Enoranp, even under the rule of the doctrinaires, still sometimes awakes to neroue sentiments. The feeling of relief with which the fresh treaty guaranteeing the integrity of Belgiam was received by all parties, showed how ready, when well directed, she was to maintain her position, while the treaty itself was doubtless looked upon by large masses of the population as in some slight degree a recompense for the undignified course she adopted in similar circumstances with regard to Denmark. It was fortunately in such a state of feeling thatthenews of the Tientsin mas-sacro arrived, and for the first time we have to note with pleasure that our policy in China has been removed out of the narrow circle of political party. The cold-blooded slaughter of helpless planned, ride ied out with a precision women, in pursuance of a plot long-
not often exhibited by the Chinese, aroused those feelings of indignation which a more sudden and unpremeditated outbreak. might have failed to touch. The curious fact, that these disturbances bad keen foreseen, and trouble predicted from the course pursued at other places besides Tientsin, had fortunately come to light before details of the horrors perpetrated on the 2ist June had arrived; so that the paltry excuse, that they were merely the excesses of an excited mob, could not be urged to ne-count for their perpetration. It is in some degree fortunate that the veil of deception with which the Burlingame Mission had succeeded in shrouding, for the time, the rottenness and iN-faith of the governing powers of China, should have received its first serious rent from within. Its texture however, too slight, and the natural instincts of the party within too strong, to allow it much longer to remain effective for concealment. The constrained attitude in which Mr. Burlingame had exhibited his proteges could not be maintained much longer, and the Tientsin massacre, and the plot of which it fortunately was the only serious result, was the natural revulsion of bar-for the admiration of the world, the bayism, after the attempt to put on,
of innocence and the demeanour of domesticity.
'Under such circumstances, while there is still reason to regret such utterauces as those' of the Times, attributing to the Missionaries at Tientsin and the unfortunate French Consul Fontanier, a share of the blame of the massacre, there is reason to congra-tulare ourselves that all those false statements have been since scattered to the winds; and that even the Chinese Government, ready as it is to catch at the slightest straw, hashed to exculpate, in language not to be misunderstood, the unfortunate victims. Long ere this has been written, abundant evidence, from both Chinese and foreign sources, will have arrived to rebut the false charges so hastily made: and eagerly accepted; and the massacre' of the 2ist of June must stand out in its hideous nakedness, exposed without palliation to the worst constructions which its present apologists agree, in such a case, it could deserve. The words of the Standard newspaper, notwithstanding the' strong spirit of patty which actuated that journal, cannot but have their effect in such a time.
Such sentiments as the following cannot fail to have an effect even on the most unimpassioned; and the general horror expressed at the deed shows that, in such a matter, even in the midst of the terrific strife now raging in Europe, the British public is not always disposed to be impassive. "We are going along way, as it seems, to try to separate ourselves from an old and true ally. The moment has not yet arrived, perhaps, for even France' to exact in-damnification for the agony and the injury inflicted on her at Tientsin, the scene of our common triumph; or for England to offer, not her alliance, but, for this is due to France, her brotherhood, when humanity has been so disgraced; but the day is not far off." By such sentiments, the Standard has touched the hearts of all those who, against evil report, have tried but tried in vain to arrest the downward course to which Great Britain bad pledged herself in China; and, as representing, to the best of our ability, that party, our~ selves, we are glad to acknowledge the one touch of nature. Nor sre we ill disposed to accept the farther conclusions of the article referred to. Like it, we do not desire to make war upon what it justly describes as "such an empire"'as China. We do not even call out for vengeance for the past; but on the contrary, after four months of consideration, "after calm and dispastionate deliberation, after the examina: tion of witnesses of all shades and parties, we demand, as we demanded at first, as an act of justice to the memory of those who had been maligned with the foulest aspersions, the condign punishment. of the instigators of a deed almost unparallelled in human records, for cold-blooded atrocity. Wil-ingly would we extend mercy to the misguided but still savage perpetrators of those deeds; but it isa duty we owe humanity itself, to call out for the adequate punishment of those who, coolly and deliberately, excited the minds of the populace, first by placards, every line of which was known to their authors to be false, and then by false charges and pretended crimes led d the popular excitement up to the pitch necessary for the perpetration of the atrocities of the 21st June. Such men as Chang Kwang-tsao and Lin-chieh may be only ordinary representatives of the mandarins of the Empire; in fact the repugnance of the Government. to give them up rather strengthens the belief that, in acting as they have done, they only give expression to the general feelings of their class. Justice and merey, however, both call equally for their banishment. Justice to the memory of those who were so foully maligned; and mercy in the interests, not only of those who may again be placed in the power of ruffians like those at Tientsin, but of the Mandarins themselves, who, encouraged by the seeming impunity of their confreres, may be led to adopt such s course as may finally entail the destruction of themselves and their order.
Such we imagine to be the present position, and we are glad to note that such.seems to be the opinion of those capable of forming a judgment, at home. When, therefore, we learn that Earl Granville has sent instractions to the British representative, to support the demands of the French, we are justified in the belief that the farce of settlement proposed by the Chinese Government will not be accepted. We are in this matter at lerist united by a bond akin to brotherhood; we can have no jealousy of placing Franco in a position of command; as our interests, aa well as those of civilization, alike impel 1s, at the moment of temporary humid bation, to offer that legal aid which in turn might expect and hope to receive.
We ought not to forget the friendly words which, in our own crusade against Asiatic barbarity during the Indian mutiny, poured on us from all sides. It is once more in our power to strike a blow at the foul Hydia which ever and anon raises one of its hideous heads to astonish the world. We hope that, however delivered, it will be effectual, and that just banishment for the past may be supplemented by proper security for the future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.