The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-29
ENGLISH POLICY IN CHINA.


Gently been issued, while it shows that there
are two sides to the questions which have
been discussed in Parliament on the whole
fully justifes Lord Clarendon's stringent in
structions. A general monotony, including
much variety of detail characterizes the nu-
merous quarrels between the inhabitants Oh
the country and their unwelcome guests
When a merchant or a missionary mas con-
tracted for tue purchase OF premises, 1t
sometimes happens that, with or without the
connivance of the vendor and the local autho-
rites. a mob prevents the purchaser from
taking possession of his property Occa-
sionally goods belonging to English
withstanding the production of all
proper documents; or trader
passing near a village is pelted or assaulted by
natives who are as hostile to strangers as if
they lived in the midland counties. The con-
sular agent on the spot at once adopts the
cause of his countlymen; and If gunboat is
within reach he requests the aid of the officer
in command, who is only too happy to find
exercise for the energies of himself and his
crew At the outset it would seem that the
Chinese are for the most part in the wrong
but if the correspondence accurately repre-
sents the state of affairs, there is no founda-
ton for the charges which have been made
against the upper classes. The gentry or lite
rary graduates, who we're lately denounced
in Parliament, have had little or nothing to
do with the outrages which have furnished an
excuse for retaliation In the only instance
in which one of their body had instigated
a riot, the culprit, when he was arrested in
compliance with the demands of the Vice
Consul, was found to be a half-witted man of
seventy, who was, even in the opinion of his
accusers, scarcely proper object of punish
ment. The officers of the Government
although they may probably not be disinclined
III Il.
the reclamatons of the Consuls with cour-
teous professions and promises; but expe-
rience shows that both the mandarins and the
population are the most deferential when
jealous lieutenant, with a Vice-Consul at his
back, has taken a fort or fired a few volleys
of musketry among an armed village rabble.
A petition from the inhabitants of a place
called Tang-tun, which had been
punished with lawless severity for
some irregularity Of the kind, is touching
in the helplessness which it indicates. The
villagers say that ION the sth of this month
some children, seeing your great country's
war-boats passing, were much frightened,
and, running away, foolishly excited our
people to attack them; for which the great
army has entered our village and punished us.
We repent our fault fully, and, prostrating
ourselves, beg undeserved that mercy may be
shown us, and promise that, men and women,
VI
for coming generations under your favor
Trusting that the great Consul will hear our
prayers, etc. In this case, which is the worst
recorded in the correspondence, Commodore
Oliver Jones, acting apparently underthe orders
of Sir H. Keppel, the commander-in-chief,h had
burnt part of a village, and almost destroyed
a town of 1000 inhabitants, in consequence of
some shots which had been fired on the boats
of the gunboat Cockchafer. Admiral Keppel
xuill rbanc ha a1lI 10 i'm n
seeming breach of faith with the Viceroy,
who had undertaken himself to punish the
Offenders, receiving the promise of the Adrni-
raj to abstain from independent action. 1t is
due to the Consul, Mr. Robertson, to record
his open disapprobation of Commodore Jones
unfortunate exploit.
In the vast empire of China there are wide
differences of character and civilization
Some of the collisions reported in the CORES
pondence occurred in the island of Formosa
where an aboriginal population under Chinese
rulers is still so deficient in refinement as to
practise cannibalism. 1t is not surprising
that in such a country missionaries should be
exposed to Inconvenience; and the religious
difficulty is aggravated by quarrels between
English merchants and Chinese traders who
formerly possessed a monopoly of the staple
commodity of camphor In consequence of
various grievances for which no redress could
be obtained, Mr.. Gibson, the Acting Consul
induced Lieutenant Gurdon to seize a town
and fort as a security for the concession
of string of demands. The opera
ton was effected with laudable skill and
courage; but it is satisfactory to find that the
civil and military officers have been sharply
reprimanded, and that Lord Clarendon had
both removed Mr.. Gibson from his post, and
instructed the English ambassador to ex-
press his regret to the Chinese Government.
Sir II. Keppel had previously directed the re-
turn of large sum of money which had been
exacted from the local authorities, but in
other respects he approved of Lieutenant
Gurdon's conduct 1t is perhaps desirable
that pugnacity should be tolerated in sailors;
but the naval commander-in-chiefh has shown
on more than one occasion, an imperfect APP
prehension of the rights which belong even
to the Chinese The English Government,
in concluding the treaty of Tientsin, insisted
ON the residence of an envoy at the Court of
Pekin, for the express purpose of avoiding
the necessity of collision with the provincial
authorities. 1t was thought expedient as
well as just, to support the Imperial Govern
ment by recognizing its paramount right and
duty of enforcing order. When consuls and
naval officers take the law into their own
with unanswerable grounds of complaint 1t
is probably true that local action secures
speedier redress, and Sir Rutherford Alcock
expatlates IN an elaborate despatch on the
difficulty of applying European rules of con-
duct to dealings with a nation which acknow-
lodges a different standard of laws and morals;
yet on the whole, it is impossible to Justify
systematic violation of the treaty The Eng
hsh Envoy, though he hesitates between
two inconsistent lines of policy, has the
merit of having strongly condemned the