LTo THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1
Sin,—I am afraid that your correspondent "E. D." and his friend "the Commodore" are at sea and out of their reckon- ing in regard to the incidents touched upon in the letter published in the Spectator of January 23rd. Owls' light is perhaps not a good optical medium. Gordon never was associated with Sherard Osborn, and he had nothing what- ever to do with the "Chinese Fleet " ; he never saw Prince Mang, nor did he ever make the suggestions of a " Sepoy army" and a loan on the Stock Exchange. "The fleet" was a scheme to be developed by Mr. H. N. Lay, the inspector- General of Maritime Customs, who for several years previously had been in close touch with the Chinese Government of which Prince Kung was the head. Sherard Osborn was to command, and the two went to Pekin to make final arrange- ments with Prince Kung and his colleagues. The rock upon which the scheme was wrecked was Mr. Lay's demand that Captain Osborn, the commander of the squadron, should receive no orders except directly from the Emperor ; that these orders should only be conveyed through Mr. Lay ; and that Mr. Lay should only convey such of them as he thought proper. The then British Minister, Sir Frederick Bruce, did not get "into a rage "—he was more given to jocularity than anger—though he felt himself unable to support Mr. Lay's proposal, and the scheme neces- sarily fell through. I knew Mr. Lay well, and received much kindness from him. I heard from his own lips his version of the transaction. He considered himself to have been very badly treated by Earl Russell and Sir Frederick Bruce. Mr. Lay published a pamphlet in 1884 entitled "Our Interests in China," in which he violently attacked the British Minister, and garnished his pages with amusing quotations from some of Sir Frederick's letters. In none of Mr. Lay's letters is there any allusion to "the Commodore," and in three separate
biographies of Gordon I can find no suggestion that he ever sent any one home "with despatches," or that he ever "found himself with the Chinese Government in the hollow of his
Late H.B.M. Consul, Newchwang ; formerly R.B.M. Acting Consul, Chinkiang ; and Acting Chinese Secretary H.B.M. Legation, Pekin.
Long Hyde, near Evesham.
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