Tae political excitement which Mr. John Pope Hennessy bad succeeded in bringing about in Barbadoes, was not calculated to make news of his appoint. ment to any other colony a welcome announcement; and the news that he was to be saddled upon Hongkong caused a very natural feeling of uneasiness. It was scarcely believed, at first, that the Government could really contemplate again.intrasting bim with power. But the rumour was confirmed and with the sanguine tempera. ment which distinguishes the foreign communities in China, people hoped for the best. They appear however to have been, for once, over-sangui Mr. Hennessy seems to be one of those men who are incapable of letting well alone, and are impelled to assert their pet theories in defiance of the plainest facta. Ho is said to be shocked at the system of night passes in Hongkong, which he characterises as class legislation, and is anxious to abolish utterly as an outrage upon Chinese feeling. It is immaterial that the better classes of Chinese quite approve of the system, recognising the force of the circumstances which make it necessary. Mr. Hennessy does not take into considera tion the proximity of Canton, which makes the Colony a facile resort for all the scoundrelism of that great city, and necessitates the most careful Police measures in order to preserve order and public safety. Neither does he away to realise that he is legislating only in favour of the lowest class of the population, and against the wishes of those for whose feelings he is so carefal. No! he has discovered a fact at variance with his theory; and so much the worse for the fact. Abolition of night passes, then, is one reform which Mr. Hennessy is said to contemplate and the next is the abolition of flogging. It. is immaterial: here, again, that the better: olass:,.of. Chinese residents recognise the wisdom of the institution that imprisonment is nothing to the Chinese rough, who finds prison diet Tnxurious, and asks nothing better than to be housed and fed at the expense of the public; and that fear of bodily pain has been found, in practice, the only enflicient deterrent. Mr. Hennessy's tender feelings are shocked by the knowledge that Chinese raftians are liable to a punishment which the foreign residents' do not incor; and corporal punishment is to be the second object of Quixotic attack. There is some mysterious rumour, too, about the Central School, which has done so much to educate the children of the native residents; but what, even theoretical, objection he can find to that institution, we confess is beyond us; and we can only wait and wonder till some indication of his motive is vouchsafed.
As a matter of fact, Hongkong is now an exceedingly well ordered colony; and the fact is due in a great measure to the stringent police measures which were introduced under the auspices of Sir Arthur Kennedy. Few meu earn, daring their term of office, more general popularity than was enjoyed by the late Governor of Hong-Kong; and few have occasion to look back with greater satisfaction at the progress made under their administration. The rise which has taken place in the price of land is a marked indication of the estimate the Chinese place apon. the security and advantages which s residence in the colony involves. Just, in fact, as land in the foreign Settlement of Shanghaiis becom. ing a favourite investment with wealthy Chinese in the north; land in Hong-Kong ecems to be an object of ambition in the south; the greater peace, order and security for life and property which are evident under foreign auspices, being of course the reasons which make residence desirable and land valuable.
Whether this favourable condition of affairs will be promoted by removing restrictions directed especially against the criminal classes—and under which greater security, prosperity and contentment have been attained than ever before existed among the native population—is the question the Legislative Council will have to solve if Mr.
Hennessy persists in bringing his whims to the test of an official vote. It is, we believe, generally understood to be the duty of officials in a Crown Colony to support the head of the executive, in Council; and the number of members is so proportioned thet, on this theory, the Governor can always carry his point. But surely there will be found among the officials who have had experience in Hongkong some one who will have the courage of his convictions, and will refuse support to retrograde legislation, of the error of which he must be as folly convinced as the lay members of the community to whom the proposals are ea distasteful.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.