APPOINTMENT OF A PLENIPOTENTIARY TO PEKIN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 482, 17 June 1857, Page 5

APPOINTMENT OF A PLENIPOTENTIARY TO PEKIN.

The " Times" has. the following remarks in reference to the above appointment:— The Earl of Elgin has accepted the office of Plenipotentiary to the court of Pekin, and will proceed1 en his arduous mission as s-oon as he has been made sufficiently acquainted with the views of her Majesty's Government. It would not lie easy to .name a more unexceptionable ■man for ihe office, or even one wiih m many positive recommendations. Lord Elgin performed'with admirable tact and entire success the task of conducting Canada from Government by cliques and imperial influences to that system of self-government which has rendered the provinces of British America an honour, and even 'a. support, to the British throne, instead of a scandal and a thorn in our side. He also successfully negotiated tlie Treaty for Reciprocity of Trade between British America and the United States. Of course, there were those who opposed both these processes, and therefore did not like the ag.'iil employed ; but they are now a minority, if not converts to the system which he helped to inaugurate. Lord Ely in is a man of great industry, patience, and forbeardtice, with ready powers of expression, and a great desire to accommodate himself to the hi bits of'those with whom 'ie has to deal. So well did he discharge the delicate, and, as some thought, impossible task, of turning Canadian reboltt into British Royalists without any sacrifice of imperial <signiiy, thut his popularity extended even across the frontier, and ovations were offered him by the citizens of the adjacent States.

We apprehend that Lord Elgin's instructions \vill be so few ami plain that he w.ii.l scarcely have much opportunity of going wrong. Of course, after the failure of the Emperor of China, to. enforce the observance of the former treaty on the refactory and almost independent Cantonese, ami sifter the consequent rupture we h.;ive now to, deplore, it will he necessary to demand fullermeans of 'communication with the officials and population of '-China,' and that the engagement sho,u,ld on no account be evaded and postponed.

.'.-No doubt;-any demands whatever whioh may be thought an ac equate result for a great expedition sent across the glohe :\viil be unpalatable 10 the barbaric pride or politic jealousy of the Chinese government. Nor are three hundred millions of people to be despised who, igriora,nt as they may be of the art of war, are nqt the less crafty .and cjuel. It is therefore a service both of difficulty and danger that Lord Elgin has undertaken.'

■When-the Coniman(}er-ii)-ChiefV-GeneraV Pehnefathev—has made the proper 'dispositions, and is ready for an advance, the British plenipotentiary ...will,-we suppose, invite the emperor to. a ptacaful ...settlement of'affairs, and in the present deplorable .circumstances of the Chinese government it is not likely that our chief difficulty, will be in that quarter. It has, indeed, been insinuated that we ought not to have taken advantage of an hour of distress and perplexity to press our. claims; but it is the imperial crisis itself which' has brought on the rupture, 'Commissioner Yell having notoriously •presumed for a long period on- the security from •imperial control. The plenipotentiary will have to deal,then, not only with the emperor and his nian^ darins, but with .his. insoient viceroys, and with a ■. rebellion almost everywhere victorious. - It js likely enough, therefore, that circumstances . will arise ■which may require great discretion, temper, and even courage. Lord Eglin, however, must have counted the cost, and can form some estimate from the', experience of his colonial task.. Should he meet with success,, his will be a singular lot an 1 a unique glory in achieving two great wqiks of reconciliation so wide apart1 and under such various "circumstances.