To the Editor of the Sir,—I have read the article in your issue of the 5th instant, under the head of "The Customs and the Mandarinate, the substance of which is that there tendency on the part of the foreigners the Chinese Customs' employ to arrogate to themselves the functions of Chinese Magistrates. In support of your views, or rather as a text for your article, you quote two cases. One occurred in th infancy of the Customs in days long gone by. The popular report of what really
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.