(room oun ows connEsronDENt.)
I regret to be unable to write more cheerfully of local ficial action here, unless H.E, eventually rules differently from the line most distinctly and equivucally laid down by the Prefect who, in the Taotai's absence, replied to the Consuls formal demand for $1,130.36, being the amount of damage done by the likin raid on the British launch Takow. The acting Taotai simply declines to acknowledge, much less pay, any claim, asserting that the "engineer of the Munich had told the shipper he need not pay likin," that this was a breach of treaty" (sic), and that therefore there could be no claim for damages against' the likin authorities, In other words the Chinese officials now assert that the likin authorities have perfect right. to raid and outrage British property and deny altogether the right of foreigners to call them to account, much less demand reparation of any acts committed. There you have it plump and fairly;'—no disguise about it, that is the position the Chinese take up, and Sir John Walsham is still silent, and apparently, if the Chinese belief is to count for anything, utterly indifferent. The Governor is expected here in a few days and I may have more to write you then. It is very, very hard on the owners of the launch and we cannot see on what pretext Sir John clines to move, if indeed his gen to be taken as mean There can be no doubt that the native authorities believe, and are acting on the belief, that reference to Peking will mean final closure of the caee in their favour, and their contemptuous bearing here is no doubt attributable to this widely disseminated view.
12th April.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.