therefore, offered no active resistance; but merely obliged the inhabitants of the coast to move thirty ly, or about three leagues, inland,- -a plan which proved perfectly successful.

European residents in China have generally found that their property has been as secure from violent invasion as it could be in any other country of the world; and in one or two instances, where flagrant acts of robbery combined with murder have occurred, the efficiency of the police has proved, in a very signal and remarkable manner, that the government was not only willing, but able to do them summary justice. In 1816, the American ship Wabash, having opium on board, came to an anchor off Macao, and being manned by a very small number of hands, was suddenly carried by a boatful of desperate Chinese, who, coming on board under pretence of offering their services as pilots, stabbed those who were on deck, or forced them into the water; and then, confining the remainder of the crew to the forepart of the vessel, plundered her of all the opium. When the fact was represented to the local government, whose horror of piratical violence is extreme, such prompt and effective measures were taken for the discovery of the ruffians, that they were most of them caught and condemned to death, and their heads exposed in cages on the rocks near Macao as a warning to others.

But the case of the French ship Navigateur, in 1828, was still more remarkable, and may be given nearly from the relation of M. Laplace, captain of the eighteen-gun corvette La Favorite, whose observations on the Chinese we have had occasion to quote in another place. The Navigateur, a merchantman, was compelled by stress of weather to put into Touron Bay on the coast of Cochin-China. The disabled state of the ship, the difficulty of effecting the necessary repairs, and the wellknown unfriendliness of the local authorities, forced the captain and crew to the necessity of selling her to the king of Cochin-China, and embarking themselves with their most valuable effects on board a Chinese junk, which was engaged to carry them to Macao. The voyage was short, but still long enough to enable the crew of the junk to conceive and

execute a dreadful conspiracy against the Frenchmen. It was in vain that one of the oldest of the Chinese endeavoured by signs to draw the attention of the French captain to the danger which threatened him; the latter had contented himself with making one or two of his sailors keep watch by day, as well as during the night; but this charge was the more negligently executed, inasmuch as most of the people, in consequence of their previous sufferings, had to contend with fever or dysentery.

The junk was already within sight of the great Ladrone island, the mark by which Macao is made in the southerly monsoon, and the Chinese passengers disembarked at once into boats, with an eagerness which ought to have roused the suspicions of the Europeans, had they not been blinded by the most imprudent confidence. The night passed quietly, and the dawning light seemed to promise a happy landing to the Frenchmen; but it was destined to witness their massacre. These unfortunate men, the greater number still asleep, were despatched with hatchets and knives by the crew of the junk; and their captain, assailed by the assassins in the narrow cabin which he occupied with his mates, after killing several of the Chinese, fell himself the last. One seaman, however, still remained, who, armed with an iron bar, continued to make a desperate resistance, although badly wounded in the head. Having reached the deck of the vessel, almost overcome as he was in this unequal conflict, he leaped into the sea, and appeared in this manner to ensure, by his certain death, impunity to the murderers.

He contrived, notwithstanding, to swim to the nearest fishing-boat, but was denied succour, with the usual selfish prudence of the Chinese; another boat, however, afterwards received him on board, and landed him by night on the shore at Macao. Sick and wounded as he was, the poor man wandered unknown for some time about the streets, but at length discovered the abode of the French missionaries, who with their ready humanity relieved him at once from his immediate wants. In the mean while, the French consul had arrived from Canton, and the affair being brought by him to the notice of the Portuguese authorities at Macao, was placed by them in

the hands of the Chinese mandarins. By means of the information obtained from the French sailor, the Chinese passengers who had quitted the junk previous to the massacre, and repaired in all haste to their respective homes, were summoned to Canton. From them was obtained a full evidence as to the criminals, and their design; and a strict embargo was at once laid on all the vessels within the ports of Canton and the neighbouring province of Fokien.

The assassins being soon arrested in their junk, were put into iron cages and conveyed to Canton for trial and judgment. On their arrival there, it was ordained by the Emperor's strict order, that the trial and punishment should take place in the presence of the Europeans at that place. Among the English spectators was the interpreter of the East India Company, Dr. Morrison, the author of the Chinese dictionary, whose labours have been so useful towards illustrating the literature of the country, and who was destined on this occasion to experience a very gratifying reward for his pains in acquiring the language. His attention having been attracted by the loud complaints of an old man, who, like the others, was shut up in a cage with iron bars, and who, in protesting his innocence, called for the French sailor whose life he had contributed to save, Dr. Morrison approached the old man's prison, heard what he had to say, and promised him his assistance with the judges. In a word, accompanied by the Frenchman, he presented himself before the mandarins, pleaded the cause of his client, and called to their recollection that maxim of Chinese law, and of humanity in general, that "it is better to let even the guilty escape, than to punish the innocent." He obtained the consent of the court that the sailor should be confronted with the accused; and these,

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on the first sight of each other, immediately embraced and shed tears, to the great interest and sympathy of the audience. The judges themselves yielded to the general sentiment, and at once absolved the old man. Out of twenty-four prisoners, seventeen were condemned and decapitated at once, and their chief put to a lingering death in presence of the Europeans.

Captain Laplace has made a great mistake in supposing that, when Dr. Morrison enunciated to the mandarins that merciful and wise maxim which contributed to save the man's life, he told them anything that they had never before heard. We could prove to him, by chapter and verse, that the precept is perfectly well known to the Chinese, however grossly it may have been violated by them in several cases where Europeans have unintentionally caused the death of natives. It is, in fact, this knowledge of what is right in criminal practice that makes the conduct of the local government towards foreign homicides so perfectly unjustifiable, and renders it not only excusable, but imperative in Europeans to resist the execution, not of law, but of illegality. Were they treated like natives on these occasions, and according to the distinct provisions of the Chinese penal code, it might be difficult to make out a right to oppose the laws of the country in which they sojourn. But, as a just and equal administration of those laws to natives and foreigners must always be the necessary condition of submission on the part of the latter, the absurd injustice and partiality of the local government has deprived it of the right to complain, if Europeans, in cases of accidental homicide, refuse to deliver up their countrymen to be strangled without a trial, or with only the mockery of one.

ALTHOUGH the circuit of the ancient walls of Nanking exceeds that of the present capital of China, it has been already stated that the larger portion of the area is now either a waste, or consists of fields in a state of cultivation. The last embassy had an opportunity of inspecting it in 1816, having been detained in the immediate neighbourhood for about two days, from the 21st to the 23rd October. The opportunity was improved to the utmost, and the liberty with which we were enabled to satisfy our curiosity received some addition in consequence of an accident, wherein the firmness of the ambassador was exercised with a favourable effect.

Soon after the fleet of boats which conveyed the mission had reached the suburbs of Nanking, on that great river the Keang, which flows a few miles to the north-west of the old capital, the ambassador was induced, by the reports of some gentlemen of the mission, who had already explored a portion of the interior of the walls without any objection being made, to visit the nearest gate on the northwest side. On reaching it, however, a mandarin of subordinate rank, on horseback, with a pack of Chinese soldiers after him, rushed past and closed the gates suddenly in the face of the party. In return for this rudeness to the principal person of the mission, the individual who had caused the gates to be shut was requested to open them again, and it was declared that on no other condition would the ambassador quit the spot. The underling, however, who had committed the offence, showed no disposition to repair it, but took his departure in an impudent style. excellency, on this, requested two individuals of his suite, of whom the writer was one, to proceed as fast as possible to the imperial legate, who acted as conductor to the embassy,

His

and, complaining formally of the insult which had been offered him, require that reparation should be instantly made. We were very civilly received on board the Kinchae's boat, who, when we had explained the nature of the offence, immediately said that the person who had been guilty of it must be out of his wits, and sent at once to the highest military officer in the neighbourhood, to desire that he would go and see the gates re-opened instantly. We in the mean while, walked back to rejoin the ambassador, accompanied by a very fat and asthmatic mandarin, of the Order of the Blue Button, who had much ado to keep up with our rapid pace. On our reaching the gate, the Chinese general who had been despatched by the legate, presently arrived, and, apologizing for the folly of the officer, caused the gates to be re-opened. The ambassador expressed himself satisfied, and declined entering the gate, telling the general and the rest that he was sorry they should have had so much trouble.

A large assembled crowd had witnessed the transaction, and it evidently had a very favourable effect on their conduct, which became more civil than ordinary. In the course of the same day several gentlemen were allowed not only to pass the gate, but to proceed as far as they pleased into the interior; and, from a high wooded hill within the wall, could see the modern town to the south, which occupies barely a third of the immense area. The ancient name of Nanking (the southern capital) is still in common but no longer admitted in official documents, wherein it is styled Keang-ning-foo, a city of the first order, but still merely the chief town of a province. The porcelain tower of Nanking (which, however, is porcelain in nothing but its tiles) was a conspicuous

use,

object in the distance, and tempted some of the party to undertake a walk to the modern town to inspect it. They reached the suburb without interruption; but the vast and dense crowd which presently surrounded them made it imprudent to persevere, and they were obliged to give up the principal object of their excursion. It was satisfactory, however, to have gained even this insight into the present condition of the ancient capital of China, which had never been visited by a former embassy. The following is from an unpublished journal of Sir George Staunton on the same occasion:

"The view from the summit of the hill (within the gate) certainly well rewarded us for the labour of the ascent, and was a perfect panorama. On one side, and, as it were, beneath our feet, lay the suburb which we had just quitted: the noble stream of the Yang-tse-keang, with its several branches, or rather subdivisions; and beyond them, the pagoda of the city of Poo-keu-hien, and a distant range of hills in the horizon. On the other side was a beautiful vale of many leagues in extent, the whole of which, with several lesser eminences within its enceinte, is included within the ancient boundaries of the imperial city. We could trace with the eye, assisted by a telescope, nearly the whole circuit of the walls; but within the vast space which they enclosed we looked almost in vain for the habitations of men, or any traces of the former populousness of this ancient capital of China. Even the very

ruins and vestiges of the buildings which we are led to conclude must formerly have filled this space have disappeared; and at present clumps of trees, orchards, cultivated fields, and gardens, and a few scattered farmhouses occupy their places. At a distance, indeed, beyond an elevated ridge to the westward, we could perceive that a part of the valley was overhung with a cloud of smoke, which partially disclosed a few considerable buildings, and no doubt arose from that portion of the city which continues to be inhabited. We could distinguish pretty clearly the roofs of two or three buildings resembling temples, two arched gateways, and three pagodas, one of which, from its superior size and stateliness, and its proximity

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to the river, we immediately concluded to be the famous porcelain tower, and in this opiwere confirmed by our Chinese

nion we conductors."

The desolation which took place in this ancient seat of the native sovereigns may no doubt be ascribed to the Tartar conquerors, who demolished the imperial palace, and even the sepulchres in the rage of war. Much, however, may be attributed to another reason, which sufficiently explains why, except the Great Wall, there are few ancient monuments in China. Their edifices are far from being of a solid construction, the columns being in most cases of wood, and the climate throughout the country subject to the greatest vicissitudes of moisture and dryness, as well as of heat and cold. The nine-storied buildings called pagodas, being of good solid brick-work, are among the most lasting. That of Nanking is at the head of these monuments, which are of a religious nature, and, like the steeples of churches, were at first attached to temples. Several still remain with the religious establishments to which they belong, besides the one at Nanking, a printed representation of which, with a description attached, was purchased by some of the embassy while in the neighbourhood. Its dimensions are nearly two hundred feet in height, the ground-plan being octagonal, and the spiral staircase built through the solid part of the wall, which surrounds a hollow space in the centre that is carried to the summit of the building. In niches at the sides of the stair are placed images of Budh, or of the goddess Kuân-yin.

Nanking being situated in lat. 32° 04', the excellence of the climate, joined to its proximity to the great Keang, and the canal, still renders it a populous place with a very considerable trade, however fallen from its former splendour. Besides its silk manufactures, and the cotton cloth which takes its name, the Chinese highly esteem the paper, and the squares of ink which are made here. The pithy substance, in England vulgarly called rice-paper, is likewise prepared in this neighbourhood from a leguminous plant called Tung-tsaou, which, like the rush, inhabits marshy places. When the pirate Koshinga ravaged the eastern coasts, he sailed

easily up the mouth of the Keang to Nanking; and there is reason to suppose that to a European fleet, it would be one of the most vulnerable parts of the empire, as the canal opens into the great river, a little below the city towards the sea. To blockade at once

the mouth of the canal and of the Yangtsekeang, could scarcely fail to distress the empire, and especially Peking, which is fed by supplies from the southern provinces.

Nanking stands pretty nearly midway between Peking and Canton, the two most