CHINA.

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 23, 18 June 1845, Page 3

CHINA.

The London Colonial Gazette, quoting from the Journal dcs Debats, asserts that the British Missionary, who, on the death of the venerable Morrison, acted as interpreter between Sir H. Pottinger and the Emperor, was bribed by the latter, or by some of his people, to turn traitor to his country, by causing the Chinese copy of the Treaty ratified by Sir Henry, and afterwards by the Queen, to contain articles of a quite different nature to those which Sir Henry had agreed to sign, and which he was assured by the Brtish Interpreter, he had signed. The Journal dcs Debats would have rejoiced at this forgery, had not the false treaty excluded the French, as well as all other nations, from the benefits which were secured to them in common by the true Treaty. The Emperor will, of course, not merely disclaim all knowledge of the Treaty which it was intended by Sir Henry he should have signed, but it may be, that by such disclaimer, he may tell the truth. His Prime Minister, or the Mandarins under him, may have bribed our Interpreter, without informing the Emperor of the roguish fact. If the Emperor has been duped to sign a treaty so favvourable to himself, he will, on being informed that it is a forgery, accuse our Queen of making it, rather than any one of his own people. What will be the consequence if the Emperor stands by the Treaty he signed—by which all the advantages of our victories are thrown away ? Will England send another army to China, to do all the dreadful work over again, until the Emperor agrees to give us what we thought we had already obtained ? The " mistake" is certainly most embarrassing; end it does not make it the less awful in the probable consequences, because there is something of the ludicrous which attaches to it.

At Chusan business was dull, grey shirtings and opium being the only articles in request. The Editor of the South Australian says that a letter from an eminent firm ac Hongkong has been received by merchants in town, which states that South.Australian produce will not pay in China.

AtFoo-chow-Foothe people are represented as poor, though industrious and honest. Some non-resident capitalists have large stores in the place which they supply from Canton. A ship arrives annually from Loo-Choo with 10,000 taels of gold, to purchase goods. The teas of Foo-Chow-Foo are not of the best; and it is evident, that it will not, for some time offer facilities for large commercial transactions. Some of the officers of the Proserpine, who had gone on shore at this place, were not only molested but compelled to retreat to their boats, and one of them naarowly escaped with life. The English party had their fowling pieces with them, and it may be presumed they gave some offence, although no grounds of anger or disagreement are stated.

Probable Speed of Mental Action. —If mental action is electric, the proverbail quickness of thought, that is, the quickness of transmission of sensation and will, may be presumed to have been brought to an exact measurement. The speed of light has long been known to be about 192,000 miles per second, and the experiments of Wheatstone have shown that the electric agent travels (if I may so speak) at the same rate, showing a likelihood that one law rules the movements of all the "imponderable bodies." Mental action may, accordingly, be presumed to have rapidity equal to one hundred and ninety-two thousand miles in the second, a rate evidently, far beyond what is necessary to make the design anal execution of any of our ordinary muscular movements apparently identical in point of time, which they are. — Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.