ishment could have been concentrated upon
the head Of the Minister, retribution would
have been perfect. The whole affair was us
stupid in conduct as it was iniquitous in con-
ception-
The London Times tries to account for the
defeat by the assumption that there We're Eu-
| ropean officers among the rebels. There is no
| reason, as far as we can see, for any such as
| sumption. Amy man who knows that powder
| will send a ball out OF cannon when it is set
on fire, knows also, that if a body Of men walk
| straight up to a battery, through mud, waist
deep. and give the men at the guns time to take
deliberate aim ut them, they must be shot
| down when the guns in question are fired
And that was precisely the position, relatively
| OF the English and Chinese There was no
occasion for Russian American officers
The stupidity Of the English managers, Min
lister, ADMIRAL and GENERALLY was more favor
| able to the Chinese, and did more for them,
than all the officers in the world could have
| done. They could not help killing them, any
| mere than man can avoid killing number
| Of wild geese, when he discharges a swivel
loaded to the muzzle with rifle bullets, into
the very midst of them.
AN EXTENSIVE TouR-O F. Baldwin ESQ