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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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THE CHINA DISASTER . rpHE Chinese war which , overturned an English '•* Parliament and furnished Loi'd Palmerston vrith a signal triumph , was supposed to have ended prosperously in- the treaty negotiated by Lord Elgin , who returned to this country either iri the conviction that his work was done , or that the remainder of it was sufficiently dubious and unpleasant to be most comfortably left to other hands . But all pleasing delusions of happy diplomatic
relations with the " Central Flowery I / and" have been rudely dispelled by the news of the recommencement of hostilities and of severe defeat inflicted upon British arms . The conduct of the Chinese , although not in good faith , cannot fairly be described as treacherous . Under compulsion insufficient to break their traditional pride , and against which they protested , they agreed to
receive our ambassador at Pekin , and when the time came for his advance up the Peiho river towards the Celestial capital , instead of amicable preparations to facilitate his journey , and the presence of obsequious officials to welcome his arrival , old fortincati 3 ns had been repaired , new forts had been erected , and the mouth of the river strongly boomed and staked across . Under these
circumstances , and acting under the advice of Mr . Bruce , Admiral Hope immediately ^ determined to proceed to war without any consideration of the difficulties before him or the means at his disposal . He thought proper to assume that the batteries were of no consequence . He may have condescended to look at them through a spyglass , but he took no pains to ascertain the number of guns they mounted or the strength of the forces engaged in their defence . It was enough for him to thrust his ehips forward in bull-dog arrogance , and worse than bull-dog ignoranoe as to the probable result . He found himself assailed by a tremendous fire ,
but having blundered in , he tried to blunder out . Marines and sailors were landed in thick mud , in which they struggled as ineffectually as flies in a glue-pot , and were shot dpwn by the artillery , gingals , and arrows of the Chinese . The men , of course , behaved bravely , as British seamen and soldiers always do , and the admiral exposed his person as freely as his imbecility . Men wero Killed by the hundred , vessels shattered and sunk , ftna the unhappy detachments , bo injudiciously stuck in the mud , were informed that , as no reintorQemonts could be sent , they had better struggle NKTtumble out as well as they could . We have hitherto despised the tactics of the Ramose , and ridiculed their proficiency in the art of
war , but unless some person of reasonable common sense is sent out from this country we had better beg them to lend us an admiral and an engineer before we venture into another contention with their braves . The diplomat ic naval and military part of the business , so far as our " devising heads " were concerned , may be summed up in three words—presumption , ignorance , and disgrace ; but the
statesmanship of these Chinese quarrels is worth more than passing attention . We have not behaved as if we were " half horse , half aligator , " but as if we were a mixture of Quaker with Sir Lucius O'Trigger . Such conduct is never to be commended , and towards an oriental peopl e is more than usually foolish . There were two courses before us—either to submit to the insolence and trade
restrictions which the Chinese thought proper to apply to us , and to hold the doctrine that We had no right to intercourse with them except on their own terms , or to insist upon receiving from them the courtesies and facilities that are necessary to pleasant international relations . Few sane persons will believe that the peace-at-any-price plan would have permanently succeeded , and when force became necessary it would have been more humane and judicious to have persevered until the conceit was fairly knocked out of them than to have arrived only at treaties which there was no intended to ob
sufficient reason to believe they - serve . It will be remembered that when Lord Napier went out in 1834 as Chief Superintendent of British Commerce the governor ^ of Canton refused to receive his letter certifying his appointment because it was not superscribed as a petition , and the Chinese authorities would not even touch it . In 1837 Captain Elliot suffered similar impertinence , and complained that all the communications from the officials were contained in notes to Chinese merchants , in which they spoke of him , not to him . At the-close of this year the British Government directed the cessation of the petition
form of address , and the Chinese in consequence ordered that all communication should cease . After this , squabbling and fighting went on until 1841 , when Keshen agreed to a treaty , which within a few weeks was disavowed at Pekin , and the war began again . As the main object of this war was an improvement of Chinese manners by practically convincing the most obstinate of people that the English would and could force them to a respectful line of conduct , it was an egregious act of folly , when Canton was in our power , to permit
it to be ransomed for 6 , 000 , 000 dollars—a proceeding that maintained among the turbulent citizens of that place the delusion that we were an inferior race and dared not go within their sacred walls . In 1842 our forces reached Nanking , and there Sir Henry Pottinger negotiated the treaty of that name , but the impression made upon the Chinese was known to be so slight that no one expected they would keep the treaty entirely and in good faith . Prom that time till 1856 , when London was startled with the news of the bombardment of
Canton , our relations with the Celestials were far from satisfactory , and Lord Elgin ' s treaty ought not to have been regarded as settling our right to go . Pekin , because we -were a long way from having convinced either the people or the Court that submission to what we considered reasonable requirements was their only safe coui'se . To attempt to visit their capital against their wish , with a force sufficient to irritate and insufficient to compel , was no part of wisdom , and we hope when Pai'liament reassembles that the responsibility of this insane scheme will hn fixed upon the right shoulders . We should also like to know whether Mr .
Bruce or Admiral Hope or anybody else m China was authorised to recommence war if the Pekin journey was opposed . If the Chinese had admitted our ships into the Pciho with an appearance of friendship and then opened their guns upon them , the English Admiral would have had no alternative but to fight . This , however , was not the case , and although we admit the non-fulfilment of the treaty justified a fresh appeal to arms , wo are of opinion that it ought only to have been made after negotiation had been exhausted and a well-defined E lan of operations had been arranged . The iggledy-piggledy method of tumbling into war just as Aamiral Hope tumbled the marines into the mud is a national disgrace 5 and the triumph very naturally and appropriately won by the Chinese will only be reversed and compensated by a large expenditure of life and money . We notice some of our contemporaries perfectly rampant for
war and conquest , and if the dashing school of writers represented British opinion there would be no stop or stay until Queen Victoria added to her titles the wonderful appellations of the Monarch of Pekin ! John Bull is not , however , such an asir nine biped as these would-be traffickers upon his susceptibilities suppose He would much rather collect tea at Chinese ports than gather glory in Chinese fields , and has quite sense enough to prefer the steam of Souchong to the smoke of gunpowder . . , v . ' : ' '¦ Tint while abiurinsr the mere desire for vengeance But while abjuring the mere desire for vengeance
or the thirst for military conquest and fame , it ia impossible to entertain the idea of pocketing defeat ; and we find ourselves in the unhappy necessity of having to prepare to win victories we had much rather be without . Under these circumstances let us demand of the Government some application of intelligence to our affairs , and that our display of power may be sufficient to obtain our ends quickly , and justify the Chinese Court in the eyes of its subjects in making those reparations and concessions that we shall now be compelled to demand . Above all , let us have done with the notion that the Chinese learn nothing , and must
be despised because they had not the advantage of being born within the sound of Bow bells . Each successive encounter we have with them proves that they do learn a great deal . Their artillery is better made and better served than it used to be , their fortifications better constructed and more scientifically defended ; and there can be no excuse for assailing them without the employment of our best materials and our ablest skill .
It is some satisfaction to find that our French neighbours are quite willing to join in sending naval and military schoolmasters to the Chinese , and it is to be hoped that the union of the two nations in another great enterprise , will strengthen the links of friendship and diminish the mutual irritation , that evil dis p osed persons take such pains to keep up . . ' . " .
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THE GREAT EASTERN EXPLOSION . Size has always been reckoned an element of the sublime , and when the Great Eastern , after long delay and misfortune , was pr onounced complete , and floated majestically down the Thames , dwarfing the river by her size , every eye that beheld the vessel destined to be rather an ocean city than a ship , beamed with a proud feeling of satisfaction at so great a triumph of human skill . Eager brains were busy calculating the services she would render to civilisation , and how she might be the forerunner of a race of marine giants , striding between
distant lands as firmly as of old the Colossus did across the entrance to the harbour of Rhodes ; and the universal exclamation was , in the words of Longfellow— Our hearts , our liopea ..... . Our faith , triumphant o ' er our ieara , Are all with thuu . " . As she passed the thickly-inhabited banks of habitations crowded in
the river , where human are quaint confusion , old and young came out to . rend the air with their acclamations ; the sailors in the stream hailed her as the grandest craft that was ever set afloat , and the Essex rustic in his lonely swamps stared , gaped and fancied old Captain Noah had reappeared and begun a now voyage to his strange haven on the top of Ararat in the dailjournals
Column after column y chronicled each movement as though detailing the incidents of a royal progress ; and as one quality after another was displayed in full perfection , doubts vanished , and public confidence jositotod not to declare the triump hant and V ™™*™* monster to be a huge success . Little thought those ashore , and still less those floating witlun her iron walls , that gross and inexcusable careessness " had prepare *? a mortal catastrophe that was soon to d her docks with terror and ruin , and involve brave men in hideous wounds and death . Sw fcn « w that she was provided with an apparatus
for economising the heat of her huge , ftuiinuia , ana p ^ vcnSng Us aWusion among the habitable parts of the shi ? , of a dangerous construction winch had been fatal to former vessels , and none suspected that the safety of this apparatus was destroyed by shutting off access to the vent by which the superfluous power so likely to be generated might make an innocent escape . The contrivance may be described as a sort of boiler round the lower end of the funnel , the water of -which , when heated , was to bo passed into the boilers of the engine , and
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SUBSCRIPTION TO " THE LEADER . " ONE GUINEA PER YEAR , UNSTAMPED , PREPAID . ( Delivered Gratis . )
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . wn notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated hv the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . tt is imnossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we re-Yrive Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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OFFICE , NO . 18 , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C .
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SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 17 , 1859 .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing ao unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . Arnold . ' ' ' ' A ¦ - V .
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No 495 . Sept . 17 . 1859 ] THE LEADEB , 105 7
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1859, page 1057, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2312/page/13/
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