the Editor of the Sim,—We are probably justified in surmising that any foreign improvements which ever find their way into China will be entirely in the hands of the natives and under the control of the Government, That railways, telegraphs the working of mines, and the general application of foreign inventions must some day come, no one will doubt, but what we ha already seen tends to show the determination of the Government to retain complete command of all innovations; and it is not difficult for any careful observer to see the reason for this. The Chinese have all along evinced great opposition to foreigners establishing themselves beyond the limits of the localities agreed upon as their place of residence; and from one cause or another the Chinese have undoubtedly been unfortunate in their experience of foreigners who have settled or traveled in the interior. Of the former, missionaries form the large majority, and however good the intentions of these' self-denying men may be, it is undoubted that they have been directly or indirectly the cause of much trouble and ill-feeling; of the latter, the rowdies who have at various times taken advantage of the disturbed state of some of the provinces to acquire ill-gotten going, have been unfavourable specimens of our western civilisation, while even innocent travellers seldom manage to get through a journey of any length without having to appeal to the authorities or giving them an opportunity of taking ill-advised precautions against some imaginary disturbance. Another reason is that, when once a European has established himself, no amount of persuasion will avail to remove him, if he finds it to his personal interest to remain. A protestant missionary or the owner of a steam-mill, for example, when advised to close operations for a time Because the public mind is temporarily incensed, takes his stand on principle, and argues that it is for the authorities to guard against disturbance. This may be true, but the effect of our unyielding disposition is occasionally felt, and will be felt more than ever, now that China appears to be gradually oaking from her long sleep; and it would require more than human prudence and calculation in foreigners to make themselves equally acceptable with natives, in the presence of officials from whom they claim redress, but whose jurisdiction they will not acknowledge. A third reason is that, like thenewly-established ese Steamer Company, schemes formakingrailways, working mines, and laying telegraph lines will be more of less official, and the immediate and visible profits will' be secured by the mandarins, while the people will be left to share the advantages which such improvements bestow upon a country. T hope before long to see what would probably exist now, could the services of foreigners be dispensed with Steamers running on the inland waters, and to ports along the coast which, though closed to us, are of considerable importance from the large amount of native trade carried on there. The result of competition between foreign-owned steamers on the one hand, and Chinese-owned vessels aided by a favourable tariff of duties and taxes, on the other, is a subject whic demands separate discussion.
Yours truly,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.