NEWS OF THE WEEK.
So far as paper can secure anything, the Treaty of Tien-sin is a great conquest of the Chinese Empire to public law and civiliza- tion, and an immense advance in the international and commer- cial relations of our own country. We have already had several adumbrations of the Treaty before its text has arrived ; the latest, from an Anglo-Chinese paper, give us a sufficient idea of the compact, which is more complete and efficient than the earlier descriptions indicated. We secure the permament residence of a British Ambassador at Pekin, with his family, and suite, at the pleasure of the British Government ; the Minister to meet the Chinese Minister on a footing of equality. Consuls are to be stationed in as many Chinese ports as are open to us, that number being increased by 9, four of them on the river Yang- tse-kiang. The tariff is to be revised by an Anglo-Chinese commission appointed for the purpose ; the revision is to be decennial ; and internal transit duties are subjected to regula- tions favourable to the British merchant. English is established as the official hinguage on the part of the English, and the cha- racter "I," which stands for " barbarian," is to be suppressed in the Chinese official documents. British ships of war are to visit any port in the Empire ; the commanders to be treated on terms of equality by Chinese Officials. Thus we introduce into China, diplomacy, a consulate, our own war-ships, a native ad-, ministration responsible to us in matters of personal rights, international relations, customs-duties. We have introduced the English language, and with stipulations that would suffice to secure us rights of ingress, travelling, and trading, we have in- troduced very powerful means for securing the fulfilment of these stipulations. The " most favoured nation" clause secures to us the right obtained by the Americans, of leasing property without official intervention, and British authority over British subjects ; while the similar clause in their Treaty, if that has been accurately described, gives them the advantages of a per- manent residence for their Minister at Pekin ; the opening of nine instead of two ports ; and the free navigation of the Yang- tse-kiang, &c. All these advantages will of course be simi- larly shared by RUssia and France, or by any civilized nation that may put in its claim. China therefore is opened for the whole world, to commerce, diplomacy, travelling, and responsibility. A remarkable incident in the ceremonies at the conclusion of the Treaty shows that, even in the hour of submitting to the fate dictated to them from without, the Chinese could not lay aside their habit of evasion. Kwei-liang, the Chinese Plenipo- tentiary, tried to make the separate form of one of the articles— that about the indemnities—a pretext for not appending his signature to it, with a hope that it might drop out of sight. His secretary, a younger Chinese, saw the impracticability of that little piece of diplomatic petty larceny, and he endorsed the requirement of the British Interpreter to sign. It is reported that the Emperor has perused the Treaty, and
signified his ratification. Meanwhile, the old pettifogger keying, who cheated us, without success, is sentenced to suicide, as an example to deter the Chinese from disobedience and
bad faith.
We have therefore at last encountered Russia in her progress down the Eastern shore of Asia ; and at no distant day the Ministers of England and Russia will be residing at Pekin—our new ally under the Treaty of Paris having met more than she bargained for in the Chinese capital.
While our moves in the diplomatic game at chess are thus favourable to ourselves, and inconvenient to Russia, that Power has stolen a march upon us nearer home, and made a striking move into the very midst of our old game. On some terms which are at present a matter of historical dispute, Sardinia has ceded to the Russian Government, or to a Russian company, a ninety-nine years lease of the port of Villafranca ; a commodious sea-port on the north-west coast of the Gulf of Genoa. Accord- ing to the one account, the Russian Government has obtained this port for military purposes ; according to another account, a commercial company has obtained the cession for the purpose of using the harbour as an entrepOt or terminus to a new line of commercial steamers, with Odessa for the other terminus, and Constantinople for an intermediate port. According to the for- mer view, Russia has supplied northward of Genoa the loss which she has sustained in the Crimea : according to the other view, she is simply developing her commercial marine ; and the Nord, which has been the organ for bringing out this favourable explanation, asks why, because Russia has been precluded from having war ships in the Black Sea, she should be denied a port for her commercial ships in the Mediterranean ? The annuity to be given for the accommodation is two millions of roubles ; but -Sardinia must have looked for more than money : and it is easily understood that while Russia has thus in some degree retrieved. the fortune of the Crimean war, Sardinia has obtained support and counterpoise to the menacing position of Austria.
The United States Government has just given a decision which was expected• with, some anxiety. Not long since Lieu- tenant Maffit, of the American Navy, captured the Echo slaver of Baltimore. The slaver would, no doubt, have escaped under Spanish colours, but Mr. Maffit drew forth her true nationality by hoisting British colours, on. which she hoisted American ; he seized her, and took her into Charleston. What should be done with the Negroes ? " Keep them ! " cried the Carolinians. Pre- sident Buchanan's Government has decided to send them back to Africa. And what will be done with the slavers ? " Release them !" cry the Carolinians. Of course the law will decide.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, as Colonial Minister, has taken a step which is in complete accordance with the colonial policy of his predecessor, and also with the most modern views of the British constitution. A riot in Antigua called for the means of suppression ; the troops in the island were not sufficient for the purpose of restoring order ; the colonists spontaneously offered. their services in raising an auxiliary corps ; and when the emer- gency was over, they proposed to render their organization per- manent. Apparently before learning that discussion amongst the colonists, Sir Edward Lytton transmitted a public despatch pointing out demands which press upon the military resources of the Imperial Government, and explicitly suggesting to the colo- nists that they should provide for their local self-defence. There cannot be the smallest objection to such a proposal, which tho- roughly harmonizes with the view of Lord Palmerston's Govern- ment when the Russian war broke out, and it became necessary to withdraw any superfluity of British troops from the Colonies. The letter of Sir Edward Lytton, however, raises some points for very grave consideration. The Imperial Government tells the Colonies that it cannot undertake to provide for their defence against internal disorders ; a confession that the Imperial Go- vernment can scarcely find troops to cover the ground which has to be defended. This confirms what has already been stated, that although the recruitment has sometimes advanced by fitful impulses, upon the whole it keeps very short of what it ought to be, and of what it would be if the Army were national, its op- portunities open to all classes. But if defence by a militia, with the alternative of volunteer corps, is so good for British colonies in North America, Australia, South Africa, or the West Indies, why should the British people see at home nothing but the most abortive burlesque of a militia, without that alternative of volun- teer corps that presents such admirable results in the Colonies ?
Are the Colonies less worth keeping that the British Government will not spare troops for them ; or are the British people less capable than the colonists of being entrusted with the defence of their own laws and land?
The petition from Canada endorsed by the two Houses of the Legislature, asking the Queen's permission for one of the young Princes to open the industrial Exhibition at Toronto, has not prospered. The informality in the mode of transmitting the pe- tition by a private hand, instead of sending it through the Go- vernor and the Colonial Office, is said not to have formed the ad- verse reason ; which is not distinctly stated. It is conjectured to be, that the Queen does not consider the young Princes yet in a position to accept such an invitation. The Prince of Wales is still under age, while much responsibility rests upon those that have the care of his training ; and Prince Alfred has but recently joined his ship as a naval cadet, and has to report himself, with due discipline, on the expiry of his short two months' leave of absence. Unless the unwelcome reply is much more genial than any version which has come out, the mere refusal, however cour- teous, without the intimation of compliance at a later day, will certainly excite disappointment.
The non-acceptance of another invitation has provoked a civil war. A patriotic Roman Catholic in Dublin has discovered, that not only did the Lord-Lieutenant remain absent from the Lord Mayor's dinner when Cardinal Wiseman dined with the civic chief, but that the Protestant Alderman Lambert, Lord Mayor elect, also stopped away, in violation of the treaty in that case made and provided. Lord Eglinton has publicly declared that he did not stop away from the banquet because Cardinal Wise- man was to be there ; no such bigotry or personal feeling, he said, restrained him ;- and everybody believes Lord Eglinton. But the Lord-Lieutenant can choose his theatre for speaking ; Alderman Lambert was compelled to appear in the arena preoc- cupied by his enemy. He got up to say that he too did not stop away out of anti-papist feeling ; but the patriotic Reynolds re- fused to listen, and, with a devotion worthy of a Scmvola or a Regulus, not only refused to hear the disproof of a charge so atrocious, but avowed that he should continue disturbing any man who spoke on the opposite side. Alderman Reynolds knows Alderman Lambert's motives better than Alderman Lambert does ; if a " bloated bigotry " was not the Lord Mayor elect's reason, Alderman Reynolds chooses to affirm that it shall have been so ; and he accordingly put on the notice paper, a motion, adjourned to the middle of October next, for revoking the elec- tion of Alderman Lambert as Lord Mayor of Dublin—because he neglected to attend a civic dinner.
The Ministerialists appear to be almost the only political agi- tators alive ; for the late Ministers have retired, like Sir George Grey at Alnwick, into the Mechanics Institute style of affairs. But with all their popular prestige the actual Ministers can scarcely arouse any interest, even in their favourite topic, the Reform Bill of 1859. At Walton-on-the-Naze, our old friend, " W. B." has to sit and listen while his own sound speech is followed by the oration of the younger and more ardent Dwane, recounting how he had opposed certain reforms heretofore, in- cluding the admission of the Jews to Parliament ; and how he looks forward to no bit-by-bit tampering, but to a satisfactory measure, " on so great and vital a question as that of Parlia- mentary Reform." At Tamworth, Mr. Newdegate charms the dining farmers of Sparkenhoe with a speech on agricultural pros- perity, and has to listen to the grave arguments of the veteran Henley, why " Conservative " should be accounted an extinct title, and why the present Ministers are not precluded from handling reform. They claim, and not altogether unjustly, an act of political oblivion ; and the obliging public seems quite ready to cancel their antecedents on the understanding that Ministers will repay the indulgence by the magnificence of their surprises.
The transatlantic cable seems to be given up, as beyond cure. The lesion is conjectured to have taken place about 122 miles from the 'shore ; and to have been caused, possibly, by the stretching of the cable in hanging down some sudden precipitous depth. The portion injured was laid down more rapidly than the engineers wished, and hence the " slack " was not nicely ad- justed ; if even the bottom of the sea had been previously sur- veyed with the requisite minuteness,—which it was not. It is all up with the cable, the company, and the whole project!— such is the notion for the hour. But surely, after this third experiment, we are better prepared than ever to lay down, not one, but a dozen cables with success, neither one to cost what this has ;—for in that cost we include the experience,—a per- manent investment.
