We have written at some length, Intely, on the dangers to which shipping is exposed in Chinese ports, from the want of proper buoys and the neglect of the Authorities to remove abstractions from the Channels. The experience of the past few mouths has proved that the risk does not and with wreck; when nataral obstacles have done their work, the natives step in and complete the work of ruin, Itis not enough that a ship should be lost, through the neglect of the officials to perform one of the most ordinary duties of a Government; but the lives- of the crew are endangered, and property which might be saved is plundered, by the lawless population. who infest the coasts, And this not only on the open const, at a distance from cities, where the arm of authority would naturally be less strong, bat in the rivers and in the immediate neighbor. hood of the treaty ports. We referred very Intely to the case of the "Ellen Castle" wrecked on the bar of Newchwang and at once attacked by pirates, who would have plundered everything on bourd but for the fortunate presence of H. M. gunboat Grasshopper. Captain Ryder's prompt arrival, with a delachmentof seamen and marines, alone saved the cargo and, probably, the lives of the crew. So determined were the thieves at their work, that the threat conveyed by blank cartridge was ignored, and it was not till the order was given to load with ball, thatthe makeup their mind to retire. Very recently, too, we noticed the wreck of the " Alice Thompson," within three miles of Swatow. Inher case, unfortunately, there was no gunboat at hand, and every piece of her cargo was carried off, and ber crew were robbed even of the clothes which they were wearing. Information was given to the Swatow mandarins who, with landable promptitude, mulcted the offending villages in more Un the value of the stolen property; but offered a tenth part of the proceeds to H. M. Consal, in compensation for the loss. A still more glaring case was the recent plunder of a cargo-boat, on its way down the river Min from Foochow to the Pagoda Anchorage. Getting unfortunately ashore on the pnssage, it wast once boarded by Chinese, who carried off the two or three thousand pounds worth of tea which it contained, and chopped up the bent for firewood, This happened within the actual limits of a treaty port, and within sight of the Arsenal and the Chines gunboats which have been so lately built there. Even the savages on the coast of African would hardly lave committed such an outrage as this Inst; much less could it have happened in any other country professing to have a form of setuled Government, The accident itself would probably not have happened if the river had been proper ly buoyed; but that a stranded cargo-boat should be plundered ina busy viver, almost under the shadow of gunboats which, if they are to be used for anything, should be especially used to put down piracy, is simpl: monstrous, It is difficult to say which is the more disgraceful—tho peculntion of the official underlings at Swatow; or the utter inenpacity mani. fested ut Foochow. When we hear of awreck being plundered off Formosa, we are not surprised; the arm of Government there is notoriously weak, and the ished is inhabited by: all serta and conditions of men, from the civilised Chinese to the savages of the interior and the east coast. The case of the brig "Escape," wrecked off Formosa in September Inst, the robbery from the crew of the money and effects which they had saved, and the refusal to render them assistance, was a Inmentable instance of the dangers to which ships are exposed in these waters; but for such misfortunes we are more or less prepared. It is not so very long since ships wrecked on the const of Cornwall, or off the West coast of Ireland, would have met little better treatment, That property, however, should be stolen in the immediate neighborhood of busy ports, without the authorities making an effort to prevent, or showing any sincere desire to repair, the injury, is intolerable. We are driven to one of two conclusions. Either thy Government is so weak that it is unworthy of respect, or the officials are ill-disposed and deserving of punishment. In either case, the contrast between the treatment of ships wrecked on the coasts. of China and of Japan, is as disgraceful to the former as it is creditable to the latter country. From time to time, we find in the Yokohama papers statement by the master of some wrecked.ship, of extreme kindness experienced, and: scrupulous Lonesty. shown
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.