would betray a want of good breeding, every proposal finds their immediate acquiescence: they promise without hesitation, but generally disappoint by the invention of some slight pretence or plausible objection: they have no proper sense of the obligations of truth."

The quiescence observable in the character of the Chinese is the natural result of their training. By the Confucian system, the nation is moulded in a certain form, and, from the highest to the lowest, they present the aspect of a peace-loving people. But this is more the outward show of the face than the inward feeling of the heart. Stern discipline may generally keep them in awe, and the mass may kiss the rod which smites them; but, under real or supposed injury, they are sometimes found to be very revengeful. Women have been known to destroy themselves, in order to bring down the vengeance of the government on the heads of those with whom they have quarrelled; and history records that the people have arisen en masse against a magistrate by whom they were oppressed.

The inordinate national pride, for which the Chinese are proverbial, seems to be the offspring of self-love and ignorance. Imagining that their country is the centre of a system, as the old astronomers deemed that the earth was to the universe, they have hence learned to look upon all other nations with contempt. And this natural disposition of the people has been artfully promoted by the government, considering that its interest was concerned in increasing the mutual dislike and disunion. Slanderous proclamations are frequently issued against foreigners at Canton, and

penalties of no slight nature are attached to a traitorous intercourse," with Europeans. From these causes it is that, though the merchants are scrupulous in their commercial engagements, yet on all other points foreigners are considered fair game."

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Poverty is no reproach among the Chinese. Personal merit and age are in far higher esteem than mere wealth. Notwithstanding, poverty is a dreaded evil. It is greatly obviated by a system of clubbing together in families, which resemble the clanships of Scotch Highlanders. This system arises from a sacred regard to kindred, but it operates as a public provision for the relief of the poor, and serves as one of the best means for the distribution of wealth. At times, also, it exercises a salutary check on the measures of the arbitrary government; whence many attempts have been made to effect its dissolution. But the institution is too much interwoven with the whole being of the nation to be utterly overthrown. It has existed from the first ages of the history of China, and it will, doubtless, exist for ages yet to come, if not through all time. The ties of blood, and the love of their relations, among the Chinese, are so strong, as to make them look with indifference on society at large: and they are strengthened by the doctrines of their philosophers. Confucius connived at injustice in favour of a relation; and Mencius rejected, with equal disdain, egotism and general philanthropy, while he taught that relations should possess the undivided love of relations.

The same feeling which the Chinese display towards elations is also displayed towards the

place of their birth. They have a popular saying, "If he who attains to honours or wealth never returns to his native place, he is like a finely dressed person walking in the dark." Hence regard for the place of their birth clings to the Chinese through life; and they commonly apply, toward the end of their days, for leave to quit the honours and emoluments of office, and retire to their native village. Colonists, also, who venture abroad in search of gain, return home as soon as they have acquired a competency, though at the risk of being oppressed, under the forms of law, for leaving their native country.

It seems strange that a people so ardently attached to their families and their birth-place should be guilty of the crime of infanticide. Yet so it is. Barrow concludes, from observation, that four thousand infants are annually exposed to death in Pekin alone. Some of the scenes he witnessed are almost incredible, when contrasted with the boasted civilization of the "celestial empire." About twenty-four infants, he says, half of whom may die a natural death, are cast out into the streets every night, and dogs and swine are let loose to devour them. Those who remain undevoured are picked up, and carried in carts to a common pit without the city walls, in which the living and the dead are thrown together. The most prevalent mode of effecting the death of infants is by suffocation; and this is said to be frequently done to the aged and afflicted, to "cut the brittle thread of life." So truly has it been observed by the psalmist, that

"The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty."-Psa. lxxiv. 20.

Infanticide is exclusively limited to the female sex, and it may be looked upon as a proof of the degradation of females in China. On the treatment of women, the Indo-Chinese Gleaner remarks:-"The very dependent and degraded state of females in China is every where observable. They are not allowed the confidence of their husbands, nor to sit at table with them, nor to have a voice in domestic concerns, nor to visit the temples where the prayers of the unfortunate are supposed to find access. Religion is denied them. Little attention seems to be paid to the peculiar circumstances in which, as wives and mothers, they may be placed. 'Rise, run, work, eat little, spend little, be silent, keep out of sight, obey, bear; and rather bleed, starve, and die, than dare to complain,' is the genuine language of the rules laid down for their treatment. Fortunately for them, humanity, common sense, and interest, in many cases, plead in their favour, and procure a relaxation of the rigour of ethical and legislative restrictions; yet where such restrictions have the sanction both of public opinion and of supreme authority, how is it possible to prevent their hurtful operation on this tender half of human nature?"

In the life of females in China, up to the period of their marriage, there are but few shades. One of the most remarkable practices, and especially in the higher classes, is, the mutilation of their feet, which is produced by cramping them in early childhood. This is said to arise from Chinese notions of gentility, in the same manner as it is the fashion among the men to wear long nails, to convey an idea of exemption from labour. Probably, however, the custom was first imposed by the

tyranny of the men, who wished to disable them from 66 gadding abroad;" and as custom is held sacred, it is hence perpetuated. The Chinese affect to admire the helplessness induced by this mutilation, notwithstanding its usual concomitant of sickness. Their tottering gait, as they hobble along upon the heel of the foot, is compared to the waving of a willow, agitated by a breeze! But the foot of a female in China is not the only part of the being cramped by the tyranny of law and custom. The mind suffers a greater and an irreparable injury. The great subject of education, among the higher classes, is implicit obedience, to which is added a little reading and writing; while the humbler classes are only taught weaving, sewing, embroidery, and the drudgery of household and fieldwork. Some ladies, however, are instructed in embroidering, as well as painting on silk, and music. They are not often versed in letters, but instances are sometimes quoted, of those who have been skilled in composing verses.

In marriage, the females of China receive a deep and lasting injury. A union prompted solely by love is unknown in that country. Such would, indeed, be considered a monstrous infraction of the duty of filial obedience, and a crime heinous as infidelity. In this momentous concern, therefore, they are compelled to submit to the will of their parents. Children are frequently betrothed to each other while yet infants; and those who are not, are given to men of whom they know nothing, and whose faces they have never seen. Such unions as the latter are contracted by a go-between," who repairs to the parents of the female, and offers

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