We are informed by a tele Baber is to proceed to Sikkim and thence to Bhamo, thus taking up the duty to which he was appointed some time ago, with, we suppose, some addition thereto in Sikkim. Mr. Baber's knowledge of Chinese and of the inhabitants of neighbouring southern countries qualifies him to some extent for this position, and we hope that his health will stand the strain which will be put upon it. Without information as to the object of his visit to Sikkim we can only conjecture that he is to share in the negotiations with the Chinese Amban which were in progress when the Jast mail left India. On the 4th of this month the Times of India published a telegram which said that the outcome of the negotiations proceeding at Guatong is likely to be an acknowledgement by the Amban, on the part of Tibet, of the exclusive position of British supremacy over Sikkim, and an undertaking for the non-interference of the Lhassa Lamas in the affairs of that State. And the Bombay Gazette of that date has a telegram to the same effect, with the addition that some understanding would be arrived at on questions of trade facilities. These were of course mere conjectures, and the authors of them have not sufficiently taken into account the long and wearisome delays which form so great a part of Chinese diplomacy. We venture to say that there never yet was a Chinese diplomat or official who settled such matters with foreigners in the short time in whicn our Bombay contemporaries suppose or take it for granted the Amban has arranged these affairs except under the sternest pressure, Such pressure as was applied to the Viceroy of the Liang Kiang in 1869, by the presence off his Yamen at Nanking of three or four British men-of-war caused him to satisfy our demands for redress for the outrage at Yengchow and for the illegal exact tions and other acts of his subordinates at Chinkiang. But there is no such pressure being brought on the Amban, our policy of conciliation forbids that, and we may expect that he will bring into play all the dilatory arts for which his official kind are notorious. In fact, he had apparently commenced the practice of these, for the same newspapers say that negotiations at Gnatong were not proceeding with the speed which was desirable; no conference had been held for three days, and the Amban, who was to have visited Jalep deputed an official to inspect the boundary. This is thoroughly Chinese, and our Indian friends need not be' surprised if the negotiations are protracted by the Amban till he has exhausted the patience of England and India. Everything was being conducted with the greatest secrecy. It is possible that the recent departure of Mr. Hart, of the Customs, to India may have something to do with these Sikkim negotiations, and we' should say that it is certain' that he will be employed by the Chinese in the! delimitation in Burma, the Chinese {having during the Chefoo Conference ram that Mr, found the advantage of using their' general summary of the report has been employes in support of the diplomacy of their officials, The Englishman's correspondent in Sikkim gives a full account of the visit, of the Amban to Gnatong. He was! preceded by a body-guard of fifty soldiers, armed with spears and halberds, and picturesquely dressed in red and white clothes, and their large banners were of the same showy colours. Messrs. Paul and Ney Elias, the political officers with the Sikkim field force and the Officer commanding the troops there received him. A son of Sir Holliday Macartney interpreted the cordial conversation which ensued, and we are li formed that while the Amban and his j suite merely sniffed the tea which was provided for their refection they did full justice to the champagne which followed. The Amban is a Manchu, with a face which indicates that he is extremely good-natured, and he is short in stature and inclined to portliness, The Chinese official, says the correspondent, is usually represented as extremely uncivil and disobliging, but the Amban had so far proved a brilliant exception to the rule. On arriving, he apologised for the delay which he had occasioned, and soon displayed the most charming manners, "The Amban's mode of travelling is somewhat luxurious. He arrived in a vehicle shaped somewhat like a dandy, which required no fewer than 64 coolies to convey it. Eight coolies lifted the dandy, and the remainder were attached to drag ropes. The dandy itself was like an old sedan-chair; it was coloured green, and in the distance appears somewhat dilapidated, but on closer inspection it proves to be a most comfortable conveyance, the front bein; glazed and the whole of the inside lin with costly silk." His powers at Gnatong are said to be those of an envoy, on the part of the Tibetans, and at Lhassa he is understood to have similar functions to those which are exercised by a British resident in a native State in India. He is accompanied by three Chinese officials—one of whom is styled Civilian Assistant to the Amban, another is his private Secretary and the third his Military Secretary. Besides the two hundred soldiers who form his guard the Amban was accompanied by a military band which sounded a flourish of barbaric music on his arrival.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.