A meeting of the North China Branch of the R. A. S. was held in the Society's rooms on Monday night, F. B. Forbes, Esq., President, in the chair.
Minutes of last meeting having been read, Brigade Major Walker, Hongkong, was elected, and ©. Arendt, Esq., Acting German Coveul at Tientsin was proposed, non-resident members. The Hon. Librarian, M. Henri Cordier, handed in a list of works recently presented to the Society, including: The Naturalist's Library, 40 vols., from Capt. W. 0, Law; the narrative of the French Expedition up the Mei-Kong and through Indo-China, with accom-Dr. Williams' Chinese Commercial Guide, anying Atlas, presented by M. F. Garnier by the author; Journal of the Am. Or. Society, by the Society; and various works by Mr. A. Wylie. For the Society's Mu-scum—a pangolin, or scaly ant-eater, caught in the suburbs of Shanghai, presented by W. H. Carter, Esq.
Rev. Mr. Eoxrys then read a paper on a recent visit to the city of Confucius, Chu-fu, but pressure of other matter prevents us including a notice of it in our The Paeswenr had much pleasure in reposing a cordial vote of thanks to Mr, kins for his extremely interesting paper on the City of Confucius. It was rare good fortune for this Society to be ablosto listen to such a paper, and to find in its midst, on the same evening, a gentleman whose name as a scholar would, among Western nations at least, be always indissolubly connected with that of the Sage, Confucius—he need not say he alluded to the Rev. Dr. Legge. (Applause.) He believed the Rev. Doctor had accompanied Mr, Edkins in his visit to the City of Confucius, and for him, certainly, above all foreigners, such a visit must have had peculiar interest. Dr. Legge, he trusted, would not think him guilty of indiscretion if, on behalf of the Society, he asked that he should give them his impressions of the place, (Applause.)
Dr, Lasbe of duo with very great plea: sure to second your vote of thanks to Mr. Edkins for his very able and complete essay on what we saw in the City of Confucius. He has refreshed my own memory on a great many points; and I shall ever esteem it a fortunate circumstance in my life that I had Mr. Edkins as my guide through the Northern regions, from Peking down to Shanghai. 1 went to the North before going home to England—not I hope for the last timo—plause)—that I might have the opportunity of comparing the North with the South of China, I was pretty well acquainted with the latter, and I wanted to compare the country and the people with the country and people of the South, and Ao get some idea, if {possibly could, of what was really the character ofthe Government and what was likely to be its future in its relations with foreign nations. Let me commence the statement of my impressions with that point at which Mr. Edkins commenced his Paper, i.e, the cultivation of opium, All along' the great tract of country over which we travelled from the time Wwe left 'T'ae-yan down nearly to Tsing-kéang-p'00, it was with the deepest regret that I looked on fields of poppies. At the village to which Mr. Edkins has referred, some old people with whom we entered into conservation on the subject, expressed their regret, saying the cultivation had oommenced the previous year, and that they considered it was a thing very much to be deplored, because the coming generation, were all likely to grow up opium. smokers. Just after we passed out of Chihli into Shantung province, we came to the Tsing-ho, in which flows' a considerable portion of the current of the old Yellow River, and crossed it at the foot of the district city of Ts'e-ho. It occurred to me there might be an inlet here for foreign commerce, from the mouth of the Tsing-ho, and that this city of Ts'e-ho would compete with Tientsin, and become a centre of distribution for foreign goods for Chibli and Shantung. And I thought if I got down to Shanghai and had such an opportunity as the present, I would tell you of it, and suggest that, in a revision of the treaty, 'Tsing-ho' should be opened to commerce; the junction of the two rivers, the Clear and the Yellow, could be kept open by dredging machines—(aughter)—and foreign nations otherwise do their utmost to encourage commercial activity. Only, from this and all other freshly opened ports—we should cease to introduce our opium, I know Ishall be laughed at, but still it would be a good thing, and if we cannot make a root and branch change in the matter, and put an
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.