A large body of merchants waited on Lord Clarendon on
Monday to complain of the new treaty with China. They did not like the increase of 2- per cent. on imports, because they thought the local mandarins would still levy transit duties ; and they objected to the increased export duty on silk. Lord Clarendon, in an excessively lengthy written reply, fairly smashed their case, showing, first, that experienced men believed that Pekin would prevent local transit duties ; and second, that, under the Treaty of Tientsin, China was entitled to put a 5 per cent. export duty 'on silk, and that the enhanced duty did not exceed that figure. But the merchants were too selfish to raise and Lord Clarendon -too clever to touch our point, which is that if the treaty is advan- tageous for British trade, Sir R. Alcock has purchased the advantage by plundering the Indian Treasury of £500,000 a year. Let Mr. Lowe pay that and all will be fair, but he won't pay a penny, and if he were seriously asked to pay it, the treaty would be rejected here as it has already been rejected in India.
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