Inseoms almost wonderful that the Chinese Government contrives in any way to maintain ite hold over the actions of its people. Hold on their affections it has not, nor does it seem at all anxious to seek to obtain the good wishes of its subjects, Doubt-Tess the main reason for the stability of the present Government is that the people at large fear a worse. The Chinese are essentially a ped-dung nation, and love of money without much regard for the means by which it is obtained, is their prominent characteristic, They have had much experience of buth foreign and native government, and have not found the latter less corrupt than the various foreign dynasties which from time to time have succeeded in placing themselves at the head of affairs. The Mings, established on the throne as they were in obedience toa patriotic impulse against foreign domination, can scarcely be said to have justified the aspirations of the national party. Indeed, in their later days, they fell into an abyss of degradation and sensuality to which the annals of the Empire scarcely afford a parallel, and to which the vigorous, and on the whole upright, rule of the ea Manchow monarchs formed a m contrast. It was not, indeed, ti race lost its own peculiar characte and had submitted to Chinese influences and surroundings for a century and a half, that signs arose of the old corruption which marked the days of the Mings, and which have for the Inst seventy years gone on gradually increasing till the air is so fall of rumours, and dissatisfaction is s0 widespread that, did an opportunity present itself, the whole nation would probably rise to get rid of the present incubus. It isa carious fact too that the Man-chows seem to be rapidly dying out, and this gradual extinction of a race 80 vigorous in the seventeenth century, is one of those remarkable facts in history for which it is difficult to discover an explanation, It is scarcely that they have been intermingled with the Chinese, for the fusion of the races has been but partial. They have certainly not been ousted by arms, have they been altogether dispossessed in the ordinary process of immigration. Chinese settlers have for years been colonizing Manchuria; and are atill engaged in increasing numbers in popu. lating the country. But they have 4 The depopal Manchuria began before the Chinese immigration; and there are large tracts, more especially along the seaboard now under Russian role, where the country, rich and fertile as it ie, is to all intents uninhabited. Yet, amid these unin habited districts, are to be found the remains of works indicating the former existence of a considerable population, now passed away. Indeed it would seem that, like the old stag of North-China, now surviving only in the Imperial Park of Nanhaitsze, the Manchow race is only kept alive in artificial manner by the occnponey of the throne of"China by one of its families; for, take away Manchow garrisons and Manchow officials, there would only remain here and there few scattered village communities. There are times in enation's history when a weak ruling house is accepted by all parties as the best possible compromise of competing interests, and this is the present condition of affairs in Chiva. As power, the Mauchows are not worthy of consideration. Practically their troops are outmustered from one end of the Empire to the other. The system on which they are kept up is admirably adapted to deprive them of all soldierly pride; while the real military duties of the Empire are discharged by Chinese troops. To still farther complicate this condition of affairs, the Emperor for sixteen years has been a minor, and no personal goveruince can be looked forward to for at least twelve years more. These conditions do not 'feom favourable for stability; in fact, we may assume that, were it not for some nice adjustment of counteracting fluences, the dynasty would before this have come to an end. Yet it still continues, and apparently without any immediate sign of giving way. Woe imagine that the personal unpopularity of the present party in power has bad much to say to this. Had a man like the late Viceroy of Kiangnan placed himself at the head of a popular movement, there would be little doubt as to the result, but times have changed for the worse since his decease. The screw has been pat on everywhere to obtain means for overawing armaments, and what in the long ran proves the most powerful interest in China, that of the trading classes, has been thoroughly alienated. The shortcomings of the present Government in the matter of the famine will probably leave their mark behind them; so that altogether it will be a subject of wonder if the present condition of affairs can continue to exist much longer. Still there is no surety in estimating the probable course of Chinese politics. As Sherard Osborne remarked; after yon have carefully argued out the thing from a European point of view, the chances are the course taken by the Chinese will be exactly opposite.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.