CHINESE MISCELLANIES:

A COLLECTION OF

ESSAYS AND NOTES.

BY SIR JOHN FRANCIS DAVIS, BART., K.C.B.

"Collectanea-Scripta quæ ex pluribus excerpta locis in unum lecta sunt."

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.

1865.

246. f. 15.

PREFACE.

THE increased facility of access to China and Japanthe combined result of successful war and diplomacy -has augmented the interest which distance and difficulties had tended to keep down. Both countries may now be reached in little more than six weeks, English law is administered under a Royal Commission on the coast of China, and money coined with the Queen's image and superscription.

The few short Articles contained in this Volume may, from their variety, serve for the amusement or information of various readers. Some are printed for the first time, and the rest appear with the kind permission of the proprietors of the Edinburgh and Quarterly reviews, and others.

The fears formerly entertained of European nations in both China and Japan, from the idea that their principal object was territorial possession, must have been greatly allayed by the moderation which has attended our military successes. In the former country, we and our allies, the French, took Peking, the capital, and then (very unlike Oriental conquerors) left the city to its owners with only the indispensable guarantees