and thus the law would be perfectly satisfied!

Neither was this proposal acceded to; and at last, after much discussion, the matter was arranged in some way or other without resorting to this horrible mode of expiation.

It is lamentable to observe that the institutions of any nation should have the effect of deadening every feeling of sympathy, and of exciting, instead of discouraging, "man's inhumanity to man." But such is the case in this country; and when any one is severely wounded by accident, or falls into a river, or other situation of danger, he is certain of receiving no assistance from the by-standers, who will most probably take to their heels, in order to save themselves from being the last person seen near him,

About midnight, some time in November, 1816, when the Alceste was lying at second bar, the shrieks of some people in the water were heard near the ship. The Hon. Mr. Stopford, who had the watch, and another gentleman, collecting a few

individuals who happened to be on deck, jumped into a boat alongside, pushed off to their assistance, and, directed by their cries, picked up, one after the other, three Chinese, who were plunging about in the river, which is here several miles wide.

It was a fine night, and a number of small junks were moving up under easy sail, several of whom passed within a few fathoms of these people who were bawling for help; and although they could, without the slightest difficulty, have saved the whole, they continued their course, the crews standing upon deck, and viewing their struggles with the most callous indifference.

On carrying the three men on board the frigate, it appeared they had been crossing the river at this place, in a little Sanpan, or boat; in which were, besides themselves, the wife and child of one of them; and that this boat had been run down by one of the headmost junks, which passed on without taking the least notice, and regardless of their fate, although they had occasioned the mischief. The others coolly

followed their example; when their cries were fortunately heard from the ship, and they were preserved by the boat. The poor woman and child, being unable to swim, sunk, and were drowned.

Before day-light, these people got a passage on shore by a boat which happened to be passing near the ship; and in the course of the forenoon, one of them returned on board with a cumshaw, or present, of three wild ducks, which he presented on his knees to the gentleman who had saved him. He said, that by the junk running over their sanpan, he had lost his wife and a bull child, (his only mode of expressing a boy,) and must himself with the other men have perished also, but for the assistance we afforded them. Pleased with this appearance of heart and gratitude, where so little was expected, some money and provisions were given him for his ducks, and he was allowed to bring on board fish and other articles for sale, which, from becoming rather a favourite, soon enabled him to repair the loss of his boat.

The Chinese, viewing them in every

point, are assuredly a very singular race, and afford a melancholy example of the perverseness of human nature-they exhibit the extraordinary instance of a people who have had for some thousand years a dawn of civilization, which, from the operation of the most narrow-minded principles, has never brightened into day. But, for the presumptuous folly of supposing themselves at the summit of perfection, and the absurd tyranny of fettering the human understanding, by forbidding all innovation and improvement, China might and ought to have been at the present hour the greatest nation of the world. Instead of impotent and gasconading pretensions to universal supremacy, she might have enjoyed, from her early and local advantages, the real glory of being the seat of arts, literature, wealth, and power.

What have the governors or the governed gained by this pretended non-intercourse, and stupid contempt of the rest of mankind? The frequent change of dynasty, and constant rebellions, tend to shew, that the former have been by no means secure;

whilst the debased and humiliated state of the people sufficiently evinces that their sordid and illiberal plan confers no benefit on the general mass.

The Chinese, however, are not without their admirers. Some attribute their suspicious meanness, knavery, silly pride, and other ill qualities to their depraved mode of government, which narrows their ideas by compelling their attention, and attaching importance, entirely to the observance of useless forms and ceremonies,—and which by admitting of no deviation from one contracted path, even in the simplest transactions of life, prevents all moral improvement, and, they assert, that were it not for these shackles of the mind, they would be gay, civil, industrious, honest, and, in fact, like other well-governed people. Perhaps there may be a good deal of truth in this argument; and, it is, therefore, extremely unfortunate, that some change does not take place in a system which produces effects so injurious to the reputation of mankind. Another, and very distinct class of encomiasts, (of the true antediluvian