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    Pabkes , repaired on board the war-boat , and , treating the affaar as an unfortunate mistake , explained to the officers in charge that they had violated a treaty , offered an insult to the English flag , and incurred a grave responsibility . He then requested them , if they had any charge to prefer against the captured crew , to bring them , to the Consulate , where the case would be fully investigated . They declined this offer , and intimated that they would employ force if Mr . Pabkes attempted to take the men under

    his protection . The affair therefore , unhappily , went further . Mr . Parkes complained to Yeh , the Imperial High Commissioner , stating in courteous terms the details of the day ' s occurrence , and requesting him to restore the men to their vessel , when , if accused of any crime , they would be arrested , conveyed to the Consulate , and submitted to a legal examination . At the same time , he represented the claim of the captured vessel to compensation . The Commissioner ' s reply accused three of the prisoners of piracy , but exonerated the other nine . lu the

    correspondence tiiat ensued it was first alleged that the vessel was Chinese , and < not foreign , though , ultimately ( sixteen , days after ) Teh admitted the untruth of this assertion ; " when she was boarded by the Chinese soldiers they were not . aware that she was a foreign lorcha ; she was originally a Chinese vessel . " Ifc was shown , we think satisfactorily , that the British flag was flying at the time of the capture ; although the owners of the vessel , by neglecting to renew her certificate , had forfeited

    her right to protection . Her forfeiture of British rights , however , conferred no new rights on the Chinese , it being clearly a question for the British authorities whether they would protect a shipowner who had not paid up his taxes . The Chinese had no knowledge of the lapse , and therefore acted as though no lapse had occurred . The lorcha , to all intents and purposes , was a British vessel , carried the British ensign , and was attacked by the imperial war-boat with a

    shelled the troops on a neighbouring hill . The politest people in the world immediately procaimed a reward of thirty dollars for the head of every Englisman . By slow degrees the city was placed at ; the mercy of the vessels in the river . The Imperial fleet—not more effective in war than so many Swiss cottages afloat— -was also battered to ruins , or towed , down the river . There the quarrel stood when the despatches left Canton . It seems undeniable that an act

    of offence was committed by the Chinese , the only question being , whether the British authorities did not proceed to unjustifiable extremities for t \\ e sake of exacting reparation . Was it proper to bombard a great city and attack an imperial flotilla on account of a dispute with a local governor ? We think that Sir John Bowbin" <* and Admiral Seymour might have made their ground more tenable by waiting until the case had been laid before the Central Government . But in . that case , would it ever have been laid before the

    Central G-overmnent r Might not the twelve prisoners have lost their heads in the meantime ? Did the Chinese ever admit themselves in the -wrong , or yield a point , except under compulsion ? It would t ) e a mere burlesque to negotiate with them , as with Russians or Turks , or other half-educated nations . They are incapable of diplomacy . They entered into a solemn engagement , in 1847 , to admit British " officers and people " freely into Canton at the expiration of two years , and wlien reminded of their agreement , appear as insensible as Kaffirs to the meaning and value of a treaty .

    It is difficult to deal with such a nation ; hut it would be impossible to maintain any intercourse with them at all if they were to he allowed to appeal to the barbarous principles of their polity , their antipathies , and their jealousies , to justify the direct and systematic infringement of a treaty , while the English , on their part , were satisfied with a protest and a rupture of relations . The Chinese Government does not care for ' relations . ' It would rejoice if every foreign vessel in tha waters of the empire were to weigh anchor , sail to the West , and disappear for ever from the sight of the Yellow People .

    piratical disregard , not only of the general law of nations , but of a special clause in the Treaty of 1848 , which stipulates that Chinese malfaisants taking refuge trader the British flag shall invariably be claimed through British authorities . Instances are on record of Chinese criminals escaping from Canton , seeking Bsmctuary on board English merchantmen , and being delivered up , on the formal demand of the Imperial police . Why ¦ was not this course pursued by Teh in October last ? or , when an error had been

    committed and explained , why did he refuse to set himself right , and confide the prisoners to the Consulate , in the keeping of the law ? We have now to examine the conduct of Admiral Seymoue . The affair took place on the 8 th of October . Three days elapsed before he interfered . He then seized a warjunk , and for twelve days contented himself with having made that demonstration , and with snowing his ships of war within range of the Commissioner ' s eye . He then took possession of some of the outer forts , the Chinese firing the first shot . Little blood

    was suea , ana a number df important works were captured . Meanwhile , the Chinese were continually importuned to negotiate , but refused . Ttvo days after , the Chinese attempted to repossess themselves of their fortifications , but , of course , faileft . Two mor - e days ^ lapsed , when Mr . Pabkes , in addition to his original demands , required for all foreign representatives the same free access to the authorities and . city of Canton m is- enjoyed under treaty at the other freo ports . To this no reply was made , whereupon the Government buildings were bombarded with cm © gun , while the Barracouta

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    MmiSTERS IN VACATION . A , itew fashion has been set in the manners and customs of our Cabinet Ministers . It is one that , if carried forward , may "be extremely advantageous to the country . They have assumed a much more free and easy position , towards political society . Even ' out of the House , ' they talk politics , make no reserve of their opinions , and converse de retius , as if they were in an omnibus . At the dmnertable in Forfarshire , the other day , amongst

    Now there is , probably , mo man in the country that could enlighten us more cm the state of public affairs , the condition of the public offices , the prospects of the future than Lord Pai / messton , if he would only come forth and converse ¦ with us upon the subject in this friendly after-dinner fashion . "For instance , he might tell us the history of the North-East American boundary question * tell us all about those NesseIiBode consp iracies in which he is said to be engaged ;

    explain his former anti * Austrian tendenciesgive us the secret history of the coup diktat in Paris ; inform , us why lie favoured the absorption of ScHeswig-Holstein . into the Danish kingdom , against all German right and European expediency ; explain how it is that having undertaken to support the claims of Sardinia before the European Congress , the disposal of that matter was left to Count "Walewsei :. In fact , he might tell us a good deal about Count

    Walewski , and the present Trench Court ; elucidating the mystery of our having called Naples to account , with no results . If Lord Palmerston would only be as frank and explicit on these important topics , as he has been on , Mr . Andrews ' s qualifications for coach-building in Southampton rather than law-making in Westminster , it would be very amusing , and very useful to the nation . One of Lord Pat » mersto : n ' 8 colleagues has gone a little further than himself . Sir Robert Peel has , to a certain extent , done the very thing that we desiderate from the

    Premier . He has turned [ Russia inside out , and exposed to us all the hollowness , the humbug , the brutality , the low , vulgar ostentation and coarse barbarity of that great empire . Sir Robert Peel had peculiar opportunities for collecting the materials of his expose . He accompanied Lord G-RiirviLirE ' s extraordinary mission to assist at the coronation of the Emperor Alexander ; and his diplomatic position secured him introductions . He had the pleasure of seeing the Archduke Cotfstantiue , and is thus enabled to report to us that the man whom Sir Chables Napier

    described as a frank sailor is a cunning Russian , his friendly language being all' soft sawder . ' Sir Robert went inside the white palaces of St . Petersburg , ' all outside paint and stucco . ' He saw the * marble palace , ' which is only granite . There never were such cheats as the Russians ; it is not only the innkeepers , who charge you QQl . for a dinner , but a G-eneral Officer , Sueochokoff , trades as postmaster , and charges you 1001 . a horse for a carriage to go four hundred

    miles on a road where you travel at the rate of fifteen , sixteen , or seventeen miles an hour . Sir Rouert discovered the truth of Mr . Ubqitiiabt ' s representations , that the Czar has constant and hereditary ' designs on the liberties of Europe , ' because , so long as two years ago , the Emperor removed a collection of pictures from Kertch ; proving that he expected the British there . And having been inside the formidable works at Cronstadt , Sir Robebt Peel is able to report that Admiral Napieb might easily have

    entered . _ He does not say -whether the failure is ascribnble to want of resolution , to want of capacity , or to politeness towards the Russians . Sir Robert Peel completely shows up Russia and her ay stem , and in doing so he necessarily shows up the British Admiral and Admiralty , of which he is a junioT Lord ; tho Paris Conference and the British diplomacy , —at the head of which is Lord Clarendon ; and the conduct towards Russia of our whole Gt-ovemmeiit , —at the head of which is Lord Palmebston , 9 ir Robert ' s colleague and chief . Members ' move for returns' in the Houao of Commons , with a viow of getting at edntt >

    his tenantry land neighbours , Lord Panmtjbe discussed the forthcoming military estimates , and pledged himself to bring in a demand twenty millions less than last year . In conversation with Mr . Lankestee , an active mover in Southampton election matters , Lord Palmebston critically discussed the comparative merits of the Liberal candidates ; and "being in a friendly fashion challenged by Mr . Andrews to repeat what he had said , Lord pALtoEBSTON cheerfully obeyed , with an .

    advice to the electors of Southampton not to elect Mr . Andrews . The advice was obliquely and amusingly addressed to the said electors through the Baid Andrews ! I have a great respect and regard for you , says . Lord PAiAfEBgToir , but if you leave Southampton you will neglect your business ; and you have Tiofc shown the requisite ability to -consider and weigh the important matters that come before tho House of Commons . This is frifflk and friendly ; and , what is worse lor Mr . Anbbbws , it may be true !

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    ^ a THE liEAPDB ; [ Ufa ) , 355 > SAgTJiiPAt :,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 10, 1857, page 38, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2175/page/14/