CIRCULAR.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 4, 2 April 1842, Page 16

CIRCULAR.

TO HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S SUBJECTS IN CHINA. Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, &c, has the highest degree pf satisfaction in announcing to I H.M.s subjects; and others who feel an interest in the question,- that the city of Amoy. with its very extensive and formidable line of batteries and fleet of gun boats and war junka (the whole mounting upwards of five hundred pieces of cannon), waa taken possession of on the 26th instant, after a short but animated defence on the part of the Chinese, by H. M.'s naval and land forces, under the command of their Excellencies Rear Adflairal Sir William Parker, K.C.Bii and Major-General Sir Hugh Gough, K.C.B. This brilliant achievement has been happily accomplished with a very trifling loss ; and, in addition to- the works, all of which have been dismantled and destroyed, and the guns spiked and broken, immense magazines full of muninitions of war have been either removed or rendered useless. Arrangements are now in progress for leaving a detachment of troops on the small island of Koo lane su (which is separated from the town of Amoy by a channel of deep water), whilst the great body of the expedition advance to the northward, so that British or other snips that may touch here during the ensuing season, will find ample protection, and be secure from any risk of molestation. Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary deems it quite superfluous to say one word as to the manner in which this important service has been performed. The facts require no eulogium. The Chinese Government vainly imagined they had rendered Amoy impregnable, but were undeceived in presence of the viceroy of the' provinces of Chekeang and Fokien (who, with a number of high officers, witnessed the attack from the heights above the town), in the short space of four hours from the firing of the first gun; and, had the opposition been a hundred times greater than it was, the spirit and bearing of all euiployed showed that the results must have been the same. God save the Queen. Dated the 31st day of August, 1841, onboard H. M.'s ship Blenheim, in Amoy harbour. (Signed) Henry Pottinger, H.M.s Plenipotentiary.

The following private letter in the Canton paper gives some additional particulars of this affair : — The wind has come in from the northward, which will, I fear, interfere with, our progress northward, our destination, beiag Chinhae, the seaport of Ningpo, which we are going to take, if not to destroy it.. The weather here has been very hot, but the troops do not, as yet, seem to have Buffered from .exposure. Since taking the town, the boats and steamers have been employed in destroying the gunß in the numerous forts. You wUI scarcely credit the enormous number of pieces of artillery destroyed ; they amount to eight hundred. This place, it seems, was considered quite impregnable by the Chinese, and enormous sums rnu6t have been laid out upon the works. In the large battery they had a cannon foundry and a powder manufactory. In the former, there were several heavy guns still in the mould, and all the apparatus had evidently been in active operation up to the time of the attack* Some of the guns were, of large bore- eight inch and greater, with abundance of hallow shot for them. They have long been anticipating our visit, and considered themselves secure nur beyond any means

of annoyance in oar power. How tbe poor devils have been deceived. _ 9 p.m. 3d September. — The arsenal is now burning a grand blaze, and the whole of the war junks have been towed away from tbe merchant junks, and are to be burned to-night or to-morrow morning. I went on board a frigate junk an evening or two ago. She was a regular built frigate junk, with a main deck as clear as a frigate's, and mounting six gun* ,on a side, with two bow ports, besides the guns on her upper deck, making twenty-six or eight in all, for I did not take exact notice of her deck guns. Is not that an advance in naval warfare on the part of poor Funkee ? But she will go the way of all firewood in a few hours. The Chinese admiral is at sea with a squadron, and they say will return here and destroy us all; Ay, yah! ,

Free trade — an alteration in the currency — a moral and religious education : these have been severally suggested, and have had their supporters ; and, with exception of the last, their opponents also. None of these remedies, however, even if applied with the certainty of prospective success, can produce early beneficial results; and, amidst the present conflicts of party opinions, of disputed facts, and of theological differences, and without any community of premises whence to commence legislation, it seems probable that a considerable space of time must elapse before all, or any one, is adopted. What, then,' can' and ought to be. done immediately to relieve the present distress ? We have no nostrum to foist upon the public — no specific to offer for the cure of evils the causes of which are various and not known with precision or certainty. We have only to urge on the adoption of the Government, and on the notice of the suffering people, an easy and certain means of converting temporary adversity into permnaent prosperity. In Emigration and Colonization are opened new fields for the investment of capital, which is comparitively profitless and useless here — are presented ample means for diminishing the superabundant population of the kingdom — of dispauperising the mass of the people — of rendering them, -in British dependencies, that free, enterprising, industrious, moral; and religious* people which their forefathers once were at" horne — and are offered to our depressed manufactures extended markets of the most profitable description, of new consumers, having the same tastes, the same wants, and the same enjoyments as ourselves. To .render emigration and colonization successful, capital and labour must migrate simultaneously. Capital is profitless without labour — labour is helpless without capital. But, to protect the rights of either, it seems indispensable that some directing influence should be spread over both ; that influence* and that direction, it is clear must proceed from the government of the mother country. In. extending the colonial empire, the home Government will mitigate distress — will realize future prosperity — will accomplish the great mission which seems to have devolved on the Anglo-Saxon race, that of spreading throughout .the world civilization and Christianity. — Emigration Gazette. The situation of business at the present moment in the metropolis it is notorious is most appalling, that of the colonial shipping interest most especially : every shipowner and broker is complaining of the impediments thrown in his way by the peculiar operation of the Bounty Emigration System, and the vexatious interdictions imposed by the Government. The falling off in the number of vessels ordinarily announced for the colonies, within tbe last few weeks, attests this to a painful extent. Now, we contend that there is no plan that would so effectually remove the stagnation, and give an impetus to the mercantile and trading interests — ay, an impetus that would -be most benefi- ; cially felt throughout the whole winter — as an emigration loan, say of five millions. Let this be exclusively devoted to the giving employment to our starving population on their arrival out, by imparting pecuniary aid to those who are already successfully located in the British dependencies, and consequently enabled to give security for such aid. By such means the influx of immigrant labour would be absorbed, and the persevering colonist be thereby enabled and encouraged to carry out his industrious projects : the bounty system might be then safely continued, and the* evils to be apprehended from the superabundance of labour and the absence of colonial capital completely obviated. — Ibid. ■ ' A correspondent writes from Batavia, to say that the most, sanguine anticipations have been surpassed, by the success of the tea plantations in Java, and that the planters of the island had, in consequence, begun to direct-their attention chiefly to -the cultivation of tea. The upland, country had been found much more favourable to the plants than the lower ground, and many new establishments had, in consequence, been made among the hills in the interior. The war between England and China had, of course, not tended to discourage the new branch- of industry. The same correspondent complains of the scarcity of European ladies at Batavia. Were a few ship loads consigned to good houses, they would be certain to find some advantageous market. — Ibid. - *, -'■

Emigration to China is now offered to her Majesty's subjects by the British commissioner at Canton, on terms similar to those some time prevalent in regard to Australia. A settlement is fixed at Hongkong. — London paper. The Colonization Commissioners, Messrs. Elliot, ViHiers, and Shaw Lefevre (vice Torrens), received two days before Lords John Russell* resigning the Colonial Secretaryship, the sum of £ 10,000, to be expended in emigration to Van Diemen's Land.