others.' In fact, we find in several battles about the time referred to, that not a single knight was slain. An anecdote in point is also related of George the Fourth. After the battle of Waterloo, it was proposed to make some change in the dress of the Life Guards: The King ordered one of the soldiers to be sent for, who had greatly distinguished himself, and was said to have slain six or seven French Cuirassiers in single combat. He was asked a variety of questions, to each of which he assented; until the King, perceiving that his opinion was biassed by the presence of royalty and his own officers, said to him, 'Well, if you were going to have such another day's work as you had at Waterloo, how would you like to be dressed?''Please your Majesty,' he replied, 'in that case I had rather be in my shirt-sleeves." Mr. Wilkinson throws much light upon Damascus blades; but his proofs that ours is an iron age require much less disquisition. :

"Iron has been applied to numerous useful purposes by every civilized nation, for thousands of years; but never has it been so extensively employed as at the present period. We have iron roads and iron carriages; the 'wooden walls of old England' will probably be made of iron in another century; numerous steam-boats are already constructed of that material; the cushion of our chairs are stuffed with iron in place of horse-hair; and not only our bedsteads, but even our feather-beds (to use an Hibernicism) are made of iron."

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW.

APRIL, 1841.

ART. I.

1. The Chinese as they Are: their Moral, Social, and Literary Character; a New Analysis of the Language; with Succinct Views of their Principal Arts and Sciences. By G. TRADESCANT LAY, Esq. London Ball and Co. 1841.

2. Manners and Customs of the Japanese, in the Nineteenth Century; from Recent Dutch Visiters of Japan, and the German of Dr. Ph. Fr. Von Siebold. London: Murray. 1841.

MR. LAY, who was Naturalist in Beechey's Expedition, and is the Author of "The Voyage of the Himmaleh," &c. has resided for some time at Canton in the capacity, it would appear, of a servant of the Bible Society, the state of his health, however, forbidding him to extend his efforts, in China, in the manner that he desired. He seems, while at Canton and Macao, and during some excursions along the coasts and visits paid to certain islands, to have devoted his time not merely to a discriminating system of distributing the Scriptures, but to the not less essential habit of making himself acquainted with the character and manners of the Chinese people, and also to the study of their language and their literature. By the term discriminating just now employed, we mean that, according to his own account, he seriously questions the method, or rather want of method, pursued by some professed teachers of Christianity, who scatter lavishly portions of Revelation, without inquiry or reason for believing that the books can or will be read. He thinks that the broad cast and unsparing mode of dealing out books should never be resorted to where a better one can be adopted. He is not so much concerned about the arithmetic in such cases as the working silently and unobtrusively. He is not for giving wherever a hand is held out, but, if possible, by first kindling a desire for religious reading; after which a demand for books would necessarily follow, and native distributors would be called into the field.

VOL. I. (1841.) No. IV.

I I

But there is a great deal more in Mr. Lay's volume than what immediately concerns the propagation of the Gospel among the Celestials; for he brings science, learning, general knowledge and accomplishments to his task of describing the "Chinese as they Are;" and instead of producing a compilation, he does not appear to us to have gone beyond the truth when he says, that he has not made free with anything belonging to his predecessors, but has confined himself to what fell under his own notice, with the help of native books.' We may here state also that he displays good sense as well as ingenuity in his interpretations of circumstances, and also in deciphering indices; and that his conclusions with regard to China as a sphere for Christian efforts, as well as for the introduction of foreign enlightenment in secular concerns, are much more hopeful than those which have been often, and indeed are generally adopted. The fact is, that he appears to believe that the Tartar despotism and exclusiveness will soon be broken to pieces; that the Chinese, as a nation, do not really partake of the Government's jealousies, or, at least, that they very soon become alive to the real nature of their interests, and are not slow to perceive whatever of foreign superiority is presented to them. "The Government of China," says Mr. Lay, "is purposely absurd, but the people are reasonable in their views and conceptions."

But

The arm that is to break the Tartar despotism mentioned, will be that of Britain. Such is his fond anticipation, such his strong assurance. He is prepared to hear of delays, mistakes, and halfexecuted measures in the progress of the armament in China. he believes the Chinese will be easily subdued in battle. He, in his Preface, talks of them, "as soon as they are practically convinced that the civil administration has been changed, not for the worse, but for the better, ranking with the most quiet, most happy, and best conducted subjects of the British empire;" that is, if "the greatest moderation, sagacity, and tact, on the part of an officer appointed to govern a province, or an island, to make them acquainted with the blessings of peace under a new system of public discipline," be exercised.

From all we have ever read that has been considerately written concerning the "flowery" people, they are so peculiar and so far removed from European modes that we shall hesitate before expressing any decided opinion relative to the accuracy of Mr. Lay's representations, further than to say, that while he frequently gives tokens of being under the sway of a sanguine temperament, and to be ambitious in the matter of style, his pictures have verisimilitude about them. We regard them as being characteristic, although sometimes corrective of our preconceptions, or running quite counter to their import.

Mr. Lay in his moderately-sized volume so divides and arranges

his matter as to render it very easy for the reader or reviewer to pick out what he may be particularly in quest of, or so to combine abstracts as to furnish a summary of the whole; and as "The Chinese as they Are," is a subject which at this moment, and indeed at any period, presents unusual features, we shall be at pains to satisfy the excited curiosity in as far as our limits will mit; thereby also recommending, we hope, the volume from which we draw numerous morsels to the attention of not a few.

per

The first of the thirty-six chapters of the volume treats of the present aspect of China, and the causes and probable results of the war with the British; Mr. Lay representing in strong terms the patience which this country has exercised to the tea-growers and opium-consumers; this forbearance being "attributable perhaps to that paradoxical air which was industriously thrown over everything connected with China, and to that false philosophy which sought to prove that the notions and habits of the people were so singular and so eccentric, that they could never be reduced to the ordinary principles of humanity." Such a persuasion appears to have been our author's previous to his sojourn in China, which however was dispelled by experience, he having become convinced that it was founded in misconception; the Government, as we have above noticed, being charged with its propagation, not the real character of the people. Much of our author's chapters go to substantiate the view which he at length adopted; nor are the facts, anecdotes, and arguments lame or uninteresting which he adduces in support of his doctrine. We like the way in which he marshals his illustrations, the skill with which they are dove-tailed, the feeling with which they were sought after, and the tone in which they are delivered.

It will already be perceived that Mr. Lay approves of the policy which at length sent an armament to the Yellow Sea. He feels assured that the demoralizing effects which the use of opium produced were only the pretended cause for the Tartar government throwing down the gauntlet and defying Britain; the state of the empire's currency being so serious as to call for a remedy. Thus far opium may be reckoned amongst the real causes of our expulsion. But he thinks there were deeper and more powerful motives at work. First, the Government's fear, extending throughout all the ranks of poorly paid officials, of truth and discovery. Therefore no means were left untried to render the British base, poor, and feeble in the nation's eyes. Expulsion was necessary to prevent the natives from becoming convinced of our humanity, power, and just government. Secondly, there was a secret, though ill-defined abhorrence of Christianity; and thirdly, a dread of our arms, till at length a persuasion that our India possessions were in danger, and that the British lion was there fast bound, led the Celestials to

"pluck his hair and sport with his mane at pleasure." But what as to the probable results? Hear our author:

"If the discontented spirits of the country and the foreigner should come to an understanding, emancipation from the Tartar yoke, and the setting up of some native prince, are events within the calculations of likelihood. Such a prince would feel it to be a matter of duty, or of policy at least, to cultivate the friendship of his patrons; and the smallest proof he could shew of his gratitude would be, to lay open his vast territories to all the fair appulses of commerce, religion, and science. The blessings of religion and her handmaid, philosophy, would have a scope in the Celestial land as wide as the prospect is goodly; and commerce would pour wealth into the stores of the Chinese, while it enriched the stranger. They need a multitude of things which the foreigner can make for them, and which they would purchase with eagerness if their taste were a little consulted in the fashion of the articles. But what would they give us in return? Why, apart from their silks and teas, they would supply us with beautiful paper for our woodcuts, native books for that generation of students which will ere long spring up in this country, with curiosities of all sorts, and with many ingenious manufactures; and if these were not enough, their mountains would make up the deficiency. A few mining companies, with the improvements of modern art, would extract many an unseen mass of treasure from the ancient hills of China, to stimulate adventure and enlarge the boundaries of knowledge. The interdicts against opium have been one great cause of the increase in its consumption, for the inhibition gives a charm to enjoyment, and the seller and the custom-house officer a triple interest in the sale. Repeal the prohibition, and the inducements to sell and to smoke will be lessened by one-half, and the curse under which the country lies will be lightened by just so much. The legislator's business is to see that every subject has his own: when he begins to make laws about morality, he encroaches upon the rights of the governed, and instead of being by appointment for the good of society, he becomes a pest to it. The Tartar authorities have pursued a course which is as wicked in theory as it has been in practice. Mother Church legislated against heresy, and became herself the sink of everything that is filthy and abominable in false doctrine and practice. In the same way, the former promoted the very thing that, in show, they were aiming to destroy. The tendency of the present controversy may put a stop to such unnecessary interference, and consequently some of the evils which it has generated. If commerce be free, there will be found health enough in her general constitution to overcome any disease that may have seized upon one of her members; and many evils, when they have come to a crisis, will correct themselves, if the priest and the magistrate will but leave them alone. As a remedy for the evils which a free and unrestricted intercourse with foreigners and the abolition of those odious interdicts may leave unredressed, Christianity, with the Bible in her hand, comes to our aid; and the only stipulation she wishes to make is fair play.' The result of the present war may ultimately be to sweep away all lets and hindrances, and to give the opium merchant full licence to sell his drug where he pleases. Well, and what of that, so long as we have equal