tion by Bishop Janes. We, however, regret these omissions the less since it is not our purpose to make this paper a substitute for the volume itself, but rather to invite the reader's attention to it, and to excite in him a desire to peruse it. There only can he find full satisfaction upon the subject.

ART. VII-HUC'S TRAVELS IN CHINA.

A Journey through the Chinese Empire, by M. Huc, author of Recollections of a Journey through Tartary and Thibet. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 12mo.

M. Huc's volumes present a picture of Chinese morals and manners which would form one of the most amusing publications of the day if it were not at the same time the most revolting and saddening. The sight of a vast empire demoralized and brought into a state of practical-nay more, even theoretical-disbelief of justice, mercy, and truth in this world and the next, is surely enough to make the light heart heavy. All this is none the less painful from the evidence these volumes afford of the general diffusion of education, industry and ingenuity among the Chinese. M. Huc has evidently a strong and serious feeling with regard to the condition of this great people, and a wish to make them better. Of this we need no stronger proof than the earnestness with which he devoted himself to the missionary work among them; enduring on this account a voluntary exile of many years from his native land. As a Roman Catholic propagandist, he cannot, of course, command our sympathics; nor, indeed, would he thank us for them. Whatever of Christian feeling or thought may exist in China, he ascribes, everywhere and always, to his own Church. Thus, for instance, after speaking of the prevalence of Christian doctrines among the Chinese insurrectionists, he says:

"The Chinese have also for a long time had at their command a precious collection of books of Christian doctrine, composed by the ancient missionaries, and which even, in a purely literary point of view, are much esteemed in the Empire. These books are diffused in great numbers throughout all the provinces, and it is more probable that the Chinese innovators have drawn the ideas in question from these sources than from the Bibles prudently deposited by the Methodists on the sea-shore."

Yet M. Huc is wonderfully charitable for one of his faith; or

rather, he means to be so. His sins generally lie more in the way of omission than of commission; and consist in a total forgetfulness of any Christian labours without the pale of his own communion. In truth, these volumes say little about M. Huc's missionary labours, or about religion in any sense, for reasons thus assigned:

"It is our purpose to address readers of all opinions, and to make China known to all; not merely to preserve the memory of facts connected with our mission. These interesting particulars must be sought in the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith," those veritable bulletins of the Church militant in which are recorded the acts of apostles, the virtues of neophytes, and the struggles and sufferings of martyrs. Our object in these volumes has been to describe the theatre of this peaceful warfare, and to make known the populalations that the Church of God desires to subject to her rule, and bring within her fold. We hope it will then be more easy to understand the long struggles of Christianity in China, and to appreciate its victories.”—P. xxi.

Opportunities for accurate observation have seldom or never been enjoyed by travellers in China, who are restricted by the exclusive spirit of the Chinese, to a stay in Macao and Canton, with, perhaps, a visit of form to Pekin. M. Huc gives so good an account of their privileges that we quote his words :

"The situation of travellers in China is not usually an enviable one. At their departure from Canton they are imprisoned in closed boats; they are guarded carefully from sight all along the great canal; they are what we may call put under arrest immediately on their arrival at Pekin; and, after two or three official receptions and interrogatories, they are hastily sent back again. As they are not allowed the slightest communication with the outer world, they can really describe from their own knowledge nothing more than the hedge of soldiers by which they have been surrounded, the songs of the boatmen who have accompanied them, the formalities employed by the inspectors who have searched them, and the evolutions of the grandees who prostrated themselves with them before the Son of Heaven. The history of the whole affair has been given by one of these travellers with as much naïveté as precision. He says, They entered Pekin like beggars, staid in it like prisoners, and were driven from it like thieves.'"*-Pp. xix, xx.

Over travellers such as these our author has certainly great advantages; a ten years' residence in the celestial empire, with French manners, Jesuitical cunning, and perfect command of the language, gave him opportunities for familiar intercourse with Chinese society, even in its higher ranks, which no other European has ever enjoyed. Nor was the author's long stay his only advantage. He and his companion travelled from the borders of Thibet to Canton as state prisoners, with all their expenses paid in the most liberal manner from the imperial treasury. They were lodged everywhere at the " Communal palaces," at which only the grandees of the empire or envoys of government are entitled to be entertained. The account of this triumphal

Account of the Embassy of Lord Macartney.

tour (for thus the genius of M. Huc developed it) is indeed marvellous. Many a time does he make large drafts upon our faith, causing us to remember the parting paragraphs in the preface which he quotes from the scarcely more marvellous accounts of the Venetian, Marco Polo. Yet, withal, we are inclined to give M. Huc credit for a good share of veracity, unless where the "honor and glory of his Church and her orders" are concerned.

The portion of his Chinese experience which our traveller does give us here, is incomparably interesting; narrated, morcover, in a most readable manner, which is a great consideration. The clear, logical Frenchman, with all his tact and talent, is visible in every page. Quick-witted and quick-sighted, he seizes and displays the novelties which China is so rich in, with graphic and even dramatic skill. His coolness and ready repartee stood him in good stead in dealing with the mandarins, for they respect courage and enjoy wit. Morcover these Mandarin directors of society are not accustomed to equals; to superiors they give implicit reverence; inferiors they govern with an iron hand. Travellers generally fall into the last category; but M. Huc was too wary even for the serpentine Mandarins; and they always appear hors du combat at the close of these laughable encounters. His perpetual good humour is also a marked characteristic, which makes him a most desirable travelling companion. Always taking the soft side of inconveniences, and the bright side of disappointments, his cheerfulness is quite infectious, and keeps the reader good humoured in spite of himself. When the Chinese, under pretence of treating them better, would treat them worse than their written instructions warranted, the polite Frenchman could not think of giving so much trouble, and insists upon his courteous hosts doing "nothing more than the viceroy has directed." Again when the travellers are taken to a miserable inn, (though by name the "Hotel of Accomplished Wishes,") instead of the communal palace at which they should have been lodged, the missionary could not think of remaining there, because "it would so much grieve the viceroy to hear how his commands had been disregarded." The prefect who has charge of the palace does not decline this great honour by telling the truth, and saying it costs too much money; that would be entirely unlike a Chinese, to whom a lie seems always best. He declares how unbounded would be his joy at entertaining (for even a day) men from the great kingdom of France, but,.alas! the palace is in such fearful disorder from workmen; and, moreover, there are in the grand saloon seven or eight coffins containing the dead bodies of official persons of the district, waiting till their families should come to remove and bury them. This last argument

would indeed have proved conclusive to most Europeans; but, alas for the prefect's pocket, he had found his match in diplomacy for once. The missionary replies,

"That since probably the viceroy was not aware of the communal palace having been converted into a cemetery, it would be well to write to him to that effect; since, if he happened to travel this way himself, he might not, perhaps, find it pleasant to take up his abode among coffins and dead bodies; but that as far as we were concerned it did not make the slightest difference, as we were not much afraid of the living, and not at all of the dead. We should go to the palace, therefore, and did not doubt but we should be able to make ourselves very comfortable there. The prefect did his utmost to deter us from this "almost insane" project; and at last, to have done with him, we told him that he might settle the matter at his good pleasure, provided only that he would write and sign a statement that we, having wished to rest for a day at the communal palace of Kien-tcheou, had not been allowed to do so on account of its being in an uninhabitable state. The prefect perfectly understood our meaning; and turning to some subaltern officers who were in waiting, he said: I am of the same way of thinking as our guests; it is absolutely necessary they should have a day of repose. Let orders be immediately sent to Koungkouan to take away the coffins and put things as they ought to be, and let the guardians take care not to be again guilty of the same fault. Ten minutes afterward we were proceeding in state, in our new palanquins, to the communal palace. As we went out we just whispered in the ear of Master Ting, Remember, if we are not properly treated, we will remain two days instead of one.' Strange country, in which it is necessary to behave in this way order not to be oppressed and ill-treated yourself.”—Vol. i, pp. 200, 201.

in

The result proved the Frenchman's sagacity, for the palace was by far the most elegant they had yet seen, and they were treated with great distinction. This capacity for outmanoeuvring even the wily Chinese would indeed make our traveller seem contemptible, if we did not keep in mind, that he was playing for his life, which was in the hands of his escort; and one false or timorous move would probably have ended their pilgrimage in some ditch behind the ramparts of a Chinese town, as many of their worthy predecessors had finished theirs.

Let us leave M. Huc's personal narrative for a time, that we may look at the facts he gives in reference to these curious people. The most striking feature of the Chinese is their entire dissimilarity to every other nation. All their habits and customs appear to us inverted. Whether we take externals which display the hair removed from the crown and eyebrows and falling below the knees in long tails, the faces stained an orange colour to increase their beauty-or conquering our antipathy for these strange looking specimens of humanity we follow our author into the dining saloon, to the school, or to the state apartment, there is the same feeling of contrast and opposition. True, we have been told wonderful stories of the Chinese cuisine; of the dishes prepared with castor oil, FOURTH SERIES, VOL. VII.-39

of shark fins, fish gizzards, goose feet, peacocks' combs and other delicacies of the same sort; but all these wonders exist, acccording to M. Huc, in the imagination of the traveller, or perhaps in the mischievous attempts of the Canton merchants, who sometimes amuse themselves by inventing dishes for Europeans which a Chinaman has never seen. Surely, however, to begin dinner with the dessert and end it with soup; "to drink wine smoking hot out of little China cups, and have your food brought to you ready cut up into small pieces; to be presented with a couple of sticks instead of a knife and fork to eat with; to have a quantity of little bits of coloured silk paper beside your plate, instead of napkins, which are carried off by the attendants as soon as used;" to leave your place between the courses to smoke or amuse yourself; to put your chop sticks on your head and then across your tea cup as an indication that you have dined; all these are enough to satisfy the most inveterate searcher for novelties, without need of further wonders in the quality of the viands.

In the paying of visits, everything is prescribed by a code of etiquette called "the Rites," which details the minutest particulars, and is obeyed with religious exactness; a great saving of embarrassment, doubtless, but a wonderful expenditure of ceremonious words and genuflections; in flexions of all sorts, in fact; for hands, head and knees have alike an active part to perform. In some of these polite phrases we are reminded of the French leaders of ton and our own followers of them; who, in striving to follow, far outstrip their more graceful masters. The Chinese "gentleman," when intending to call upon a friend must despatch a servant several hours before hand with a note, which is apt to run thus: "Your disciple, or your younger brother so and so has come to bow his head to the ground before you and to offer you his respects." This phrase implies an inquiry as to his friend's willingness to receive him; it is written on red paper; the size of the sheet being regulated by the rank of the person addressed and the degree of respect to be testified. Even the size of the letters bear the same proportion to the magnitude of the individual. Large characters must be used when you wish to mingle a certain air of "stateliness with your courtesy," and the characters diminish in proportion to the interest one has in appearing humble and respectful. The conversation must always begin on indifferent, mostly insignificant subjects, and gradually rise in importance till the last moment, when you may explain what really brought you there. M. Huc concludes his account of one of these ceremonies : "The visitor then rises and says, 'I have been troublesome to you a very long time;' and doubtless of all Chinese compli