naturalization laws confer privileges upon those | when Confucius was a youth-between five and who have no natural claim upon them whatever. six centuries before the Christian era. In the The giving or withholding these privileges is a last file of the North China Herald, there is an matter of pure discretion. And naturalization account by Dr. McGowan of the existing forlaws which perhaps were very discreet when the mula; and from this it appears that the treatimmigration to our shores amounted to five or ment of the tables is somewhat different in the six thousand annually, and those usually from Flowery Land from what is practised with ns. the substantial classes of European population, The directions usually given, he says, are "to may be just as indiscreet when applying to an place a couple of chopsticks at right angles immigration of half a million annually from across a mortar, or bowl filled with water; and every grade of society and description of people. upon these, the tables turned upside down. Four The present laws have outlasted their time. A children are then called in, and to each a leg is modification of some kind is urgently called for, assigned, on which one hand is gently laid, while and, however resisted by the politicians who turn the other seizes the free hand of a companion— them to their benefit, it must sooner or later take thus forming a circle. Nothing now remains to place. The value of American citizenship has be done but the reading of an incantation by the quite reached its minimum; it will bear no more" medium," which may be thus rendered :— cheapening. From Chambers's Journal. TABLE TURNING IN CHINA. Heaven! entreat heaven for power; If you fail, I'll call Yellow Ling, Duke of Space, to Soon the table begins to heave with emotion, and then becomes revolutionary, carrying the lads along with increasing velocity, until whirled off the axis. Nor the revolution. That is a thing we have given up. When they make an end of it, one way or other, we shall be very glad to take the winner by the hand; but we would rather not look on at the game any longer. If the Chinese are destined to turn the tables on the Tartars, so The doctor, however, being a scientific man, much the better; but what we have to do at the was not to be abused by the mere poetical parts present, is the turning of the Celestial tables sim- of the ceremony; and he determined to try the pliciter, without reference to political parties, or experiment without having recourse to either to anything else. Modern writers, by way of ac- right green dragon or left green dragon. He counting for their dulness, explain frankly that called in some little boys from the street, and dithe ancients stole all their best ideas from them; recting them to rest their hands gently on the and although modern philosophers are slow to legs of a table reversed and adjusted according admit the same fact as regards themselves, they to rule-only the vessel being without water cannot hold out against proof. One by one, our -he awaited the result. The boys, it should be new discoveries and 'original inventions have said, did not form the magic circle by joining been shown to be thousands of years old. Tele-hands. In a few minutes the table showed sympscopes must have been directed to the stars of the toms of sensitiveness; it became uneasy; a strugantique world, or its astronomy could not have gle appeared to be going on; but soon all this existed; Alexander's copy of the Iliad enclos- was at an end, and off it set in its involuntary ed in a nut-shell could not have been written revolution, spinning round and round, accompawithout the aid of the microscope; the gem nied by the boys as fast as their legs could carry through which Nero looked at the distant gladia- them, till it suddenly dashed off its axis, carrytors was nothing else than an opera-glass; steaming away with it some portion of skin from the -railways-mesmerism-hydropathy-all were shin of one of the urchins. familiar to the long by-gone generations of the The Rapping-system, as practised in China. earth; guano was an object of ancient Peruvian has likewise its poetry, though of a less refined trade; and Hobbs borrowed his lock from the nature than that of the table-turning, the green tombs of Egypt. And we have much to do still dragons being substituted by a certain Miss Fanin the way of rediscovery. The malleability of k'ang, who, if we may judge by the locality she glass, for instance the indelibility of colors-inhabits, is not the most agreeable of the elfin and fifty other things of importance, dropped by race. Her services are summoned chiefly at the the ancients into the stream of time-we have beginning of the year, by those who are anxious to fish up anew. The last "original" things with us are Tableturning and Spiritual Manifestations. Original! -these have been known in China at least from the days of Laou-tse, and he was an aged man *The Emperor Shan, 2225 B.C., 'examining the instrument adorned with precious stones which represents the stars, and employing the movable tube which is used to observe them, put in order what regards the seven planets.'-Ancient Chinese Chronicle, quoted in Thornton's "History of Chi na." to know what fortune they are to meet with in the new cycle of time. "A girl," says Dr. Macgowan, "is sent with a lighted candle and incense-sticks, to worship among the cloaca, holding a rice-basket for conveying the filthy elf. whose presence she invokes, into the house; and who, it is said, never declines attending. The basket is placed on a table, by the side of two small wine-cups inverted, and separated a few inches. The cups are used as rests for the ends of a chopstick, on which a rod is balanced, which completes the preliminaries. The “medium” now asks: "If so-and-so, or myself, is to be successful this year, knock twice; if otherwise, knock three times "whereupon a see-saw motion of the rod takes place, until the end strikes or "raps" the table either twice or thrice." The Fan-k'ang Kú-niáng, it appears, never fails to answer in this way-the rod always raps the table; but either the spirit has no extraordinary divining power, or no great reliance is placed on her veracity, for the prediction is never turned to any practical account. But although Miss Fan-k'ang fails sometimes, this is never the case with the manifestations of the Kwei, ghosts or demons which are made in writing, and in a much more curious way than the medium manages it in the West. Such ceremonics, we have conjectured above, are at least as old as Laou-tse; but in point of fact, the invocation of spirits was ancient in his time, and he is supposed to have endeavored to bring the world to a purer system. His writings, however, are so obscure, that his followers gave them all sorts of wild and extravagant meanings; and the consequence was, that the doctrine of the Taou, or pure reason, was converted into the very gospel of demon-worship. The Taouists introduced order into the heretofore chaos of the spiritual world, distinguishing gradations of rank, and establishing formula for the invocation of each order of spirits. They became magicians, astrologers, and high chemists. They discovered mystical books, as authoritative as that of the Mormons, in mountain-caves; and the transmutation of metals, the phenomena of mesmerism, the fortunate islands, the draught of immortality -all in turn kindled the imagination of China, long before these ideas began to dawn upon the mind of Europe. only unconscious but unwilling participators in the feat. Sometimes, by the exercise of strong will, they are able to prevent the pencil from moving beyond the area it commands by its original position; but in general, the fingers follow it in spite of themselves, till the whole table is covered with the ghostly message. The communications received in China from Hades are always curious, but in no other way satisfactory. "Soon after our arrival in Ningpo, in 1843, ere the port was opened for rade, such a wonderful impulse was suddenly given to the custom that it could only be compared to the prevalence of an epidemic: there was scarcely a house in which it was not practised for a season almost daily. The cause of this remarkable revival of an old custom not generally observed, could not be ascertained; but its subsidence, after a short period, was explained by the amount of mischief occasioned to those who followed, or confided in the communications from Hades, and by the complaint that little real advantage ever accrued from this form of divination. More recently, a club of literary graduates were in the Pau-teh-kwán, a Taouist temple, near the temple of Confucius, for practising the Ki, as the ceremony is called; and many and marvellous are the revelations told of the "spiritual manifestations" which they elicited. It was continued for a long time, until the arrival of an intendant, who disapproved of the demonolatry. He addressed the party as a friendly adviser, urging the discontinuance of such practices, on the ground that he had never known any good, but considerable evil to result from them. His counsel was followed; and since that time, this sort of divination has been tried only occasionally, and by individuals." Although Dr. Macgowan, however, takes no Here is an instance, however, in which the manotice of the history of Spiritual Manifestations nifestation seems certainly not intended to injure in China, we are indebted to him for an account or mislead. The anecdote was received by Dr. of the way in which the more important of them Macgowan from a Christian preacher: "A Mr. -those delivered in writing by the agency of the Li, in the village of Man-shan, near this city, enKwei-are managed. The table is sprinkled joyed the reputation of being remarkably sucequally with bran, flour, dust, or other powder, cessful in consulting spirits. Our informant and two media sit down at opposite sides, with Chin, formed one of a party which had detertheir hand placed upon the table. A hemispher-mined to test Mr. Li's skill. It was agreed that ical basket, of about eight inches diameter, such as is commonly used for washing rice, is now reversed, and laid down with its edges resting upon the tips of one or two fingers of the two media. This basket is to act as the penholder; and a reed or style is fastened to the rim, or a chopstick thrust through the interstices, with the point touching the powdered table. The ghost, in the meantime, has been duly invoked with religious ceremonies, and the spectators stand round awaiting the result in awe-struck silence. The result is not uniform. Sometimes the spirit summoned is unable to write, sometimes he is mischievously inclined, and the pen-for it always moves-will make either a few senseless flourishes on the table, or fashion sentences that are without meaning, or with a meaning that only misleads. This however, is comparatively rare. In general, the words traced are arranged in the best form of composition, and they communicate intelligence wholly unknown to the operators. These operators are said to be not the spirit should be requested to write a prescription for the wife of one of their number, then confined to bed with sickness. Two boys, who had no knowledge of what information the party desired, were called in to hold the basket. In a little time, the table was filled with characters, in which the diagnosis and treatment were clearly expressed-of course according to Chinese notions of pathology: the whole when copied was shown to the practitioner in attendance, who declared it to be perfectly correct; displaying thus, it must be confessed, a degree of magnanimity which native doctors never show their confrères in the flesh." The same Mr. Li, how ever, was less fortunate a few months ago, when he thought fit to make public a revelation he received from the Kwei on the subject of a new pretender to the throne of the empire. Three of the invoking party have been beheaded, and Mr. Li himself is now in hiding, and in imminent danger of becoming one of the Kwei himself. In such ceremonies the Chinese, like their bre thren of the West, sometimes invoke the ghosts | have said that some of he Chinese ghosts canof particular persons. In Morrison's Dictionary, not write. The reason is, that they were all oriit is mentioned that in the year 1814, a deposed ginally men, and learn no new accomplishments officer of government was condemned to death in the spiritual world. For our part, we should for publishing an answer he had received in this look with suspicion upon an ignorant ghost; but way from the spirit of Confucius. The crime in China death is no passport to knowledge, or does not seem, according to our ideas, to merit to anything else agreeable or advantageous. so severe a punishment; the answer merely re- There, in fact, the dead depend for their very commending that the emperor should worship by subsistence upon the living. Money, clothing, deputy, instead of personally at the tombs of his food, horses, carriages, are sent to them periodiancestors; and that the title of emperor should cally by their descendants, in the form (with the be taken from the demigod Kwan-ti. These ideas, exception of food) of painted and gilded imitahowever, were considered to involve the most tions of those things burnt to their names; and daring impiety. wo to the defunct who has left no son, or other The only portion of the above relations that representative, to attend to his comfort on the has any mystery for us, instructed as we now are, other side of the grave! In that case, the wretchis what appertains to the feats of the Kwei. A sin- ed shade must starve till the next annual Feast gle medium might write, just as he does with us of the Dead, which the charitable Budhists preor rather did-unconscious of the source pare for the benefit of such destitute ghosts. We whence he derived the fancied inspiration; but have only to add further, in explanation of dehow two individuals, taken suddenly and by scriptions that are not very intelligible as they chance, could hit upon the same inspiration, is stand, that while the Shin or beneficent spirits, more difficult to understand. Perhaps the expla- are the ghosts of good men, the Kwei, or deinons, nation is that when the more easily impressed are those of bad; which accounts for the fact that mind of the two commences, the other medium any trafficking with the latter is always perilous looks on with curiosity, and is too much engaged to the imprudent inquirer. in watching the result to act independently. Wel From the New Monthly Magazine. A ROYAL FAMILY IN DISTRESS.* THE more remarkable events that signalized the revolution of July, by which the elder branch of the Bourbon dynasty lost the throne, and more especially the combats which took place in the streets of Paris, have been described over and over again with almost tedious minuteness. Dr. Véron takes us during the same eventful period into the interior of the palace, where incidents occurred of a less public, but not less interesting, description. The 26th of July, the day when the ordinances appeared in the Moniteur, the king hunted in the wood of Rambouillet. He only returned to St. Cloud at nine in the evening, when he gave audience to the Prince de Polignac--the last, till the insurrection had gained the victory. Tuesday, the 27th, was passed at St. Cloud miserably enough, receiving all kinds of contradictory news from Paris, but every one tending to depreciate the real danger for fear of being set down as an alarmist. As to the king himself, he had promised M. de Polignac that he would not act without the consent of the ministry, and he kept his word. He took nothing upon himself of his own free will. Wednesday, the 28th, the firing in the streets was distinctly heard at St. Cloud-the tri-colored flag was seen at mid day on the towers of Notre Dame, but it was almost as soon taken down again. Some preparations were made for the defence of the palace. The Duke of Ragusa Memoires d'un Bourgeois de Paris. Par Le Docteur L. Veron. Tome Troisieme. was appointed commander-in-chief. The company of Luxembourg was ordered from the Quai d'Orsay to reinforce the company of Noailles, already at St. Cloud. The Cent Suisses were stationed at the palace, at the gates of Paris, and in the garden of the Trocadero. The same day M. de Peyronnet, minister of the interior, appeared in the salons of St. Cloud in his ministerial costume. "How did you manage," he was asked, "to get through the insurrection in that gold-laced costume?"—"Oh, it is nothing," replied M. de Peyronnet; "it will be all over this evening." But a clever, honest functionary, one whose conduct during this eventful crisis is said to have been deserving of all praise, spoke in very differ ent terms to the king. You exaggerate the evil," said the king to him. "I so little exaggerate, sire, that if in three hours' time your majesty does not treat with the insurrection, the crown it bears will no longer be on its head." This functionary was M. le Baron Weyler de Navas, steward to the military home of the king. As events proceeded, news became rarer at St. Cloud. The gates of the city were no longer easily passed, the suburbs were in insurrection, nothing was heard but firing of muskets in every direction, and this only diminished towards evening from want of ammunition. The Duke of Ragusa had declared the capital to be in a state of siege; the ministers remained permanently sitting in the Tuileries. Despatches were sent occasionally to the king, who communicated their contents to no one. In the evening Charles X. sat down to his usual game of "wisth." The garrison of St. Cloud had been strengthened by the company of Gramont from St. Germains, | Great anxiety existed on account of the reported and that of Havre from Versailles. advance of a Swiss regiment from Orleans. It was even said to be already at Etampes. Thursday, 29th, the firing recommenced; the insurrection was gaining in strength; the Louvre A chaise and post-horses naturally aroused was attacked. The king after mass reviewed great curiosity. No sooner had the vehicle enthe pupils of Saint Cyr, who came with their tered the suburb than it was surrounded. The field-pieces to assist in the defence of Saint travellers were asked whence they came, where Cloud. The same day the Duke of Ragusa and they were going, and what they had heard and the ministers, driven out of the Tuileries, took seen on the road. One of the party replied, that refuge at the same place. At this crisis the they were at the end of their journey, and that dauphin was appointed to the chief command. they came themselves to make inquiries, and to The prince mounted his horse to meet the battal- ascertain how things were going on. At their ions of the royal guard that were retreating by own request they were shown to an inn, in which the wood of Boulogne. He spoke to them in they were allowed to take up their quarters. words of encouragement, and even of affection. These travellers were the Duke of Chartres, but he was received with marked coldness. General Baudrand, M. de Boismilon, and M. "Give us bread-give us bread, your highness," Uginet, afterwards controller-general of the house was all the veterans could say. "For three of King Louis Phillippe. days we have been fighting without a crust of At this time a very general excitement prebread." Such was the want of foresight and vailed. Opinions were much divided, and the arrangement at a crisis of such serious import.-presence of the Duke of Chartres might have The Duke of Ragusa, who is understood to have been all along unfavorably disposed towards the ministerial measures which brought about this crisis, had at his first interview with the king entreated that orders should be given for the distribution of 20,000 rations of bread and meat to the regiments of the guard. "Hocquart," said the king to his chamberlain, "the guard is dying of hunger for now three days; twenty thousand rations of bread and meat must be served out." "Twenty thousand rations, sire!" exclaimed Count Hocquart; "I have only two hundred rolls for your majesty's service." Charles X. manifested, it is said, a certain amount of personal spirit on the occasion. "I do not intend to get into a cart like Louis XVI.," he remarked to M. de Mortemart, "but to mount my horse." Everybody attributed the mishaps which had occurred, to M. de Polignac. The valets and attendants could scarcely be induced to attend to his wishes. So manifest was this feeling at dinner, that the princess wept, and M. de Polignac and his lady left the table before dinner was over. The same day the prince was dismissed the ministry, M. de Mortemart named in his stead, and the ordinances recalled. The court became so reassured by these measures, that the usual game of whist was made to relieve the routine of the evening. given rise to serious disturbances. In order to prevent such, M. Leullier, mayor of Montrouge, determined to give information to the provisional government of the arrival of the Duke of Chartres, at the same time that he offered the prince every possible attention. He even told the prince what steps he was about to take, and the latter recommended him to direct his letter to General Gerard. The letter was accordingly entrusted to M. Uginet and an officer of the national guard of Montrouge, who started at once for the Hotel de Ville. M. Leullier prevailed upon the prince to quit the hostelry in which he had sought refuge, and repair to his own house. When M. Leullier went into the room where the Duke of Chartres was, he was on a bed in a citizen's dress. He at once accepted M. Leullier's invitation, and rose up, accompanied by M. de Boismilon and General Baudrand. The latter took from under the bed the uniform and arms of the prince, which had been secreted there, and wrapped them up in his mantle. The report soon spread throughout Paris that the Duke of Chartres was at the house of the Mayor of Montrouge. Some said that he came to take the part of Charles X., that his regiment was following him, and argued that his person must be seized and held as a hostage; others said he ought to be made to ride at the head of The Duke of Mortemart is said to have accept- the combatants of July, so as to cut short all ed the post of prime minister with as much ill-doubts as to the attitude which it behooved him to will as the Duke of Ragusa undertook the de-assume. M. Leullier had great difficulty in fence of Paris. When M. de Sémonville first an- keeping the crowd tranquil, and signs of hostility nounced this fact to him, "Nonsense!" he ex- were frequently very manifest. claimed, taking two or three steps backwards; "never. I do not accept; I am just come. What can I do in this wasp's nest? This lasted for some hours, which appeared all the longer from the many contradictory rumors that were afloat, and which were well calculated Friday, the 30th of July, the combat had ceased to cause much anxiety to the prince. Between in the capital, but it still continued in the direc- four and five o'clock the answer of the provisional tion of Chaillot, Neuilly, and the wood of Bou-government arrived. logne. It was General Lafayette who wrote: "In the The same day, at ten in the morning, a chaise absence of General Gerard, I answer M. the with two post-horses was seen traversing the Mayor of Montrouge, and I feel certain that suburb of Montrouge. Montrouge, like all the General Gerard would not have answered otherother suburbs, was in arms. Guards were sta-wise. tioned on all the approaches, and every new "The revolution which is taking place has for comer was questioned as to what was going on. ts object to establish the liberty of the people DXLIII. LIVING AGE. VOL. VII. 9 and of individuals, without exception, with re-lons which were lighted up as usual for the gard to the family of Orleans. It remains with evening party of whist, and ordered all the lights the Duke of Chartres to determine whose part he to be put out. At the very moment the Duchess intends to take." of Berry, accompanied by two ladies, came in, and inquired if the king was not going to play that evening. The Duke of Chartres returned to his regi ment. 'No, madame," answered the officer, "the Duke of Ragusa has been arrested." "Is he a traitor?" asked the duchess. It was the marshal's fate to be unjustly sus pected by every one. When the king learnt what had taken place, the Duke of Luxembourg was at once deputed to raise the arrest under which the marshal had been placed. The same evening an important event occurred, the details of which are little known. The Duke of Ragusa, offended at being superseded as commander-in-chief by the dauphin, had re served to himself the control of the royal guard, and having prevailed upon the king to grant two months' pay to the troops as an indemnification for their loyalty, he bade the paymasters and sergeant-majors repair at once to the offices of M. de la Bouillerie, general steward of the civil list, to obtain the promised gratuity. M. de la Bouillerie, who had no effects, went to complain to the dauphin of the unpleasant position in which i "No," the duke replied; "I will not take back he had been placed. The dauphin, irritated that that sword-I will be tried by a council of such a step should have been taken without even war." consulting him, summoned the marshal into his Somewhat soothed by the duke, the marshal presence that very evening, between eight and consented, however, after a time, to resume his nine o'clock, when the duke made his appear-sword, and to visit the king in person. ance. 66 'Marshal," he said to him, "the king restores to you that glorious sword which you will still use in the service of his majesty." It was not without great persuasion on the "Marshal!" said the dauphin, "what do you part of the latter that the marshal consented to mean by the order which you gave this morning, meet the dauphin. When he did so, the dauphin for a gratuity to be paid to the guard, and that made the first movement towards him, and said, without communicating with me? Do you for-" Marshal, let us forget the past; you were in the get that I command?" "No, your highness; but as major-general of the guard on the king's service, I took the orders of the king from his own person." "You do not acknowledge, then, the order which named me generalissimo; you disavow the king's authority?" "No, your highness; but the power which I exercise here, I also hold it from the king." "Ah! you dare me! To show you that I command, I order you in arrest." Surprised and irritated, the marshal shrugged his shoulders. The dauphin then added: Do you mean to do with us as you have done with others?" The Duke of Ragusa answered with dignity that the calumny could not reach him. The dauphin, infuriated, threw himself upon the marshal's sword, seized it by the hilt, and endeavored to draw it out of the scabbard. The marshal, in attempting to replace it forcibly, involved three of the dauphin's fingers, and hurt them so much that the blood flowed. The dauphin then called for assistance; the Count de Champagne, who was in attendance in an adjoining room, came in. "Let the marshal be arrested; bring in the body-guard." wrong in issuing orders without my knowledge, and I was too hasty and passionate; I am punished, look!" and he showed him his wounded hand. Monseigneur," replied the marshal, a deal of blood has been shed in Paris; I should never have thought I should have shed yours in St. Cloud." The marshal then bowed and withdrew; but after the interview he would give no more orders. The dauphin, who could not act without the advice of an experienced staff officer, had also to give up his command. Thus it was that, at a moment of so great a crisis, the royal guard found itself without a chief. On Friday night the dauphin induced the king to leave St. Cloud. He did not, however, take his departure till one o'clock on the morning of Saturday. The king was on horseback, as was also the Duchess of Berry disguised in man's attire, in order the more effectually to defend her children. On approaching Versailles at break of day, the Marquis of Verac came out to meet the king, and inform him that the town was in the hands of the insurgents and national guards, so that they were obliged to turn off to Trianon. Such was the dearth of provisions, that, in order to procure meat, they were obliged to slaughter Eight soldiers and a sergeant took away the the milch cows attached to the latter place. At marshal through the salle des Cent Suisses, and cleven o'clock the same morning the flight was led their prisoner to his apartments. In order continued to Rambouillet where the royal party arto comprehend how annoying was this pro-rived at ten o'clock at night. There was the same ceeding, it must be mentioned that a battalion dearth of provisions here, and in order to supply of the royal guard was on service in the court the royal table, the king ordered a general battue traversed by its general, and that a squadron of of the forests. In the unskilful execution of lancers of the guard, forming the marshal's es- these orders, a gendarme was shot in the leg, cort, were bivouacked in the same court, the and a ball went through the hat of another. The horses being fastened to the windows of his pri- same day a M. Poques, aide-de-camp to General vate apartment. An officer of the guards, per- Lafayette, who had come with a body of insurceiving what had taken place, went into the sa-rectionists to watch the proceedings of the royal |