IMPORTANT FROM CHINA.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 53, 31 January 1843, Page 3

IMPORTANT FROM CHINA.

(From the Colonial Observer.) . From private letters we learn thqt the High Commissioners had stated to Sir H. Pottinger the anxious wish of the Emperor’s Ministers that ah Envoy should be sent from Pekin to the English Court, and Sir Henry, we believe, offered to place a frigate at their command, to t : convey the Envoy to England. It is also said, that an invitation was conveyed from the Ministers for his Excellency to visit Pekin. Sir Henry is understood to have replied that he ’ could not do so unless he received the Emperor’s ;chop requesting his presence. Not the least remarkable circumstance attending the arrangements with the High Commissioners, is the facility with which they seem to have waived their prejudices and feelings of ceremonial etiquette, and sought the English Plenipotentiary on board a man-of-war. The Chinese here, who have been told of this say, that they cannot understand it, and that they will not believe it until they have their own letters from China confirming our accounts. One of the Canton papers mentions that the first mtellii gence ©f the conclusion of the treaty reached there through the Chinese, and was received some time before the official notification arrived. .Tile account of the articles agreed upon is represented as having been very correct—the Chinese also reported that a great battle had been fought, and that many English Mandarins were killed. The opening of so many inlets into the Chinese Empire may justly be regarded as the commencement of a new era in our commerce with China. The inviolability of the Chinese Empire is at end, and when they shall have for a few years been brought into contact ■with Europeans at so many different points in the :Empire, we-may expect to see ancient prejudices giving' way, and„more just notions of foreigners, and the proper manner nf dealing wlth ; them, taking their place. We have no doubt that an impetus will nqw be given to our commercial intercourse with China, which will have the 'effect of lightening the depression which at present weighs upon the commercial world. - - ! We have' been favoured with the perusal of a private letter from Nankin, which gives a lively and amusing account of the negociations with thfe Chinfise, and'Also supplies some inter-' ießting information- regarding the proceedings

of the expedition during their progress’ up the river Yang-tse-keang to; Nankin. The first part of the letter is dated August 28th,' off Nankin. The writer states that the billy places where there had been fighting werfe Wbosfing' and Ching-keang-foothe former,, rfbouf fifteen miles from' the mouth of the River Yang-tze-keang, Was taken on the, 16th of June by the shipping.- 'Phe 1 defences of this place consisted of a line of batteries nearly three miles and a half in length, having somewhere' about five hundred pieces of ordnance, such as they were, mounted, but of these some were wall pieces and gingalls only: about one hundred and sixty copper guns Were fourid amongst them. The loss at this place was A killed and about 20 wounded —Lieut. Hewitt of the Marines was the first who fell, a shot taking his head off exactly above the shoulders. The walls having been well battered by the fleet, the troops were landing to storm, when the Chinese and Tartar troops by whom it was held took to their heels, and the town was quietly taken possession of by the marines and seamen. After' taking Woosung, the; steamers and boats of the' squadron proceeded tip a branch of the river, and took possession of Chingliae, a very opulent town, which had been abandoned by the inhabitants. It was found occupied by a number of low* Chinese, who were plundering and carrying away whatever they could lay their hands upon. On the 6th July the whole fleet, with the exception of the North Star, proceeded up the river. Their progress was very slow, tedious, and .laborious, there being a constant and adverse tide running, on an average of 31miles an hour. On the 19th they reached Kinshan, or the celebrated Golden Island, and anchored off the city of Ching-kiang'-foo. On the 21st, all the troops, about 7000, were landed at daylight, and the attack commenced about 8 o’clock—-the 55-th scaled the left walls of the town in gallant style, whilst Operations were commenced to the right and centre. At two o’clock the town was in possession of the troops, though they continued to he annoyed for two ©r three days by straggling shots from Tartars who were concealed in Houses, &c. The Auckland was the only ship that took part in the operations against the town, having fired.a few shells into it.. In landing the artillery, the Blonde's boats were exposed to a heavy fire, which wounded 23 men, (some of whom died afterwards,) and sunk the boats. The officer in charge of the boats, Lieut. Brouch, was wounded in three places, but was recovering when the news left Nankin. Lieut. Fitz-James, in rescuing the men after the boats were sunk, also received several slight wounds. The 28th were employed' against a large body of pugnaeiouslooking fat-bellied Tartars, with whom they expected to have some fighting, but the Tartars could not screw their courage up to the fightingpoint, and probably thinking, like Sir' J v ohn Falstaff, that discretion was the better part of valor, they scampered off at the first discharge of the artillery. In pursuing them, our troops suffered much from the excessive heat of the sun, which was extremely powerful. Thirteen men of the 98th died from fatigue. The loss on the part of the British was calculated at 150 —Captain Collinson of the 18th,-and Lieut, Gibson of the 49th, were the only officers belonging to the army-who fell. Major Iniacke of the marines; died from fatigue. Colonel Driver of the 6th N. 1., and Col. Stavers of H. M.’s 49th, also fell victims to the climate and fatigue.

The forces left Chin-keang-foo on the 3d, and reached Nankin on the Bth. The Chinese at first appeared disposed to offer resistance, and talked very big about burying themselves under the walls rather thafi capitulate, but the ships no sooner hauled opposite the town, prepared to batter, and a brigade and artillery landed and took up positions, than they altered their tone, and sent off to say that greater mandarins than any who had yet treated with the Plenipotentiary were on their way with powers direct from the Emperor, and on the-following morning they accordingly made their, appearance and opened-iiegooittfinna We shall give the result in the language of the whitertw Great Iteyhing, Maternal Uncle to the Imperial Taou-Kwang, and Governor of Canton; the high and mighty Elipo, Governor of Chapoo ; his Excellency Gau or Neoo, Governor of the Provinces of Kiang-se and Kiang-10, and lastly, the brave and doughty ‘ Tik,’ Tartar General and Governor of Nankin—the three first Commissioners appointed direct from the Brother of the Sun and Moon, to treat with the ‘ Illustrious Foreigners,’ now no longer * Red-headed Barbarians.’—these have pledged their solemn and honorable words to the acceptance of our terms, and Saturday next is the day appointed for the signing and sealing thereof by the Chinese and English * Corps Diplomatique ,’ by which .time most probably the Imperial ratification wjll also have arrived.” . Every thing asked for is said to have been conceded, with the immaterial exception that the treaty at first demanded Hongkong as an atonement for the insults offered our ambassador, which, at the earnest request of the Chinese Commissioners, was altered to “as. a peace offering from the great Emperor to the mighty Queen of England.” The Commissioners fought .hard for a reduction in the siiih to be

paid, but the Plenipotentiary stated, that in de-r man ding 21 miljpns, it was putting the expenses incurred by therEnglLh at tiic lowest rate, and that he thought it very low—telling him at the same time that the English gave 90 millions to some of their- own people for the liberation at their slaves ; ut winch announcement, the letter says, “ their fug’h mightinesses never opened their eyes so wide before as they did at this piece of information —I understand it took them all day to shut them again. It had also the desired effect of bringing matters to an issue, for they soon added, ‘ Ah, we see how it is, we are like to people who have been gambling, we have lost, so we must pay —and with this negative consolation they agreed to the terms. At the conclusion of one of the conierences they were informed, that unless they assented to the terms proposed, the vessels and artillery would open a lire at day-light; but long before daylight unaccountable noises were beard proceeding from the shore, which proved to come from a great fat Mandarin, who up to his knees in water and mud, was waving a white flag and shou ing out “ Peace, Peace, Peace !”—he told those who wont in a bout to know what lie wanted, that the Mandarins wo Ad be off early to sign every tiling. From intercepted letters announcing the impossibility of sparing troops from the South, as the people were all but in a state of rebellion, and nearly approaching to starvation, tlie position of the English was much strengthened, and they were enabled to be firm in all their demands. Toe live)- on which Nanking stands, the Yang-tsc-Kiang, i's described as being devoiu of all picturesque beauty of scenery, the banks being low and fiat, either mud or covered witli reads, all the wav up, except the last sixty-iive miles below Kinshan, where high land, trees and shrubs, begin to show themselves. But it would seem to be admirably adapted for trade, when we consider that a fleet of nearly sixty vessels of the largest size arc lying in it upwards of two hundred miles tr cm the mouth, some of them within ball a mile from the shore, in 150 feet of water. The ports of Foo-tchou-foo and Shang-hae, two of the ports which are to he opened in our commerce, are stated to be the principal depots for goods for supplying the trade on lire \ ang-tse-FJang and Lrand Canal. The force is stated to he suffering much from sickness, few escaping without being attacked, though the mortality is not nearly so great as in some of the past years. The prospect of leaving the river is universally looked forward to with satisfaction. The ratification of the Treaty by the Emperor was received on the 28tli. He agreed to every thino - , tlioittclx it is understood lie mauc sumc difficulty about including Foo-tchou-foo, among the ports which are to he opened for trade. On the 29th the Chinese and British flags were hoisted on board the Cormnallis, under a salute of 21 guns. The Emperor-is said to be hig’lily gratified with the commence placed m nim by requiring’ his signature to the Treaty. The Blonde takes in 3 millions of the ransom money, the Herald and Modesto R each, and start for England at once. Lord Saltoun is to remain in command of the troops in China. The 98th, with apart of the 18th, and a company of Royal Artillery, go to Hongkong. The remainder of the 18th, with a Native Regiment, to Amoy, and 55th Queen’s, witli a native Regt., the 2nd, go to Chusan. A letter from China by the Sesostris Steamer, states that the Sea Queen, one _of the ships regarding whose safety apprehensions were beginning to be entertained, had put into. Manilla, having lost her mast. South Austkalia. —Our readers are already aware that the Corporation of Adelaide had got into difficulties, and was regarded as being legally defunct, through the retirement of the late Mayor, and the election of a successor — the retirement being an act held by the Attor-ney-General incompetent for the Mayor till the expiry of his term of office. A new Council has since been elected, but. D lOl1 ’ position lea m law precisely the same as that of their predecessors. Four of the parties elected had refused to take the declaration. The Council was incomplete, and in point of numbers alone, incompetent to compel them : and the Corporation was thus virtually defunct. In these circumstances, the following resolution was adopted at the first meeting of the fragments of Council, held on the 28th October, on the casting vote of the Mayor : That the vacancies of four Common Couneilmon be forthwith filled up by electing the four -gentlemen who have the majority of votes, after the name of H. \V. Phillips, Esq., and that thereupon application be made to the local government, for an act of. Council to declare the validity of tbe Council so constituted,- and to make such alterations in the enactment as shall remove all future doubts or difficulties.— Colonial Observer.. 0 1 V-