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obtained the decoration of the peacock's feather for contributing a round sum towards the military operations against the mountaineers. The present government of the country is evidently hard pressed for means, and distressed by any unusual draft on its resources.

Although, as we have before endeavoured to demonstrate, the very different condition of China in respect to wealth and prosperity has argued a system of government much superior to what prevails under other Asiatic despotisms; although, as long as we are to judge of the tree by its fruits, a large share of good government must have been the general rule; it is evident that the rule is without its exceptions. The emperor-the theoretical father of his people-does not find it so easy openly to impose new taxes as his necessities may require them; and his power, though absolute in name, is limited in reality by the endurance of the people, and by the laws of necessity. Our own country has proved the fact of the largest amount of direct taxation being levied under a limited monarchy, and through the delegates of the people themselves; and the English House of Commons has done a great deal more than the Emperor of China could probably attempt with safety. He is therefore obliged, to a certain extent, and on particular occasions, to let functionaries pay themselves-the worst possible form of taxation. The real amount levied in this manner from the people becomes greater than the nominal, and the excess is incalculably more mischievous than if fairly and directly obtained. In reference to this system and its consequences, the Chinese have a saying, that "the greater fish eat the smaller; the smaller eat the shrimps; and the shrimps are obliged to eat mud."

CHAPTER XXIII.

COMMERCE.

Coinage of base metal - Silver passes by weight - Paper currency - Internal commerce Pawnbroking - Interest of money - Disadvantages of Canton for English trade - Origin of Hong merchants -Imposts on foreign shipping - Linguists — Smuggling - Trade in opium - New law against it- Black teas Green teas-Preparation of tea - Spurious green teas - European tea-trade-Increase of English trade since 1842.

THE government of China issues no other coin than the base metal Tchen, composed of copper and zinc, with perhaps some lead, and in value considerably less than the tenth part of a penny.* On one side is the title of the reigning emperor, with two words denoting "current value,' ," while the reverse bears a Tartar inscription. In the centre of each of these coins is a square hole, through which they are strung together by hundreds to save counting, and in this state look something like strings of sausages. Many years ago, a specimen of a single coin having by some chance been dropped in an unfrequented part of the United Kingdom, the person who picked it up carried the mystery to a learned antiquary, who having written a long essay on the subject, in which every conjecture was hazarded but the true one, a representation of the strange coin, with the essay

*It appears that the white shells called cowries have been, and perhaps still are, in use as a medium of exchange about the provinces bordering on India and Ava, particularly Yun-nân. They are called by the Chinese hae-fei, "fat of the sea," and three of them seem to have been exchanged for one copper coin.

appended, was published in a standard work of some eminence. With a view to diminish the chance of such a mistake for the future, a facsimile of the coinage of one of the Manchow emperors is here given :

[graphic]

The curious, as in other countries, make collections of the ancient copper coin, in the order of succession of the reigns under which they were issued. It is said, however, that there are fabricators of these, as well as of numerous other antiques, of which the Chinese are so fond. A series mounting up beyond the Christian era has been brought to England; and if a string of tchen taken at hazard be examined, it will often be found to contain some coins of an ancient date. During former periods of Chinese history, money seems to have been made of other materials besides copper, being coined into a great variety of shapes, with symbolical figures of various animals. So greatly has the current coin of the reigning dynasty been debased compared with its nominal value, that the greatest difficulty is experienced in repressing the practice of forging it. In the Peking Gazette for June, 1824, there is the confession of a convicted forger, who declares that, "being in great want, he, in concert with a former acquaintance, agreed on a plan for counterfeiting old worn-out tchen by casting lead, which being smuggled into circulation, they were to share the profits. They

procured a stone and made a mould for the coin, and, their instruments being ready, they hired an empty apartment attached to a temple, and there coined upwards of 7000 tchen; but soon after putting these in circulation they were seized with all their tools."

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In the same year there appeared a curious paper from the viceroy of Fokien to the emperor, being " A report concerning the depreciation of the current tchen in comparison with silver bullion, requesting the imperial assent to a temporary suspension of the coinage, with a view to prevent needless waste. In the provincial mint (for it seems there is one in each province) the average coinage of ten days had been 1200 strings of tchen (each string containing 1000, or ten divisions of 100 each), and therefore the total coinage of one year averaged 43,200 strings or 43,200,000 tchen), the use of which had been to pay the militia of the province. In order to procure the copper and zinc required for coinage, officers had been regularly deputed to Yun-nân and Hoo-pě; and it was calculated that the expenses of transmission and coinage, added to the cost of the metal, had amounted, on an average, to 1 taël and 261 parts (in silver) for every 1000 tchen. But the present market value of fine silver, in exchange for the coin, was only 1 taël weight for 1240 tchen; this difference being added to the above, the total disadvantage amounted to more than 500 parts in each taël, and the annual loss in the province to 20,000 taëls." To understand this, it must be observed that 1000 tchen ought to purchase or represent 1 taël of fine silver, but that more than 1500 were now required for that purpose, including the first cost of the coin to the government.

The viceroy then alludes to an inconvenience arising from the bulk of the base metal coin, in comparison with its value; in which respect it somewhat resembles the

iron money of Sparta. "The province of Fokien," observes the Chinese functionary, "being on the borders of the sea, its distance from some other provinces is great; and the merchants who resort hither with their goods, finding it inconvenient to carry back such a weight of coin, exchange it for silver as a more portable remittance; in consequence of which silver and copper coin have become very disproportioned in their relative values; the former rising, and the latter falling to an unusual degree. It has always been the rule (he adds) to pay the militia in coin, at the rate of 1000 for a taël of silver; but now a taël of silver in the market being worth 1240 tchen, they experience serious loss from this when they exchange their coin for silver, with a view to the more ready transmission of their pay to a distance." The remedy proposed by the viceroy was, that the mint should be shut, and all farther coinage suspended; the militia receiving their pay in silver until the relative values of silver and tchen approached nearer to a par.

The only coin of the country being copper, it follows that all transactions, beyond mere daily marketing and the lowest class of payments, must be carried on by a weight of silver, of which the taël expresses one Chinese ounce, divided decimally into 10 mace (in the language of Canton), which are still farther divided into 10 candareens -the names of weights and not coins; so that 10 copper tchen should, in exchange, equal 1 candareen of silver; 100 should equal 1 mace; and 1000 should pass for 1 taël; though, from the paper before quoted, it seems the exchange varies between copper and silver. It has appeared impossible to establish a silver coin in the country, from the unconquerable propensity of the people to play tricks with anything more valuable than their base copper money indeed, we have seen that they forge even that.

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