19 FEBRUARY 1870, Page 2

'Ile new Treaty with China has been laid on the

table of the House of Commons, and will be the subject of some warm dis- cwsion. We must postpone the general argument, but we want the India House carefully to consider this point. Sir Rutherford Alcock has already sacrificed £500,000 a year of the Indian opium revenue. Anything can be purchased in China by concessions of that kind, and if this particular one is accepted, what security have we that the process shall not be repeated till the whole opium revenue is whittled away to secure English trading privileges? The risk, it seems to us, is too great, and at all events should be carefully studied by the department.