responsible: no licence is required, no restrictions are imposed; but the Leu-lee declares, that whoever is guilty of editing wicked and corrupt books, with the view of misleading the people-and whoever attempts to excite sedition by letters or hand-bills, shall suffer death by being beheaded.' Nor is this vague definition meant to be, nor is it in fact, a dead letter. The multitude of books published, however, is immense. The history of China, from the earliest period to the Mongol dynasty, consists of 300 volumes. Sing poo, a biographical work, tills 120 volumes; Ta-tsing-ye-tung-che, a dictionary of their arts and inventions, 240 volumes; the civil code, 261 volumes; a collection of plays, 200 volumes. The commentaries on the works of Confucius are innumerable. Statistical accounts of the several provinces are nearly so; compilations of moral tales and aphorisms are without end.*

We have no intention to follow Mr. Davis through the account he has given of our commercial concerns with China. The following brief statement will show that opium smuggled into China from India forms about one-half of the total value of imports, and tea something less than the same proportion of exports.

The amount of the opium imported by us has thus been greater than that of the tea exported. The pernicious drug, sold to the Chinese, has exceeded in market-value the wholesome leaf that has been purchased from them; and the balance of the trade has been paid to us in silver.'-vol. ii. p. 457.

It is a curious circumstance that we grow the poppy in our Indian territories to poison the people of China, in return for a wholesome beverage which they prepare, almost exclusively, for us.

The increased severity of the Chinese law against the smuggling of opium seems to have had the effect of diminishing the sale of that pernicious drug from about fifteeen millions in 1832 to twelve millions in 1833; but even as to harmless articles, extension of foreign trade is in point of fact no object of the Chinese government. It has ascertained, by long experience, that the extensive and well-watered territory of China is amply sufficient to supply

*It is stated (Mem, sur les Chinois) that the emperor Kien-lung caused a reprint to be made, at the imperial press, of all the standard works throughout China; that in five years they completed 168,000 volumes, and that it was expected the whole would extend to 600,000 volumes.

its vast but industrious population with all the necessaries of life: this, together with the rooted aversion from intercourse with foreigners, render it hopeless for our merchants to obtain any other port than that of Canton, which, after all, is by far the best and most convenient port for commerce in the southern part of China: the navigation of the Strait of Formosa is very dangerous, and subject to those tremendous gales called typhoons. Indeed we are quite satisfied it is of no avail for this country to endeavour, by negociation, much less by force, which some have been wicked and absurd enough to advocate, to induce the Chinese to alter their system: it will be well if we can preserve our footing as it stands.

It cannot be disguised, however, that the position in which we are just now is far from satisfactory, and that the continuance of our commerce, restricted as it is, is rather precarious. It seems to us, indeed, that the consequences we apprehended, and fairly stated, on first hearing of the appointment of Lord Napier, are fast approaching their consummation. Our opinion of what the result of that amiable and respectable nobleman's mission would be has been confirmed au pied de la lettre.* Mr. Davis, for some prudential reason no doubt, does not even touch upon this point; but that young gentleman, Mr. Hamilton Lindsay, of whose pranks on the eastern coast of China we had some little time ago occasion to speak in terms of animadversion, has felt himself under no such reserve. In a published letter to Lord Palmerston, he boldly puts forth two propositions, so monstrous in principle, or rather so devoid of all honourable principle in a political and international view, that, judging from these specimens alone, we are tolerably certain his lordship will have informed him, if he has noticed his letter at all, that he has no occasion for those services which Mr. Lindsay frankly offers on his return to China-a country from which, if Mr. Lindsay has not already gone thither, we should strongly recommend him to stay

away.

This gentleman's first recommendation is, that an ambassador should be sent from England (we have had enough of them already), and, in conjunction with the admiral of the India station, and a fleet of one line-of-battle ship, two large frigates, six corvettes, and three or four armed steamers, having on board a land force of about 600 men, should demand redress for injuries sustainedthat is, for their calling us, as he says, barbarians,-which epithet if they did so apply it, the breaking forcibly into a court of justice would be quite enough to authorise.

This force, he says, would be amply adequate to compel sub*Quarterly Review, No. C.

mission.'

mission.' Some misgiving, however, seems to have seized him as to its ample adequacy' to subdue three hundred millions of people; for in the next page we find, that 'poltroons as the Chinese appear to be, yet, were we to arouse the spirit of the nation against us, they might and would prove more formidable than we imagine.' In such a contingency he calls to his aid his second proposition, which is as monstrous as his first-namely, ' to avoid irritating the people, and on every occasion to disclaim any hostile feeling towards them.-Your government has injured us,' we should say, and against them our hostility is directed, not against you.'-In plain terms, his advice is, to set the people against the government!an honourable employment, truly, for a king's ambassador, and a British admiral! Are we then, we would ask, wantonly to trample on all law, right, and justice, to forward the views chiefly of a set of opium-smugglers and unprincipled adventurers? Are we thus to force ourselves on a peaceable people, who are willing to receive us, but not over-desirous of the connexion, knowing, as they but too well do, how reluctant we always have been, but more so now than ever, to conform to the laws and regulations of their empire?-But Mr. Lindsay has been so completely answered by Sir George Staunton, as to leave us nothing further to add on this part of the subject.

There is one question put by Mr. Lindsay to Lord Palmerston, which certainly requires an answer. Are we (he asks) to continue to maintain an establishment at Macao, at an expense of more than 20,000l. a-year, without any assignable duties whatever?' We trust his lordship can answer, that this not merely useless, but mischievous, establishment is, before this, broken up. The squandering of such a sum is, in itself, bad and unjustifiable; but, what is worse, through it the national character has grievously suffered in the eyes of every foreigner that frequents Macao. They see that the Chinese take every occasion to pass some slight on the king's commissioners; that they are not permitted to show themselves, where alone they could be of any use, at Canton; while the traders of all descriptions, who go and return to and from Canton when it suits them, laugh at the poor prisoners shut up in Macao, nearly a hundred miles from where they ought to be; their only business, and only consolation, we suppose, being that of drawing quarterly for their large salaries. Their situation is degrading enough, and we only hope they have had notice to quit. If we were asked what we would recommend as a substitute, our answer would be-Meet the wishes of the Chinese government, by.sending out some intelligent person conversant, with commercial concerns, and let him be armed with the usual consular powers to control the irregular proceedings carrying on by our too often rude

and

and thoughtless countrymen at Canton. The Chinese wish it, our position requires it, and there is a precedent for it. In November, 1699, a consul's commission was sent out for the chief of the Company's factory. If this, or something of the kind, be not done, and done speedily, we augur a total cessation, and that at no distant period, of our intercourse with China.

Almost simultaneously with Mr. Davis's work, there has appeared, in a popular miscellany entitled The Edinburgh Cabinet Library,' a very careful and elaborate compilation on the history and condition of the Chinese empire. We strongly recommend these volumes also, to all who wish to understand the subject; and we would, in particular, point attention to that part of the third volume which treats of the zoology and botany of China. These essays are in all respects admirable-and they supply almost the only deficiency of any importance in Mr. Davis's book. Altogether, what we have seen of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library' impresses us with respect for the caution and sagacity of its conductors; and we hope their enterprise may be more permanently successful than so many others of the same sort which have lately disappointed the ardent projectors both here and in Scotland.

ART. IX.-A Popular and Practical Introduction to Law Studies. By Samuel Warren, Esq., F.R.S., of the Inner Temple. London. 12mo. 1835.

THE

HE influence of lawyers on the political institutions of their country is, doubtless, like all other influences, of a mixed nature, good and evil-but it would not be difficult to show that it must be, in the main, of a beneficial character. He who has a tenacious reverence to the inviolate authority of jurisprudence is already half a statesman. But not only does the jurist assist in preserving amongst the people a disposition of undisputing obedience to established rules,-the lawyers are always, as a body, disposed to assume a fixed and uncompromising attitude against the governing power, whenever this would break in upon the peaceable supremacy of the law. Willing to be controlled to the utmost even by the words of a statute, or the perchance almost fortuitous authority of a precedent, they look with extreme jealousy upon all extraneous control. They are a sort of civil priesthood administering the rites of society, and love not to be too much interfered with. Regarding their profession as based on the very first necessity of social man, and their science as composed of that which is no longer valuable when it ceases to be recognized as permanent and

supreme,

supreme, they have a natural tendency to resist the encroachment of all sudden, self-willed, unlegislating power. If judges, when reduced to a perpetual dependence upon the monarch, have proved the instruments of an arbitrary dominion, it must be remembered that their influence was in these cases rather overborne than exercised. It was the weakness of the lawyers, not their strength, that was in fault.

In England, a Bar which practices before an independeut judge, and appeals to a jury for a verdict, must become as much distinguished for its spirit of freedom as for its attachment to established law. It has become, indeed, the best representative of the true genius of our commonwealth. Here it is that the old chartered spirit of English liberty will ever find a shelter and a sanctuary; and here it is, we will venture to add, that the new temper of French democracy will meet its sternest opposition. It is quite fitting and highly politic in the innovators of our time to speak bitterly of the bar, and of the influence of lawyers. Never were two things more utterly repugnant than the love of libertyas expressed and preserved in the institutions of our country-and the late-imported passion which now assumes the same captivating name; the one, a bold assertion of individual rights-the other, a league of a class for the attainment of power;-the one, flinching nothing from its fullest claim, and detracting nothing from an acknowledged obedience-the other, a blind desire for dominion, to be attained only by a still blinder subjection to the will of a vast conspiracy. As the one has found, and will continue to find, its bold and faithful champion in the higher orders of the legal profession, so we predict with confidence that the latter will encounter its most persevering antagonist in the same body of men;—a body too learned to idolize ignorance, and too well pleased with having escaped all degrading dependence upon the crown, to risk its dignity, and the value of its services, to the capricious forbearance of a despot populace.

But not only on our political institutions do the lawyers exert a notorious influence,-they bear no trivial sway over the manners, temper, and opinions of private society. No profession more tasks all the varied qualities of the mind-none calls for greater intellectual energy, or more diversified attainments-none more than their's is capable of rearing up those busy, forward, domineering spirits, so well fitted to mould and indoctrinate the private circle which surrounds them. No knowledge lies dead and unprofitable in their store-house-all is for use. Not, surely, that their appropriate science of jurisprudence requires a wider scope of information than that which falls beneath the view of the physician, or the divine; but from their habits of contention and display

they