Tue Consular Body having nnanimously decided to invite the Senior Naval Ofiicers in port to undertake the direction of the defence of the Settlements, they appointed the Consuls-General for France and_ the United States to wait upon Vice-Admiral Sir E. H. Seymour, R.N., K.C.B,, the Senior Naval Officer in port, and invite him to take the matter in hand, This Admiral Seymour has consented to do, and will as soon as possible call a meeting of the Seaior Naval Officers of the various Powers represented in the harbour, as well as the Russian military representative, to discuss the necessary arrangements. In this the precedent, is being followed that was set at the time of the late Franco-Chinese war, when Captain (now Admiral) Accini of the Italian navy, being the Senior Naval Officer, had charge of the defences of the whole of Shanghai. Good as our volunteers are, and great as is the confidence that we have in them, it is obviously desirable that, they should be under professional direction when it can be obtained, and it is to men-of-war that every port in China turns at once when danger threatens.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.