various outlying portions of our land such as Portland Bill, Southsea Common, Sheerness, and one or two other points round the coast, and on these to erect, with gains extorted from ourselves, his barbarian residences and go-downs-then we shall be able to perceive somewhat the light in which our mercantile policy and community necessarily present themselves to the eyes of Chinamen. And besides all this, the same spirit of contradiction protesting against self-glorification bids us remember, that while we think it a wrong that Englishmen should not have free access to all parts of the Chinese empire, and claim, while we intrude, that we will only be subject to our own consular laws, not to his, we for our part deny the Chinaman the right to come, except in certain numbers and under certain restrictions, to our colonies and shores, and when he comes insist on his observing our laws not his. The freedom we claim for ourselves we deny to him. And further, while we claim the right to introduce our goods, paying if any, pretty much what import dues we please, yet on the other hand when he imports his chief produce-tea-into our country, although it be one which is now almost a necessity of life, yet we load it with an import duty which more than doubles its cost to the English cottager. For it is the British labourer and mechanic who is more concerned in the China trade than any one else, since two-thirds of the whole exports from China to Great Britain consist of this one article alone, namely, tea; which we tax 100 per cent.

The least that can be asked then of an Englishman, before he proceeds to find fault with the Chinaman, is to try to put himself into the Chinaman's place, and see things from his point of view. Face to face with China, something else is wanted than claptrap about Western civilisation and the most evident motives of selfaggrandisement by those who utter it. The Chinaman feels, and rightly so, that China is a country as large as Europe, and possesses a population sixty millions greater than that of all Western countries put together; that his empire had attained to a high civilisation 2,000 years before the forefathers of the British race were painted savages, herding with the beasts in their native woods and dells; and he firmly believes it will endure centuries after the European kingdoms have disappeared. General Gordon has said: "As for the Chinese, I believe they are the coming race. They are destined to overcome the world and occupy it. They are upright and industrious, and will establish hongs in London instead of importing their tea by deputy-by agents

and before long they will gradually absorb the commerce and wealth of the world. Li used to tell me, when talking about the railways and telegraphs, 'We will have telegraphs, because they are the ear, and it is well to hear. You push us now, but you will find, perhaps, that we shall go too sharp for you some day.' And so they will! You will see the Chinese merchants established in the great European warehouse."]1

Dec. 5th.-Up early and started at 8 A.M. for the meet of the draghounds; it was raining the whole time and the ground was very heavy, and though it was very slippery there were but few falls. Eddy rode a pony called "Spalpeen" and George "Black Cloud;" we had a capital run and enjoyed ourselves very much. After changing our clothes at the Consulate, for we were wet through to the skin, we went to a mid-day breakfast with Chief Justice Hannen. On leaving his house we went straight to the Jardine steps and down in the Bacchante's steam pinnace

1 "On leaving London for China," writes a well-known correspondent at Pekin, “I was surprised to find that all the firemen on board the ship were Chinese. The vessel was one of a large line of steamers (Glen Line) trading to China, and I learned that this particular steamer was one of the last to adopt Chinese firemen, the chief engineer being unwilling to employ Asiatics while there were Englishmen wanting bread. He found, however, that he could not help himself. British firemen were so troublesome and so given to being drunk when they got a chance, that with all his preference for his own countrymen, the 'chief' was obliged to give in at last and take Chinamen. Before giving in I think that on one occasion he had to have the ship anchored till the firemen got sober, and on another occasion to go down the channel with the engineers acting as stokers. Then, much against his will, he had to take to the objectionable Chinamen. On asking how the Chinese did, I was told they did firstclass, gave no trouble, were always there when wanted, were steady and sober, and in every way competent. It did not appear that very much was saved in wages by employing Chinamen, but the gain was in the absolute regularity with which they performed their work. It is in this way the Chinese are going to conquer, by sober, plodding industry; where labour is wanted they will supply it, and be steady at their work. Some years ago there was a talk of a company importing some thousands of Chinese to London. They will come without a company and without ostentation, they will come only where and when they are wanted; but the alarming consideration in the contest of races is that they can render themselves profitable, and even necessary, to those who are reluctant to use them. If Britain can be made sober she may hold her own, for the Chinaman labours under many disadvantages; but if the steady, quiet, law-abiding Chinaman has as his competitor a man liable at any time to be off work for a day or two through drink, it is not difficult to see who will win. Against industrious perseverance no protective laws can save a country whose working population is given to the interruptions of drinking and 'sprees.' At present Britain has got the start, and for years, perhaps decades, China may be unable to cope with us in manufactures, but no length of start can keep us permanently ahead of unwearying perseverance. China is learning, slowly, it is true, but still learning, Western arts; and when once she has learned thoroughly her lesson, her industrious sober population, if prohibited from working in Britain and the colonies, will produce in her own possessions manufactures which will be lower in price than ours. For some time our name and prestige will save us, but this cannot last for ever, and I am deeply conscious that in the long run no nation which cripples its energies and wastes its income on drink, as Britain now does, will be able to compete successfully with China."-Pall Mall Gazette, April, 1884.

from Shanghai to Wusung against the tide in an hour and threequarters, and got on board about 2 P.M. In the evening busy writing letters for the mail, as we go to sea to-morrow.

Dec. 6th. At 12.30 P.M. weighed and proceeded in company with the other three ships of the squadron, Inconstant, Carysfort, Tourmaline and H.M.S. Vigilant, on board of which last the admiral is going to sea; (the Cleopatra had previously left on the 26th of November for Hong-kong, to refit, as when the squadron breaks up there, she is to accompany the Bacchante afterwards as far as Suez). As we left our moorings the Chinese bumboat-man let off a succession of loud resounding crackers, in order to frighten away the devils who, though unseen, might be lying in wait to do us a mischief. At 3.30 P.M. the squadron anchored for the night off the Blockhouse Light in the Yang-tse-kiang in six and a half fathoms, where the Foxhound joined us. This evening there was a total eclipse of the moon.

Dec. 7th. At 10.30 A.M. weighed and proceeded with the squadron in charge of a pilot, at a speed of eight knots. The admiral hauled his flag down on board the Inconstant and hoisted it in the Vigilant. At 1.30 P.M. made plain sail. At 3 P.M. stopped, squared the mainyard and discharged the pilot, as we are out of the river, then filled and proceeded. At 4.30 P.M. shortened and furled sails, down royal yards, and formed columns of division in line ahead. At 6.15 P.M. anchored under the lee of the Ragged Islands in ten and a half fathoms. Strong tide running the same as at Wusung. This afternoon we midshipmen had our half yearly seamanship examination. We have been in sight of land all day, and the sun has been warm though the wind is rather cold.

Dec. 8th.-At 6 A.M. as soon as it was light weighed and proceeded under steam in company with squadron, Vigilant and Foxhound. At 2.30 P.M. came to and moored in nine and a half fathoms off Tinghai on Chusan Island, a pretty anchorage entirely surrounded by hills. It is warmer to-day than it has been for the last few days, the thermometer getting above 50° again. At 3.30 P.M. the admiral hoisted his flag on board the Inconstant once more. Chusan Island is so called from its fancied resemblance to a "boat"; its extreme length is twenty-one miles, and it is fifty-one miles in circumference. From the beach at Tinghai on the south to the north shore the distance across is only seven miles. The island is well cultivated and is diversified with hill and dale; numerous small streams run from the mountains, of which the most considerable fall into Tinghai harbour. Its products are rice, millet, wheat, sweet potatoes, and yams; the tea-plant is found everywhere, but is treated with little or no care; the cotton-plant is largely cultivated near the sea. From where we lie we can easily see the wall, thirteen feet wide and nearly thirty feet high, which surrounds Tinghai town. This is of an irregular five-sided shape, about three miles in circumference, nearly encircled by a canal over thirty feet broad, and contains 30,000 inhabitants. Those of our officers who landed found the town full of smells. To the left of the town runs a high stone embankment to prevent the encroachment of the sea on the rice-fields, which stretch away inland behind to the foot of the hills. Every large field has its canal for the purpose of carrying away the produce. The burial ground of the British forces which occupied Tinghai from 1841 to 1846 is situated on the slope of the hill east of the joss-house.

It was on July 4th, 1840, that Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer, in H.M.S. Wellesley seventy-four, with four other ships, three steamers, and twenty-one transports, anchored and demanded the surrender of the town and island. The Chinese confessed they were quite unable to withstand such a force, but would do their best, neither could they understand why they were attacked for what had happened at Canton, 700 miles away, and of which they knew nothing. The commodore opened fire, and in a few minutes silenced them, and then 4,000 British landed, out of which number before the 15th of September more than 400 had died of sickness and bad food, and half the total number were in hospital. It was abandoned in February, 1841, but again occupied the second time after another obstinate resistance at the end of September the same

year; but again cholera, fever, and other diseases slew more than 1,000 before the end of the next month. When it was finally given back to the Chinese by Lord Clyde three years after the Treaty of Nankin, it was stipulated in the third and fourth articles of the convention signed at Bocca Tigris, April 4th, 1846, on the part of his Majesty the Emperor of China, that as the Chusan islands completely command not only the entrance of the Yang-tse-kiang, but also that of the Ning-po river, "they should never be ceded by him to any other foreign power." Her Britannic Majesty in the next article consented upon her part, "in case of the attack of an invader, to protect Chusan and its dependencies, and to restore it to the possessions of China as of old." It was by the same treaty, that of Nankin, to which this convention was appendix, that we obtained access to the first five treaty ports, the possession of Hongkong, and an indemnity of five millions sterling.1

1 The first of the two English wars with China lasted from 1840 to 1842. Its history was somewhat thus:-Up till 1834 the East India Company had the monopoly of all English trade in the China seas, and this was practically confined to a guild of merchants at Canton; and the most important item of their trade was Indian-grown opium. To introduce this into China was, however, illegal. The Queen's Government, in contradistinction to the East India Company, recognised this. In 1838 they warn all English citizens to discontinue the illicit opium trade, and will in no way interfere it the Chinese Government shall think fit to seize and confiscate the same. In 1839 again, the Crown declines to sanction the most important branch of the Indian trade, which the Company had done everything in its power to foster and extend. (Fifty thousand chests were in that year on their way to China.) Commodore Elliot, then the senior naval officer in China, binds himself to help the Emperor to put down the trade, promising that all ships with opium on board should be seized and confiscated. (This illogical position was certain to lead to trouble; the Queen's representative gave solemn pledges and used indignant language, yet at the same time the East India Company grew and imported the drug. The real cardinal objection of the Chinese Government to the opium and all foreign trade, was the departure out of the country of the silver paid in exchange for imports. They tried to rule that each foreign ship should take away as much bulk of exported Chinese goods as it brought of English ones, thus to insure the equalisation of trade. But the true remedy to all trouble seemed to them to lie in the cessation of all foreign intercourse, and efforts were made to extrude us altogether from Canton.) Commodore Elliot, then at Canton, orders the merchants to surrender to him 20,000 chests of opium, all in stock, worth over two millions sterling, which he in turn hands over to the Chinese. They mix it with salt and lime and pour it into the sea. Emboldened by this the Chinese try to stop all commerce. Continual squabbles result between individual English and Chinese, and piracy complicates matters on the river. The merchants appeal to England, to Lord Palmerston, in May, asking for compensation for destruction of opium given up by Elliot's orders. Sailors quarrel, July, 1839, with natives. Two English men-of-war (Volage and Hyacinth) arrive, and on 3rd November, 1839, engage twenty-nine war junks off Chuenpee. The contest now passes away from the opium question: the issue is right of English to trade at all, or right of Chinese to exclude altogether. In June, 1840, Sir G. Bremer arrives in Canton River with fifteen ships of war, four steam vessels, and twenty-five transports with 4,000 soldiers. He proceeds and takes Chusan, having bombarded Amoy on the way up; but can get no official to take his despatch to Pekin; so sails northward himself for Peiho. Imperial commissioner persuades him to return to Canton, where the matter can be better settled. He returns thither; but after much procrastination, 7th January, 1841, forces the Bogue forts after