New-York tribune., 1868-09-07
CHINA AND THE WEST.

The alarm with which the Burngame treaty
has inspired a portion of the English press
would tempt us TO despair Of any speedy
reform in the relations between China and the
Western World were We not persuaded that
the British people are just and sensible enough
To disregard the illibeml comments of such
Journals as The Times and The Saturday ReUieic,
and to accept the Chinese proposal of freer
intercourse in the same frank spirit in which
it is uttered 1t is natural, perhaps that
Great Britain should look at the Chinese qucs-
ton with eyes very different from ours; not
because her trade with the Floweiy Kingdom
is so much greater than ours, but because
her traditional policy toward that ancient
empire has been one which the United States
have never followed. If China hitherto has
treated all foreigners as contemplate bHbarl-
ans. whom il would be a disgrace to recognize
as equals, and danger 20 admit as residents,
we are not sure that the principal European
Powers have been any more just or reasonable.
They have behaved toward the Chinese as
toward an insolcnt set Of savages, who have
no right 10 their own country, no right to
make their own laws, to live in their own
way, TO shut or TO open their own gates, or to
choose their own guests. II China saw fit To
close her towns it WAS the nalenable privilege
of any Englishman, who felt strong enough, to
batter down the walls. II she objected 10
her pcasantiy being poisoned with smuggled
opium. il was the brthright of the Briton to
lombard her seaports. There was peace be
tween England and China just so long as Eng
land was felt to he the stronger. English
merchants and ministers were received only
l.. Il. ..l.I alf. Nl,.t
upon frigatcs and gunbOats. Which of the two
nations showed the more justice and the higher
civilization, 1t might not be easy to determine.
America Las pursued a different course. Re-
cOgrizing the right of all peoples to regulate
their own affairs in their own way, We have
obtained admission into China by the pressure
of moral influence; and now, when the time
comes to readjust the conditions of intercourse
between the great monarchy of Asia and the
countries of the younger world, We meet the
representatives of the Tartar dynasty not as
ignorant enemies who have to DO whipped
into submission, but as friends and
EQUALS. 1t is sad to see that there are English
men who cannot appreciate the significance of
our position, and who suspect trckery under
one Of the most straightforward and honest
treaties that China has ever concluded. The
instrument which Mr. Burlingame has nego-
tiated is remarkable not so much for Its positive
stipulatiOns as for the two great ideas which
find more or less distinct expression in all its
articles; first, that China is ready to meet the
rest of the world on equal terms, and second,
that we disclaim the purpose and the right OF
impeltinent interference in her domestic affairs
Our treaty, exclaims The Times, restores the
old retrograde system, and stops all progress
On tie contrary, it is the first step in the
direction of progress which Christian nations
have made in China since the missionaries
long years ago converted large section OF the
empire to the Gospel. Forcing open few
ports, extOrting commercial privileges at the
mouth of the cannon, and wTinging from an
unwilling Emperor ambiguous conventions
which never were, and never were meant to
be, honestly carried Out--these were not steps
of progress. 1t is only as Europe abandons
the old reads and follows the path which we
have opened, that it will really do something
for the spread of civilization and the good of
tie world.
The real head and front of oficnse in the
seems to be that it was not drawn up by an
! Englishman. England" says that journal,
"is the proper Power for China to employ as
"a medium for revising her treaties with other
"nationsn Passing by this childish complaint,
let us see what other objections the London
papers have made to the instrument. The
Gysi article, tLsy urge abQAshes TIE Consular