the most ancient, and the noblest temple of freedom in the world, is also the temple of that everlasting justice without which freedom itself would only be a name, or only a curse, to mankind. And I cherish the trust that when you, sir, rise in your place to-night to declare the numbers of the division from the chair which you adorn, the words which you speak will go forth from the halls of the House of Commons as a message of British justice and wisdom to the farthest corner of the world."

Mr. Gladstone, it certainly seems to me, only viewed the matter from a moral point of view. If we look at it in this light, then the British occupation of Port Hamilton was a still more striking example of English “loose law and loose notion of morality in regard to Eastern nations."

Palmerston was defeated in the House by sixteen votes, but was returned at the general election by a large majority backed by the aggressive feelings of the English nation.

He contended that "if the Chinese were right about the Arrow, they were wrong

about something else; if legality did not exactly justify violence, it was at any rate required by policy." 1 He described this policy in the following way-"To maintain the rights, to defend the lives and properties of British subjects, to improve our relations with China, and in the selection and arrangement of those objects to perform the duty which we owed to the country."

This is easy to understand, and showed at any rate a disposition, in fact a wish, for the Anglo-Chinese alliance.

The Treaty of Pekin was finally concluded. in 1860, the terms of which were-Toleration of Christianity, a revised tariff, payment of an indemnity, and resident ambassadors at Pekin,

Whatever might have been the policy of Palmerston in the Chinese War, Russia took it as indirectly pointed at herself,

was sent to China

General Ignatieff 2 was

John Morley's "The Life of Richard Cobden," vol. ii. p. 189.

2 "In the year 1855 or 1856 his father's influence succeeded in procuring him a position in the suite of General Muravieff, who as Governor-general of Eastern

immediately as Russian Plenipotentiary. It is said that he furnished maps to the allies, in fact did his very best to bring the negotiations to a successful and peaceful close, and immediately after the signing of the agree ment, he commenced overtures for his own country, and succeeded in obtaining from China the cession of Eastern Siberia with Vladivostock and other seaports on the Pacific (1858).

Lord Elgin asked Ignatieff why Russia was so anxious to obtain naval ports on the Pacific. He replied: "We do not want them for our own sake, but chiefly in order that we may be in a position to compel the English to recognize that it is

Siberia, had undertaken a more accurate investigation of the Amoor territory, and was preparing for its colonization. During this work, the French and English war with China broke out; the allies occupied Pekin, and seemed to threaten the existence of the Celestial Empire. This moment was taken advantage of by Russia, who had already been negotiating for some time with China, respecting the cession of a large territory south of the Amoor. Ignatieff was sent to China as ambassador extraordinary" (F. E. Bunnett's "Russian Society," P. 170).

worth their while to be friends with us rather

than foes."

Here began the struggle between England and Russia in the Pacific.

In 1859 Russia obtained the Saghalien I Island, in the North Pacific, from Japan, in exchange for the Kurile Island, while England was bombarding 2 Kagoshima, a port in South Japan (1862), but the English were virtually repelled from there.

Previous to this period the English policy in Asia was to establish a firm hold of Indian commerce with the South China Sea, for she could not find so large and profitable a field

"The preciousness of Saghalien in the eye of the Russians, however, does not lie so much in its coal beds, its promise of future harvests, its use as a penal colony, or its six hundred miles of length, but in its situation commanding the northern entrance to the sea of Japan, and guarding, like a huge breakwater, the mouth of the great river Amoor" (John Geddie, F.R.G.S., "The Russian Empire,” p. 484).

2 “If war is made to enforce a commercial treaty, we run the risk of engaging in protracted hostilities, and of earning a reputation for quarrelling with every nation in the East. . . . The Japanese may well be jealous of Europeans, who insult their usages and carry away their gold" (Lord J. Russell to Mr. Alcock, Feb. 28, 1860).

of commerce elsewhere. Therefore the English attention for the time being was entirely directed in that quarter.

In 1819 the island of Singapore, as well as all the seas, straits, and islands lying within ten miles of its coast, were ceded to the British by the Sultan of Johor. It then contained only a few hundred piratical fishermen, but now it is on the great road of commerce between the eastern and western portions of Maritime Asia, and is a most important military and naval station.

Hong-Kong, an island off the southern coast of China, was occupied by the English, and in 1842 was formally handed over by the Treaty of Nankin. It has now become a great centre of trade, besides being a naval and military station.

In 1846 Labuan, the northern part of Borneo, was ceded to Great Britain by the Sultan of Borneo, and owing to the influence of Sir James Brooke a settlement was at once formed. Now it also, like Singapore, forms an important commercial station, and transmits to both China and Europe the

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