than 3,660,000%. Besides that, there were other receipts arising from duties on imports into that country, making the British revenue, derived from our intercourse with China, no less than 4,200,000l. per annum. Then again with regard to India, where our difficulties were principally financial, he begged to call the attention of the house to the large proportion of the revenue which India derived from China. The gross income was stated somewhere about 20,000,000l. annually, and unless he was greatly mistaken, the income derived by India from China was no less than 2,000,000l. annually, and, the chief inconvenience of our intercourse with India arising from the difficulty of remittance. China had afforded this remarkable facility, that, year by year, since the trade was opened, there had been an annual influx from that country into India of specie averaging 1,300,000l., and amounting last year to 1,700,000%. He must say, he thought a general fallacy prevailed in this country with respect to China. Our intercourse being restricted to a single port, public opinion with regard to that great empire was formed, with reference to Canton alone-and it was exactly as if a foreigner who was occasionally permitted to anchor at the Nore, and at times to land at Wapping, being placed in close confinement during his continuance there, were under such circumstances to pronounce a deliberate opinion on the resources, genius, and character, of the British empire.

The right hon. baronet then gave the following sketch of the Chinese empire. "It was inhabited by 350 millions of human beings, all directed by the will of

one man, all speaking one language, all governed by one code of laws, all professing one religion, all actuated by the same feelings of national pride and prejudice; tracing back their history not by centuries, but by tens of centuries, transmitted to them in regular succession under a patriarchal government without interruption; and boasting of their education, of their printing, of their civilization, of their arts, all the conveniences and many of the luxuries of life existing there when Europe was still sunk in barbarism, and when the light of knowledge was obscure in this western hemisphere. But apart from their numbers-apart from what he had mentioned with respect to that unity which was strength, he called the attention of the house to their immense wealth. They possessed an annual revenue of 60,000,000l. regularly collected; they had no debt they inhabited the largest and the fairest portion of Asia; more than onethird of that country they cultivated, under the finest climate, with unwearied industry; the soil is most fertile, watered by vast rivers, and intersected by a canal 1200 miles in length, one of the standing wonders of the world; and in every portion of that immense empire there was one uniformity of system, one jealous suspicion of strangers, evinced both on the shores of the Yellow Sea and all along on the confines of Ava, Nepaul, and Bokhara."

Sir James went on to state, that the great characteristic of the Chinese people, their extreme jealousy and suspicion of strangers, was displayed with more than ordinary strictness against Great Britain, and he accounted for this by drawing the following animated

picture of the rise and progress of our dominion in the East." If the Chinese looked across the Himalaya mountains they saw Hin. dostan prostrate at the feet of England, and they were not so ignorant as not to be aware of the policy which had led to that result. Hardly a century had elapsed since, from a small beginning, that British empire had arisen. And how? We commenced our connexion with India under the pretence of trading and the semblance of commerce. Scarcely a century had passed since the first English factory was established there. A single warehouse was at first built; it was then surrounded by a wall. We next added a ditch, armed some labourers, and increased the number of Europeans. A garrison was thus formed, and then we began to treat with the native powers. Having discovered their weakness we seized on Arcot, triumphed at Plassey; and what a Clive began, the Wellesleys completed. Seringapatam was stormed, the Mysore was conquered, and the Mahrattas fell under our dominion. These successes terminated in the battle of Assaye, when India became ours. Nor was this all. The Hydaspes had been crossed, Candahar and Cabul had witnessed the march of the British troops, and central Asia trembled at our presence."

Was it not natural then, for the Chinese, seeing what had passed in India, to feel jealous of allowing any permanent settlement of a British factory within their territory? We had carried on successfully commerce with that people for upwards of two centuries, but a great change took place in the manner of its management in 1833, when the trade

was thrown open, and the control and administration of it were removed from the East-India company.

He hoped the house would permit him to read some passages from an admirable letter, written in the year 1832, by the directors of the East-India company to their superintendent, resident at Canton, in answer to a communication received from the latter during the preceding year, stating the circumstances of misunderstanding which had occurred between the superintendent and the authorities at Canton. The right hon. baronet then read a dispatch from the board of directors to British supercargoes at Canton, dated the 13th January, 1832, in which the board stated, that the trade to China had originally been sought by themselves, and that the advantages which it yielded to them were great; and that notwithstanding the attempts which had been made to adopt a belligerent policy, they were convinced that a pacific course was the best to be pursued in their intercourse with the Chinese, and that they would not refuse to China what our own country claimed-the right exclusively to regulate the grounds on which any intercourse would be permitted with other countries. They went on to state their desire to correct a dangerous notion, which was but too common with the merchants who inhabited Canton, which was, that nothing was to be gained from the Chinese by attention to their laws; but that everything was to be gained by intimidating them. "You may, for a moment," said the court of directors, "set the government of China at defiance, but not only do they take the first moment to assert their dominion, but may

take also the first moment to deprive you of some advantages, which either tacitly or openly you have heretofore enjoyed.

In the same paper, a reference was made to the opinion of a revered and noble friend of his, now no more. Lord W. Bentinck had stated, in answer to an application for cer tain demonstrations against China, that it was quite impossible to doubt that the discontinuance of trade with China would be one of the greatest calamities which could befall the East-India company and the nation; and that he could not lend himself without the sanction of a superior authority, to any change in the pacific policy which had been hitherto invariably and successfully followed towards China.

Sir James Graham next adverted to the fact that he was a servant of the Crown, and a colleague of the noble lord, the secretary for foreign affairs, when the Chinese trade act was introduced. It was in vain to dissemble that the great change introduced with respect to the China trade was attended with considerable danger; and those who had an experience and knowledge of the Chinese, had expressed in a very marked and decided manner their dissent from the course which lord Grey's government adopted. It was impossible for him to refer to any authority more entitled to weight and respect than that of the hon. baronet, the member for Portsmouth. Sir George Staunton, before the China trade act was introduced, and when the question of the renewal of the EastIndia company's charter was under consideration, took occasion to move certain resolutions, which were not treated with much respect or attention at the time.

The right hon. baronet then read the 6th and 7th resolutions, to the effect that it was indispensably necessary to the security of our valuable commerce with China, that a national treaty should be made between the two countries, without which previous sanction, any attempt to appoint national functionaries at Canton for the protection of trade, would in the then state of our relations with China, not only prove of little advantage to the subject, but also be liable, in a serious degree, to compromise the honour and dignity of the Crown; and that notwithstanding the failure, in this respect, of all complimentary embassies to the court of Pekin, the evidence of the treaties which have been repeatedly negociated by the Chinese government with that of Russia, proves that there is no insurmountable obstacle to such an arrangement. With respect to the latter part of the resolution, attention was paid to it in the act which was introduced; but the hon. baronet's advice, with respect to communications with Pekin was not followed, and had not up to the present time been acted upon. He (Sir James Graham) thought that it would lead to a more clear comprehension of the subject, if the house would allow him to read the clause which was inserted according to the recommendation of sir George Staunton, for the trial of British subjects, even in the waters of Canton. The right hon. baronet read the clause which was as follows:

"That it may be lawful for her majesty, by an order in council, to give to the superintendents, or any of them, power over the trade and commerce of her majesty's subjects in any part of the Chinese domi

nions, and to make regulations for the government of her majesty's subjects in their dominions; and also, "That he should certainly have the power to impose penalties, forfeitures, and imprisonment, and to make such regulations as may be necessary in the manner specified in the order in council; and that it might be lawful to her majesty in council to establish courts of judicature in those do minions, or in the ports, harbours, and havens thereof, and in the seas beyond one hundred miles of the Chinese coasts."

This brought him to the appointment of lord Napier, and he should draw the attention of the house to the more material parts of his instructions. Previous warning and subsequent experience proved to demonstration that two points in those instructions were erroneous. One was the imperative order given to lord Napier to take up his residence at Canton, and discharge his duties there; no previous communication having been made with the imperial government at Pekin. The next point which he considered erroneous, was the order to lord Napier to announce his arrival by a letter to the viceroy. In the course of what he had to address to the house he should show that the noble lord (Palmerston) and he agreed that there was a defect in the original orders in council. The point where the instructions were defective arose as to the mode in which the power was exercised by the 6th clause of the China Trade Act, whereby a transfer was made of the power enjoyed by the supercargoes of the East-India company to the superintendent. Now when the China Trade Act was passed, the power vested in the supercar.

goes had ceased to exist under an act anterior to it. The power vested in the supercargoes was the power of withdrawing the licences from those who traded in the waters of China; and the attempt to convey to the superintendent the power exercised by the supercargo was an entire failure, inasmuch as the authority which was sought to be conveyed had been rescinded by an act of parliament anterior to the China Trade Act. Now the portion of the instructions to which he wished to call particular attention was that most solemn direction to the superintendent to the utmost of his ability to protect British subjects. Now observe these words,

not in all their commercial speculations, not in their trade in general without limitation, but in the peaceable prosecution of all lawful enterprises in which they may be engaged in China." His first allegation against the government was, that they committed two errors as demonstrated by experience, and foretold by competent authority; first by directing the residence of a British officer at Canton, and next by holding communication with the vice-regal government. His next point was, that that portion of the royal sign manual instructions to the superintendent which directed him to protect all subjects of Great Britain "in the peaceable prosecution of all lawful enterprises in which they may be engaged in China" had not been enforced by her majesty's government up to that moment.

The right hon. baronet next adverted to the course taken by Mr. Davis and lord Napier, upon each of whom he passed a high eulogium, stating that he knew