was shown to be another striking proof of a departure from the old conservative attitude. The line to Peking from Tientsin, which it was hoped would be opened next Spring, would be an invaluable object lesson to many a high dignitary in the capital, and especially to the Manche ones, comparatively few of whom have as yet had their minds at all expanded by foreign intercourse. The line to Hankow was to be ready in three years; Chinese capitalists in Canton and elsewhere were being invited to furnish some of the required funds; and though the official in charge of the enterprise was distrusted by foreigners, the mere fact of his having abandoned the very lucrative of Customs Taotai_at Tientsin, and having spent hundreds of thousands of taels in obtaining the railway post, indicate his confidence, the confidence too of an admittedly shrewd and able man, in its proving to jhe still more lucrative, to be which it must be conducted to a successful issue. It was noteworthy how entirely the venerable bugbear of fungshun has been ignored and the completion of these railway schemes most deal a fatal blow to this superstition, a result of the greatest importance for almost every foreign project in China. In conclusion, the lecturer alluded briefly to " scheme for promoting intercourse of all kinds between Chinese and foreigners in Peking by erecting a kind of central institute, provided with rooms for oilmanner of purposes, 2 museum, where the sciences and arts of the West might be demonstrated actually to the oses of the Chinese witha completeness otherwise unobtainable; and where foreign merchants and manufacturers {might exhibit samples of their wares to myriads of potential customers.' The proceedings closed with the usual vote of thanks, proposed by Mr. Bullock and vasiferously applauded by all present.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.