tive to those who live in poverty and distress. There are many persons within the sphere of my own observation, who have attained the age of sixty, seventy, and more, and who have been well known as habitual opium-smokers for more than thirty years past. It is a well-known fact, that the present emperor of China was a slave to the pernicious habit of smoking opium for many years; but that, by great moral courage and perseverance, he weaned himself from the vice, and has ever since become a most violent persecutor of those who are addicted to the indulgence. He accordingly issued edicts of severe punishment against the smoker, vendor, importer, and all concerned in the traffic of opium; and, finding these ineffectual, he made the crime capital, and punished it with death. Whatever may be said in favor of the opium traders, and against the policy or justice of the Chinese emperor, I am convinced in my own mind that the real object of his edicts was the good of his subjects, and that he hoped, however vainly, to eradicate a vice destructive alike of the health and morality of those who became its victims. But his majesty's government acted on very different principles; namely, the most selfish, venal, and mercenary. It is a notorious fact, that many, perhaps most of the officers employed in preventing the importation and smuggling of opium, are themselves opium-eaters, or opium-smokers, and consequently that they wink at the illicit trade, or take bribes of opium or dollars for the introduction of the drug. It is well known now, that in several of the southern provinces of China, opium is cultivated to a great extent, without any check from the local authorities, and, doubtless, without any knowledge of the emperor himself. The propensity to opium-smoking is becoming so universal and so irresistible in China, that no sumptuary laws, however sanguinary, will be able to stem the torrent. In Penang, excessive duties have only increased the thirst for opium; and what is worse, they have quadrupled the number of murders and other crimes committed in order to obtain the means of procuring the drug. [Note. We have extracted the preceding remarks just as they stand in the Medico-Chirurgical Review. We wish Mr. Smith would pursue his investigations upon this subject, and especially direct his attention to those smokers who have reformed;-what means they made use of to overcome the habit, what success attended their first efforts, and how many failed in the attempt at reformation. We should be glad also to know if privation of the drug, except in those cases where the functions of the whole animal system are completely disorganized by long and excessive use, does result in death. The Chinese say that a man can safely break off the habit, if he has the determination and courage to let the pipe alone.-There are a few points in the paper which are not quite clear. We suppose the 48221. to be the income de ART. III. Ming Shi, or History of the Ming dynasty. In 68 vols., royal octavo. Reviewed by a Correspondent. Two notices of Hungwú, the founder of this dynasty, having already appeared in the Repository, it is needless to speak again of his history. From a scullion he rose to be a monarch, and in truly valuable qualities for ruling over a large nation has had few equals in all history-certainly not in Chinese history. Hungwú, in 1368, was in full possession of the empire, and sat up upon the throne till 1399, a period to him of unremitted cares. In a solemn assembly he took leave of all his courtiers, and recommended to his well tried ministers his grandson, then aged only 16 years, whose reign was call ed 建文 Kienwan. Notwithstanding the precautions that were taken to establish the throne, Hungwú committed a radical error in bestowing principalities upon all his sons. When therefore, they saw a mere stripling appointed to succeed him, they were indignant at his choice, and like all ambitious princes thought themselves much better entitled to receive the imperial yellow, then a beardless boy. To crush this dangerous dissatisfaction, the regency committed blunder upon blunder. First, they seized the weakest of the princes, degraded him to a common man, and sent him to Yunnan, to give him the opportunity of dying there of an epidemical disease. This naturally checked the others; they saw before them the same fate, and when two officers appeared at the court of the ruler of Yen, to see what was transpiring, he instantly killed them as spies. This he did with impunity; but not so his brothers; one of them had killed a magnate, and was sentenced by the regency to lose his possession and end his days in exile. Another on a similar accusation of having executed one of his subjects, preferring death to disgrace, set fire to his palace and perished in the flames. The prince of Yen, thinking himself no longer safe, took up arms, in order, as he expressed himself in a manifesto, to free his innocent nephew from such treacherous ministers. The struggle now commenced in true Chinese style; large armies were soon collected and suddenly disappeared, cities rived from the opium farin in Penang alone, for the whole revenue to the Company and the crown cannot be much under two millions sterling. The remarks in the last paragraph, also, regarding the cultivation of the poppy, venality of the officers, and the habits of his imperial majesty, would have been materially modified if the writer had been in China.] were taken and retaken; the imperial generals the while, always giving a flaming account of their victories. But the result of all their valor was, that the young monarch was reduced to great straits, and to appease his clamorous uncle, he degraded his two ministers, but kept them still as his principal advisers. But matters grew worse and worse every day, and recourse was again had to negotiations, in which, as both parties tried to outwit each other, no treaty could be concluded, and affairs remained as they had been. The prince of Yen, perceiving that his nephew was easily frightened, and that the repeated losses which his army had suffered, had reduced him to the most helpless condition, already resolved to decide the quarrel by force of arms, and boldly marched towards the capital, which was then kept at Nanking. As for the battles between the two parties, which are related with much pomp, we verily believe, that the imperialists only tried who could rnn best, and that it was not much else than a contest for pedestrian honors. The troops of Yen approaching the Yángtsz' kiáng, threw the whole court into consternation, and Kienwan considerately recommended negotiations, in order to delay their advance until more forces could arrive. He made choice of an intelligent lady, a relative of the prince of Yen, who offered him the rule over one half of the empire, in order to settle the dispute. The wary rebel was well aware that this proposal was merely intended to amuse him, and declared, that all he wished was to see the emperor's counselors punished, after which he would return home. With his customary energy, he immediately crossed the river and took possession of two gates of the city, and confidently waited the issue of his movements. Kienwan was in the greatest consternation, and was about to commit suicide, when his confidential adviser suggested, that it would be better to turn monk and thus preserve his life. To strengthen this proposal, the courtier produced a sealed box, which he pretended was bequeathed by Hungwú, with injunctions only to open it in the last extremity. When the seal was removed, it was found to contain the robes of a priest with all the requisites for becoming a hósháng. The youth immediately sat down and was soon transformed into a bonze; his ministers seeing this, imitated the illustrious example, and the ci-devant monarch's statesmen were soon seen leaving the gates of Nanking on their way to a cloister. The empress, however, could not outlive this disgrace and stabbed herself. The palace was immediately burned, and a rumor spread, that the emperor had fallen a sacrifice to the flames. But Kienwan secretly withdrew, and was met by a priest, who told VOL. XI. NO. XI. 75 him that he had been forewarned in a dream to receive him into the holy brotherhood, and forthwith took him with part of his suite to a retired convent. The prince of Yen could scarcely credit this unexpected success. Most of the high officers came and tendered homage to their new sovereign, who on his part was all smiles and affability. In order to punish his enemies, he promised rewards to any one that would deliver them up,-a sanguinary procedure that caused so much misery and treachery, that a number of the most guilty surrendered themselves and were pardoned. One doctor of the Hanlin college who disputed the prince's succession, had his mouth slit from ear to ear. Another minister, who had irritated the usurper, was killed in the most ignominious manner; beside a host of literati, who testified considerable sympathy at the fate of those great men, and who suffered with them. The tyrant, whose temper was soured by this opposition, then turned to the harem, and killed every one, who had shown attachment to his nephew; and finding the burnt skeleton of the empress, it was declared to be that of the monarch. He put it into a coffin and fell down before it, bewailing the loss of his nephew. After this exhibition of his vengeance upon his enemies, he published an amnesty, but many of the provincial authorities would not listen to the proffered grace, and chose death rather than submission to the new sovereign. But nothing daunted at this inauspicious commencement, he gave (A. D. 1404) the name of Yunglóh (Eternal-Joy,) to his reign, and regarded himself as firmly seated on the throne. The new monarch soon perceived, that the generals who had assisted him in obtaining possession of the empire, would become dangerous to his peace if left unemployed, and he therefore immediately ordered them to prepare for a new campaign. In the meanwhile he removed his court to Shuntien fú, formerly the capital of his patrimonial principality, which henceforth, under the name of Peking, or the northern capital, became the metropolis of the empire. Some trouble having occurred in Tungking, Yunglóh immediately constituted himself umpire, and dispatched an army to take possession of the country, in order quietly to settle the dispute. Success and defeat alternately attended the imperial arms; much bloodshed and misery was occasioned in the country, and the natives at last obtained many a signal victory over their enemies. He, however, went to fight the Tartars of the north, amongst whom he had previously sown dissensions. About this time, he received an embassy from Malacca and then one from Bengal, a sufficient proof of the fame of his exploits. After several campaigns into the desert the emperor perceived the hopelessness of pursuit; but in order to leave behind him a proof of his valor, he erected a pyramid to witness to the extent of his conquests. He returned after having spent the greater part of his existence in waging war, and died on reaching the frontiers in the year 1425. Kienwan had, in the meanwhile, been going from one place to another, and his existence becoming known, he attracted the jealousy of the usurper. The latter had him carefully watched, without inflicting the least injury upon him, until his name was consigned to oblivion and contempt. His son Hunghi, known in the hall of ancestors as 仁宗 Jintsung, had often acted as his father's deputy, and on his accession to the throne published a general amnesty, but he lived too short a 宣德 time to develop his character. His son Siuente (called after his deathSiuentsung) assumed the reins of government in A. D. 1426. He revived the war with Cochinchina, in which the Chinese armies were usually annihilated, after having, according to the report of their generals, achieved the most splendid victories. He was, however, a lover of peace, and when his uncle endeavored to usurp the throne, he managed matters so adroitly, that the plotter was compelled to come of his own accord to render homage and confess his crime. The even tenor of his life leaves but little for his chroniclers to record, and he died in 1436, leaving the empire to his son 英宗 Yingtsung, whose reign was at first called 正統 Chingtung, and afterwards Tienshun. He w's a boy of eight years of age, and his mother became regent during his minority. Fondly attached to an eunuch of the name of Wangchin, the child plead hard to save his life, when about to suffer the punishment due to his crimes. It was during his minority, that the unfortunate Kienwan was discovered, and brought to court to undergo examination. This worthless scion of the great Hungwú, had wandered about as a vagrant from one province to the other for forty years, and although no accusation could now be brought against him, he was still looked upon as a dangerous person, and therefore confined within the palace, where he died unregretted and unknown. A portentous storm was meanwhile brewing in the north. An ambitious Tartar chief, of the name of Yesien, had made many incur |