ART. VII. Peking Gazettes: notes and extracts from the nambers from number thirty-three for April 20th to number forty-five for May 15th 1846. We now resume our notices of these state papers: but circumstances, for the present quite beyond our control, prevent us from giving such ample notes and extracts as we desire. We look at the working of the machinery of this huge government with feelings of mixed astonishment and solicitude, for it seems to drag and groan under its own weight. If it continues to move on, as we hope it may, it must erelong undergo great changes; and it is high time there were at the emperor's court plenipotentiaries from all the other great nations of the earth. This measure must be adopted, else the Chinese will soon find "armed expeditions" on their coasts, making demands for spoliations, indignities, etc. Although we see only a very small part of the whole machinery, we see enough to convince us that the present order of things must be of short duration. But to the Gazettes. No. 33. April 20th and 21st. Lin, zealous as of old, appears in this number as disciplinarian, asking rewards and advancement for the meritorious, and proposing degradation and punishments for the unworthy and the idle and incompetent. He sees - and who does not see? the evils that fill the land, and he would fain work a reform, even as he did in the case of opium-the evils of which, instead of alleviating, he greatly enhanced. But Lin wishes well to his country, and is much better qualified to deal with the Chinese than with "the outside barbarians." For the soldiers in the province of Kansuh, he has requested, and the emperor has been pleased to grant, supplies of siau meh,,"small wheat," as rations. In this number, the discovery of some singular articles in Chinkiáng fu is announced; but in terms so brief as to leave us ignorant of their precise character. It seems that the governor of Kiángsí, the province in which are the Poyáng lake and its many tributaries, found it necessary to improve the navigation of the waters in Tányáng, and proceeded thither in person to direct and superintend the deepening and widening of the water-ways. In accomplishing this, the workmen dug up 石碑木椿等物實從前所 "stone-tablets and pestles, such as were never before seen." So much the Gazette tells us; and we leave our readers as fully informed as ourselves, and not more curious to know what the said tablets may be. No. 34. April 22d and 23d. Here we see, first, his majesty and his sons going to the temples to offer incense to the gods; next we see sundry of VOL. XV. NO. IX. 60 his servants delivered over to the Criminal Board for the maladministration of the mint, and other public affairs; next we have the governors of Chihlí and Lin disciplining their subalterns; next, lists of expectants of office are introduced to his majesty; and finally we have a detailed report of those foul deeds of which it is a shame to speak, but whrich blacken almost every page of Chinese history. No. 35. April 24th and 25th. This number is almost wholly filled with the details of a case brought forward by Hingan and Kwánglin, charging Húsungáh and others with the crime of having embezzled the emperor's property. On trial they were found guilty and sentence passed accordingly, consigning them to the bamboo and banishment. No. 36. April 26th and 37th. Hingan again appears, requesting that certain robbers may be delivered over to the Board of Punishments, and that guards may be placed over a condemned malefactor of the imperial house to prevent suicide. No. 37. No. 38. April 30th and May 1st. Here we have a long and labored report, from the General Council, on the memorial of Chú Tsun, regarding the national currency. We shall publish Chú Tsun's memorial as soon as we can get it translated, and parts or the whole of this report may come along with it. reports of audiences, ap- fill this number. No. 39. May 2d and 3d. We have here a curious note of thanks presented to the emperor by Chuh Kingfán, president of the Board of Rites. On the anniversary of Chuh's seventieth birth day, the emperor took occasion to confer on his aged minister a variety of gifts, consisting of scrolls; beads; and Fán tung wú liáng shau Fuh yih tsun, Jil 飼無量壽佛一尊, which appears to be nothing more nor less than the immortal Budha in copper, i.e. an idol or copper image of that so-called deity. And oh, what thanks and clouds of incense are offered in return! And what knockings of the head and prostrations of the body! Our plain Enghish would be but a poor vehicle for the lofty praises poured forth by the veteran statesman in acknowledgment of "the heavenly favors of the august and high" one. We have here also a report from the principal officers of Shensí regarding the severe illness of Tang Tingching who is now said to be dead; but of this we have seen no official report. No. 40. May 1th and 5th. This number is filled with matters of no interest to our readers, such as changes and degradations of the ininor officers. No. 41. May 6th and 7th. Hingan, now tsiáng-kiun or commandant at Moukden, reports the capture of sundry freebooters, and requests the emperor to give commands for their punishment; and, at the same time, he asks that rewards may be bestowed on the captors. These robbers resemble the wild Arabs, and carry off horses, cattle, sheep and whatever may chance to come in their way. Several pages of this number are filled with the details of a case of parricide, which occurred in the province of Honán. The governor, being unable to decide regarding the criminality of the son, referred the matter to the emperor, who, in accordance with the recommendation of the court which sat on the case, gave sentence that the murderer should be decapitated, and the constable, of the village where he lived, branded and bambooed. No. 42. May 8th and 9th. Here is reported a case of cruel oppression, brought before the Censorate from the province of Sz'chuen. A young man was falsely accused and tortured till he died, and for four full years his brother sought redress in vain in the provincial courts, and that too where one of the Cabinet ministers was governor-general. How the case is to end, the Gazettes do not show. No. 43. May 10th and 11th. Here we have another case of murderous oppression, which occured in the province of Chihlí. A poor man is accused of theft, and then tortured to death; and the tools of the maladministration are delivered over to the Board of Punishment. These cases of oppression are said to be very numerous, in all the provinces. And not the poor only, but the rich also are subject to these cruelties, and that too solely on account of their riches. No. 44. May 12th and 13th. Here is, what the Chinese consider, a most admirable paper, written by one of the descendents of Confucius. On the 70th anniversary of the emperor's mother birth-day, which occurred last autumn, his majesty deputed an officer to go and offer sacrifices to the "master of ten thousand ages." Hence the paper before us was written, in acknowledgement of and in gratitude for that "heavenly favor." To common readers the language is quite incomprehensible. It is redolent with insense, and abounds with expressions of highest praise, such as we would deem becoming only when addressed to the governor of the nations to Jehovah God of hosts. The emper or receives it all with the usual No. 45. WE KNOW IT! May 14th and 15th. Maladministration, maladministration, and nothing but inaladministration seems to be the order of the day, from north to south from east to west throughout all the emperor's wide dominions. The sovereign seems mild and gentle amid all these disturbances, willing to forgive offenses, and ready to confer favors and bounties on all who merit or need them. He has recently directed 33,000 taels of silver to be given to his children in Formosa, who last autumn were deprived of all their property by inundations. His majesty has sent a special commissioner, post haste, to look after and regulate the imperial stud in Manchu, and is amusing himself with the maneuvers of his equestrian archers in Peking. P.S. In an extract from the Gazettes, but without date, we have an account of a civil war in two of the departments of FuhkienChangchau and Tsiuenchau -in which 24515 houses and 663 cottages were burnt, and 130638 persons were killed or wounded! These civil wars are of very frequent occurrence among the " peaceful Chinese." A fracas of this sort occurrd a few days since near Canton, between parties of gamblers, ending in the murder of eight men. ART. VIII. Journal of Occurrences: facilities for intercourse and business at Shanghái; fearful omens and earthquake at Ningpo; indemnity for losses at Fuhchau; affairs at Amoy, Hongkong and Canton; triennial examinations throughout the provinces. FROM SHANGHAI there are recent reports, which indicate that, to the foreign residents there, the prospects are flattering. In a commercial point of view, the expectaions of the most sanguine are likely to be realized. If China can be preserved from foreign and civil wars, the foreign commerce of Shanghái may be, by degrees, increased many many fold, it being, on account of its position, the point from whence supplies will be carried to the central, northern and western parts of the empire. From all that we can learn, the residences and the facilities of intercourse are every thing that foreigners can wish. The people make those who come from afar welcome, and their bearing towards them is mild and peaceable. Dr. Lockhart's assi duous labors, as a skilful medical practitioner, have, in addition to the direct good of healing great multitudes, done much to prepare the way for the preaching of the gospel. A correspondent, under date of September 4th, writes: "Dr. Medhurst's new chapel has been open two Sabbaths; attendance about 300; I hope to have one open in three or four weeks that will accommodate about the same number." Mr. Walter Henry Medhurst jr. is about to return to England on sick certificate, and Mr. Harry S. Parkes is to act in his stead during his absence. From Ningpo we have recent letters, and give below some extracts. Mr. Thom, so long and well known as a resident in China, is also about to return to England on sick leave, and, during his absence, George Grey Sullivan, esquire, is to be H. B. M.'s acting consul. "This place does not seem to attract much trade; there has been but one merchant vessel here this year. The weather has been, during mid-summer, oppressively warm, the thermometer frequently standing at 98° and in some houses as high as 103° for hours together. But the nights are almost always pleasant." "Chusan is given up and the people are again under their own rulers, and very glad of it notwithstanding all that has been said of their desire to be under foreign rule. Under the date of Angust 4th, Ningpo, a correspondent thus writes. "The good people of Ningpo have been sorely troubled with real and imaginary evils during the present year. First we had a winter of unusual severity. Then in April such long continued and copious rains as seriously interfered with planting and transplanting the rice. The kin tú, or prohibition of the slaughtering of pork, was resorted to, to appease the gods and procure a cessation of the showers, and finally, as a last resort, the gods were put out in the rain! Then in the months of May and June and July, when there is usually much rain falling, the heavens were almost hermetically sealed. The usually very damp season of June, which is here called "the yellow mould," passed away as dry as though we had been in the desert of of Sahara. 66 In consequence of the drought, the canals are all dried up, rice is rising in price, and the supplies that are usually brought from near Suchau are unable to arrive. The kin tú has been resorted to three times to procure rain, but hitherto without success, and should none fall within two weeks the second crop of rice will be of little value, and much distress may be expected. In addition to these evils, the superstitions of the people have caused them no little trouble. First there was in the month of June a report that the poisoners were abroad, and that many persons had died in consequence of eating cakes, which had been poisoned and dropped by designing villains. The remedy proposed for the poison was neither more nor less than human excrements, to which many actually had recourse. The panic occasioned by this rumor, (which seems to have originated in some cases of cholera morbus) was very great, and for awhile the people were afraid to pruchase any thing from the strolling pedlars who hawk rolls and bean-curd and fruit about the streets, and these poor people, finding their "occupation gone," were put to some distress for a livelihood. 66 'Scarcely had this rumor died away, when a more fearful one came in its place. Some ten days ago a placard was posted up on the walls and street-corners, warning the people to be upon their guard, for some of the neighboring cities had been visited by evil spirits, who went through the streets at night shouting furiously and entering into houses to harm the inhabitants. These evil spirits were to be guarded against by charms, on which the mystical characters, hih, kí, chuh, ting, were written or printed in red, and also by strips of red cloth worm around the person. Consequently vast numbers of the charins have been sold, and the dealers in red cloth of all kinds have turned thoir investments to profitable account. It is |