SIR: The Editors of the Journal Asiatique (No. vii. p. 45), in reviewing a silly work of Madame Celliez, respecting a Chinese who was brought to France, educated there, and presented to the French king, have introduced some reflections upon the extravagant and groundless expectations which are formed of the benefits derivable from the visits to Europe of natives of China, and from their being instructed in European languages. In the course of these reflections, they state the names and characters of the Chinese whom chance, or particular circumstances, have conducted into France.

Of all these, the most intelligent, and who imparted the most information, was the Chinese whom the Missionary Couplet brought from China in 1687. He was a native of Nanking, 30 years of age, and named Michel Chin-fo-tsoung. From him, it is stated, our Hyde obtained, whilst he was at Oxford, the information concerning the sports of China, their weights and measures, and other interesting matters, which appear in his dissertations.

Thirty years afterwards, another Chinese came to Europe, named Hoang, and surnamed Arcadius. He was born at Hing-hoa, in the province of Fo-kien, the 15th November 1679, of a converted family. He was brought to France by the Bishop of Rosalia; he remained some time in the seminary of foreign missions, and finished by marrying in Paris. He was appointed to the king's library, in order to interpret the Chinese books which the missionaries had deposited there. His visit was the occasion of inspiring Fréret, Fourmont, and other scholars, with the idea of studying Chinese. But he was a feeble instrument for this purpose. He died 1st October 1716, and all the materials he left were four

or five little dialogues, three or four models of letters, the Pater, Ave, and Credo in Chinese, the beginning of the translation of a little romance, and some fragments of vocabularies.

Michel and Arcadius were literati; they came to Europe at a time when curiosity respecting China was at its highest pitch, because means were wanting to gratify it. Men of the greatest talent became their pupils, and endeavoured to extract from them all the knowledge they could. Their efforts were not remarkably successful. What they learned from them amounts to little. There is not a scholar of the college royal who, at the end of six months' study, would not be able to derive a hundred times more from Chinese works.

Three Chinese who came to Paris since the Revolution, cannot be put in comparison with the two just spoken of. All three were unlettered men; so far at least, that neither of them had obtained that first degree which the missionaries designate by the term bachelor. All three had, nevertheless, learned to write, and were acquainted with some 300 characters. But a person little proficient in Chinese would soon discover the limit of their erudition.

Tschoung-ya-san, or Asam, a young trader of the city of Nanking, who was taken on board an English vessel in 1800, and conducted as a prisoner of war to Paris, where he was courted with childish curiosity, left some papers which we have seen. This is he who, by confounding two characters, both of which are pronounced thang, took the word sugar for the name of China, and justified his blunder by declaring that his country was the sweetest in the world.

Tchang-ya-kin, or as he pronounced his own name Agan, surnamed Tchaofou, whom a French merchant had

taken into his service at Canton, and who came to Paris with this merchant in 1819, was a young man of 17, of low condition, speaking the vulgar dialect of Canton, but possessed of some understanding, and ambitious of passing for a scholar.

Lastly, Kiang-hiao, or as Madame Celliez calls him, Mons. Kan-gao, surnamed Khe-yeon, the same who was brought to France by Capt. Philibert, was not a Chinese of distinction, as this lady says, but a young man belonging to one of the families of Amory, who trade with Manilla. Although he had studied, and knew how to write, he did not speak the Mandarin language; and having the vulgar dialect of his country, he had for merly learnt by heart the books of Confucius, and yet at the same time could not tell how to use the dictionary of the Emperor Kang-hi. This is not so extraordinary, since he left China at 15 years of age, and passed the twelve following years at Luçonia.

This Mons. Kan-gao, according to Madame Celliez, maintains that the Chinese and French dictionary is not accurate: an opinion which makes the editors of the Journal Asiatique very angry, and with some appearance of reason. They subjoin some remarks, which deserve to be recorded.

"But let us suppose that the Chinese who visit us are as cultivated as they really are ignorant in general: the advantages we could gain from them would be neither much more numerous nor more important. The title of lettered must not be allowed to deceive us: in China, as elsewhere, there are many men of letters, and very few men of knowledge. A lettered man (whether bachelor or licentiate) comes to us, and he can scarcely teach us any thing we care to know. The method which the Chinese literati follow in

their studies, and their object in so applying themselves, are sufficient to explain and authorize this assertion. Occupied, during their whole life, in the acquisition of that species of knowledge which conducts to posts and offices, their moral books are the exclusive object of their labours. They read them over and over again incessantly,-penetrate into the recesses of their meaning,-and learn to repeat and write them from memory; but very few of them, scarcely one in ten thousand, have leisure to make excursions into the fields of history and philosophy. Those scholars whom peculiarity of taste, or a favourable situation, devotes to more interesting studies, are mostly in literary colleges, and especially among the association of the Han-lin, or academical ministers of state. These are persons we must not expect to visit the barbarians of Europe. As to the others, what should we ask them about, or what could they teach us? The history of their country? the greatest part of them have hardly read it. The processes of their arts? they scorn to be acquainted with them, and leave such subjects to tradesmen and mechanics. Details respecting the natural productions of China? physicians are the only naturalists there: learned men have no knowledge in this department beyond the most vulgar notions.-Should one of the Han-lin come to visit us, we would consult him concerning a multitude of historical points which we have marked in the works of Sse-ma-thsian, Lo-pi, Tou-chi, Hiu-chin, Ma-touanlin. But the Han-lin come neither to London nor to Paris. They do not visit even Canton, as we may perceive by certain passages in the works of Morrison and others."

The latter part of this extract contains, I suppose, a sneer. A-Z.

THE barriers to the establishment of a Mission in the Friendly Islands appeared extremely formidable to encounter. Hardly a ship could once touch without bloodshed. Upwards of twenty years since, it is within recollection, several gentlemen from the London Missionary Society were landed there; but operations with them had scarcely begun, ere most of the party were butchered-while some providentially effected an escape. Those islands are aggregated at about one hundred and eightyeight, and for nearly the last twenty years the inhabitants have been engaged in sanguinary wars. About eight years since, war raged with dreadful fury; another was waged about four years ago; and the last has only terminated two years. It is acknowledged by the natives, that a depopulation of one-half of the islands has occurred in those contests, which are con. ducted in a way far more horrible and bloody than can be well conceived by Europeans. Those islanders now, however, are in the enjoyment of tranquillity; appear to be heartily sickened of war; and the fields are therefore" white to the harvest." When the St. Michael left Tonga, Mr. Lawry was devoting his attention to the acquirement of the Tongese language, while his little heroic retinue were busily engaged in erecting a dwelling house, and cultivating a garden. Wheat, maize, peas, beans, turnips, cabbage, me lons, pumpkins, &c. were sown, and came forward with rapid growth. The soil is pronounced much richer than the banks of the Hawkesbury. Trees of various kinds are very numerous; but in consequence of the majority bearing fruit, the natives are very backward in allowing them to be cut down for the purposes of building. Bananas are abundant enough for five times the number of the inhabitants; almost all the ground is covered with trees, bearing luxuriant productions, save occasionally an open field in cultivation. The roads are good, which are chiefly shaded by umbrageous boughs and vines.

The convolvulus canariensis, bearing blue and white flowers, climbs the highest trees, and, in some places, they extend from bough to bough over acres of ground. The island is adorned too with delightful and refreshing arbours; to form

some

conception of which, Mr. Lawry has one in his garden (having purchased several acres of land from king Palau*) sufficiently capacious to contain all the people of Tonga; thus shewing, that a kind Providence makes suitable provision for the otherwise intolerable warmth of the climate. The sea abounds with fine fish, of which the natives take but little notice. The centipede is the only venomous reptile on the island, and this is rarely found. Mr. Lawry says that Tonga is much prettier than can be conceived. The people are vastly superior to the New Zealanders, both in body and mind. In New Zealand, the chiefs are destitute of authority and importance, equally as much as our aboriginal chiefs; but in Tonga, affairs are conducted in quite a different way. The mandate of the chief must be obeyed, or death is dealt to the transgressor. The chief, by whom Mr. Lawry and his family are especially protected, is represented as a very fine looking man, and is much heavier than two common sized Europeans; he only had fourteen wet-nurses to attend him in his infant days. The mental endowments of this chief are discovered to be proportioned to his cor poreal powers; "a more shrewd, discerning, generous, and prudent man (says Mr. Lawry) no one could expect without the lines of civilization." Palau, the name of this king, for he is the principal authority among the islands, of which Tonga is the London, would pass as a very fair civilian, with the possession of the English language. Timber, either for building or furniture, is not plentiful. As for labour, the Tongese vie with our poor aborigines in that respect; if tools are placed in their hands, they smile at the simplicity of their new friends, and quietly walk off! Soine tolerably correct information has been gained of the murder of the three missionaries before alluded to: the natives affirm that they were killed in battle; not that they actually fought, but when the opposing party was coming upon them, they maintained their ground; though the excellent chief who engaged to protect them, actually lost his own life in endeavouring

* Cocevernal is the name given by Mr. L. to this estate.

12th century, with the monarchy founded by the Arsacides, in Asia, three centuries before our era, we shall behold similar institutions and customs; we shall find the same ranks, and the same titles, even those of marquess, baron, knight, and simple men at arms. In both cases, a considerable number of men enjoyed all the privileges of liberty, whilst a much greater number was altogether deprived of it. Our imagination generally paints before us in the East a wretched troop of slaves, subjected to a despot. Under the Arsacides, no doubt, the Persians, the Syrians, and other natives of Asia, were almost all slaves; but they were in the same condition as the Gauls and the Romans under the dominion of the Franks, and by the same law, that of conquest: they composed the mass of the population. But it was not thus with the Parthians; like our warlike ancestors, they were great lovers of liberty, but chiefly on their own behalf, and with very little consideration for that of others. To drink, to hunt, to fight, to make and unmake kings; these were the noble occupations of a Parthian. Those who prefer a tempestuous liberty to what they call tranquil servitude, would have found themselves quite to their content among them; for, as was the case at the Polish diets, blood often flowed in their electoral assemblies; and more than once has the edge of the sword interrupted the speech of a rash orator. The throne belonged of right to a single family; even the claim of seniority was recognized; but woe to him who added no better titles: this turbulent nation was disposed to obey only those princes whose rights had been sanctified by victory. Such was the people before whom the Roman power was obliged to become stationary. How were their formidable armies composed? of the same materials as with us. The Parthian nobles, man and horse covered with steel, may be not inaptly compared to our men at arms, our preux chevaliers; the strength of their armies consisted in them alone; the people who fought on foot were reckoned for nothing; the noble knight was only held in any consideration, who was rich enough to take other brave men into his pay, or possessed himself such valour and renown as could attach others to his fortune. When Mark Antony marched to the East, to revenge the defeat of Crassus, the King

of the Parthians had occasion for only 850 knights, or men at arms, to overcome him. Shortly before, twenty-five Parthian, knights had conquered Judea and taken Jerusalem. It would be easy to extend the parallel farther, and show the striking resemblance between the Arsacidean monarchy and the kingdoms of the West. We should not find there, it is true, the titles of Duke, and of Count, which modern feudalism imparted to the Roman empire; but we might see a constable commanding their armies, and marquesses defending their frontiers. Barons, and feudal lords

of every sort, whose names I cannot call to mind, and among whom were many invested, as with us, with sacerdotal offices, distributed the land among themselves, and formed the noble part of the nation, or rather the nation itself; whilst the people, attached to the soil, was serf in the full force of the expression. At the head of this political system was a prince, who was called King of Kings, and was really so, for his chief vassals bore the title of king. Their number was fixed at seven, like the seven electors of the holy Roman empire.

If we are not the inventors of the feudal system, let us not imagine that it was first conceived by the Parthians. What is a feudal government? It is nothing more than the military occupation of a vast territory, divided among all the soldiers, rank being preserved therein like the gradations in an army. It is the inevitable consequence of a military government or a conquest. The Arsacides were not the inventors of this mode of government, since they were not the first conquerors of Asia; they succeeded other empires and other conquerors. The predecessors of the Assyrians, those by whom they were expelled, the Medes and the Persians, had a government altogether similar: The Arsacides have merely copied them. The titles of Master of the World, Great King, King of Kings, and others besides, which have been transmitted to us from people to people, from tradition to tradition, have always been used to designate the supreme monarch of Asia, even in those countries that did not exactly acknowledge his sway. When the Greeks, who professed to defy the power of the King of Persia, but who received his subsidies, spoke of the King, the Great