To the Editor of the about" the horse rod" having fallen Sm,—The report of your negotiations
through, because the Treaty does not specify that Iand is to be sold for that purpose, reminds me of a chapter in my own experience which occurred quite recently with' The officials of the Celestial Empire. For a Featies between China and Christian parpose which is made legitimate in the
countries, I had rented a house in a city nota thousand miles from the Model Settlement. The purpose was fully explained to the landlord; and the whole negotiations were carried on and concluded, not only in accordance with the stipulations, ut in accordance with regulations made by the Chinese officials themselves. As the use for which the house was rented was almost an entire novelty in the place, the landlord and his middle men very naturally stipulated that I should got some kind of oficial sanction before taking possession of the premises. This I assured them should be no difficult undertaking, as the matter was made clear in the 'Treaties between China and the West, When the bargain was all properly concluded, and I was ready to take possession, I called on the magistrate to request some' kind of 8 proclamation that would assure the people that their new neighbour had not come for any improper purposes, such as gouging out eyes, &c., &o._ The old gentleman, with great parade of state and wisdom, called for a bool Having looked over it for some time, tal' that it was all very true that my purpose was a kind and good one, and that it was according to the Treaty between China and my honorable country; but the Treaty only guaranteed me protection and said nothing at all about a proclamation! I, of course, told him that he was perfectly right that I' was guaranteed protection and did not care a farthing how it was extended if it was only extended. Ho would do nothing more, however, ana thus the matter stands for the present.' I trust the end is not yet. But the parallel between the method adopted to prevent possession of little house in an mian City, and that adopted to. prevent the Municipal Council from building a road near Shanghai, is certainly striking enough to show that the two children have a common parentage.
The Council wanted to build a road, not in an unknown region in some interior provine, but in Shanghat; not for a steam carriage, but for horses and foot passengers from your report of the matter they had respected the people's prejudices or scruples in regard to graves; and had guaranteed that the watercourses needed for irrigation would not be interfered with. These two points were both wise and necessary. It is safer and wiser to back out from almost any with the Chinese, than give them offence in regard to the graves of their ancestors. The would-be purchasers had also agreed with the owners of the property in regard to the price; but the transfer could not be made without an official stamp. And when the proper functionary is applied to for the necessary stamp, instead Sta though he finds nothing st all. agains} jing it he hunts y old books, itin the constitution of the Empire; though there are no high telegraph or other poles to be erected that might interfere with the fung-shuey of the neighbourhood, yetas the Treaty only speaks of ground for churches, and godowns, but says nothing of a horse road, the stamp cannot be given. And the would-be purchasers are begged not to disturb the international harmony by obstinately insisting that their request be granted! And so the Barbarian is compelled again to knock head to the Celestial.
'The idea that a house, the rent of which does not amount to more than perhaps two or three dollars a month, or that such an outlandish institution as a horse road should be made an international' affair, and submitted to the son of heaven or his satellites, is one that it is very hard for the native official mind to fathom. But notwithstanding its acquaintance with the Chinese Classics, there still remain quite a number of important subjects, international and human, to mention no others, on which it has still much to learn; and on which we trust that it will be better instructed before the end of the present century.
The owners of the land will certainly be made to suffer by their paternal govern-mont, if they sell at present to the Council for the proposed purpose. It is perla doubtful whether they have not already suffered for being willing to sell. This must by all means be avoided, whatever our opinion may be of that reciprocity qihich permits poor people to be punished for so doing. And if such things are beyond the reach of existing Treaties, it is fondly to be hoped that they will not always remain so, One step at a time, however.
Orvis Moxp1.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.