THREATENED TROUBLES IN CHINA. 33 says of this debate, 'Peel made a very good and very friendly speech; George Bentinck distinguished himself in his own way, in which he is likely also to extinguish himself as a candidate for office.' Lord Palmerston himself spoke very briefly, merely declaring that the incorporation of Cracow by Austria was undoubtedly a violation of the Treaty of Vienna, and had received universal condemnation, but that to meet it by such a pecuniary fine upon the Russian Government was, in his opinion, neither a legal nor a dignified course of action. Mr. Hume, after this, withdrew his motion. The following letter' is quoted because the course we should pursue with Asiatic countries has sometimes been questioned, and the principle maintained that we should treat them exactly as we should European states; that is, according to a policy which they cannot understand, and will not appreciate. When their notions and usages become European, then we should of course deal with them as Europeans; but as long as their notions and usages are Chinese, we must treat them as Chinese. The moral nature of these Asiatics is the point to be considered, and that is not dealt with in treatises on international law :— Broadlands: January 9, 1847. We shall lose all the vantage ground which we have gained by our victories in China, if we take the low tone which seems to have been adopted of late by us at Canton. We have given the Chinese a most exemplary drubbing, and that brought them, not to their senses, because they never were deceived as to what we were; but it brought them to leave off the system of pretended contempt, under which they had so long concealed their fear. They will not forget that drubbing in a hurry, unless we set them the example by forgetting it ourselves; and we must take especial care not to descend from the relative position which we have acquired. If we maintain that position morally by the force of our intercourse, we shall not be obliged to recover it by forcible acts; but if we permit the Chinese, either at Canton or elsewhere, to resume, as they will, no doubt, be always endeavouring to do, their former tone of affected superiority, we shall very soon be compelled to come to blows with them again. Of course we ought-and, by we, I mean all the English in China-to abstain from giving the Chinese any ground of complaint, and much more from anything like provocation or affront; but we must stop on the very threshold any attempt on their part to treat us otherwise than as their equals, and we must make them all clearly understand, though in the civillest terms, that our treaty rights must be respected, unless they choose to have their seaports knocked about their ears. The Chinese must learn and be convinced that if they attack our people and our factories they will be shot; and that if they illtreat innocent Englishmen who are quietly exercising their treaty right of walking about the streets of Canton, they will be punished. So far from objecting to the armed association, I think it a wise security against the necessity of using force. Depend upon it, that the best way of keeping any men quiet is to let them see that you are able and determined to repel force by force; and the Chinese are not in the least different in this respect from the rest of mankind. The Irish famine occupied so entirely the attention of the country and of Parliament that little else was debated in the House of Commons during the session of 1847. The subject of education, however, was taken up by the Government, but they had to encounter the jealousy which various Dissenting bodies felt at any further sum being placed under the control of the Established Church. When, therefore, Lord John Russell proposed an additional grant of 100,000l., Mr. Duncombe moved an amendment, not, as he stated, from want of confidence in Her Majesty's Government, but from distrust in the Committee of Privy Council, who were to administer the grant. In spite of strong opposition the vote was carried, and Lord Palmerston comments on this result and on the general state of parties as follows:-1 You will have been as much surprised and pleased as we have been at the division last night about the Education question. To Lord Normanby, April 23, 1847. VICTORIES IN THE PUNJAUB. 35 It does great honour to the House that, with a general election coming on, and with a combination of Dissenters against our measure, there should have been such an overwhelming majority in favour of it; and it is creditable to the Government that the measure which it has proposed should have been intrinsically so good, that the great body of the House should have braved the displeasure of their constituents from approval of the scheme. I do not suppose that the result of last night will be equally gratifying to Louis Philippe and Guizot. It must convince them, however, that, for the present, we are the only Government that can be found to stand; and, unless I am much deceived, the general election will not materially alter that state of things. Peel seems to have made up his mind that for a year or two he cannot hope to form a party, and that he must give people a certain time to forget the events of last year; in the meanwhile, it is evident that he does not wish that any other Government should be formed out of the people on his side of the House, because of that Government he would not be a member. For these reasons, and also because he sincerely thinks it best that we should, for the present, remain in, he gives us very cordial support, as far as he can, without losing his independent position. Graham 2-who sits up under his old pillar, and never comes down to Peel's bench, even for personal communication-seems to keep himself aloof from everybody, and to hold himself free to act according to circumstances; but, as yet, he is not considered as the head of any party. George Bentinck has entirely broken down as a candidate for ministerial position; and thus we are left masters of the field, not only on account of our own merits, which, though we say it ourselves, are great, but by virtue of the absence of any efficient competitors. The battles of Moodkee, Sobraon, and Goojerat had given us possession of the Punjaub. The question arose whether we were to annex it. Lord Palmerston's views as to this, and the opinions of Lord Hardinge and the Duke of Wellington, are still interesting, as bearing on the relations of England and Russia in the East. Repeal of the Corn Laws. * Sir James Graham had been Home Secretary under Sir Robert Peel. Carlton Gardens: June 9, 1847. My dear John Russell,-I return you Hardinge's letter and the Duke of Wellington's. These two generals are great military authorities; but the Duke is a far greater one than Hardinge, of whose judgment I have no opinion, though his bravery in the field is undoubted. Both seem to agree in thinking that the Russians cannot conquer India, and in this opinion they are clearly right. I do not think, however, that Hardinge has demonstrated that the Russians might not give us much trouble and put us to much expense in India. I would observe that Hardinge seems to think Scinde of no value in a military point of view, whereas the Duke considers the possession of it as a great security; and, as regards the Punjaub, Hardinge is evidently against our possessing it, while, on the other hand, he says that the only gate through which an invader could attack India is through the Khyber Pass, which cannot be occupied and defended by us unless we do possess the Punjaub; and he shows the necessity for this, because he says that it is only to the eastward of the Chenab that a large army could find subsistence. It is only there, consequently, that we could station a large army; and, therefore, as the Khyber Pass, being narrow, could be penetrated by only one column at a time, our best means of stopping an invading enemy would be either to occupy the pass with a small force beforehand, or to station a small force at the outlet of the pass, to attack in succession the heads of the columns of march as they might open out into the plain. But, to do this, we must have the country up to the pass; for we could not in such a case risk a small force three hundred miles from our main body through a country which, not being ours, might at the moment become hostile. If the Khyber Pass is the only gate to India, and if it is there we are to defend India, we ought to have, and must have, military occupation of the country up to that gate; otherwise the pass is of no more defensive value to us than any other defile which the invaders would have to pass between Astrabad and Cabul. The advance of a Russian army is, however, far from being as impossible as Hardinge seems to think it. Persia must, I fear, now be looked upon as an advanced post for Russia, whenever she chooses to make use of it. She will command it either by overpowering force or by bribing the State by prospects of acquisitions in Afghanistan. There would be no insurmountable difficulty to prevent Russia from assembling a considerable force at Astrabad. The roads through LORD HARDINGE ON THE INDIAN FRONTIER. 37 Persia are good, and the Caspian gives additional facilities. From Astrabad through Afghanistan are very practicable military roads; and the distance from Astrabad to Attock is not much, if at all, more than eight hundred miles, considerably less than the distance from Attock to Calcutta. A Russian force in occupation of Afghanistan might not be able to march to Calcutta, but it might convert Afghanistan into the advanced post of Russia, instead of that advanced post being in Persia; and, whatever Hardinge may say of the security of the rest of our frontier, you would find in such case a very restless spirit displayed by the Burmese, by the Nepaulese, and by all the unincorporated States scattered about the surface of our Indian possessions. These things would lead to great expense, would require great efforts, and might create considerable damage. The best method of preventing these embarrassments seems to be to take up such a military position on the frontier, not in posse, as Hardinge would do, but in esse, as would make it plain to everybody that we could not be taken by surprise; that the decisive position could neither be snatched from us by a rapid movement, nor be wrested from us by a forcible assault. Of course there are further considerations to which Hardinge does not advert, namely, that while Russia was thus marching on India, we should not be idle in Europe; but still Russia is strong in her European defences, whether in the Baltic or in the Black Sea, and it is well that we should be able to defend India in Asia, as well as in Europe. Extract from Letter of Lord Hardinge, dated Simla, As regards the intentions of Russia, I am confident no hostile attempt will be made. They are confined to the extension of her trade with China and parts of Central Asia. A Russian force can only enter India through Afghanistan and by the Khyber Pass. A Persian and Afghan force intermixed with Russians, on the same principle as in our Indian Army, would be required, on the modern system of war, to be supported by a large and well-equipped field-train of artillery, with all its numerous stores. This modern necessity entails great difficulty in moving an army through a sterile and mountainous country. The more you attempt to make your army efficient in artillery in such |