of their character, and one which will be chiefly instrumental in developing the resources of the empire, is the untiring energy displayed by them whenever they have a special object in view. At our Treaty Ports their never-ceasing efforts in accumulating wealth sufficiently evidence this; and also in their ordinary occupations in the villages the same pushing tendency is observable.1 With this activity they also combine great patience. "Le temps pour point d'appui et la patience pour levier, voila les deux grands principes de leur physique," writes M. Huc, who in these few. words well conveys the just result of his long experience of the Chinese people. Their eager industry is, however, most conspicuous in the continents and islands to which they emigrate. At Singapore, where all the labour and small trade is performed by them, and where the equatorial climate tends, above all things, to promote languor and idleness, nothing is so striking as the contrast between these indefatigable trading strangers and the indolent Malay natives. It is probable that it will be through the agency of the Chinese that the hidden resources of Borneo, Sumatra, and the other little known islands of those seas, will be brought to light; and also it is clear that the now unprofitable districts and waste lands of Monsieur Simon, a French agriculturist, sent out by the Emperor Napoleon to report upon the Chinese system of agriculture, informed me that in no other part of the world had he seen such productive results as were brought about by the field-labourers, partly through the manure employed, but principally by their personal exertions. In a paper lately forwarded to the "Institut," at Paris, M. Simon has given some valuable statistics respecting farming, land-tenure, &c. Northern Australia will soon become populated and cultivated by them. The annual emigration from the provinces of the China sea-board is estimated to be about eighty-thousand, (this is exclusive of the coolie traffic to Peru and the Spanish West Indies). Of these Australia receives one-third, the islands one-fourth, and California about one-eighth; the remainder become distributed over other parts of America, and as portions of the crews of the merchant-ships in the Pacific Sea. Out of the eleven thousand emigrants to Singapore, it is found that onefifth return to China; and at San Francisco the departures average one-fourth of the arrivals. The Chinese are peculiarly averse to leaving their own country, and it is not on account of the prospect of higher wages that they do so, but because their native districts are over-populated. This has been exemplified of late by the sudden overflow of the inhabitants of the northern provinces into outer Manchuria: also inquiries made into the relative wages received by them at home and abroad led to a similar conclusion.1 The time has now for ever passed away for the Chinese to be looked upon as a stagnant, non-progressive race. The late hostilities with England have at last 1 At Singapore the monthly wages of a Chinese day-labourer average three dollars; journeymen tailors, carpenters, &c., receive from six to nine. In Southern China I found the agricultural labourers in the receipt of (with their allowance of rice) nine pence per diem; good workmen as tailors or carpenters received (also including rice) from six to seven dollars per lunar month. Considering that an acre of the best ricegrowing land is usually let for under five dollars a-year, the agricultural wages cannot be deemed low. opened their minds to the necessity of keeping pace with other nations. Nowhere is this alteration in their character so apparent as in their advancement in military skill. The improvement in the means of attack and defence at the Taku forts in 1860 as compared with 1858, was most unmistakeable, and upon visiting some of these forts after their capture, I was much struck with the cleverness or ingenuity displayed in the fitments of the turn-tables for gun-carriages, fuzes for shell, plans for magazines, &c. Our merchants also find that there is an increasing demand for revolvers, rifles, and other modern weapons. Future events will undoubtedly prove that there is no absence of personal courage among the Chinese,1 and I am convinced that, when well drilled and officered, their armies will be found both daring and efficient. When speculating upon the numerous contingencies that may hereafter affect our relations with China, it must not be forgotten how vast are the capabilities for development now lying almost dormant in the interior 1 I may here relate an incident that occurred on the coast of China, exemplifying their contempt of danger. A pirate junk, chased by H.M.S.Algerine' up a small river to the northward of Amoy, suddenly grounded, and her crew escaped to the shore. A party of seamen and marines landed in pursuit, and quickly, with their Enfield rifles, came within range; a running skirmish then commenced, in which several of the Chinese were killed; amongst others, an elderly looking man was wounded, and fell helpless on the ground. The distance between him and the advancing party was rapidly lessening, when a young pirate was seen to turn back, and, in the face of a heavy fire, run to the spot where the old man lay. Here, although only fifty yards distant from his pursuers, he stopped, took his disabled companion on his back and carried him off. This heroism met with its deserved reward, and he was allowed to escape unharmed. of that country. Apart from the wide field that yet remains for the expansion of the trade in silk, tea, cotton, &c., there exists a mine of inexhaustible wealth all but untouched, and which will have an incalculable influence over her future destiny. It is now generally known that two of the northern and three of the central provinces contain immense coal deposits, embracing thousands of square miles. At present the quantity of coal annually extracted from them falls short of a million and a half tons, but there would be no difficulty in increasing the supply indefinitely. The commerce of Australia, New Zealand, and the numerous islands in the Pacific is now in its infancy, and there can be no doubt but that future centuries will witness an extension such as can be but faintly conceived. China, with her coal-beds, rivers, harbours, and toiling population, will then, as far as human foresight can predict, represent the most commercially important position in the world. Army and Navy Club, 1862. |