"The Chinese Government having no wish to act otherwise than with proper respect for that of your Excellency, when the treaty shall have been concluded his Majesty the Emperor will select an officer to proceed as Imperial Commissioner to England with the compliments of his Majesty, in token of the friendly relations existing between our two Governments. "A necessary communication.

"The 'kwan-fang' not having yet arrived, they (here) employed the seal of the Board of War, between which and the kwan-fang' there is no difference. They trust that your Excellency will endeavour to accede to the propositions as above set forth, in order that, articles being framed thereon without loss of time, the ships of war may be withdrawn from the river, that so the peaceful relations between the two Governments may be made perfect, and we shall be most grateful.'

In answer to this communication, Lord Elgin stated that he was prepared to depute officers to arrange the conditions of a treaty in a definite form; and the Commissioners thereupon answered that they would meet such deputies on the following day, and that they had received the seal of Imperial Commissioners to be employed in official documents.

On the 17th June, 1858, the Earl of Elgin communicated to the Earl of Malmesbury that Count Pontiatine had just informed him that he had signed a treaty with the Chinese High Commissioner.

On the 1st July the Commissioners wrote to the Earl of Elgin that they had received instructions from the Emperor to deliberate with a view to arrive at a satisfactory understanding on various points :

"1st. As respects trade in the interior. The original proposition having been that further arrangements should be made when military operations were brought to a conclusion, it is (now) proposed that there should be trade before that period at Chin-kiang. The sufferings of the inhabitants of Chin-kiang and its vicinity from war and fire during a series of years have been such that they have not yet recovered from their disquiet. There are not either, consequently, any merchants of substance there, and it is greatly to be apprehended that a sudden accumulation of merchandize there, as it would not find a market, would be to the loss of the British merchant, and not to his advantage. It is essential, therefore, that the war should be over before this question be determined.

"2ndly. As to travelling into every district of every province. China is of great extent; her people are numerous. Exact information (respecting them, or of their whereabout) is impossible, and to the prevention of disputes in the time to come, they will require to be duly forewarned (of your intention to come among them).

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3rdly. As to admission into the capital. The north of China, it is to be feared, would be found very cold, and excessively dusty; added to this, the climate has many peculiarities, to which (a stranger) could not accustom himself. Your Excellency's Government could send an officer to the capital on any future occasion that he might have business to transact there, and you might be spared the trouble of the journey.

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4thly. As to the proposition that merchant-vessels should trade up and down the inner river (Yang-tsze), and that consuls be established in the interior. The merchants of China have been, so far, enabled to trade, by bringing down merchandize and dealing in it at the port of shipment. The present (arrangement, by which) the British merchant, having obtained access to the interior, will buy and export for himself, cannot, we fear, be

to the satisfaction of the common people. Other States, too, will follow the same course, and the Chinese commercialist will be left without prospect of gain (all which is), of no little importance to (the question of) the people's subsistence."

The Commissioners said that they referred to the propositions above enumerated, because they had received an imperial decree commanding us to consider them, with his Excellency, thoroughly and attentively. They meant no evasion or delay whatever, nor had they any other purpose (than that which they declared). The many difficulties involved in (the concession of these points) made them apprehensive that, in the time to come, it will be to the disadvantage instead of to the interest of his Excellency's nation. They, at the same time, looked forward, with anxiety, to the dissatisfaction of the people."

These observations seemed less satisfactory than those previously advanced by the Commissioners; but after further negotiation, the Earl of Elgin succeeded to conclude a treaty, the original of which was sent to England by Mr. Bruce. The treaty was signed on the 26th of June, at 7 P.M., at the Temple at which the first interview was held on the 4th of June. On the afternoon of the day following, Baron Gros signed a treaty with the Imperial Commissioner, on behalf of the Emperor of the French.

In a despatch on the subject to the Earl of Malmesbury, dated the 12th July, the Earl of Elgin said:-" The concessions obtained in it from the Chinese Government are not in themselves extravagant; nor, with the exception of the important principle of exterritoriality, in excess of those which commercial nations are wont freely to grant to each other; but in the eyes of the Chinese Government, they amount to a revolution, and involve the surrender of some of the most cherished principles of the traditional policy of the empire. They have been extorted, therefore, from its fears.

"These concessions, moreover, thus extorted from the fears of the Chinese Government by British and French power, are not, in point of fact, extorted from it for the benefit of British and French subjects exclusively. Under the guarantee of most favoured nation clauses, and other pretences not always so intelligible, they will no doubt be claimed and exercised very generally by the subjects and citizens of other occidental nations. During the subsistence of the treaty of Nankin, we have had ample proof of the abuses to which this state of things is apt to give rise. It will be duty to address your Lordship on this point specifically at a future time. For the present, I allude to it merely for the purpose of observing that, in framing the clauses of the Treaty herewith submitted, I have not been unmindful of the claims which, on these grounds, the Chinese Government has on our forbearance and moderation. Morality apart, it is not for our interest that concessions extorted from the Chinese Government by British arms, should be employed by British subjects or others for the promotion of rebellion and disorder within the empire, or for the establishment of privileged smuggling and piracy along its coast and up its rivers.

"The principal commercial advantages conceded to British subjects by the Chinese Government in this Treaty, are the opening to trade of certain ports, among which I would specify that of New-Chwang in the north, and those which are opened by it in the Yang-tze river, Formosa, and Hainan, as the most important: permission to British subjects to travel in the

country for purposes of trade, under a system of passports; and the settlement of the vexed question of the transit duties.

"This last-mentioned subject presented considerable difficulty. As duties of octroi are levied universally in China, on native as well as foreign products, and as canals and roads are kept up at the expense of the Government, it seemed to be unreasonable to require that articles, whether of foreign or native production, by the simple process of passing into the hands of foreigners, should become entitled to the use of roads and canals toll-free; and should, moreover, be relieved altogether from charges to which they would be liable if the property of natives.

"On the other hand, experience had taught us the inconvenience of leaving the amount of duties payable under the head of transit-duties altogether undetermined. By requiring the rates of transit-duty to be published at each port, and by acquiring for the British subject the right to commute the said duties for a payment of 23 per cent. on the value of his goods (or rather, to speak more correctly, for the payment of a specific duty calculated at that rate), I hope that I have provided for the latter as effectual a guarantee against undue exactions on this head as can be obtained without an entire subversion of the financial system of China. "Article VIII. provides for the security of persons professing or teaching the Christian religion. The Chinese Government is not bigoted in matters of religion, and any objection which it entertains to this article arises, I believe, wholly from the apprehension that it may be abused for political purposes. Time will show whether or not their apprehensions are well founded.

"But the concession in this Treaty which is, I believe, pregnant with the most important consequences to China, is that of the principle that a British minister may henceforward reside at Pekin, and hold direct intercourse with the imperial ministers at the capital. I am confident that so long as the system of entrusting the conduct of foreign affairs to a provincial government endures, there can be no security for the maintenance of pacific relations with this country.

"In the first place, a provincial governor in China cares for nothing but the interests of his own province. He regards those of other provinces of the empire rather as a jealous rival than as a protector. Nowhere in China, except at Pekin, does any solicitude for the general interests of the empire, any sentiment which answers to our idea of nationality, exist, even in pretension. A provincial governor, therefore, charged with the conduct of the affairs of foreign nations who have general treaties with China, is in a false position from the outset ; and even if he were empowered to exercise an independent judgment on the questions that arise for consideration and decision, he could hardly be expected to look at them from a true point

of view.

"But, in the next place, even if this preliminary difficulty were overcome, and if a provincial governor charged with the conduct of foreign affairs were to recognize the importance of administering them in a large and liberal spirit, it is manifest that he is not in a position to exercise in such matters an independent judgment. His life and fortune are absolutely at the disposal of a jealous Government, which is, in respect to all questions of foreign policy, profoundly ignorant, and which must continue to be so, so long as the Department for Foreign Affairs is established in the provinces. In nine cases out of ten he risks both, if he even ventures to bring

to the knowledge of his sovereign an unwelcome truth. When a case of difficulty arises, as in a recent instance at Canton, ruin stares him in the face, with almost equal certainty whether he resists or yields. yields. In ordinary circumstances, his most prudent course, and therefore the one generally followed, is to allow abuses to pass unnoticed, rather than incur the danger of getting into difficulties with foreigners.

"In my despatches I called the Earl of Clarendon's attention to certain facts illustrative of the inconvenience to which this state of matters gives rise, that fell under my own notice on my visit to the different open ports. A culpable laxity, whereby the worst class of foreigners profit at the cost of the more respectable, alternating with a stolid resistance to the most reasonable proposals, leading to complications which can be disentangled only by the sword, is, in sum, the result of the working of the existing system. I believe that a discreet and just representative of Great Britain, in direct communication with the officers of the Imperial Government at the capital, and ready to give them advice when required, would be able to do much to cut off the source of these dangers and scandals; and that by proving to the Imperial Government that we have no sinister designs against the empire, and no desire to protect from due punishment British subjects or others who misconduct themselves, he would mitigate the prejudices against foreigners which now influence the Imperial councils, and which are the offspring, at least, as much of fear as of pride.

"It is provided that the ratifications of this Treaty shall be exchanged at Pekin within a year from the date of its signature."

The principal articles of the British Treaty were as follow:

ART. II.-For the better preservation of harmony in future, her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and his Majesty the Emperor of China mutually agreed that, in accordance with the universal practice of great and friendly nations, her Majesty the Queen might, if she saw fit, appoint ambassadors, ministers, or other diplomatic agents to the court of Pekin; and his Majesty the Emperor of China might, in like manner, if he saw fit, appoint ambassadors, ministers, or other diplomatic agents to the court of St. James'.

ART. III.-His Majesty the Emperor of China hereby agree that the ambassador, minister, or other diplomatic agent, so appointed by her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, might reside, with his family and establishment, permanently at the capital, or might visit it occasionally, at the option of the British Government. That he shall not be called upon to perform any ceremony derogatory to him as representing the sovereign of an independent nation on a footing of equality with that of China. On the other hand, he shall use the same forms of ceremony and respect to his Majesty the Emperor as are employed by the ambassadors, ministers, or diplomatic agents of her Majesty towards the sovereigns of independent and equal European nations. It was further agreed, that her Majesty's Government might acquire at Pekin a site for building, or might hire houses for the accommodation of her Majesty's mission, and that the Chinese Government would assist it in so doing. Her Majesty's representative shall be at liberty to choose his own servants and attendants, who shall not be subjected to any kind of molestation whatever; and that any person guilty of disrespect or violence to her Majesty's representative, or to any member of his family or establishment, in deed or word, shall be severely punished. ART. IV. It was further agreed, that no obstacle or difficulty shall be

made to the free movements of her Majesty's representative, and that he, and the persons of his suite, might come and go, and travel at their pleasure. That he shall, moreover, have full liberty to send and receive his correspondence, to and from any point on the sea-coast that he may select; and his letters and effects shall be held sacred and inviolable. That he may employ, for their transmission, special couriers, who shall meet with the same protection and facilities for travelling as the persons employed in carrying despatches for the imperial Government; and, generally, he shall enjoy the same privileges as are accorded to officers of the same rank by the usage and consent of Western nations. And that all expenses attending the diplomatic mission of Great Britain shall be borne by the British Government.

ART. V. His Majesty the Emperor of China agree to nominate one of the secretaries of state, or a president of one of the boards, as the high officer with whom the ambassador, minister, or other diplomatic agent of her Majesty the Queen shall transact business, either personally or in writing, on a footing of perfect equality.

ART. VI.-Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain agree that the said privileges hereby secured shall be enjoyed in her dominions by the ambassadors, ministers, or diplomatic agents of the Emperor of China accredited to the court of her Majesty the Queen.

ART. VII.-Her Majesty the Queen was authorized to appoint one or more consuls in the dominions of the Emperor of China; and such consul or consuls shall be at liberty to reside in any of the open ports or cities of China, as her Majesty the Queen may consider most expedient for the interests of British commerce. They shall be treated with due respect by the Chinese authorities, and enjoy the same privileges and immunities as the consular officers of the most favoured nation. Consuls and vice-consuls in charge shall rank with intendants of circuits; vice-consuls, acting viceconsuls, and interpreters, with prefects. They shall have access to the official residences of these officers, and communicate with them, either personally or in writing, on a footing of equality, as the interests of the public service may require.

ART. VIII.-The Christian religion, as professed by Protestants or Roman Catholics, inculcates the practice of virtue, and teaches man to do as he would be done by. Persons teaching it or professing it, therefore, shall alike be entitled to the protection of the Chinese authorities, nor shall any such, peaceably pursuing their calling, and not offending against the laws, be persecuted or interfered with.

ART. IX.—British subjects were hereby authorized to travel, for their pleasure or for purposes of trade, to all parts of the interior, under passports which will be issued by their consuls, and countersigned by the local authorities. These passports, if demanded, must be produced for examination in the localities passed through. If the passport be not irregular, the bearer will be allowed to proceed, and no opposition shall be offered to his hiring persons, or hiring vessels for the carriage of his baggage or merchandize. If he be without a passport, or if he commit any offence against the law, he shall be handed over to the nearest consul for punishment, but he must not be subjected to any ill-usage in excess of necessary restraint. No passport need be applied for by persons going on excursions from the ports open to trade to a distance not exceeding 100 li, and for a period not exceeding five days. The provisions of this article do not