The Americ merchants in China wast have proper protection alike against the rapacity of the officials and the fraud and deceit of the motive traders; the only object of this in the best inefficient from se remedied? Any one with even Lut knowledge of China will tell you that it may be done only by the plan I am about to sketch out, which it, in its essential points, that of every important nation of Clina—the English, German, French and Russian, have been given to understand that the Seoretary of State has declared that if educated young nen, with a competent initial know-edge of Chinese, make application to him he will appoint them to interpreterships in our lates. In the present condition of vice such a post would be the last that I ould recommend any one to accept who has any (the slightest) prospects in life and reli-on his own brain-power, and in this my opinion is only the echo of that of hundreds in China; by accepting such a position he settles down to hard work on a salary which is a mere pittance in Chins, with not the slightest prospect of increasing either it or his position in thy world. Let him who enters here, leave hope behind," should be the motto of our Consular service in Chit reorganize tle service; give the int prospect of rising according to hi make his knowledge of Chinese useful to hi in his career,—and ho At least we shall replace those Chinese interpreters with mien possessed of some of the western notion ut honour, of which the Celestials are so devoid.
Lhe service should be reorganized in this way: Let the Secretary of State make such \ppointments, as he now declares himself willing to make, from the number of educated young man who have surmounted the rudiments of that most difficult of lauguay Chinese. The appointees will then proce Peking, and spend one year.in close applic tion to the study of Chinese, broken only by such special work as the Minister may have to give tem; other nations allow two (and the English often three) for this study at the national expense; but, by demanding a certain primary knowledge of the language, we will thus save a year. At the eud of this year, spent under the Minister's eye, th bout thesame date of appointment will be examined, in Chinese only, by the secretary of Legation (who is also its' interpreter), and ranked for seniority according to the result of the examination, This will provide. a powerful stimulus to their efforts; and the gain to the service is immense, for there can be no doubt that, with the Chinese, a knowledge of the language is necessary to an dsguate compreension of the people and officials. After this examination the men will now be sent to the ports at which their services are required here they will study a couple of hours " day, Ieing uow of the rank only of ' assistant," When the assistant, after serving three a such, can declare to the Minister to passo rigid examination in a certain i known field, be should agai submitted to an examination in Chinese,—ime not competitive, but simply to ase certain if " certain standard has been reached this examination should be held in, say the June or December following the expiring of the term of three years, If, for example, aaa student at Peking he has shown a thorough acquaintance with colloquial Chinese, ho should now be required to show an adequate knowledge of the written Ikuguage, and to a good written translation of any Chinese led to him, This examination is not competitive, yet it is so to a certain extent; one may by diligence be prepared to before another, or the second may fail to show the proper degree of excellence; but fair chance is given to all~-to the one to main tain, to the other to regain, the relative ions won and lost oat the students?
vination; for all must servo as assistant interpreter (or as at one of the consulates for three years; and after the ex: piring of this term one knows as well as the other that the examination will be held in the following Jane or Decembs Having thus wou 1k of interpreter, he will then pose, by seniority only, through the 3rd, 2nd, and lst grades successively. During all this time it is not supposed that one man will always remain at one port. On the contrary, experience has shown in Ohina that the service will be more efficient if transfers from one port to another are made occasionally, but at irregular intervals; for not only are some ports healthy and others decidedly the ro (apropos of this, a Consul at a place not China, answered a ship plained of the exorbitance of " with the remark, "Do you suppose, sir, that {came to Chiva for the goud of my health?"), but also the Chinese are apt at getting the gauge mas, and a necessitated by this, When a man, by the promotion or removal of his seniors, rises to the head of the inter-list, he will then, as the requirements service permit, be promoted to Vi such be will be el Targe and important port, or Acting Coneul at a small place, During' all this time their knowledge of Chinese has been kept up, and they can either act as their own interpreters or control the work of is subordinate; and in any ca direct communication with avy official with with whom they may be brought into contact.
And uow, coming to the Consul, we touch aleo the grand question of exterritoriality, which is by treaty the right of the American in China, ae in Turkey and Egypt. By ial power, ai jou (subject to the law) d property of every ican within their jurisdiction. But how many of our Consuls have more than a superficial knowledge of law, except for their own purposes? What will an ex-colonel know of the principles of law? And is a morchaut-Consul to posses judicial power, which should be granted only' to properly qualified
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.