We publish on another page a proclamation of considerable interest, issued -by the Footai of Hunav. It may be remembered that some months ago.two missionaries arriving at the provincial capital, Changsha, found the city in a state of disturbance owing to inflammatory placards posted over the place. -So excited had the people become, that it was with some difficulty the visitors escaped with their lives, The style of Hunan placards is only too well-known. It was there that that infamous production, the "Death blow: to corrupt Doctrines," made its first appearance; and ever 4ineo. than, the people have vied with one another in hostility to foreigners of every description. It is therefore with greater pleasure that we give publicity to the Proclamation of the new Footai, which reached us through private hands bat from Chinese official sources; and this,.pleasure is increased by the fact that the Proclamation has been issued without giving time for the usual amount of external pressure to be brought to bear, and is we have every reason to believe the spontaneous production of the Chinese authorities. As one of the firat expressions of an improved friendly fooling, we take an arly opportunity of noticing a gracofal act, and hope that with extended intercourse there will be the less occasion to remind the Chinese students and graduates of Honan and elsewhere that their previous conduct by no means does honour tothe Holy Doctrine of Confucius, but is in direct variance with his teachings.
Since writing the above, we have Jearnt that Shao Hong-vii, the Footai alluded to, has been superseded by Li Ming.ch'ib, the late Pa-ching-szii of Fobkion—for what reason we have to await future advices, in "No jade could be more pure." But the slip is made in good company. When Hood sent his immortal Song" to the printers, it was headed The Tale of the Shirt, and there was come little difficulty in getting the author to see the joke. Mr. Stent might have told us more about the sources whence these songs and ballads are derived, whether from native collections in verse or from the mouths of the peasantry—whether they represent exciting legends or are in their present form merely invented by him. The Flight of Hsien Feng for example is represented as a translation, but we frankly confess that our imagination refuses to picture a Chinaman writing in Chinese anything in the least resembling its bitter sarcasm and its vivacious humour, But these questions are of less interest in England, where the book is published, than here, The main thing is that the author has brought together number of legends and tales, of very unequal value it is true, but each of which illustrates some peculiarity in the Chinese ways of acting or thinking, or both, Some are very pretty or are prettily told, which for the English reader comes to much the same thing, The collection will amuse, which in itself is a service, but it will moreover prove to many people who regard Chinese as curious animals rather than as fellow creatures, that they love and hate, weep and laugh, much as we do; but that thei emotions are excited by springs that dixie widely from ours, and are displayed in ways that strike us as grotesque and unnatural. The author's facility in versifieation must not be left unnoticed. An excellent example of an explanatory digression worthy of Ingoldsby will be found at page 106, A Mr. Knens has written what ho calls Our Cruise in the S.S. Monongahela to China and Japan, a pamphlet of 55 pages, intended perhaps merely asa memento of the voyage to be retained by his shipmates, and ridiculously useless for any other purpose.
Wo hold over our notice of another little book, entitled " Reformation of Missionary Enterprise in China." in London, against a cost of 11d. to 13d. per Ib, for similar kinds last year, Latterly, prices have advanced fully Tls. 1.50 to Tls. 2.00 per picul on all but Seangtam deseriptions, the rise in these being 50 cents to 75 cents per picul. The market closes firm. Total arrivals of first crop Hankow District teas are now 5,000,000 Ibs. in excess of last year's total yield. The stock of Hankow tea is reduced to 9,500 }-chests, and all-Kiukiang teas have been transferred to the Shanghai market. During the fortnight Russian buyers have taken about 44,000 d-chests. It is estimated that settlements of Congou for America this season amounts to about 25,000 d-chests, against 10,000 J-chests last' year. Details of the sottlements during the fortnight, together with the prices paid will be found below. The following figures indicate the entire business to date (inclusive of Kiukiang Teas) as contrasted with the settlements to same date last year 1879.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.