PEACE WITH CHINA.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 342, 29 January 1861, Page 3

PEACE WITH CHINA.

THE TIIEA/lT OF PEACE

{From the Argus.) By the ship Sunbeam we have the North China Herald extra, with news from Shanghai to the 4th of November. The news is late and important. It is as follows :— H. M.'s steamer Nimrod, commader Wynniatt, arrived from the Peiho this morning, with dates from Pekin to the 27th ultimo.

The ratifications of the treaty of Tientsin were exchanged, and the convention of Peking signed and ratified in Peking, on the 24th, by the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, her Majesty'B special envoy, and Prince Kung, plenipotentiary of the Emperor of China. The same ceremonies on the part of the French were performed on the 25th.

The palaces, &c, of Yuen-min-yuen, the summer residence of the Emperor, were utterly destroyed by fire, by the British forces, on 18th and 19th.

The remains of the four murdered prisoners, Messrs. T. W. Bowlby, De Norman Lieutenant Anderson, and Private Phipps, were buried in the Russian cemetery, outside the walls of Peking, on October 17. The sum of 300,000 taels has been exacted from the Chines^ authorities by the British, for the friends o( the deceased, and as compensation to some of the survivors for their sufferings. There is no doubt that Captain Brabazon, R.A., was beheaded with the Abbe Luc, on or about September 21, after the battle nsar Tung-chow, when the Tartar general, whose prisoners they were, having been mortally wounded, ordered their execution.

The following is the substance of the convention signed at the office of the Board of Ceremonies, on October 24 :—

In Art. 1 the Emperor expresses his regret at the misunderstanding occasioned by the affair-at Taku.

: Art: 2 revokes the consent given by the Queen to the conditional suspension of her treaty right to place a minister in permanent residence in Peking. Her Majesty resumes the exercise of her full right to keep a minister there, or when it suits her; "■■'■ .--; ■■ :•"■■■ :' ■■ ■■■ ■•■■■■ •: ':'

Art. 3 provides the payment of an indemnity of 800,000,000 taels in all, that is, 400,000,000 more than the sum already granted by the treaty of Tien-tsin. Tientsin is to pay half a million by the 30th November; .Canton, 333.333 taels, less the advances towards the Shameen site, by the same dayi The rest is to be paid out of the Customs, one-fifth of the revenue of which will be taken quarterly till the whole is paid.

Art. 4 opens Tien-tsin to trade. Art. 5 removes the interdict on emigration to the British colonie?' or elsewhere, and provides that regulations shall be fixed for the protection of the emigrant Art, 6. cedes to the British Crown the portion of Cowloon now held under lease, and makes it part and parcel of the colony of Hongkong.

Art. 7 provides for the immediate operation of the treaty of Tein-tsin, and this convention of Peking. Art. 8 provides for the promulgation of both the above instruments throughout the empire.

Art. 9 provides for the immediate evacuation of Chusan by the British force now garrisoning it. The rest,of our army in China will remain at Tien-tsin, or Taku, or Tung-chow, or Canton, or at all these places, as the British Government shall decide. , ■

The allied armies were to commence marching from Peking on the Ist instant for Tien-tsin, which place will be held by about 3000 of the British, and some of the French force.

Lord Elgin went into the city of Peking to reside on the 27th.