nditional acquiescence with the conquerors' demands, and
represented the proposed passport system as a condition which they had
imposed upon the barbarians. Thus they were empowered to negotiate the
treaty of Tien-tsin, which averted a battle between that port and
Peking, which neither party felt itself quite ready to commence.

About a dozen additional ports, some in the heart of the empire, are now
open to the foreigner, and extraterritoriality obtains throughout the
vast region subject to the sway of the Son of Heaven--which, with other
corresponding causes, seems to be effecting the dismemberment of that
hoary empire. The regimen to which the oldest of nations is subjected,
is fast placing it in the condition of the 'sick man' of the Bosphorus.

As an evidence of the aggressive character of the foreigner, and of the
desire of rendering extraterritoriality a means of subjugation, examine
the claims set up within the past few months by mercantile interests.
China, having surrendered her right over criminals in her territory, has
been further called on to submit to British consular investigation and
adjudication with the assistance of two assessors (British merchants),
in all cases of seizure and confiscation by her customs authorities,
whenever hardship or injustice is alleged--the custom-house officers to
be cited before the consul to receive his judgment in the case!

Again, there is a foreign as well as a native Shanghai. This settlement,
or city of foreigners, adjacent to Shanghai proper, occupies a
considerable space of territory, and is a place of great wealth. Its
warehouses are palatial, it has beautiful public and private edifices,
and is governed by a municipality chosen by property holders from among
themselves. Its police, streets, piers, race-course, and all the
appurtenances of a city, are admirably arranged. Nowhere, in the whole
empire, is there so much security for life and property; hence natives,
who can afford to hire, from foreigners, houses which have been erected
on this conceded ground, are glad to do so; it has consequently become a
place of resort for well-to-do natives, who thus become exempt from the
extortion of the mandarins. Latterly the Chinese local authorities have
undertaken to impose a tax upon these extraterritorial natives, which
their foreign clients resist, although one of the reasons assigned by
the mandarins, for the levying of taxes on their people residing in the
foreign se