Gener. Tt would be an omission not to note the marked recognition which the Chinese have twice shown, during the year, of the growing influence of the Press. The first occasion was in connection with the famous Yang yeh-liu trial, Our readers will remember the brutal torture to which this man was subjected by the Che-hsien because he, an actor, dated to marry a Canton Indy. Cantonese society was outraged, and the Che-hsien, also a Canton man, lent his willing aid to vindi-! cate the proprieties. The virl was flogged for presuming to say she liked her husband. The husband was tortured to make him confess he had abducted his wife.. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the tortures he was subjected to; nor to say that he was eventually sentenced to imprisonment and banishment. How could one actor resist the influence of the Cantonese Guild, backed by the! sympathy and power of the Chehsien! Suffice it to say that the whole procedure excited the indignation of the Northern Chinese, and that the Skunpao frankly and fearlessly echoed their opinion. The Che-hsien was furious at its strictures, and the Cantonmen threatened demolition of its office as among the mildest punishments to be incurred. Perhaps a convietion that any such effort would meet a dangerous opposition from foreigners, checked their ardour. An attempt was made, instead, to bring to bear on the Chinese writers of the Shunpao, the same pressure which had crushed the unhappy actor. But the editor of the Shunpao is an Englishman, and the English Consul threw the eggs of the Treaty over his employes. Mr Major was responsible. If cause of complaint existed, they might sue Mr Major in an English Court! The Cantonese wisely spared themselves the waste of time, and sought revenge in starting a rival paper, which was to extinguish the Shunpao utterly. 'The new journal, the Mei-pao, has distin guished itse: f by an insolent tone towards Foreigners, which appears to hurt them about as badly as its competition has hurt the Skunpao; and, we believe, the latter has rather benefitted by' the rivalry.
The second instance to which we have alluded, of acknowledgment of newspaper influence, occurred in February (W.-C, Herald, Feb. 12); when the Chinese merchants of Shanghai advertised, in the Shunpao, a petition to the 'Tuotai against the extravagant Li-kin taxation, explaining that they did so in order that "the subject might gain publicity far and near." The petition itself is' a striking instance of the discontent prevalent; and the recognition of the force of public opinion implied by the publication of the memorial, is noteworthy.
Tu connection with this subject, we may mention that a Reading-Room and Polytechnic Institution for Chinese has been got up, in Shanghai, and promises to have considerable success. 'I'he conception is, we believe, Mr Medhurst's, his energetic efforts to carry out the dea have been ably seconded by the committee.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.