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    COJUIESPONDENCE. , . . .IB ¦,.>, II*

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    formanees were frequent . The Audacieuse started a rival company . Commissioner Yeh having refused to come to terms , hostilities commenced . Cantou was subjected to bombardment and capture . The description of the Tatar soldiers is interesting . They amount to six or eight thousand men , and are Chinese by female descent . They have been settled for six or seven generations at Canton , and have exchanged the courage arid vigour of their ancestors for that waut of firmness and promptness to turn and run which

    characterizes the Imperial troops of China . There is nothing to distinguish them from the Chinese soldiers . They carry the _ sarae arms which belong to primitive times , and recall the period of Genghis Khan and Timour . They wear a round hat , a breastplate , a cartridge-box , after the Circassian fashion , at their belts , a long musket , arrows , and a flag , which they wave about to rouse their courage . Some trace of the Tatar descent they do preserve . They are stronger , bigger , more broad-shouldered , and not so dark in the complexion as the ordinary Chinese .

    But now , let us improve the situation , and moralise the song . A subsequent examination of the scene of battle afforded opportunity for this . Our author , passing the Hall of Examination , noted the cells of the litterati . Wide avenues , planted with trees , and elegant porticoes , give a- very handsome and even noble appearance to this building-. But , adds the marquis , it presents only another proof of the present decline of China . Literature , he tells us , "is certainly not now held in high esteem , nor can it be considered to flourish , if we are to judge by the nettles and parasitical plants which grow in unweeded luxuriance in this sanctuary of the muses . We counted the number of cells . There was accommodation for 7000 students .

    If the great soul of Confucius could revisit this sublunary sphere , with what sadness would that spirit contemplate the manners of this degenerate age . The children of the Land of Flowers now ¦ w orship mammon . They are absorbed in the race after material -wealth . To the computation of filthy coppers , they have turned from the contemplative study of the sacred book of changes . In China there is a general break up of the old system ; the great administrative machine is getting daily more and more out of gear . It is kept going merely in virtue of old habits and prejudices . All its wheels ^ are worn clown . It is gold wow , and not knowledge , which obtains the diploma Tiecessary to . preferment . Why , then , should a man now shut himself up in a hole four feet-square , to write his thesis ? It is more to the pnrpose to insinuate a handsome bribe into the pocket of a rapacious and powerful mandarin . "

    We suspect that : this is a hasty and one-sided view . There is , however ; some truth in it . Especially significant was the fact , that they who were then sauntering over the northern rampart , were the first of barbarians who had ever passed within the sacred enclosure . A dozen corpses of Tatars were still lying about , who had been precipitated over the edge at the point of the bayonet , or had fallen 'from it in their flight ; and their arms were lying near them on the ground . They had been tall , stout , dark-complexioned men , and were frightfully mutilated . One was half consumed by a shell that had burst near him . The following is well pictured : — " We were accommodated separately in the different pagodas —during the night , some sleeping on tables , others on the floor ,

    rolled up in a blanket , and air " sui r 6 uh 1 dellrlHte ^^ aiT » ts 4 n-sv-pictur « , with a glory , formed in our case of inosqtutoes , which effectually drove sleep away , There was the greatest stillness in the town . Although the .. terror , was general , the authorities in their impenetrable pride would as yet give no acknowledgment of their defeat . We heard only from time to time the distant howling of the Tatar dogs , the sputtering of some smouldering fire which had gone ablaze again , the call of the sentries , and the occasional discharge of musketrv from the distant outposts . The appearance of the camp was very picturesque , and such only as an Asiatic war can exhibit . Long spears , arrows , red and yellow banners , were lying- about on every side . The wardrobe of the mandarins had been well ransacked by our seamen , and with , what result was everywhere apparent . The altars had been converted into sleeping berths , While the cloaks of the Chinese ladies supplied nightgowns .

    large , devoting a chapter to the discussion of the subject . He found everything reversed in China . The East was in all respects the opposite of the West . English writers have long been aware of this fact ; but it appears to have had a novelty for the French . All Europeans settled in the free ports of China willingly bear testimony to the honourable manner in which business on a great scale is Conducted by Chinese merchants . In Mongolia there were from 8 , 000 to 10 , 000 Christians , but they are all Chinamen . Opiumeating and smoking is , with the Chinese , an ineradicable habit ; and , indeed , is only curable at a risk of life , for the stomach , when deprived of its sustenance , contracts , and suffers acute agony . The picture given of the habit is full , and with much detail , which it is impossible to follow . The author adds : — " It is humanitarian England—so noisy , vigilant , and susceptible about the negro slavetrade— -which unscrupulously causes all this misery . "

    " 0 that some power the gift would gie us , To see ourselves as others see us 1 " We must now pay some attention to Japan . The Marquis speaks in high terms of the beauty of the country , and the cleanliness of the people . Thewomeuare not shy , and the men of the poorer classes are simply arrayed in a wide dress with a belt , every part of it being exquisitely clean . In their . manners , he noted every sort of little refinement of luxury and elegance . The bazaar was crowded with marvels of taste ; and the crew spent at Siinoda about £ 1200 in the purchase of lacquered articles exhibited . Their intercourse with the inhabitants was familiar , and they were frankly received everywhere . The Japanese are anxious to get instruction . In Yedo , they resemble in their manners the Chinese ; the authorities

    seldom making their appearance among the people , and then only in full dress and accompanied by ' . a-cortege . " Accordingly , " says the writer * " the Japanese could scarcely believe us when we told them that the Emperor Hapoleon ' 3111 . went out every day in a phaeton without any attendants , driving the conveyance himself ; that he rode through the streets on horseback attended only by an aide-decamp ; aud that he spent his time in attending , to public business . The idea of a prince moving about familiarly among his subjects was altogether at variance With their prejudices , but the fact of a sovereign , being kardworked in the administration of state affairs seemed-to them to be altogether absurd . They reniarked ingenuously , that it must be more tiresome than pleasant to be ta'icoon . of the French . " ' ''" ' . ¦ '¦ ' : ¦ ' ¦• ' " ' - ' :: . ' : ' - - ¦ :.. '¦ ¦ ¦ :

    Such a remark will strike the thoughtful reader as evidently suggestive . Baron Gros named our author his secretary in Japan . Crreat was his surprise when , as such , he attended a public meeting , _ to find that a functionary wlro never-opened Ins mouth during an animated discussion , was the most impdrtaut personage in the assembly ; his title was that of imperial spy ; arid that Was his office too , for espionage is a riiode of government in Yedo . " It may be said , without exaggeration , that one half of the population of Japan are employed as spies to watcli over the other half . Our one hundred iacouiiin , or men with two swords , were pleasant fellows enough , no doubt , but , for all that , they kept jotting down upon their fans all that took place , however trivial , while we were walking or talking in our rooms , to give An account of what had taken place , doubtless , in the proper quarter . J 3 ut the iacouiiin had to be watched ~ theirisSiVesrsTr ^ e ^ ttd ^ to look after then ) , and see how they conducted themselves towards us . They were , in short , spies upon the spies . " . There is much good information compressed into a small space in the Marquis de Moge's book . Tims we lesiru that the importance of the trade between Chiuii arid Japan has beeii very much exaggerated , and that there is scarcely any intercourse between the ' two countries ; There is a freshness and originality also about his book which , to us , is very attractive , and we commend it earnestly to serious perusal .

    Every where there were gilded Buddhas dragged from their niches , by one to be employed as a pillow , and by another to be used as a lamp-stand . The abdomens both of the human figures and the horses had been broken open , the English soldiers recollecting that in the first war large sums of money were found in this way . Every one ate and drank out of China-ware , but as the only dishes in use in the country were cups and saucers , soup , beef , and cheese were eaten off them . Propped against n fierce-looking dragon , or seated upon a moral maxim , we laid into the good cheer of the mandarins . In everything there was an indescribublo mixture of the comio and grotesque . " The author ridicules the Chinese militia . Two regiments of Chasseurs , he says , and two regiments of Zouaves , would suffice to conquer China . Its inhabitants are not soldiers , but labourers;—the country is a great workshop , a hive of busybees , The capture and behaviour of Yen is described at full ; but we must refer uie reader

    to the book . The state of the town is most picturesquely described . There is also nn interesting account of Fo-Kien , whore the people speak a different dialect from the rest of China . At Amoy , too , there are distinctive peculiarities ; here are many English residents . Amoy is the only place in China where the English Indies visit the Chinese ladies , and receive calls from them in return . In Shanghai there is a college under the direction of Jesuits , It has been in existence seven years , and numbers a hundred pupils . The influence of the French , moreover , is great at Shanghai . Of the manners nnd customs of China , the Marquis dilates at

    Untitled Article

    THE OPERATIVE BUILDERS . To the Editor of The Leader and Satcirdat Analyst . Siu , —Your able advocacy of those noble-minded workmen , who have merited well of all their fellow citizens , whether 1 abjured for or labouring , induces me to tender for your ben evolent and enlightened pages a word on their behalf . At the commencement of the winter , the rigour of which these men , with such a scarcity of means , so heroically endured , I attended their meetings in St . Martin ' s Hull , and on one occasion I was invited by their secretai'y to preside . Conceiving that their proceedings would be more efficiently conducted by themselves , I preferred supporting them simply by being present on the platform , with the able secretary and his well-chosen atari" of speakers . I can ,

    however , truly declare that I never came in contact with Mr . Potter , or the other leaders of their Society , without being impressed with theproofs of integrity and true lot ' tinees of-soul which these representatives of the body continually exhibited . Surely , Sir , had any such sentiments been found among the masters , they never could have conceived and brought forth such a contemptible as well as unconstitutional production a 9 the " Declaration ; " , could they have had an idea of the " sterner stuff" of which these men ' s souls are constituted , they would never huve dared so far to brave their resolution . But let us look at this limitation of the hours of labour for which they are still so valiantly , but so peacefully withal , contending . Ono of the grounds upon which they make the request is , that tlio less skilled of their brother operatives would thereby

    Cojuiespondence. , . . .Ib ¦,.≫, Ii*

    COJUIESPONDENCE . , . . . IB ¦ ,. > , II *

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    594 The Leader aiid Saturday Analyst . [ June 23 , I 860 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 594, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2353/page/14/