6 JUNE 1840, Page 2

A vessel from Canton brings news from China to the

4th of February. Commissioner LIN had purchased one American and seized two Danish merchantmen, to be converted into vessels of war to resist the British invaders. He was also desirous of con- tracting for the building of fire-boats. The Portuguese Governor of Macao had refused permission to Captain ELLIOT to put British merchandise tinder his protection on payment of the regular duties. The Chinese had ordered a force of 16,000 men to march to Macao, to expel the British ; and Captain ELLIOT had warned the merchants to retire to their ships. All this looks warlike : it evinces a spirit of resistance, which may protract the contest, though in the first onset the British superiority in belligerent ap- pliances of every kind must sweep all before it. Our expedition ought by this time to be at no great distance from the coast of China.