The characters 1 and 2, in the running hand, are too contracted to be made out here; 3 is sung, a species of tree; 4, chung, middle, or in the midst; and 5, ming, which signifies porcelain; but as the latter three are probably used in connexion with the first two-without the knowledge of what these are, it is impossible to make the inscription intelligible. That they are Chinese, however, we can give unquestionable proof. Lord Prudhoe sent to China a fac simile of the characters and flowers on one of these little bottles, altogether different from those on Mr. Pettigrew's, and more of the old running-hand; and so difficult that neither Gutzlaff, Morrison, nor Midhurst, three excellent Chinese scholars, would venture to pronounce with certainty what they were. A Chinese, however, read off the inscription instantly, and without the slightest hesitation; and afterwards, in succession, four or five Chinese did the same. That inscription turned out to be the commencement of a well-known Ode to the new year- The flower opens, and lo! another year.' There was, as on Mr. Davis's little bottle, a flower painted on the reverse.

That these bottles did not come out of a tomb of any of the Pharaohs must be obvious from the single circumstance of the porcelain manufacture of China being of a comparatively recent date.

The first porcelain furnace on record,' says Mr. Davis, was in Kiang-see, (the same province where it is now principally made,) about the commencement of the seventh century of our era.'

How, then, these Chinese porcelain bottles came into Egypt is the question? to which our answer is undoubtedly through the medium of the Arabs, who are known to have carried on an The following is a fac simile of the running-hand symbols on the bottle of Prudhoe:Running hand.

yi

Plain hand.

Lord

hoa

nien

kai

yeu

intercourse by sea with India and China from the shores of the Red Sea, as early as in the first century of the Christian era. These people are mentioned in the Chinese annals as trading with them about the year A.D. 140; and the two Mahomedans, who visited China in the ninth century, learned that several of their countrymen were there resident; in fact, they were found most useful to the Chinese in regulating their calendar, as the Roman Catholic missionaries subsequently were, by whom the Arabs were superseded. These bottles (used for snuff chiefly) are common enough in China, but the same kind in shape and size, cut out of agate or rock-crystal, are mostly in use by the wealthy.

6

Of the government and legislation of China, Mr. Davis, we think, has taken the right view. It is well known,' he says, that parental authority is the model or type of political rule in China.' This authority, the most natural, and familiar to every one from infancy, may have induced the Chinese legislators to consider it as the least likely ever to be called in question.

'There is nothing,' says Mr. Davis, more remarkable in their ritual, and in their criminal code, than the exact parallel which is studiously kept up between the relations in which every person stands to his own parents, and to the Emperor. For similar offences against both he suffers similar punishments; at the death of both he mourns the same time, and goes the same period unshaven; and both possess nearly the same power over his person. Thus he is bred up to civil obedience, "tenero ab ungui," with every chance of proving a quiet subject, at least. Such institutions certainly do not denote the existence of much liberty; but if peaceful obedience and universal order be the sole objects in view, they argue, on the part of the governors, some knowledge of human nature, and an adaptation of the means to the end.

In the book of Sacred Instructions, addressed to the people, founded on their ancient writings, and read publicly by the principal magistrates on the days that correspond to the new and full moon, the sixteen discourses of which it consists are headed by that which teaches the duties of children to parents, of juniors to elders, and (thence) of the people to the Government. The principle is extended thus, in a quotation from the sacred books :-" In our general conduct, not to be orderly is to fail in filial duty; in serving our Sovereign, not to be faithful is to fail in filial duty; in acting as a magistrate, not to be careful is to fail in filial duty; in the intercourse of friends, not to be sincere is to fail in filial duty; in arms and in war, not to be brave is to fail in filial duty." The claims of elders are enforced thus: "The duty to parents and the duty to elders are indeed similar in obligation; for he who can be a pious son will also prove an obedient younger brother; and he who is both will, while at home, prove an honest and orderly subject, and in active service, from home, a courageous and faithful soldier. . . . May you all, O soldiers and people,

conform to these our instructions, evincing your good dispositions by your conduct and actions, each fulfilling his duty as a son and a junior, according to the example which is left you by the wise and holy men of former times. Mencius has said, Were all men to honour their kindred and respect their elders, the world would be at peace.'”’— vol. i. pp. 201-3.

These ancient maxims certainly evince a civilized state of society. Mr. Davis shows, however, that the government, as it now exists, does not confine itself to preaching; it calls to its aid the bamboo and the cangue; it can act on occasions with an extraordinary degree of severity, cruelty, and inhumanity; it pries into the secrets of domestic life: it gives to a father the power of life and death over a son; yet can construe a quarrel or broil, in a private family, into rebellion, and, when it suits its purpose, treat it nearly in all respects as treason. The last Emperor gave a dreadful proof with what ease he ventured to go beyond the established law, in a case wholly of a private nature, without submitting it, in the first instance, to any tribunal; and yet these people proclaim, and so does the Emperor himself, that he is equally amenable to the law as the poorest of his subjects.

A man and his wife had beaten and otherwise severely ill-used the mother of the former. This being reported by the Viceroy to Peking, it was determined to enforce in a signal manner the fundamental principle of the empire. The very place where it occurred was anathematized, as it were, and made accurst. The principal offenders were put to death; the mother of the wife was bambooed, branded, and exiled for her daughter's crime; the scholars of the district for three years were not permitted to attend the public examination, and their promotion thereby stopped; the magistrates were deprived of their office and banished. The house in which the offenders dwelt was dug up from the foundations. "Let the Viceroy," the edict adds, "make known this proclamation, and let it be dispersed through the whole empire, that the people may all learn it. And if there be any rebellious children who oppose, beat, or degrade their parents, they shall be punished in like manner. If ye people indeed know the renovating principle, then fear and obey the imperial will, nor look on this as empty declamation. I instruct the magistrates of every province severely to warn the heads of families, and elders of villages; and on the 2nd and 16th of every month to read the Sacred Instructions, in order to show the importance of the relations of life, that persons may not rebel against their parents-for I intend to render the empire filial." This was addressed to a population, estimated commonly at 300,000,000.'

Thus, however beautiful in theory, and we believe generally efficacious in practice, is the administration of this government, we see, in the case we have cited, that an Emperor of China can be

as

In

as despotic as the Grand Seignior or the tyrant of Morocco. practice,' says Mr. Davis, there is of course a great deal of inevitable abuse; but upon the whole, and with relation to ultimate effects, the machine works well; and we repeat that the surest proofs of this are apparent on the very face of the most cheerfully industrious, and orderly, and the most wealthy nation of Asia. This system of parental authority on which the government is founded-this filial piety, so extolled by the Jesuitsseems to have been duly appreciated by the late Sir George Staunton, who observes It might much more properly be considered as a general rule of action, than as the expression of any particular sentiment of affection." He admits, however, that through all the various changes and revolutions which the state has undergone, it continues to this day powerfully enforced both by positive laws and by public opinion. Mr. Davis adds:

'A government constituted upon the basis of parental authority, thus highly estimated and extensively applied, has certainly the advantage of being directly sanctioned by the immutable and ever-operating laws of nature, and must thereby acquire a degree of firmness and durability to which governments, founded on the fortuitous superiority of particular individuals, either in strength or abilities, and continued only through the hereditary influence of particular families, can never be expected to attain. Parental authority and prerogative seem to be, obviously, the most respectable of titles, and parental regard and affection the most amiable of characters, with which sovereign and magisterial power can be invested; and are those under which it is natural to suppose it may most easily be perpetuated. By such principles the Chinese have been distinguished ever since their first existence as a nation; by such ties the vast and increasing population of China is still united as one people, subject to one supreme government, and uniform in its habits, manners, and language. In this state, in spite of every internal and external convulsion, it may possibly very long continue.'-vol. i. pp. 205, 206.

But the Chinese are too wise to trust to such a theory alone. On the contrary, they seem to have perfectly understood the workings and propensities of human nature-and above all, not to have neglected the maxim of divide et impera, by preventing all associations, combinations, and assemblies of the people. The vigilance rigidly exercised by means of the law relating to hundreds and tithings in the districts and towns-the prohibition of marriage between parties of the same name-the prohibition regarding every viceroy, governor, or magistrate of a province, district, or city, against forming a matrimonial connexion with a family within the limits of his rule -the limitation of every civil officer to three years' residence in one place the terrible round of espionage,' as Mr. Davis calls it, are so many proofs of a jealous and suspicious vigilance, that men should

should not have the opportunity of conspiring together against the government. But with all this vigilance, the government has found it utterly impossible to prevent a feeling of clanship among the lower orders, generally of those who claim a common descent. If a quarrel ensues between two clans they usually fight it out, and many fall in the affray, which is frequently obliged to be quelled by the military. They carry this feeling abroad, and when a large party of Chinese were not long ago sent to St. Helena, two clans, which happened to be among them, met to have a pitched battle. A sergeant's party turned out to quell the rioters; one set joined the soldiers, but the other would not give in, and many of them were killed. In Ireland they manage these matters differentlyboth parties generally uniting to oppose the soldiers.

There exist, moreover, certain secret associations, under various names, in spite of all the vigilance of the government, to whom they give considerable uneasiness. Their object, however, is not the overturn of the civil institutions of the country, but the expulsion of the Tartar dynasty. Like freemasons, they style each other 'brothers; and indeed they seem to be not unlike freemasons in other respects.

The ceremony of initiation is said to take place at night. The oath of secrecy is taken before an idol, and a sum of money given to support the general expense. There is likewise a ceremony called kuo-keaou, "passing the bridge," which bridge is formed of swords, either laid between two tables, or else set up on the hilts and meeting at the points, in form of an arch. The persons who receive the oath take it under this bridge, and the ye-ko, or chief-brother, reads the articles of the oath, to each of which an affirmative response is given by the new member; after which he cuts off the head of a cock, which is the usual form of a Chinese oath, intimating, "Thus perish all who divulge the secret." Some of the marks by which they make themselves known to each other consist of mystical numbers, of which the chief is the number three. Certain motions of the fingers constitute a class of signs. To discover if one of the fraternity is in company, a brother will take up his teacup, or its cover, in a particular way with three fingers, and this will be answered by a corresponding sign. They have a common seal, consisting of a pentagonal figure, in which are inscribed certain characters in a sense understood only by the initiated.'-vol. ii. p. 17.

They are sworn to secrecy, and though some of them have been detected and put to torture before execution, they have never been known to divulge their object or their associates. A paper was found by one of the gentlemen of the Canton factory, who, seeing it to be of a seditious character, sent it to the mandarin of the district; but this functionary earnestly entreated that the matter might not be made public, as the mere finding such a

paper