FORMOSA, We drew attention in these columns about a month ago to the high-handed action of the Governor of Formosa, Liu Ming-chuan, in reference to the sugar and camphor trades in Takao and Tai: wan Fu, The letter which we publish in another column from a correspondent at Taiwan Fu, the victim of Liu's rapacity and disregard of treaties, gives the full history of the camphor case. Smarting under his undoubted wrongs, our correspondent begins with an attack on Mr. Giles, and knowing that official as we do, we can only imagine that in writing the sentences objected to, Mr. Giles was thinking only of his own port, Tamsui, where the camphor trade appears to have no interest for foreigners, and hastily concluded that it was better for those who did wish to export camphor to buy it from a government store, than not to get it at all. No one who knows Mr. Giles and his antecedents would accuse him of wilfully neglecting the interests of foreigners for the sake of smoothing down his relations with Chinese authorities. The case of our correspondent, which we know from independent evidence is not exaggerated in the least, is a very flagrant one. Necessityknowsno law, and the necessity which impels Lin Ming-chuan to continue his more or less imaginary conquests of the savages, and to find the funds for the improvements he is effecting in the island of Formosa and its defences, has led him to commit a most outrageous wrong on a foreign merchant, in defiance of all treaties. Our correspondent, eu-couraged by an improvement in the market, made, as he was perfectly entitled to do, contracts for camphor in the country, and sent up men and funds to purchase and prepare the drug. A quantity of camphor was bought and got. ready for export; application was made to the Chinese officials, who declared that the protection of a transit pars wit all 'Gint, win, astecanry' to secure the safe despatch of the camphor to the port; and then the men, the money and the camphor were forcibly seized by emissaries of Lin Ming-chuan, the men imprisoned on frivolous charg' their property, the money and drug already paid for, carried off and confiscated. The ostensible reason for this violence is the intention of Liu Ming-chuan to make camphor a government monopoly, and he offers to save foreigners all future trouble by collecting the drug from the interior into his own godowns, and then selling it to foreign exporters at a price to be fixed by himself. If there were no such things in existence as treaties between China and foreign powers from the operation of which Formosa has never been excluded, this action of the Governor's would only be amenable to the academic objections of political economists, but even in that case the seizure of our Correspondent's property without notice would be an unwarrantable outrage; but there are treaties which in so many words forbid monopolies on the part of the Chinese, and the whole transaction is a flagrant breach of those treaty 4 5 may approve of Liu Ming-chuan's desire to bestow the blessings of peace and civilisation on the island he governs, and to secure her from future attacks by foreign enemies, but nothing can excuse his action towards our Corres-
Correspondent must. comfort himself with the conviction that sooner or later his Minister will see this, and that he will get reparation in time; and we have drawn attention to it again, because every Chamber of Commerce in China ought to take it up as a personal injury, and t the victim and his Consul in getting reparation for it, Obsta princi~ piis_is one of the most important maxims for diplomatists to remember. pondent.
We are very glad to see that the letter we published does not contain a single imputation against the British Consul at Taiwan Fu; in fact our Correspondent fully agrees with what the Consul has written. Mr. Warren has to bear on his shoulders the load of no less than seven Consulates, and it is to him that the residents of Taiwan Fu of every nationality, save one, have to look for assistance in their difficulties. We understand that the present case has come before him more especially as German Consul, and it is agreed that he has done every thing in his power to arouse the attention of the German Minister to the matter. The hint that our Correspondent's prayers for relief are t the noise made by the proj i ete., is not mere verbi a keen competition between Germ: and English for concessions from Ming-elman, and while this competition is going on, the respective Ministers seem anxious to do nothing to irritate the authorities at Peking; and it might be fatal to the chance of getting a cou-cession to demand redress for such an outrage as that detailed to-day. some such considerations are not allowed to weigh with Ministers at Peking, it is difficult to understand why Consul Warren's remonstrances have gone wnheeded for over a year. While we agree with our Correspondent that the precedent set is a dangerous one, which, if it succeeds, may have disastrous results at other ports, we doubt if Lin Mi chuan has had any intention of maki it a precedent. He has his own ends in view, and he think that the establishment of a camphor monopoly will do a great deal to provide him with means, and if the treaties come in the way
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.