the Chinese would embrace such an opportunity of honest industry, may, perhaps, be best evidenced by the following extract from the private letter, dated in March last, of a British merchant settled at Amoy :

"We have just despatched a vessel with 410 labourers for Honolulu, Sandwich Islands. They were all fine, strong, able-bodied young men, engaged for three to five years at three dollars per month, with food, &c., for men, and at two to two-and-a-half dollars per month for boys.

"The only sorrowful parties were those whom we were compelled to reject from disease or deformity. These we placed a distinguishing mark upon, but this they removed, and presented themselves for selection three or four times. We were obliged to send them from alongside in hundreds, and the last day the rush was so great we thought they would have almost taken the vessel from us. This demand for labour is a most providential thing for this province, the poverty and destitution of which is incredible."

Here, then, we have, on the one hand, a starving population of Celestials craving for employment, and, on the other, valuable estates capable of adding to the wealth of the British Empire by the production of immense quantities of sugar, cotton, coffee, &c., almost going out of cultivation, and their formerly affluent proprietors praying for the very labour which is so earnestly asking for employment; and is it possible that prejudice or a mistaken philanthropy will be allowed to step in and prevent an interchange of benefits so mutually desirable? We cannot think it. Any one who does not believe in the Voltairian doctrine that the world is ruled by Chance, must be struck with the cheering coincidence that this very period, when for the first time the final extinction of the African slave-trade seems almost within our reach, should be the season at which Providence is throwing open to the world the immense supplies of labour which for thousands of years it has been rearing secluded in a distant corner of Asia. China Proper and its dependencies contain some three hundred and sixty millions of inhabitants-considerably above one-third of the whole population of the globeand could furnish, out of its mere floating population, a much larger

number of free labourers than the whole west coast of Africa could furnish of slaves. Moreover, an immense proportion of the Chinese contrive to exist only by means of the most hard and unflagging labour,-living from hand to mouth, and devouring everything, however unclean in our eyes, which can conduce to the keeping together of soul and body. A bad season, or an overflowing of their canals and rivers, reduces millions to absolute starvation, from which all the efforts of the Imperial Government are insufficient to extricate them

myriads perishing, from such causes, every fourth or fifth year. It is a work, then, of pure benevolence to both the Chinaman and the Negro, if you can at once relieve the hunger of the former and preserve the freedom of the latter,-if you can convey the one to those fields of remunerative industry which are to him a Paradise, and retain the other in his cherished deserts from which there is so little temptation to remove him.

Australia is another field to which Chinamen have begun to flock, and where their services are almost equally desirable. They have a most acute scent for anything in the shape of money, and the temptation of the auriferous Blue Mountains of Sydney was more than Chinese nature could resist. In the Australian intelligence contained in the Times of 19th March last, we read, that "many cargoes of Chinamen have been sent for, and one shipload had just arrived. They will be employed at good wages as shepherds, while thousands of honest families in England are yearning for the means of procuring the same advantage, and that, not as paupers, but with a feeling that they would faithfully make repayment. The hardship to our own countrymen so correctly expressed by the Times is now greatly removed, by the steps recently taken to facilitate their passage to the sheepwalks and gold-fields of our Antarctic possessions; and no one can doubt their great superiority to the Chinese, not, perhaps, in patient industry and thriftiness, but in most of the qualities which characterise a good subject and citizen in a free state.

Australia, with her unrivalled stores

--

of the precious metals, is certain ere long to receive a large influx of those roving Celestials; but at present it is in the Eldorado of California that they are to be seen in the greatest numbers and to the best effect. The latest intelligence from China shows that the fame of the American gold-region has already become widely diffused throughout the south-eastern provinces of China. "During the past month," says a letter dated from Canton on the 27th of March last, "there has been not a little excitement among people connected with foreigners, and who have means of learning anything of the 6 gold hills,' more especially among those whose acquaintances in California have described the advantages of the country, or, on returning to China, have spread the report of their good fortune. Letters from Chinese in San Francisco and further in the country, have been circulated through all this part of the province; and the accounts of the successful adventurers who have returned would, had the inhabitants possessed the means of paying their way across, have gone far to depopulate considerable towns. The number of men that have gone, and that are now preparing to embark, is so considerable, and the employment which has been thus unexpectedly afforded to shipping, at a moment of great depression of freights, is so remarkable, that we have no doubt the subject will excite the attention of all who are interested in the trade of the East." The writer then gives a detailed list of the ships dispatched from Hong-Kong, Macao, and Whampoa, with Chinese passengers, between the 1st of January and the 27th of March this year; and another list of vessels which had not then sailed, but which were under engagement to go, --with the number of men taken by each. The total number of emigrants gone and going amounts to 16,807, which, taking the average passagemoney at forty dollars a-head, would give a passenger-freightage of 672,280 dollars. The total number of ships gone and going was sixty, of which one-half had sailed before the date of the letter. The details which accompany this statement leave no doubt of its accuracy, and it is still further corroborated by the last letter of the

Times' Correspondent, dated San Francisco, May 2, which states that immigrants" are continually arriving in batches of 500 to 1000 in every vessel from China, and 10,000 are reported as ready to come forward in a fleet of merchantmen from Canton and other ports."

One circumstance connected with this Chinese emigration to California, is peculiarly favourable to the carrying trade between these two countries, -namely, that the men who emigrate intend to return, and will probably go to and fro. In no case, as yet, have Chinese families removed from the country, and all the social habits and national feelings of that people are opposed to such a step. Almost without exception the emigrants are adult males, and their purpose is simply to gain something by their labour in California, with which to return to their native country. It is thus that emigration begins in all countries. The young and strong, the restless and buoyant, are the class to whom the aids and comforts of home are least necessary, and on whom its ties hang lightest. It is amongst them, accordingly, that the first emigrants are found; but seldom do even they, on embarking, resign the prospect of revisiting the land of their birth and the home of all that the heart holds dearest. Even when such pioneers of civilisation were the bold sons of our own land, and when the region they steered for was the distant Antipodal settlements of New Zealand and Australia, how few of them went out otherwise than with the view of accumulating a hard-won competency, and returning with it to spend his after-life amidst the merry "homes of England." A majority of them failed, indeed, and remained in the land of their adoption; but the recollection of our readers will, we doubt not, fully corroborate our statement when we say, that it is only within the last few years-and, more peculiarly, since the monetary and commercial difficulties of 1847-that whole families have begun to forsake our shores, or that the mass of our emigrants have gone forth with the resolution of never again setting foot upon the soil of Britain.

As it has been with us, so will it,

in good time, be with the Chinese. Once the tide of emigration has set in steadily and strongly, in any country, men throw themselves into the stream as into a Lethe, become oblivious of the past and all its enchaining associations, and think only of the future and of the land whither they are going. The Chinaman reverences his Sycee silver as heartily as the Yankee worships the" almighty dollar;" and the inducements for him to exchange his own densely-peopled country for the gold-producing region of California are manifest and manifold. If we contrast the gains of labourers, mechanics, and miners in California, with the wages received by the same classes in China, the disparity in favour of the former is prodigious. In January last, the wages of daylabourers at San Francisco were at "five to eight dollars per day, or one dollar per hour;" whilst on the Canton side of the Pacific, the earnings of a man belonging to the class now emigrating to San Francisco would not be more than four or five dollars a month. In other words, a day's work in California would earn equal to a month's wages in China! In such circumstances, unless some unforeseen difficulty should arise, there is little prospect of any diminution in the Chinese emigration across the Pacific. Accustomed to the simplest mode of living, having few wants, and moreover actuated by the strongest passion for gain, it is probable that success will continue to attend them in the Western Eldorado; and so long as the rates of wages there continue high, and toleration is extended to them by the jealous and domineering Americans, we see nothing to check the emigration - movement in that direction.

Since the above was written, news has arrived from California which, for the moment, give a new complexion to affairs, by informing us that the Americans have grown jealous of the money-making Chinese, and are commencing a species of proscription against them. The Marysville Herald of 4th May states that a meeting of miners had been held in that town, at which it was resolved, that "whereas large numbers of foreigners, and Chinese especially, are overrunning

and occupying a large portion of the mining lands in this vicinity, to the injury and disadvantage of American citizens; and whereas we hold that the mineral lands of California by right should belong to and be held solely by American citizens, therefore" no Chinaman was to be thenceforth allowed to hold any mining claim in the neighbourhood. And from a letter in the Sacramento Union, of date May 2, we learn that "the excitement in regard to the Chinese is rapidly extending along the banks of the North Fork of the American River, and daily expulsions are taking place. This morning some sixty Americans ranged down the river some four miles, driving off two hundred-quietly removing their tents, strictly respecting their persons and property-except in one instance, when a Celestial seemed inclined to be obstreperous, his 'cradle' was thrown into the river. The same company intend to proceed en masse to Horseshoe Bar this afternoon, to concert measures with the miners there to 'start' some four hundred located at that place. A band of music is engaged to accompany the expedition! Nearly all of the eighty thousand or ninety thousand American miners are fully determined to submit no longer to have the public lands robbed of their only treasure."

The letter of the Times' Correspondent, published in that newspaper on the 18th ult., states that the assumed evil which the Chinese inflict upon California is, the carrying away nearly all the gold which they amass, without any commensurate expenditure in the country; and that the Governor has thought fit to address a special message on the subject to the Legislature. The argument for the expulsion of the Chinamen is founded on the narrowest principles, and will soon be reversed; for, whatever may be the interest of the Americans to expel them from the mines, for the sake of the gold, it is still more their interest to keep them in the country, in order that, by cheapening labour, they may give to gold an additional value. Moreover, not to mention the indirect advantages of this immigration in extending the commercial relations of California with China, there

falls to be considered the direct benefit to American shipping afforded by their passage-money; the money they expend in rents, purchase of land, and building of houses; the taxes which they pay, the large sums contributed by them to the Custom-house in duties upon imported goods; the cost of their outfit for the campaign in the mines, and the travelling fare they pay in getting transported to diggings. But the Chinese know what they are about as well as most men, especially where money is in question; and accordingly, through some of their spokesmen, among whom a Celestial rejoicing in the name of Hab-Wa is chief, have published a letter in reply to the Governor's message. "HabWa and his friends' letter," says the Times' Correspondent, "is a most excellent production, and full of sly humour. They tell the Governor that in their country all great men are learned men, and that a man's rank is just according to his education. The inference is obvious, that the Governor, being a great man by virtue

of his high office, must of course be also a learned' man. This is a severe hit. There is another, of a more generic character. We do not deny that many Chinese tell lies; and so do many Americans, even in courts of justice.' Hab-Wa evidently thinks the latter failing something worse than a white lie.' The tenor of this letter has turned the tide a good deal in favour of the Celestials, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the prejudice against them will soon die away."

The character of the Chinese who have settled in various parts of the Indian Archipelago, seems to vary from peaceful to turbulent according to the rule they are under; but we believe our readers will peruse with interest the following creditable testi

monial to their conduct, and highly amusing description of their habits, in California :

"Through their chief here, and their agent, Mr Woodworth," says a San Francisco journal, "they have got possession of a large tract of land on the Moquelumne, which they have commenced cultivating, and are fast settling it. They are among the most industrious, quiet,

patient people among us. Perhaps the citizens of no nation, except the Germans, are more quiet and valuable. They seem to live under our laws as if born and bred under them, and already have commenced an expression of their preference by applying for citizenship, by filing their intentions in our courts. What will be the extent of the movement now going on in China and here, is not easily foreseen. We shall undoubtedly have a very large addition to our population; and it may not be many years before the Halls of Congress are graced by the presence of a long-queued Mandarin sitting, voting, and speaking beside a Don from Santa Fé, and Kanaker from Hawaii.

"While writing the above, a letter from a Chinese at home to a China 'boy' in this country has been shown us by Mr Gregory, and it will be forwarded by his express to its destination at the Indian Gulh, where its Celestial recipient is digging gold, and will feel himself happy by the news from home. Many letters pass to and fro between China and California; and at each departure of ships for the Celestial Empire, its children here send off to their friends beyond the Pa

cific, great numbers of California papers.

It may be seen from this how intercourse is increasing and knowledge extending. The day of fencing the world and information out of China has for ever passed away. The glitter of our gold has passed the gates of the Cousin of the Sun and the Moon, and the disciples of Confucius are coming, and have come, to qualify his philosophy with the wisdom of Washington and the utility of Franklin.

Gradually their wooden shoes give way to the manufactures of Lynn, and kindle a fire for barbecuing a rat dinner. The long queue eventually passes away

The

before the tonsorial scissors, and stuffs a saddle or is woven into a lariat. yard-wide nankeen unmentionables are found unsuited to our windy climate and neater fashions, and are succeeded by a much better fit. Hats and other American garments succeed; and soon the chief distinction consists in the copper

colour, the narrow angular eyes, the pe

culiar gibberish, and beardless faces. When these national costumes shall have passed away, national prejudices, whether of politics, morals, or religion, are pretty certainly on their road to amalgamation. The 'China boys' will yet vote at the same polls, study at the same schools, and bow at the same altar, as our own countrymen.'

#66

The anniversary of Washington's

birth (22d of February) is a great day in California, as it deservedly is in other parts of the Union; and from a chit-chat letter of a Philadelphian settled at San Francisco, we give an amusing account of the part which long-tailed Celestials took in this year's ceremonial, which seems to have been quite a World's Fair sort of thing:-

"All countries and ages were represented in the ceremonies of the day. Scarcely had the French, Spanish, and Hebrew societies passed from the view, before some two hundred Celestials, or, as their banner termed them, China Boys of San Francisco,' came before the admiring gazer. To describe their appearance fully is out of the question. Preceded by their mandarins and a band of music, straggling and evidently amused with their position, came this large delegation of our most orderly and industrious citizens. Long tails and short tails, plaited and falling down the back from beneath the fancy East Indian felt or straw hat-white, blue, green, red, yellow, and every imaginable colour of pantaloons, some loose and only to the knees, the nether part of the limb covered with a long nankeen stocking, and others made tight to the form and fitting closely, by the aid of strings, to the Chinese shoe. Many other characteristics might I mention, but no single one excited the risibilities of the concourse of spectators more than the music. Seated in an express waggon were six musicians, playing tunes which to them seemed most soulstirring, although to us most heart-rending. One air (if so it may be called) was martial, and its efficacy in peace or war must be about the same as the sounds produced by a stick with smooth surface rubbed across one with the edges notched."

Of this truly remarkable race, which have thus, in these "latter days," begun to diffuse its myriads over the world, it is mortifying to think how little we know with certainty. It is an opinion universal among all who have actually been in China, that "people at home know nothing of it, except its tea and silk, its porcelain, japan, and ivory wares. Of the people, the country, the government or its policy, from Parliament and the Ministry downwards, they know less than the Chinese do of the English." A sweeping assertion, not readily to be swallowed by John Bull,

but one which the Great Exhibition of last year served rather to corroborate than refute. The products of China, indeed, occupied a by no means insignificant place in that marvellous collection, but they consisted chiefly of articles drawn from private collections, with which our home public was already pretty familiar. To this, however, at the ceremonial of the Opening, there was one illustrious exception, a living product of China set off by its manufactures, which, next to Royalty herself, proved the greatest attraction on that ever-memorable day. Now, who was this Celestial cynosure of all eyes? Was he a Mandarin of the red button or of the blue? How many little packets of ginseng had he been complimented with by the old Emperor? Or had he ever been permitted the rare distinction of riding on horseback within the precincts of the Imperial palace? Finally, had he ever been presented with a three-eyed peacock's feather, that ne plus ultra of Celestial celebrity, or with a pavonian feather with any eyes at all? Not he!

he was no other than a Coolie or artisan, who had been playing the part of a Mandarin on board the Chinese junk in the Thames — or, as some of the newspapers styled it, the "Imperial junk Keying"-and who, like a pig in rich trappings, had impudently thrust himself upon the elite of nations assembled within the fairy-like walls of the Crystal Palace! The novelty of the sight, his droll deportment and bizarre costume, naturally enough excited the liveliest interest of the general audience; but sundry effronteries were perpetrated by him for which any less celestial visitor would have been put in the stocks, and an amount of gullibility displayed by the London journals for which we did not give them credit. It was provoking enough to see so venerable and illustrious a personage as the "Great Duke" duped by this impudent Chinese, and that even around the Queen of England there was no one sufficiently informed to save her from being imposed upon; but it was supremely absurd and inexcusable on the part of the first-class newspapers to speak, and that editorially, of "the Mandarin