In China, too, we have again been at war; and
the end is not yet known with certainty. In spite of treaties, the Chinese manage to frustrate the advantages apparently secured for us by the for- mer war, and have even visited British subjects with personal outrage on many occasions. At last, one assault on a British party provoked Governor Davis to demand satisfaction of the- Provincial Government at Canton : it was not given : a small naval and military force was hastily collected, by Governor Da- via; he sailed up the river ; the Bogue forts were taken ; Canton was threatened with bombardment ; and the Imperial Commis- sioner Keying yielded. Much criticism is bestowed on the terms exacted by Governor Davis, especially on two provisions, by which a day's journey inland is permitted to Europeans, and the city of Canton is to be thrown open to British subjects at the expiration of tmo years! On the face of it, the delay looks like an idle concession to the obstructive policy of the Chinese—a long day for discovering ex- pedients to defeat the new treaty. But we are without informa- tion as to the reasons which may have guided Sir John Davis. And it mustbe remembered that the expedition against Canton had a spe- cific object. We should be disposed to object, not to the shorten- ing, but to the extension of the terms thus exacted from a pro- vincial government. Instead of taking up a commanding position and keeping it, the British representatives are suffering our in- tercourse with China to resume an aspect of encroachment ; the very worst aspect that it could have in the eyes of that jealous, intriguing, and self-confident, but not unteachable people.
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