Tae newspaper in the present day serves a purpose which, according "to the highest authority, was once fulfilled by the drama. The object of journalism is to show "the very ago and body of the time, his form and pressure." The man who takes up a newspaper in England or in America is in a few moments an courant with i the countries of the ci lized, or barbarous world, He is in a position to say what is the leading idea of European policy which sways the most influential cabinets. acquainted ith the occurrences in the worlds of literature, science and art. He sees iz the daily domestic chronicle of the doings of great cities what are the occupation, engagements, amusemente, and crimes of the various classes that, form that complicated system which for lack of a better name, have agreed to dub " Society." The motives and springs of human action, the tangled maze of motive in distant lands is also displayed. before his eyes. He sees the hints of a projected policy in savage countries. He notes how by slow degrees influences of civilization are brought to bear on remote places. But above all, a nows-paper printed in the English language is a picture of the doings of the day. The whole life of a great people is visible in broadsheet of the Times. Though we are not prepared, with Mr. John Bright, to say that more is to be learnt from the perusal of the "Jupiter" than from "all the works of Thucydides" [sic], we may yet admit freely that the man who lays down a single womber without learning very much that is likely to profit bim, must be a dul indeed.
tarn from the various able and thoughtful journals that are ted in London every day, and direct attention to the only native Newspaper in China, the contrast is marked indeed. We have recently re-galany printed the most valuable of the Peking Gazettes. The reason.why we have done so, perhaps, hardly needs explanation. We want to seo China painted by the Chinese themselves, We desire that the actual transactions of the people and of the officials should be presented in a plain and unmistakeable form to the European reader. Some persons may find the record dull—but we are persuaded that, from these cart official notices, we may gather genuine information about what is done, and what is not done in Chins, To an English reader who wants mas. terly essays on politics, clear and elubo-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.