The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-09-17
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER II, 1868
Our FoothoId IN China.

Our FoOthold IN China.
THE London Times appreciates fully the great
advantages which have been secured by the
United States as the result OF the Burlingame
mission, and the Times, as usual, is merely
the mouthpiece of public opinion in Great
Britain. few days ago, 1t reviewed the
Chinese question in monstrously long article,
filling nearly three Of its broad-gauge columns
The conclusion arrived at after all this labo
rious special pleading was simply this
"China will not be the theatre of war between
foreign powers, unless as a result Of the Ame-
rican policy" But the very next sentence Of
the Times upsets this satisfactory assurance.
Whatever has been gained by England in China
in the past, has been extorted at the mouth
of the cannon and al the point of the bayonet.
The Chinese Government has baen taught by
sad experience that the grand design of the
English in seeking foothold on its soil has
been for the purpose of fostering and extend
Ing the opium trade with the most ignorant aud
dissipated classes of the population. A China
man has an almost uncomfortable appetite for
this enervating drug, which the Government
has wisely sought to restrain by prohibiting
its importation. Against this Exclusive,
policy the English merchants have rebelled,
and they have been sustained from the first by
the full strength of the English Government.
And 80 China has treated with the
grasping power which seeks to control
the trade of the world, has granted
concession after concession, has yielded
point after point-but only, as all England
and the Times know, with the sound of British
cannon ringing in its ears, and the CLEAN Of
British bayonets dazzling its eyes.
The treaty ground is now transferred to the
antipodes, and at once all England, for fear
the nefarious opium traffic may be interdicted,
has taken the alarm. Mr. Burlingame and his
associates, standing on British soil, will have
less fear of British powder and steel than their
predecessors in the cabinet at home. What
ever is conceded by them to Great Britain has
already been conceded to the United States
and will, in turn, be granted to France, Rus
sia, and all the other considerable
powers of Europe. Justice will be
done to foreigners, and justice will be done
to China. But this is not the English way OF
doing things in the East. There is nothing of
the bandit about it, and therefore it is ex-
tremely distasteful and almost humiliatug.
So the Times, speaking. for the opium traders
of England, who in this case constitute the
Engllsh public, declares that "China will not
be the theatre o war between foreign powers,
unless as result of the American policy"
and then proceeds to ssy that the people Of
China "want free intercourse, and it is the
duty of England to sustain the wish of
the people against their rulers" In other
words, as soon as the United States secures
an equal footing with Great Britain in China,
by fair and open negotiation with her accre-
dited agents, it becomes the rare privilege OF
the English nation to restore its lost advan-
tsges by melting and sustaining insurrection'
And then, if any of the treaty powers inter
fere to assist the Chinese Government in sup
pressing the rebellion, and in this way come
in conflict with British troops on Chinese soil,
the state of "war between foreign powers"
which will ensue will be the "result of the
American policy % This is British
logic with vengeance. But the
old policy of exclusion which has
closed the door to all progression in China
during thousand years, has been at last
abandoned, and the Celestial Empire has re-
solved to assert her privilege to position 10
the sisterhood of nations. This was her only
course to escape the rapacity of England, and
one of its first fruits will be the placing of
English diplomacy in China on the basis which
is recognized throughout the civilizsd world.
England will lose much by the change, but the
gain of China will be great, aud that of the
United States not inconsderable.