has ever been submitted for ratification. The trade created by that treaty is already of vast amount, and is susceptible of large extensions, in proof of which it may be stated that 195 squarerigged vessels were engaged in the Bangkok commerce during 1858, whilst previous to the treaty the average number was only six vessels yearly.

Sir John subsequently published his travels and experiences in that country, under the title of 'The Kingdom and People of Siam.' It was during his administration that the insult was offered to the British flag by the Chinese Government, which resulted in open hostilities between England and China, and which led to considerable discussion in Parliament, and to the temporary defeat of Lord Palmerston in 1857.

On quitting China, Sir John received from the Chinese some characteristic marks of their appreciation of his government. Twenty-two addresses were presented by the native schoolmasters, accompanied with a handsome mirror, with the inscription, "When you want to see the face of an honest man, look on me!" A deputation of merchants brought a shining brass basin, filled with water from the mountain-rills of Hongkong (the meaning of the word Hongkong is "Fragrant Streams "), having engraved upon the edge, "Your administration has been as pure as this water." And a third deputation, accompanied by Chinese musicians, flags, and other decorative devices, desired the Governor's acceptance of a large porcelain vase, inscribed with ancient characters, conveying the wish that his age might be as happy as his youth had been honourable.

He published in 1858 his 'Visit to the Philippine Islands,' principally with a view to its relation with the trade of Great Britain. Manilla had been the only port accessible to foreigners, but the more liberal policy of the Spaniards had opened the harbours of Sual, Iloilo, and Zamboanga, which he visited in H.M.S. Magicienne; and as the representative of free trade was everywhere welcomed.

On the close of his period of service, in 1859, Sir John retired on a superannuation allowance; and since his return to England has frequently contributed to the periodical literature of the day, including 'The Gentleman's Magazine,' 'The Fortnightly Review,' 'The Cornhill Magazine,' 'All the Year Round,' and 'Once a Weck. In 1860, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant and

magistrate of Devon, and in 1861, he was again sent abroad to report on the state of our commercial relations with the new kingdom of Italy.

In 1865, he published a pamphlet on Remunerative Prison Labour,' and read an elaborate paper on the same subject at the Dundee Meeting of the British Association in 1867, being the chairman of a committee of magistrates appointed to investigate this important question.

Sir John Bowring has been twice married,-first, in 1816, to Maria, daughter of the late Samuel Lewin, Esq., of Hackney, which lady died in 1858, from the effects of poison administered to herself and her family at Hongkong the year before; and secondly, in 1860, to Deborah, daughter of Thomas Castle, Esq., of Bristol. His eldest son, by the former marriage, John Charles Bowring, Esq., of Larkbeare, Devon, has given to the British Museum a splendid present of Coleoptera, consisting of more than 84,000 species, known by the name of the "Bowringian Collection." His third son, Mr. Lewin Bentham Bowring, after having been for some years connected with the Lahore Mission, was appointed by Lord Canning as his private secretary during his Indian Viceroyalty. He is a companion of "The Star of India," the Commissioner of Mysore and Coorg, and the country is gradually prospering under his administration, though the constant agitation in favour of the claims of the old Rajah must to some extent lessen the influence of the Queen's representative. Sir John's fourth son, Mr. Edgar A. Bowring, was for many years the librarian and précis writer at the Board of Trade. He has also been private secretary to Lord Clarendon, Lord Granville, and Lord Canning. He is Secretary to the Commissioners of the Great Exhibition of 1851. He possessed to a remarkable degree the confidence of the Prince Consort, upon whose death, and as a mark of his Royal Highness's attachment, her Majesty conferred on him, as an act of her own, the Companionship of the Bath. His translations of Goethe, Schiller, and Heine are well known.