Sir,— You will have seen that the Times’ of to-day intimates that 
the cannon planted on the forts of Taku, were of Russian make, 
and directed by Russian officers. Lord Palmerston’s mob paper, the 
Daily Telegraph, in its summary, says: — 


“It is now proved, as mercantile circulars show, and as is conclusively set forth 
in the interesting statement of our Correspondent at St. Petersburg, dated 
September 7, long before the news of the attack was known, that the conspiracy 
had an imperial origin—that it had been schemed for months—that it was 
rumoured abroad before our flotillas could have entered the Gulf of Pecheli.... We 
now perceive, moreover, how closely the policy of Russia is interwoven with that of 
Pekin; we detect great movements on the Amoor; we discern large Cossack armies 
manoeuvring far beyond lake Baikal, in the frozen dreamland on the twilight 
borders of the Old World; we trace the course of innumerable caravans; we espy a 
special Russian envoy making his way, with secret designs, from the remoteness of 
Eastern Siberia to the secluded Chinese Metropolis; and well may public opinion in 
this country burn at the thought that foreign influences have had a share in 
procuring our disgrace and the slaughter of our soldiers and sailors.” 


Lord Palmerston is again at his antiquated tricks. He will make a 
new war on China in order to thwart the designs of Russia, in the 
same way that he made his war upon Afghanistan.