To the Editor of the 3 Stm,—Public opinion hasbeen so emphatically pronounced that the Taotai's pro-paved " Lalon exemption" regula me of official obstructic for some vations on their hostile character, which ug the policy of the El ese Central Govern ment; and it is in this sense that the following remarks are submitted for con-on, especially as the old adage of its cast their shadows before," more gruesome, in China than elsewhere. their as their point of origin, auch important innovations on ibe established modes for importi Chine could lordly heve boon for recognition to the Foreign Consuls, "unless they had emanated primarily fron Toung-li Yamen at Poking. In oxan d been the ut of Circuit, the municated these regulation Excellency whether ho had thus acted under instructions from the Imperial Go-vermont at Peking, and the auawer they must have received to auch enquiry would be specially i i nflirmative be glad to suggests may top already taken by the foreign oflicinls to whom it has been rotorred.
Unless the supreme Chinese authorities sanctioned these proposed regula-they certainly are not deserving of more attention than any other private communication which the local magi chooses to make on his own reaper without regard to its relations wit functions which by treaty are specially Fesorved to higher officials, and which can only be effective when directed through the K odious than the roper channel of the Foreign legations,
Policy, supposed to be ektinet, of thrusting forward eubordmate officials to obtain objectionable ends, so that the odium and disfavour which they der may apparently fall on the instrument of aggressive measures in cuse they fail, and that the credit of success if arrived at may revert to those who pulled the strings of the puppet which is made to dance in ® quasi incognito before the public, It will make ® great difference in the cance of the proposed regulation ave them avowed or disavowed at Pekiny before they are considered officially or by of Commerce, and it is of portance th be lost in discovering their authoritative source, Rale IT opens a most important qu although on its surface it declares what every one knows, viz. that foreign in the language ceptional Rifle on lekin pr General on 27thi December, 1876," declares the assent of the Chinese'Goverument that Foreign' nierchandise, without exception, shall" be heliceforth exempt freit "lek: Fegulations retrogra and as such Teads'up to the diplomatic in ter pre! meaning and object apparent. explained more fully, the Taotai's Rule LI is more or leas obsctire—but should it be founded merely on the Chefoo Convention, there can be Rls FV pros officer" for firat time to official notice, in order to entitled him to recognition; although the tion specially provides that foreign goods are concorne foreign Settlom subject to ba dealt with ax treaty provides re of trade, Article state all that the treaty obliges merchants to do this matter of importing goods; and if Rule IV desires to introduce further in excess of th be submitted to in thie Rule duty—possibly meaning the transi Does this mean that the half duty the goods are sealed?
of goods they have never thus seeking ought to pay direct violation of for s recognition of the collec native produce If the lekin collectors have ich proposal ix superfluous. The fect of the matter ug submitted for consideration would show that their legal status is not es tablished, and it is therefore deseryof rejection in order in collectors having a1 her difficult to discriminate how tious of the collectors yond the produce which forms their extensible object as a mask for levy' other taxes. The only way to remove the difficulty would be to discontinue the lekin being levied on all goods within th limits of the Settlement, so as to tak away all i the mandarin Rale V is merely cover for anthorisi arbritary confiscation of foreign merchandise, which seems to be the summum bonus of Chinese officials, and opens up i an indefinite source of trouble.
Rulv VIL concerns merely native produce to the interior sand {tule VILL likewise provides for those goods when imported into foreign Settlements by Chinese merchants, Tt is difficult to say why the Consular consent has been asked in a matter which does not directly concern foreigners, but ules IX and X have special interest to foreign merchants, a" be exénipt' from Settlerienta, Thin destroys the optional gh of pay it de secured by Art. XXVIIE oft the cedent of right to of "foreigners," judicial to trade." "The Tadtai facetiously denominates this as" facilital His Excellency ix ich ® Inudabl ing the" godowns to be more conductive to]
The whole tenor of these regulations is thus seen to be retrogressive, and taken together with tho'known''conduct of the policy, they seem more intended to siullity than to. assist the carrying out ofthe Chefoo Convention' oni' which they prof The pro ico for this 1d for oficial approbation ent Shanghai, eat any of Peking, and through "ti medium of the foreign Plenipotentiaries to them it is to be "hoped they have, been rotorred, Shanghai, 14th February,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.