Under so corrupt a system as the local administration at Canton, numerous evasions of what is called "the law" take place; no foreign merchants, except the Company, within the last ten years, have traded in conformity to Chinese proclamations. This state of things, he contends, "can scarcely be called smuggling;" though Mr. Marjoribanks does not tells us what it ought to be called. He says, "there is not a British, American, or other individual foreign merchant in Canton, however respectable, who does not pay bribes to the officers of customs for the evasion of the government duties: this at once accounts for the circumstance, at which surprise has been expressed in this country, that the Company, who have sold British manufactures at a higher price than individuals, have declared that they sustained a loss, while the private merchant obtained a profit." Then how shamefully Parliament has been imposed upon, in being led to believe that these sales of British manufactures were fair transactions! Mr. Marjoribanks goes on: "This, however much it may be at variance with strict principle, may certainly be employed as an argument against the existence of the exclusive privileges of the Company. We are not called upon to maintain Chinese fiscal regulations. We must take China as we find it. Nor must we too hasitily condemn the conduct, in such transactions, of its subordinate official authorities. Most of the offices of government are put up to sale, and sold to the highest bidder. The salaries are very inadequate, and the possessor of the office naturally looks to remunerate himself by corrupt practices for the sums by which he purchased bis appointment."

The policy pursued by the Company being a tacit condemnation of the maxims of Mr. Marjoribanks, he shews that the Company themselves have, in some few instances, acted illegally, and that they "have often refined too much upon these points, and taken to themselves more credit than they deserved."

After exposing the fraud and treachery of the Hong, Mr. M. compliments the outside merchants (whose dealings are more or less illegal); several of them, he says, are "men of good credit and character, and will engage to place cargoes in ships either in the port of Whampoa, at Lintin, or at Macao." He expects that the open trade will happily increase the number and strengthen the power of these merchants against their own Government!

With respect to the illicit opium trade, Mr. Marjoribanks, whilst he admits that the misery and demoralization which this "envenomed poison' creates in China are "almost beyond belief," observes "we console ourselves with the reflection, that if we did not poison the Chinese at this round rate, somebody else would," and seems distinctly, though not in terms, to counsel the encouragement of this trade, which "assists in lowering the estimation of the foreign character in the minds of all intelligent Chinese." He draws a conclusion, not a very fair one under the peculiar circumstances of the case, of the weakness of the Chinese Government, from their inability to put down this illicit trade,

Mr. Marjoribanks then enters into an explanation of the motives which induced him to send the Lord Amherst to the principal northern ports of China, which experiment, he says, has shewn that the people are every where most desirous to trade with the English, as well as most of the government officers! He adds, "several ships have since this expedition pro ceeded to the northern ports, I regret to say principally for the purpose of disposing of opium. They have generally succeeded. They were of course ordered away by official proclamations, which will continue to be issued till they become a dead letter, and the trade is regularly established. You must expect, however, before long to hear of collision with the natives, or seizures of British subjects, and be prepared to deal with them accordingly." This is, of course, rather desirable than otherwise.

His remarks on the embarrassments encountered by trade at Canton and the commercial character of the Chinese, are common-place topics. From their pursuit of foreign trade, in defiance of the strictest prohibitions, Mr. Marjoribanks draws another argument against the efficacy of Chinese laws.

He then proceeds to consider how our relations with China might be best improved. Our embassies have accomplished little; the Chinese look upon an ambassador not as a negociator, but merely as a tribute-bearer from an inferior prince to their sovereign. No decided results were obtained by Lord Macartney's embassy, and still less was accomplished by Lord Amherst's; though, in his evidence before the parliamentary committee, Mr. Marjoribanks declares that "the improvement in our condition in China has arisen from the very favourable impression made upon the Chinese Government and the people generally by the last embassy!" The last embassy, he now says, was badly managed in respect to the ko-tow, or prostration-ceremony; a point which was not decided upon beforehand, but was left to Lord Amherst, who vacillated, and at one time made up his mind to perform the ko-tow, had not Sir George Staunton, confirmed in his opinion by the members of the factory who accompanied the embassy, declared against it. The details of the embassy's appearance at and dismission from the Court, convey no high opinion of the virture or even decorum of the imperial ministers. Mr. Marjoribanks considers that the results of this embassy affords "a striking lesson for our guidance of the intolerable presumption and wretched imbecility of the Chinese government."

As state-embassies, therefore, can accomplish nothing, Mr. Marjoribanks thinks" it must be admitted that we have a right to require from China, at least, just and equitable treatment and protection to the persons and property of British subjects. Let commissioners be sent," he says, " accompanied by a part of the naval squadron in India; for, to command the slightest attention or respect in China, you must appear with an appropriate force; let your requisitions be such as you are justified in making, and be prepared to insist upon them if refused. This may be readily done by occupying, should you be compelled to it, one of the numerous islands in the Canton river, and, if necessary, seizing the forts which command its entrance.

They have no force, either military or naval, to oppose to you, that is not contemptible. Under such circumstances, I feel satisfied your demands would be granted in a very brief period." 5

Mr. Marjoribanks says, that the changes which have been now made, in appointing King's instead of Company's representatives to Canton, will, as far as the Chinese government are concerned, be regarded by them with assumed indifference. They will be insulted, he says, by placards on the very walls of their houses." This state of things cannot long continue. Even if the government at home be disposed to submit to it, its subjects in China will not." Mr. Marjoribanks evidently thinks they ought not. "The Chinese government is incapable of appreciating a policy founded - on principles of moderation and justice; and, adopting their own mode of reasoning, they ascribe to fear upon your part what has its origin in a very different motive. You must, in short, satisfy the Chinese government that you possess a giant's strength; that you are aware of its excellence, but have no inclination to exercise it in a tyrannous disposition." The best of all embassies to the Chinese and the subordinate ultra-gangetic nations, he says, 66 are occasional visits of our ships of war, whose officers can readily explain the object of our merchants, and, when necessary, be prepared to defend them against violence and outrage. Lord Nelson well and sagaciously observed, that a British admiral was the best of all ambassadors, for he settled in a few hours what it took more accomplished diplómatists weeks and months to effect. The diplomacy which he recommended will alone prove successful in China and the countries which surround it." He concludes: " do not send our national flag annually to China to be openly insulted by any contemptible minion of its weak and arrogant government. Assume an attitude that you do not blush, to own. Such a course of policy must eventually, though perhaps it can only gradually, lead to a greatly increased demand for the productions of English industry. But you will accomplish a nobler and far more important end; and an amicable intercourse once established with the highly interesting but still uncivilized and unenlightened nations of Eastern Asia, must, become "the means of communicating to many millions of the human race at present involved in comparative ignorance and barbarism, the light of knowledge, and the blessings of religion."

Mr. Marjoribanks, therefore, is an advocate of what is termed "strenuous measures;" he has not demonstrated the justice of coercing the ChiJanese government to throw open its ports to our merchants against its inclination; he has not shewn that a measure, which would be resented by France or Russia as an act of unheard-of arrogance and insolence, is just towards China; but he has endeavoured to shew, that it might be safely attempted on account of the weakness of its government, and that the attempt would be compatible with national honour. He cannot conceive (p. 4) why we have not acted towards China " on principles which we apply to our intercourse with other nations;" yet he deprecates (p. 50) our attempting "to force indiscriminately into application those principles

which regulate our commercial transactions with other countries!" There is something like inconsistency in this.

A still greater inconsistency appears to us to exist between the contents of this letter, and Mr. Marjoribanks's evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons, in February 1830.* We might not be able (and we shall not undertake the invidious task) to point out specific instances of very palpable incongruity, but the difference in spirit and tendency is apparent. Change of circumstances, and additional reflection, may undoubtedly alter a person's mind; but we would presume strongly to recommend to public men always to give frank and explicit reasons for any change they may see fit to make in their recorded opinions.

Society of Natural History of the Mauritius. At the meeting of this society on the 24th November last, M. E. Liénard read a description of a rare species of muræna, and M. Liénard, sen., of a silvery holocantho from Batavia.

The secretary (M. J. Desjardins) read two papers communicated by M. Lislet Geoffroy; one entitled "Notice sur le Voyage de M. de Crémont au Volcan de Bourbon en 1772," containing some interesting details of an excursion to the volcano: the paper is accompanied by a plan and view of the volcano. The other paper is a very detailed account, in a letter from M. Bory de St. Vincent, dated 8th November 1801, and addressed to the secretary, of his visit to the volcano.

M. J. Desjardins read an abridged description of the adicnemus nesogallicus, the plover which inhabits the Mauritius. 43. A

pod x VARIETIES,700 V vm, & Fragments of Bones in India.-Dr. Malcolmson has sent to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta the following description of some bones found in a cave near Hydrabad." Some interesting facts occurred to me, the other morning, in a ride to a large mass of granite rock near this, which is rent into fissures of great depth, forming dens inhabited by hyænas and chitas, extending through the bottom of a little hill to unknown depths. Having entered one of the rents, I was struck with the masses of fallen rock on each side being covered with stalagmite formed from the water running down from the sides of the rent forty feet above, and still more by observing that the sides of the narrow passage bore a fine polish, which my companion immediately exclaimed must be caused by the animals passing out of a cave at the end of the fissure he had been examining. I had the same thing in view, and was at the time observing how far it could be caused by the water. In tracing the same appearance in other places, it was only observed where the animals would necessarily pass, and when the stones projected by a sharp point into the path, the angles only were polished. The den was low, and numerous bones lay scattered in the outer parts, into which I crawled: the foot-marks of the animals were distinct and fresh. Most of the bones were much broken, and the dung of the hyænas See Digest of this Evidedce, vol. I. p. 240, and Vol. II. p. 50.

Asiat. Journ. N‚S. VOL. 12. No.47.

2 F

near the place were full of large pieces of ribs, unbroken tarsal bones, &c. During the search I was astonished at the vast numbers of rats' heads and bones found in the place in little heaps, evidently out of reach of the hyænas, and often on the top of insulated blocks; these were below the fissures open at the top, and the dung of hawks readily suggested that they were dropped by these birds, which was confirmed by a large feather of one found with the bones. Some of the bones were surrounded with the fur of the animal, and had been only recently voided; and what was remarkable, the upper and lower jaw were not separated, but the flesh beautifully cleaned away by the digestive process; the other bones were entire, although disunited. In the larger skulls, the back part had been broken, and in one only crushed. In a few minutes I removed a plateful of skulls and other bones, amongst which are three species of mus, squirrel, sorex, bats, and birds. Had the rock been of lime and stone, fossil animal remains would have been found. The curious confirmation of Buckland's supposition, regarding the polished blocks in the caves, appears to me very interesting, as his views stood much in need of illus. tration from the habits of living species."

CRITICAL NOTICES.

Fisher's Drawing-Room Scrap-Book, 1834, with Poetical Illustrations, &c. By L. E. L. 4to. London, 1833.

WE perceive with pleasure the increasing interest taken by the reading public in works relating to a country which, until very lately, has only been associated in the mind with Cashmere shawls, tigers, and China josses. The exquisite scenery of that gorgeous land, where palaces, more magnificent than the imagination of colder climes could conceive, washed by crystal rivers and shaded by mournful cypresses, were raised above the crumbling reliques of the mighty dead, was almost wholly unknown; and the interest, if such it may be called, excited by the history of the Moghul conquests, died away with the taste for the Aurungzebes of the drama; while the very name of a Hindoo conjured up disagreeable images of a mythology too monstrous and unnatural to excite any thing but disgust. It is only lately that the beauties of Southey's Curse of Kehama have been appreciated, its orientalisms recognized, and its lovely pictures of sylvan life separated from the cumbrous and revolting fabric of a hideous superstition. But a new field has been opened; a spirit of inquiry is abroad, and in the volume before us we have been delighted to see the splendid remains of Hindoostan illustrated by a pen which seems to have been dipped in the golden glory surrounding that bright and sunny land. As Miss Landon has become more intimately acquainted with the spirit-stirring records of Indian history, the chivalric character of its heroes, the tenderness and devotion of its females, its arts and arms, its music and its poesy, her enthusiasm has burst forth; her imagination revels amid flowers and founts; she transports herself to the paradise of the fire-fly and the lotus, and she sings of the bright waters of the Ganges as though her lyre had been attuned under the luxuriant shade of its peepuls and palmyras. The sweet sad tone of pensive feeling, inspired by "the fallen temple and the lonely tomb," has been exchanged for a bolder strain; she peoples the ruins of Delhi with the picturesque armies of the East, and enters into the secluded bowers of the zenana, diversifying her descriptions of happy love and successful war with the desolation of Rajast'han and the sacrifice of the "fatal beauty," the flower of one of its fairest provinces.

Miss Landon will not, we trust, abandon a soil in which, as she truly says, she has found such "rich material for narrative," and which her brilliant imagination, kindling as she gazes upon the broad rivers, palmy groves, and mosque-crowned hills of Eastern scenery, so eminently qualifies her to describe. Who that, amidst the marble palaces and magnificent gardens of the Jumna, has looked upon the soft enchantment of an