The New York "Sun" of the 13th of September says under the above heading Tt is proper to say, and we are glad to say, that the close attention which the American people have given to the performances of Mr. Wu ting-fang during the past summer months has strengthen ed, not weakened, their confidence in his honourable character and diplomatic good faith. Mr. Wu has been under about as [fierce a light as ever beat upon a Chinese gentleman. There have been times when appearances were against him; but from every new trial his personal sincerity and personal trustworthiness have emerged unstained.
The charges of the Peking correspondent of the London "Times" are ridiculous, at least so far as they concern the Chinese Minister at Washington. Dr. Morrison, half way around the earth, does not know one-thousandth part of the story of Mr. Wo's friendly and constant solicitude for the safety of the Legations in Peking, of ihis efforts to get authentic information for the benefit of our State Department, and of his unfeigned eagerness for the advance of the rescuing column; and all this at the very time when, according to Mr. Morrison, he was concocting shameless lies and forged elliots to prevent or delay that same advance Even when circumstances cast serious doubt upon the authenticity of the first dispatch from Mr. Conger, Mr. Wu himself was not necessarily under suspicion of incorrect behavior. Most of those who refused to accept the message itself, without further evidence that Conger wrote it on the date alleged, believed at any rate that Mr. Wu believed in it. He was not to blame for the carelessness which omitted to shape the test telegram so that. the reply would prove itself at sight and be conclusive. Valuable time was lost by that blunder, but the tauli was not Mr. Wu's. And when subsequent events demonstrat= ed not only the cleanness of the channe, through which the message came, but also the genuineness of the message itself, Mr. Wu's triumph over the sceptics was complete and legitimate.
The Hon. Wu Ting-fang is by no means unsophisticated person. Unsophisticated persons rarely ascend to eminence in the profession which he adorns. But ho commended himself originally to discerning Americans by his sense of humour and his amiable manners; and during the important crisis wherein he has played so conspicuous a part he has gained and not lost in the public esteem. How well he has served his own country by winning and deserving by straightforward conduct the confidence of the Administration at Washington, will probably never be known to some two or three hundred millions of Chinamen in Asia,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.