Tue Daily Press mentioned last week, that prior to the departure of His Excellency Kwoh Sung-tao, the Chinese Awbassador to London, he received instructions from the Emperor to keep a diary in which he was to note everything that he-saw during his voyage from China to Europe, the manner in which he was received at the various ports at which he would touch en route, and his reception at his destination by the English people and authorities, He was further instructed to record his impression of the places he visited, and to report on the manners and customs of the people, together with the commerce of the country; and the journal, when completed, was to be Bent to Peking for perusal. These commands, it was stated, were faith fully obeyed, and in due course Kwoh transmitted for the Imperial glance, a manuscript book filled with the result of his observations. It was perused, and orders were given by the ''sung-li Yamen to have several thousand of it printed in pamphlet form for distribution among the high mandarins. Hardly half of these pamphlets had been distributed, however, when one of the Censors presented a strongly-worded memorial to the Throne, praying for the withdrawal of the diary from circulation, as the memorialist considered the statements made in it reflected disgracefully upon China, the Ambassador having described every. thing in England as greatly superior to China; having, in fact, told the whole trath, which was unacceptable to Chinese pride, And the Daily Press regretted to have to add that the prayer of the Censor was granted Whether our contemporary is right in saying the journal has been withdrawn from circulation, on the reraonstrance of a Censor who was horrified at the truths told, we are not aware. But we do know that the first section of it, describing the voyage to Europe, was printed in the Spring by the Tsung-li-yamen, presumably for distribution to the provinees; and we are able to give, in another column, a translation of an extract which may interest our readers, The journal, which begins with the embarkation of the mission at Shanghai on the 1st December, 1876, chronicles all the events of the voyage, its sights, scenes, and occasional discomforts, in a style which is frequently amusing; and interspersed throughout are reflections on political subjects, of which the extract we publish this morning is specimen. Kwob's sketch of the rise, progress and divisions of Christ. ianity is amusing in its terseness; but when he comes to speak of the course, and probable effect of the religions propaganda in China, his words deserve weighty consideration, for they may probably be taken as fairly representing the view of every educated Chinese, whilst the apprehension of danger from this cause is eminently characteristic of the official sentiment throughout the country. There is no doubt that Kwoh is justified, in tk" abstract, in claiming for China a spirit of religious tolerance, "no restrictions being laid upon any form of worship or belief." The opposition which is shown to Christianity arises from a political, much more than from a religions motive. Irritation there is, of the latter kind, at the condemnation of ancestral worship which has been described as the only creed deep-rooted in the Chinese mind, and at the dissension and trouble which are now and then caused by the conversion of one member of a family. But it is the quasi-political bond in which the Roman Missionaries seek to anita their converts, the political protectorate which they claim to exercise over them, and the persuasion, right or wrong, that this protectorate is sometimes exercised over criminals who are thus shielded from punishment—that chiefly cause the enaity which undoubtedly exists to the Christian propaganda, That the Arsbassador's language, affirming "how the different missions give encouragement and protection to their converts," and how, "in Szechuen and Kweichow, the most acute sufferings have been en-"tailed in consequence upon the people, "and the mere mention of the word "missionary excites a feeling of in-"dignation in the breast, and calls forth a torrent of invective,"—grently exaggerates the case, there can be searcely room for doubt. But it is none the less trae that he expresses a feeling which is widely spr if less intense than he describes.
The suggestion of a partial remedy, contained in his closing sentences, is 80 exactly in accord with the Imperial decree enjoining respect for the equal rights of Christian and non-Christian Chinese, which was published on the 1st February last, that there can be little doubt of the subject Laving been under discussion in this sense before the departure of the mission from China. That decree was approved at the time as a spontaneous expression of tolerance, and as indicating that the "security for the future" which Sir Thomas Wade declared to have been the guiding impulse in his recent negociations, had been to some extent impressed as an active principle on the Chinese mind. It is interesting to discover, in Kwoh's memorial, how seriously the whole subject has exercised the minds of Peking states. men, As we said before, we do not believe that the Chinese are inclined at heart to be intolerant; and foreigners will be as pleased as the Chinese themselves, if a way can be found to obviate the irritation which the Christian propaganda does undoubtedly excite.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.