the Editor of the Nonra-Oura Datuy News.
Sm,—The pross has lately published no more about the secret Treaty or the seditious intrigues of certain Censorsand other evilly intrigue disposed persons against the Empress of China's Treaty of 11th May. It is to be presumed therefore that they have been Groped pro tem as not suitable for the situation—and it is to be hoped they will pear again. While however the calm lasts, it may be as well to bring to mind certain reflexions to show the danger-that is incurred by giving publicity to such disturbing reports, Suppose that the Treaty of 11th May had been with Great Britain—would. the feasibility of its not being carried out verbatim have been discussed or even allowed without stigmatising the malcoutents.as traitors? And yet an unmistakeable sympathy has been shown with the wretches,* who having no loyalty to the Empress, or true patriotism, try and shelter their faithlessness-under the desire of recovering the prestige of China! and actually try and deceive themeclves and Who has shown sympathy wi Certainly not ourselves,—Ep. the public into the belief that the recent arrangement, can never be considered as satisfactory because it las assented to the
nouncing a suzerainty that China has been exigencies of international purity in r0- sternly told by other Powers besides Franco she will no longer be allowed to dail The real drift of such mischievous reports is to set France in the midst of misgivings about China and to force her to treat China accordingly—also to vive Great Britain and other Powers an opportunity of again accusing China of treachery and bad faith, Is it really desirable to seo the uneasiness and financial and domestic political difficulties of China which the press has recently and unceasingly been calling public attention to and which still exist, reassume their alarming inf complicate sti mercial crisis that Chia has not yet passed through? I think the prestige of China i creased by the Treaty of 11th May, and facts will soon show it is TE once people get to believe that China ingoing to back out of the 11th May Treaty all confidence will be destroyed, and even Chinese who have helped to foster such injurious ideas will be, the firat loc their money and breed the panic that will tably ensue should France, in consequence of those ill-judged endeavours to trust, doom it necessary to uso coercive measures fur the protection of her own interests. It la playing a risky dangerous game, and only doing the work of evilly disposed Ghinamen who do not mind leading others into trouble. There is no medium between believing and disbelieving what such persons say. If they are believed, then they should be declared disloyal; it they are not believed, then they ought to be held up as impostors, It is well to remem ber that British interests and treaties are deavour of the Chinese to r (ta much in peril as French, by any
treaties. If what has be state turns out to be true, th be grea stimulated by such criminal anticipations ving been disseminated without their being at once stamped with reprobation, and it will be but a poor consolation to have contributed to the catastrophe that will be the result of such wicked attempts to re-open a atate of admitted danger from which we have but just escaped, I will not say much about the tacit support which France will receive from other Powers should China now seek nob to fulfil the 11th May Treaty. Political it Earopo, besides national interests in China, will com-the great Powers to countenance France any dispute that may follow from bad faith on the part of China, Such matters
Il stronger ro rogatding touche, sparingly, but them as important elements in showing that Franco will have carte blanche in treating China severely if the seditious gues of those whose sentiments have been published obtain the consistence of reality.
Chefoo, 16th June.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.