MASON, 18th Murch. have received intelligence from the north that the dissatisfaction of the "sungliYamén with the proceedings in the Mason case and with the sentence on the accused is so great that the Ministers have addressed, or are about to address, a strong representation to the British Government on the subject. The position of the Yamen is understood to be that in the first place Mason was indicted for the Jeast serious offence with which he could be charged under the circumstances, namely, under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act of 1883, for having possession of an explosive under suspicious cireumstances; whereas he should, the advisers to the Yamen say, have been indicted under Section 8 for keeping an explosive with intent to endanger life or property.
also said he ought to have been indicted under the provisions of the Treaty and the Foreign Enlistment Act, and that the punishment even of the offence to which he pleaded guilty was unduly lenient. The punishment in the act is penal servitude not exceeding fourteen yours or imprisonment not exceeding two years. The Yamen is understood to complain that there ought to have been a thorough investigation into Mason's connection with Secret Societies; into the purposes for which he enlisted a large number of men in Hongkong, and into other curious and unexplained features of the case; and the Ministers intend to demand that at the expiration of his present term of imprisonment Mason shall be put on his trial in Hongkong for some or all of the other offences of which he is alleged to be guilty. It is said also that the Ministers of the Yameén allege that sympathy with the Secret Societies translated into overt acts somewhat similar to those of Mason would on due enquiry be fonnd amongst foreigners in Shanghai and elsewhere, This latter allegation, we believe, is more specific than we have been able to express it here.
it is not necessary for us to make any comment on this information beyond saying that the dissatisfaction of the Chinese with the sentence on Mason is well-known, and that there probably never has been a case tried in a Consular Court in China, in which Chinese feeling was in any degree concerned, that the sentence has not been regarded as inadequate; but we do not remember any previous occasion on which such remonstrances were addressed by the Peking authorities in to the sentence of a British Court. Those who advised the Chinese government in this matter can scarcely expect that the representation will be attended with much effect, although, if pressed with sufficient vigour, it is not easy to say how the demand for trial on another charge can be met.
We do not imagine that any foreigners of any repute in Shanghai have any sympathy with Mason; and if they had any pity for him at the time of his trial, it has probably evaporated before the indignation at the suffering he has brought upon the Chinese who were supposed to be his followers. People thought at the time of his trial, however, that he was sufficiently punished, because they did not believe that he had any connection with any intended rebellion, or that there was any intended rebellion for him to have xny connection with. The popular belief has been that the intended rebellion was put forward by the Chinese officials to cloak their indifference and assumed inability to suppress the riots; and so deep-rooted is this belief in the duplicity of the officials that the Daily Press a few days ago took us seriously to task for repeating recently the story of a Chinese gentleman from Tientsin, that tie rebellion m the north has not been suppressed at all. The Daily Press is quite sure that this story comes from the government, and is intended to be used to excuse the authorities if the Foreign Ministers begin to insist again on reparation for past, and the prevention of future riots. The Daily Press could not see that the report we gave was obviously from a nonofficial source, as it accused the officials of entirely misleading the Emperor as to the success of the recent campaign. Li Hung-chang and the other officers of State concerned have distinctly assured the Throne that the movement is entirely suppressed, and that all the leaders are accounted for, It will no doubt have been noticed that our Nanking correspondent mentioned the other day that our report had been confirmed by letters received in Nanking from soldiers serving in the northern army.
Experience has, unfortunately it may be, taught us that the excuses of the sungli Yamen, when it is asked to take some course that is distasteful to it, must not be accepted without a very searching examination. It seemed such a plausible excuse to put forward the Kolao Hui as the cause of last year's riots, that people doubted it at once; and as many good judges gave it as their opinion that Mason's conspiracy only existed in his own head, and the Chinese authorities seemed to have at the time no evidence that it went any farther, Masou's punishment seemed sufficient. There is more evidence, of a kind, now, and there is certainly a great deal more suspicion but if the Chinese Government want Mason punished farther, they will have to proceed in the ordinary legal-way, and they will not get their end by a representation from the 'I'sungli Yamen. But what the Chinese Government wanted before, and want now, is to have an opportunity to extract all he knows from Mason by judicial examination, as they could do with a Chinese, accused and this they hardly understand that even having him arraigned on another charge would not enable them to do.
Review:
THE FRENCH MAIL PAPERS, Tur illustrated papers, the Graphic, the Iilustrated, and the Pall Mall, are full ut pictures of the late Mr. Spurge, portu at all ages, sketches of his birthplace, home, his Tabernacle, and the place of his death, He was only a nformiat preacher, who lind had x good middle-class education, and was brought up in some: what narrow views of life, and yet he was an undoubted power in English societ life, More than two thousand of his sermons have been issued to the public, wil preached from the barest notes, taken down in shorthand, and revised by himself, and his publishers have still enough of his sermons unpublished to bring the tale up to nearly ree thousand. Of the money he received connection with his Tabernacle he spent thing upon himself; it all went to the Taberuncle nud ity charities, and the me stitutions in touch with it, most of which he founded. He lived, and lived well, on the profits of his mayszine and his books, of which he had written at least ffiy, and Jes have boon und still uro is unduly cold and colourless, Ivis hardly worth while to anticipate the verier which posterity' will pass upon Alt. Spurgeon, He hus been yo a large extent no utfait representative of English life and thought. "Tf some sections of his countrymen have been above his teaching, others huve no less certainly been below it. His message has been toagrestmiddleclass, like himself inmauy ways, sharing his peculiar views, having the tauric mental horizon, amd thus marked out in advance aa the disciples of a man of stronger personality than their own, and capable of putting before them in words an adequate expression of their half-unconscious thoughts, To condemn Mr. Spurgeon is thus to pass sentence on no small number of his country: men, A generation may arise which knows nothing of him or which prefers to receive its instruction from some newer present light. In the spiritual asin the nercautile world, de: mand and supply commonly balance one un-other, "The occasion will bring the man, For our present purpose it is enough to say tha for more thin one generation" Mr. Spurgeon has been the foremost of Nonconformist ministers; that he has been fitted for tive qualities; of merits and of defects or faults; position by a raretinion of positive and nega. and that, now that he has passed away {rom us, he has leit no one who can be recognised as his successor, and, perhaps no one who can quite take his place.
The Morning Post, though we should hardly expect it, is more sympathetic Mr. Spurgeon was something more than a greet preacher, he was a good organiser, a vigorous worker, and voluminous author, and his books, if not very important or ambitious from a literary point of view, are at least admirable in tone and intention, and have been reprinted into many foreign languages: He made the Metropolitan 'Taber-nade the centre of much good and useful work, and his orphanage homes at Stockwell area-splendid monument to his zeal and to the liberality of his people. Nr. Spurgeon succeeded in' Licdog down a good deal hostility and misrepresentation. During his
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.