The Sun. — London, England, 1857-11-02 00:00:00

CHINA. (Prom the Times' Special Correspondent.) ON THE IMPERIAL CANAL, AUG. 10. I have a Ningpo servant hired for this trip, for 'glen, upon arriving at Shanghai, I found Mr. A'Lin trying to communicate with his countrymen by means of Canton English, it was plain that he would not be of much use to me in difficulties up the country. I had no idea that those provincials arnze so entirely incomprehensible to each other. The voice of A'Yu awoke me to a sense that I was a public character. We were moored in the suburb of the city of Kiahing, and every barge in the neighbourhood was crowded by spectators contem plating the sleeping and, doubtless, snoring barba rian. The excitement was very great when the outer foreigner threw aside his mosquito curtains and appeared in loose jacket and sleeping trowsers, but it reached its highest point when he took a header into the canal. The best part of the enter tainment, however, seemed to be when the barba rian, his swim being accomplished, had to climb up the rope into the boat, with his dripping pajamas, and pull all his curtains about him. The water is quite clean, and the Chinese throw nothing away. We have now got into districts where the people very rarely see foreigners, and their surprise and astonishment are as great as if they had never even seen one before. I confess I think this perpetual mobbing insufferable. My Chinese disguise does very well to go through a city in a chair, but it will not do to walk about with. The first dog I meet resents the imposture and draws upon me the cri ticism and curiosity of the multitude. A Chinese bourgeois wears no hat. He is the only human creature who shaves his head and defies the blazing sun. Five minutes of this would infallibly produce brain fever in a Europeon, so we are obliged to use either the straw hat of the Chinese peasant or the pith bat of the Hong Kong merchant. You must, however, wear Chinese clothes ; you could not move a step through these cities in European clothes—they would excite a frenzy of curiosity. I saw much more of the city of Kiahing by water than I did by land, hut these cities of the delta are like Venice or Amsterdam, it is only from their canals that you can see them. Although but a third-class city, we were at least an hour passing through Kiahing. There are vast stores of that thick pottsry ware used at Shanghai for baths and coarser utensils, much of it well orna mented. There are large carpenters' shops contain ing the simple silk-winding machine of the Chinese, in every stage of completion. We are now far ad vanced into the silk district. There is a large esta blishment for crushing seeds and making oil. We land to inspect it, and the proprietor is polite and explanatory. There are tea-shops overhanging the water, and the customers, naked to the waist, are lounging and smoking and sipping from their little cups a weak infusion without milk or sugar. Then there is a break in the continuity of hahita tions—a rick of rice straw and a grove of mulberry trees, not large round topped trees such as we see in France and Italy, but trees free to grow as nature p'e , sea, and bearing their leaves down to the bottom of their stems. Of the mi.:lions of mulberry tress I have seen in this part every one has a good healthy foliage, and not oae has been stripped in the manner I have somewhere seen described. Passing this agricultural internal, we again immerge into the city. We seem now to be in a district of merely domestic dwellings. The enormous signboards covered with gigantic Chinese characters are less frequent. There is a fat Chinawoman and her pretty little round plump daughter hanging out clothes in a very small number of square inches of drying ground under the eaves of their cottage. In another building there is a solitary damsel em ployed upon her embroidery ; and in another a palm-leaf fan is being used to drive the mosquitos out of the curtains. The little domesticities of life are going on while the men are at business. Throughout the whole extent of Kiahing and of every other city in this neighbourhood there are well-finished quays of faced granite, having at every 20 yards broad stone stairs down into the water ; upon these the long-tailed race both men and chil dren, stand and fish. Some of the stores are very extensive, run a long way back, and are divided from their 'neighbours by thick and high party walls ; but the houses are all built to the same pat tern—a garret above a shop, a slanting roof of tiles, and projecting eaves over both the shop and the garret. This is the unvarying form. Sign boards with immense characters, the presence or absence of fiowerpotsand casements, and the various characters of the commodities for sale constitute the only difference. We entered Kiahing through an archway in the wall, and quitted it through a similar aperture. There is no difference between the city and the suburb, except that inside the walls the canals are narrower. Again we were in the country, among the mul berry trees and the rice -fields, the patches of tobacco, the sepulchral mounds, with their waving banners of high reeds, the gourds trellised on bamboo framework, and the agricultural population all at work—men and women, with equal energy, treading at their irrigation wheels. Here is the secret of the fertility of this g reat delta. E very hundred yards a little farnilytreadwheel, with its line of tiny buckets, is erected over the canal, and the water is thrown up to refresh the mulberry trees or mature the rice. When the Arabs learn to labour like this the plain of the Metidja may become as productive as this delta of the two rivers. We must have passed 10,000 people to-day engaged in this irrigation process. Towards evening we arrived at the first-class city of Keashin, where found myself surrounded by 1111 the scum of the city. They were never hostile, but they stoop and poke out their heads and stare their very hardest at you in a close circle. They gently lay hold on your hand to examine the ring. They beg to be allowed to remove your spectacles, and make the most impertinent remarks upon the colour of your eyes. Mine are of the most ridiculous and unnatural of all colours—blue • and they are such a curiosity that a crow d of Chinamen will stare at them for half an hour without winking, hut occasionally laughing heartily to each other. My hief prosecutor at Keashin was a fellow who squinted horribly. I thought myself justified in pointing out this fact to the crowd, and thus got rid of him, for there was a roar of laughter, amid which he slunk away. All this is mere curiosity. There is no feeling of hostility to strangers. If a Mandarin were officially informed of our presence we should probably be arrested and sent back ; the fact that no one cares to do so shows that the people feel no displeasure at our presence. After a little intercourse this would all cease, but at present it is an insufferable affliction. lam not fastidious, but a hundred Chinamen crowding round and pushing one another close upon you is not a pleasant position. You must add, moreover, that the thermometer is standing at 100, that these fel lows are all naked to the waist, and that the Chinese are not only a cute race but also eminently a cuta neous people. Keashin is but a larger Keahing. All these cities on the plain are just alike. At Keashin, how ever, we leave that network of canals which, al though over 50 yards broad, are now narrowed to a channel by 1 ght bamboo partitions on each side. The enclosed sidewater is hired and cultivated as ling gardens, a water-loving root, which the Eng lish call " buffalo head," and which the Chinese much affect. Worse, however, than the ling gar dens, the huge hulks of the Imperial grain junks encumber these small canals. Since the rebels have been established at Nankin the inland communica tion has been stopped, and the food of Pekin goes round by sea. Many hundreds therefore of these junks have become useless. They are rotting in all directions, filling up the channels —some above water, some below, all, of them in decay. They must not be broken up, or sold, or burnt—they are Imperial property. At Keashin we enter upon the Imperial canal. Between the carefully piled bank s .f this noble river, for it is as wide as the Thames at Kew, we journey for three days, passing and sometimes tarrying at villages and towns and cities. It is the country, however, which is most inte resting. " Clod made the country and man made the town." may be true in England, but here man has as much to do in making the country as in making the town. There is no lack of objects as we pass up towed by these hardy boatmen.T he irrigation wheels are constantly going ; risen and wom en i .il_e working u n d er their awning of mat s . Thenkr the vehicles for s and boats ar e se never ceasing—who shall number water-carriage which China pos la m man, with his flock of fishing cormesorl The fisher on his punt or swimming after him 'i:tsperch®d passing under the bank, and I notice that if a cOr m o r elt up gets a large fish which he cannot swallow, he takes l it to the punt and receives something which his master pushes into his mouth in return for it ; but if it be an eel or small fish he tries to escape with it and swallow it, and if he is beyond the reach of the fisherman's crook he generally do?s so. Near the towns the banks are lined at intervals _ . of a few hundred yards with triumphal monuments in stoue. This monument is of one type but n always of one pattern—two bright square pillars, two or three horizontal bars bearing inscriptions, and a pediment on the top like a section on the roof of a Chin-se temple. They have erected six of these at Canton to celebrate the expulsion of the English. Here they commemorate the virtues of some defunct matron. There are graves also. Sometimes these are mounds, sometimes coffins placed upon the earth, and sometimes cof fins cased over with dry brickwork. Oct cionally a beggar has made his home in the coffin, and comes forth from it to beg. The only Chinese objects which to the eye of Western taste are really beautiful are the bridges that cross their canals at frequent intervals. The willow-pattern plate, so faithful in other matters, dons not do them justice. Sometimes they consist of three arches, but generally of only one. In the latter case solid ma.onry of carefully faced granite or limestone advances into the water from either side. In the centre springs a light and graceful arch —more than a semicircle, quite half an oval ; it springs 40 feet high, and the crown of the arch has not twofeet of superstructure resting upon it. There is no keystone, but the thin coping stones are cut in the proper curve. The bridge itself is a terrace mounted by steps on either side at an angle of 45 degrees. The effect is very graceful and airy, and asino wheeled carriages are used in China (except wheelbarrows) they answer all practical purposes. A sunset on the Imperial canal, with the monu ments on the banks, a vista of these bridges, and the mountains of Nganhwui in the far distance, is a sight I shall remember when I look again upon Claudes and Turners. We are thankful that at least there are mountains in view ; for this perpetual level, fat and fertile as it is, grows depressing. It is our fifth day, and we are expecting to reach Hangchan, where all our difficulties of transit must be expected. While writing I have passed along five miles of rural district with banks all builtup, like a Par,sian quay, of wrought granite, and the towing-path carried over stone bridges which cross the frequent branches of this immense artificial navigation. I despair of conveying the idea of cyclopean work, enormous traffic patient inquiry, vast natural fer tility, individual content, and peaceful prosp er i ty with which this journey impresses me. The pago das are in ruins, and where the quays have fallen there is no hand to repair them. The Imperial grain junks are rotting and the few forts are in decay. But these evidences of decrepitude in the rulers have not yet operated to affect the personal happiness which springs from fertile lands and in dustrious husbandman. At the end of one of the old straight lines of this highway we discern at last a far extending mass of houses, whose walls exult in bright whitewash and whose roofs are all of old grey tiles. These houses seem to extend far back and to overspread the plain that intervenes between the bank of the canal and the highlands that form the background of our present view. This, seen through a mob of junks, moving and still, is Hangchau as it appears from the Imperial canal. All things indicate the capital of a great province. Our old friends the Imperial grain junks have been rotting in hundreds for the last ten miles, the canal has been of extending width, Mandarin passage boats, towed by strings of coolies have gone by sounding their gongs and flaunting their banners, while the Mandarin looked out from his seat of honour, and from behind his fan eagerly eyed the strangers. The commercial navy of China (pur sang—no schooners or lorchas) were taking la paper, tea, rice,, oil, bamboo basket work, and a thousand other articles of produce. They are loading the tea here in its natural state in chests protected by mating. It is all for Shanghai andthe export market. That is to say, it is all of that high dried kind which will pass tee sea. I counted 18 junks of about 200 tons each lying together ready laden with this European necessity. STJBITIMS OF B.ANGCHAIT, AUG. 11. The irrigation wheel has now entirely given way to the wharE The banks ou either bide are as the banks of tie Thames when it reaches the city's eastern suburb. High above roofs and masts rise two lofty poles, whose cross bars show them to be ensigns of official authority. They stand before a large public edifice. In China all public edifices are of the same pattern ; josshouses and palaces and public offices might and very freqtently do inter change their purposes without much alteration. The building before us has the usual double tier of shelving roofs with upturne 1 corners, as though the original designer of this style had taken the prows of four Greek galleys and put them toge ther, with their rostra facing to the four cardinal points. It also has a very extensive gallery, which comes out on piles into the canal, and is roofed and ornamented in proper Official style, and crowded with Chinese officials. This b uilding is the celebrated " Pain Kwan," or "Ta Kwan"—the "new" or the " great" Custom-house. This is the foe of Man chester and Leeds, and Nottingham and Sheffield. This is the first lock in the ascending water-way. Here British calicoes get their first lift, to be still further lifted at very short s t ages. There is no es cape. Here the Imperial canal. ends. There are small feeders which come down from places in the neighbourhood, but here the navigation ceases. There is a magnificent navigable river which rolls on the other aide of the city, but with this the lin perial has no connection. Such is the Imperial policy. Here at Hangchow everything must be transhipped. We pulled up at the Castorn-house, an'i I am ready for the rigorous search which must take pla.:e. I was determined to solve this mystery of the differential duties. I had a piece of printed j calico and a pa c k e t o f clasp knives, and also some of my Chinese clothing, not yet worn, on the table. I was fully resolved to hive a considerable discus sion over the payment for these things. After a few moments, a man, something between the Coolie and compredor class, and without even the small pyramidal official straw hat, put his head into the boat and said, as plain as unintelligible words and significant gesture could speak, "That will do ; go on." " But tell him," roared I to A'yu, "that I have duties to pay." " He talkee all right." "Tell him thesis boxes are all full of salt, and the boat is full of contraband goods." "He taikee no mintiest." " Tell him we haven't paid the boat toll." " He talkee bamboo boatee man." At this hint we were at once propelled from the shore, and I was left with my British produce to mourn over the fallibility of the best laid schemes. It way quite evident now that the officials were determined to ignore our presence. I knew there was a toll that would amount to nearly a dollar each on our boats ; they refused, however, to take it from us. They allow us now to pass the Cus tom-house unquestioned. They are dearly treat ing the three Englishmen as Dogberry thought it best to treat rogues. Now I began to make frantic inquiries from Chinamen about the mttter I had ietended to settle myself. lam told that at this "Ta Kwan" they take 15 cash, or about three halfpence, for a piece of China cloth, and 400 cash, or 35. for English. A Chinaman will always give you an answer, and it will generally-be the first phrase that comes into his head. I paid little attention to this assertion and should not have repeated it, but that it seems to accord with my subsequent experience. Shanghai is full of English nods ; at Kiahing and K ashun I saw some English " domestics ;" but after we had passed the " Ta Twan" I never saw anything Eng lish exhibited for sale, except English sewing cot ton, which had penetr a t e d even to the p r i m iti ve city of Peh Kwan. It may be that the duties on English goods are as heavy as my Chinese infor mant says, but I must admit that I do not think the testimony worth much. We now held a council. Shall we try to invade the city or nit ? Hangchow is, next to Pekin, the most zealously-guarded city in the empire. "There is Heaven above, but there are Hangchow and Sooehoo on earth," say the Chinese poets. It was for no short time the Imperial capital. It has al ways been essentially Chinese. Annals of martyr doms tell still of the massacre of 800 Christians at Hangchow. During the last war many of our kid napped sailors were sent here as to a place of secu rity, and butchered after a mock trial. Several Europeans have sail they have been into the city, but they have given no more description of the place than if they had not been there. They pro bably passed through in well-closed chairs. Even this cannot be easily done. The last attempt was made by Mr. Ed king, and it resulted in his being taken into custody and sent back under an escort on his road to Shanghai. On the whole, it was thought wiser to go on at once to the famous lake, with its gardens of ling, its fairy tea-houses, its mighty Buddhist temples, its Imperial Palace, and its pagoda-crowned sur • rounding mountains.. On one side it washes the city walls, so we shall not be far away. It is the glory of Hangchow, and the boast of the Celestial Empire ; so it is probably much better worth see ing ihau the city itself: VILLAGE OF SEHOO, AUG. 14. Avoiding the gates of Hangchow, and making a wide circuit, we tracked ou r wa y th roug h devious t ditches up to a village about half a mile distant from the lake and about a mile distant from the walls of Ilangchow This v 1 age is full of coo'ies and chairs, and its business seem , . to be to convey the burgesses of Ilongchan about to the temples and gardens. There is no entrance into the lake for us. We lie off the vil!age in six inches of green water. Ague and fever seem to float around. Three nights we slept in thii SI wamp. Our days were passed in the great Buddhist temples and in the monasteries of the Bonzes. They take us to the Temple of the Great Buddha—.a mighty bust, 40 feet high, carved out of the rock and Gilt—thence to a still larger temple,* where a niovina pagoda and 49 colossal idols commemorate the 49 transmigrations of Buddha.. Thence across rich. pleasure grounds, where streamlets ripple and some spots are shady, bat where still that knife-grinding din pursues us, for— " Sole sub ardenti resonant arbusta eicadis." We are borne to the Temple of the Fish Buddha, where enormous carp grow fat in pleasant ponds. At least a thousand of them contended for our votive biscuits, and some of them weighed to a fisherman's eye quite 401 b. These temples, however, great as they are in size and gorgeous grotesqueness, are but as little Welsh churches compared to the wonders of the " Yun Liu," the "Cloudy Forest." This is not so much a temple as a region of temples. It is suggestive of the scenes of those ancient Pagan mysteries where the faith and fortitude of neophytes were tried, and their souls purified by suc cessive terrors. It is a limestone district, abounding in caves and far-reaching dark galleries and myste rious internal waters. These natural opportunities are improved by a priest and an altar in every cave, gigantic idols cut into the rock in unexpected places, rays of heavenly light which only the faith ful votary ought to be able to see, but which, as they come through holes bored through the hill, sceptics sometimes catch sight of ; insot iptions 2,000 years old, but deepened as time wears them. The place is a labyrinth of carved rock, a happy valley of laughing Buddhas, and Queens of Heaven, and squatting Buddhas, and hideous hooknosed gods of India. There is a pervading smell of fraukincens , and the single priest here and there in solitary places, moaning his ritual, makes the places yet more lonely ; and through this strange scene you pass through narrow paths to the foot of the colossal terrace steps which mount to the temple itself. The wild birds are flying about this vast echoing hall of Buddha ; the idols are still bigger and still more richly gilt, In the great " gallery of five hundred gods" all that can be done by art, laborious, but ignorant of beauty, reaches its climax. The cowled and tonsured bonzes came forth to greet us. Excellent tea and great choice of sweet meats await us in the refectory. The wonders of this Hangchow Lake deserve bet ter description than the objects of these letters will allow me to attempt. The temple and tomb of the faithful Minister of State, Yo Fei, occupy acres of ground and thousands of tons of monumental wood, tone, and iron. The Imperial palace upon the lake, with its garden of rockwork and green ponds, its large library of unused books, its dial metal mirrors, richly embroidered cushions, and rickettyoldchairs, opened to us with great difficulty, and under the immediate pressure of the altnightly dollar. I hope some one under less imperative obligation to eschew the merely picturesque and to seek only for facts which may have practical bearings, may yet deicribe these objects. My favourite eventise oc cupation was to ascend one of these hills and sit at the foot of one of these halt-burnt pagodas which stand about like blasted cypress trees and look down upon the Hangchow. The famous city lies like a map beneath me. Net a curl of smoke, not a building more lofty than the or thodox two-storied josshouse. I can follow the line of outer walls and even track the course of the inner enceinte. Marco Polo says they were 100 miles round, and a Chinese chronicler records that in a single conflagration, while Hangchow was yet the capital of China, 530,000 houses were burned. These are foolish fables. Hangchow from its posi tion never could have been much larger than it now is. It stands upon a slip of land about three miles wide, intervening between the river (which is wider than the Mersey, and has 30 feet of water at low tide) and this lake. At one end the ground swells into a hill, over the crest of which the city wall passes. The shape of Hangchow, therefore, is very much that of a couch, th e hill part being repre sented by the pillows, and being the fashionable part of the city. I can see not only public temples, but also many of those private ancestral temples, which are to a Chinese gentleman what the chancel of his parish church is to au English squire. Little gardens, perhaps not 40 feet square, full of w eels and rockwork and little ponds; an oblong pa vilion with tablets upon the walls, descriptive of the names and achievements of the ancestors— t kneeling stool, an incense vase, candlesticks, a bra zier to burn paper made in imitation of Sycee silver, and a sacrificial tub—such is a Chinaman's private chapel. Here he comes on solemn days, and, the garden being weeded, and all things painted and renewed for the occasion, he prays and sacrifices to his ancestors, and feasts with his friends. If the Chihaman has a superstition that is it. His Budd hism is a ceremonial to the many and a speculative philosophy to the adept, no more. Mr. Edkins's object in visiting the temples of the lake was to hold controversy with the priests, so I had more opportunity of hearing what they really believe than usually falls to the lot of travellers who cannot read the Pali books. They did not feel his arguments against idolatry.' They treat their grotesque gods with as much contempt as we do. They divide the votaries into three classes. First come the learned men who perform the ritual and observe the abstinence from animal food merely as a matter of discipline, but place their religion in absolute mental abstraction, tending to that perfec tion which shall fit them to be absorbed into that something which, as they say, faith can conceive, but words cannot describe. Secondly come those who, unable to mount to this intellectual yearning after purification from all human sentiments, strive by devotion to fit themselves for the heaven of the western Buddha, where transmigrations shall cease, and they.shall for all eternity sit upon a lotus flower and gaze upon Buddha, drawing happiness from his presence. Thirdly follow the vulgar, whose devotion can rise no higher than the sensual cere monies, who strike their foreheads upon the steps of the temples, who burn incense, offer candles from the tallow tree, and save up their cash for festival days. So far as my experience goes, this class is confined almost entirely to oil women, and the priests say that their one unvarying aspiration is that at their next transwigcatiou they may be come men. Such is Buddhism as we see it in China. But this is not all. A Chinese poet who 800 years ago built an ugly straight down in this beautiful lake of See-hoo, about the same time invented the Ten Gods of Hell, and grafted them upon the Buddhist faith to terriry men from crime. There is also a re formed sect of Buddhists who call themselves "Do- Nothings," and who place the perfection of man in abstaining from all worship, all virtue and all vice. When the Jesuit missionaries saw the mitres, the tonsure, the incense, the choir, and the statues of the Queen of Heaven they exclaimed that the Devil had been allowed to burlesque their religion. We Protestants may almost say the acme. These reforosel Buddhists deduce their origin from a teacher who was crucified in the province of Shantung some 510 years ago, and they shock the missionaries by blasphemous parallel,. I have heard that the present Bishop of Victoria investigated this sect arid sent home an account of them, but, for some reason, the statement was suppressed. Then we have the Taoists, or cultivators of per fect reason, which is a philosophy having also its temples and its ceremonies. We have the worship of Heaven, which is the prerogative of the Empe ror, and we have the State roligion, the philosopi y of Confucius, which is but metaphysics and ethics. All these may form good subjects of discussion to laboriously idle men, but they are of very little practical importance. They are speculations—not superstitions. They are thought over—they are not felt. They inspire no fanaticism, they create no zeal, they make no martyrs, they generate no into lerance. They are not faiths that men will fight for, or die for, or even feel zealous for. - Your Chinese doctor is a man of great subtlety, of great polite ness, but of the coldest indifference. He is a most pachydermatous beast,. so far as the zeal of the Christian missionary is concerned, "Do you be lieve in Jesus Christ ?" asks the missionary after long teaching patiently heard. " Certainly I do," coldly answers the hearer. " But why do y ou be lieve ; are you convinced ; do you feel that what I have been saying is true ?" "I believe it because you say so," is the polite and hopeless answer. It is this which makes the earnest missionary de spond. A Chinaman has no superstition. He has nothing that can be overthrown and leave a void. He will chin his joss, burn crackers b e f ore h e s t ar t s on a voyage, or light a candle for a partner or a useful clerk who may be in danger of death. But it's only hope of " good luck" or fear of " bad luck." The feeling is no deeper than that which in reli gious and enlightened England causes so many horse shoes to be nailed to keep out witches, or which makes decent housewives, who can read and write, separate crossed knives, throw pinches of salt over their shoulder, and avoid walking under a ladder. Clusteredupon this hill, within the walls of Han g chou, are temples of all these varied forms of Pa ganism, and perhaps within the year the same idolater has bowed in all of them. Two lofty green mounds are perhaps too large for mere private tombs, worshi p a ; nd bu t m i ak the arm other spot cases ot the e some arch i t p e c u t b u l r i e c 01 thef ro sacred and public edifices is all alike, and you can not distinguish temples from Custom-houses or Mandarin offices. CHAO-HING, Atm. 15. Having made a careful survey of an environs of Hangchou, we now determined to attack the city. With a retinue of 12 chair-bearers and 10 coolies, who followed with our baggage, we left our boats during the midday heat, and skirting the border of the lake reached the wall of the city. Here we shut ourselves up, and Mr. Edkins, profiting by former mishaps, instructed the party to avoid the Tartar part of the city and the Manchoo gate. It was an exciti❑g moment when the first palanquin passed und,r the city gate. From behind my exaggerated f:“.1 could see a far. Chinese official, who was evi deutly on duty, but who had his back turned to us. ' The rascal pretended be was 'quite unaware of our presence. I found out afterwards that he knew that three Englishmen were passing in just as well as we did. I breathed more freely when the gate was passed, and when we became entangled in the nar row streets. They bore us through the dirtiest parts of the town, and passed the Yamun or police office, known by the horrible Imperial lion scrawled in paint, upon the opposite wall. The people soon began to run together. The blinds of the chairs were sufficiently transparent to &low them to see there was something unusual ; perhaps the fact of the chairs being closed was enough in itself. Then we grew bolder and opened the blinds, and, although the crowd pressed to see, there was no hostile demonstration. At last we got to a better part of the city, we boldly descended and found ourselves in the streets of Hangchau. We now bade one of the coolies guide us to the upper part of the city, while the chairs followed. We passed several curiosityshops, where there were some few things I should have bought, but, alas ! our expenses had so far exceeded our expectation that we were already afraid our funds would fall short—a contingency which actually occurred, for we bad to borrow of a Chinese innkeeper. I noticed that in one of the curiosity shops an English beer bottle was placed among the vases in a post of honour. As we ascended the hill we passed a tea house, which was the first I had seen in China hav ing any pretensions to ornament. This was evi dently the Verey of Hangchau. A Mandarin chair was following us, and we drew up to allow the gen tleman to overtake us. In evident perturbation he stopped his chair and went into one of the tem ples, where he doubtless expended some cash in incense to be delivered from the barbarians. We were now among josshouses and private residences which I had seen from the Pagoda-hill, and from the terrace we could see down into the courts and houses of the lower city. It was a holiday in Hang chau. There were shows going on. We had heard much firing in the morning, and we now learnt that There had been a review of 8,000 troops, and our informrnts added with much laughter that one of the evolutions had been to make tke soldiers charge right into the river up to their armpits. In this part of Hangchau we were less thronged than I had ever been before in China. There was no apparent obstacle to our going where we pleased or doinc , what we pleased. We did not venture into the theatre, for we knew by experience, at a sing-song on the bank of the lake, that the Chinese ladies, with their smart robes, their painted faces (white and red upon their cheeks and vermillion on their lips, little enamelled stars beside their eyes, and black Upon their eyebrows), would almost jump out of their boxes with fright ; while the populace would throng about us, and the actors wouldstaud still and stare like the rest. Being a little overcome by the sun, I strolled away by myself back to the tea house, and took my place at a little table as com placently as I should on one of the boulevards ; the tea was exquisite—that slightly-dried, small, green leaf which you never can taste in England ; for tea will not keep or pack or stand the voyage unless burnt up to the state of insipidity in which we get it. A poet Emperor of China, Khian-Loung, has not disdained to sing the praises of tea, and, like a practical Chinaman, he teaches us how to make it : " Graceful are the haves of mei-hoa, sweetly scented and clear are the leaves of fo-cheon.. Bat place upon a gentle fire the tripod whose colour and form tell of a far antiquity, and fill it with water of molten snow. Let it seethe till it would be hot enough to whiten fish or to redden a crab. Then pour it into a cup made from the earth of yne upon the tender leaves of a selected tea-tree. Let it rest till the mists which freely rise have formed themselves into thicker clouds, and until these have gra dually ceased to weigh upon the surface, and at last float in their vapour. Then sip deliberately the delicious liquor. It will drive away alll the fife causes of disquietude which come to trouble us. You may taste, and you may feel; but never can you express in words or song that sweet tranquillity we draw from the essence thus prepared." I sipped and was refreshed; but the sweat tran quillity was not mice. The curiousjtea-drinkers pressed around me, and there was a waiter whose nature it was to walk about with a kettle of boiling water, and whose unconquerable instinct compelled him to fill up my cup whenever it was getting three degrees b low boiling point and was becoming pos sible to drink. The people were very good-tempered, but hey came very close and the day was very hot. I was so strict in my Chinese costume that they could find nothing to wonder at but my physique and my pith hat. Thsy made the most of these. If I had been dressed in European costume I be lieve they would have undressed me in their ardent curiosity. Meantime our coolies and luggage had been stopped at the gate we passed through. Toe offi cials told my man that we had acted wrong iu nut presenting our cards and the Foo-tei's pass ; but it was not their business, but that of another officer, to a - op foreigners. They do not wish to stop Eng lishmen's luggage, but looked into the servants' boxes. They asked where the Englishmen were gone, and were satisfied when told th we had gone up the hilt " to Jhinchin Joss." All this talk auout cards and passes was of course Chinese taradlddles, but it shows that the Chinese authorities were per fectly aware that they had three Englishmen among them. I could find no silk weaving in the city, but there must be quarters like the suburbs of Lyons, for this is the very centre and depot of the silk district. After several hours in Hangchou we got into our chairs again, and passed through the opposite gate of the city along a dirty faubourg and over a flat to the Tsien-tang river, which is here about two miles wide. There is a little Custom-house, but no ships and no commerce. Hangchou evidently depends upon its inland trade, and seeks no communication by sea. As we crossed the broad river I looked back up this picturesque city, and felt that its environs were as familiar as those of Liverpool, Cheltenham, or Richmond. We had five days' journey yet before us, the greater part through country even less visited than Hangchou itself. I should grow intolerabl e , how ever, were I to describe the rest of th e route with the same minuteness. I must not even venture to describe the sepulchre of Yu, the founder of the Hia dynasty, although it is the grandest sepulchral temple in China, and boasts an ant . quity of 2,000 years, although a fierce thunderstorm burst so close that there was a smell of fire and the gigantic idol trembled. Perhaps I may be permitted, how ever, to say that nearly 100 lineal descendants of the great Emperor who controlled the great inun dations and curbed the waters of the four great rivers still live in poverty under the protection of the Temple. Under the Ming dynasty they re ceived pensions ; the Tartars allow them none. Hera is a pedigree, ye followers of Rollo. Enough to say of Peh Kwan that the people asked us whether we were Siamese. They had seen the Loochooians, and we were not like them, and they knew we were not Japanese. Chao-Ming is for many miles round girt with sepulchral monuments. It is to the worship of ancestor.; what Hangchou and its lake are to Buddha. All the wharves and bridges were crowded by all the population of the place as we went through. The half-naked bodies seemed countless as we moved slowly through canals exa liy—bridges, smells, and all, like some of the black canals iu Venice. Wepassed several nights among the most uncultivated crowds of leJatmen while awaiting our turn to be dragged by wind lasses over those dikes of slippery mud which in China do duty for locks. We passed other nights in passing through lakes and listening to the songs and cymbals which told of marriages in the villages on its banks. We watched the paddy harvest, examined the tallow trees, with their poplar-like leaf, their green berries, and their alder shaped form. We saw the cotton come into flower. We fired in vain at two eagles circling round the head of a man who was accompanied by a lit tae dog, which they wanted to carry off. We stopped and interrogated a sort of Chinese Gil Blas, who was travelling on foot (almost an unprecedented thing in China), and w h o carr i e d w i th him al l hi s wor ldly goods —a pai r o f bl ue b reeches, ' a pipe, and a small teapot. We i nvest i gated at Yu-Yoe the coun try freen the top o f t h e C i tadel-bill, and i n t h e dy e r's shop we ex a mi ne d th e dye wherewith t h ose ever present blue bree c h es are d ye d . A f ter t en days of sight-seeing everythin g seeme d t o re p ea t itself and to revolve like the events of the Platonic year. We became convinced at last that if we were to journey from Hangchou to Pekin, and from Pekin to Szehuen, we should find just the same arts and manners and agriculture, varied only by the exi gencies of nature. On the 10th of August we arrived at Ningpoo, after some discomfort and some necessity for strong doses of quinine, but after much exci , ement and great enjoyment. We have passed 400 miles of country n.ot often before traversed. We have en tered four first-cl ass Chi nese c i t i es (two o f them un known te) Europe an travellers), many second - cl ass cities which in oth er coun t r i es m i g ht be classedes first, and in numera bl e t owns and vlllage4. Throughout the whole of o ur j our ney ere have re ceived from no Chi nese an unc i v il word or in sulting gesture. No tni - tchievous ut chin has thrown stones • down upon. us f rom an y one of the hundreds of bridges we passed through. No one stopped ue, and no one w a yl a id us. It is true thet the Mandarins at Peh-Kwan sent us a message to appear at their yainun, but when we sent answer that we would endeavour to make preparation to receive their visit oil bo.rd our boats, and when Mr. Edkins had sent them a Testament, they took the evasive answer in good part, and suffered oar tioatrnen to proceed. sions. From thin jou rney I d rew two pract i ca l conclu- The, first is that the authorities in China are ex ceedi ugly anxious in no way to complicate their present diAputes with England, and, holding in very wholesome terror the English name, are ill- clined to shut their eyes to the presence of peace ably conducted foreigners. The second is that, unless excited by the authori ties, as they have been at Canton—and as they might have been here, for liad the Mandarins chosen to say we were Portuguese we should certainly have had our throats cut, —the Chinese people have no objection whatever to the presence of foreigners in their cities. Whenever, therefore, the provisions of a new treaty shall open all China to every European pro vided with a passport from his own Consul there will be no difficulty in the English merchant carry ing his own gcods up the rivers and canals and into the great cities of China. The people will be glad enough to trade with him, and the authorities can, if they will, protect him. NINGPO, AUG- 24. This great city, with its 350,000 inhabitants, its beautiful river, and its excellent water connexion with the interior, is the least valuable of all our commercial stations. Neither tea nor silk is brought down in any quantities, and the little tea that is prepared here is sent to Shanghai to be shipped. The importation of British and Straits produce was last year but 136,3591. 95., and not two-thirds of this was British manufactures. The greater security of European shipping and its comparative immunity from the pirates outside (whom I saw the other day send a whole fleet of junks back into the river) have given it some im portance as a shipping port for Amoy, Formosa, Swatow, and the Straits. In 1856 198 British ships, with an aggregate of 25,506 tons, loaded here. This carrying trade is likely to increase, for the Chinese are becoming quite alive to th• advantage of a stout ship and an English flag. "Can insure?" is a question now very often in a Chinaman's mouth, and Chinamen are rich at Ningpo. Ningpo is still in the after-throb of great excite ment. The European settlement is ou the Bide of the river, opposite to the walled city. The hongs are not numerous nor very large, and they are mixed np with Chinese residences and large timber yards—timber is the. staple of Ningpo,—and they form a rectangle, the area behind which is occupied by graves and paddyfields, but chiefly by graves. On the 26th June a naval battle was fought in the river, and a massacre took place among the tombs. The story is somewhat out of date, but I mus t deal with it here, where alont I could do so upon a proper knowledge of the facts, because it is illustrative of the state of affairs we have to deal with in China. To understand this transaction we must recollect, what i t is so difficult for people in England to believe, that the whole coast of China is so infested with pirates that even a fleetof fishing boats cannot ven tu,e out without armed vessels as a convoy. The fishing boats which ply off the mouth of the river Yong pay convoy duties to the extent of $50,000 a-year ; and the wood junks that ply be tween Ningpo and Foochow and the other native eraft raise the annual payment for protection to $200,000 (70,0001.) annually. These figures are startling, but I have taken pains to ascertain their correctness. The vessels employed in this convoy service were Portuguese lorchas. These vessels were well armed and equipped. There were no Mandarin junks and no Portuguese ships of war to cope with them or control them, and they becarne.masters of this part of the coast. It is in the natuieef things that these privateers should abuse their power. They are ac cused of the most frightful atrocities. It is alleged that they made descents upon villages, carried off the women, murdered the m - n, and turnt the habi tations. They became infinitely greater scourges than the pirates they were paid to repel. It is alleged, also, that complaints to the Portuguese Consul were vain, that Portuguese sailors taken red-handed and banded over to this consul were suffered to escape from the consular prison. Rightly or wrongly, the Chinese thought that the Consul wa,4 in complicity with the ruffians who were acting both as convoy and as pirates. The convictions of the English and French residents at Ningpo do not differ from those of the Chinese ; and although, having no means of guarding my inquiries with the securities of a judicial investigation, I am unwilling to make any strong assertion, I think I may rea sonably say that the honour of the Government of Portugal is so compromised that European nations, fer common chara,c , er's sake, should require it to institute a searching examination into the conduct of this official. The leader of the pirate fleet was—l am going back now to a time three years ago—a Cantonese named A'Pak. The authorities at Ningo, in their weakness, determined to make terms with him rather than submit to the tyranny of the Portu guese. A'Pak was mode a mandarin of the third class ; and his fleet—not altogether taken into Govern ment pay—the Chinese could not affor I that—was nominally made over to A'Pak's brother, a gentle man with a long name, which I cannot remember. This fleet, now turned nominally honest, began to compete with the Portuguese for the convoy business, and, their business being now tolerably respectable, they were joined by several English, American, and French deserters from ships-of-war and merchant vessels. This has been the position of the two parties for the last three years. The fishermen and carrying junks„ glad to be rid of the Portuguese yoke, gradually transferred their custom to the Cantonese fleet, and the Portuguese, hungry and furious, became more active in their piracies, and attacked the Cantonese ships when they could get them at an advantage, and mur dered their craws with circumstances of great atrocity. The Cantonese do not look upon the Portuguese as Europeans. They have not the same fear of them. They can fight them man tu man. M tow would have been taken by the Chinese long since had they not dreaded the interfence of the other Western Powers. After a few of these very sangui nary provocations A'Pak—not, it is believed, with out the concurrence of the Taoutai of Ningpo, de termined to destroy this Portuguese convoy fleet. For this purpose A'Pak's brother collected his snake boats and convoy junks from along the whole coast, and assembled about 20 of them an l perhaps 500 men. The Portuguese were not long hearing of these preparations, but they seem to have been struck with panic. Some of their vesselswent south, some were taken at the mouth of theriver. Seven lorchas took refuge up the river opposite the Portuguese C insulate. The sailors on boardthese lorchaslauded some of their big guns and put the Consulate in a state of defence, and perhaps hoped that the neigh- b )urhood of the European houses and he character of the Consulate would prevent an attack. Not so. On the day I have above mentioned the Canton fi.et came up the riv,.r. The Portuguese Consul im mediately fled. The lorchas fired one broadside at them as they approached, and then deserted their vessels and made for the shore. About 200 CAO tonese, shott h h e de ore P w o nt r h t eo n yr hunted and butchered with spears. - acco mpanied by a few Europeans, fol lo wed these 140 Portuguese and Manilla int n a ,, hofe. A fight took place in the s‘reetti. It was of very . s!t, rt duration, for the Portuguese behaved in the most dastardly manner. The Manilla men showed s ome spirit, bu: the Portuguese could n o t even per suade themselves to fight fur their' own lives behind the walls of their consulate. The fortified hous e was taken sought wand.r refuge,a sacked by and pursued d y o among t o h f es teeLl theChinamen,w te eh gt ;s The Cap , icieuse French frigate now came up the river, fired upon the Cantonese who were sacking the Consul's house, and put an en d to the conflict. The French captain received on board the Portu guese Consul, not I am told with great cordiality, and also the fugitives who h a d escaped the massa cre. The latter he conveyed as • prisoners to Macao to be tried as pirates. • Merciless as this massacre was, and little as is the choice between the two seta of combatants, it must be owned that the Cautone3e acted with purpose and discipliue. Three trading Piirtuguese lorchas which lay in, the river with their flags flying were not molested, and no European, not a P, rtuguese, was even insulted by the infuriate butchers. The stories current of Souero and his Portuguese fol lowers rivalled the worst of the tales of the bucca neers, and public opinion in Ningpo and the foreign settlement was strongly in favour of the Cantonese. The Chinamen lost only two Chinese. One vaga bond Englishman fighting on their side was shot by a Manilla man. After the departure of the Capricieuse the Portu guese brig of war, the Mondego, came up the river, accompanied by abut 12 Portuguese lorcha, and made formal demands of the Toutai that the cap turedlmchas should be restored and other restitu tion made. The Toutai replied that the two convoy fleets must settle their own quarrels, for he hail nothing to do with them. The Portuguese and the Cantonese then made ready for a fight, and the general opinion was that the Cantonese would have again been victorious. Meanwhile, however, Com mander Dew in the Nimrod had steamed up the river. He sent a message to the Portuguese Com marider to say that his instructions were to remain entirely neutral, and if the brig was about to attack he would move his ship out of the line of fire, bur that if the Nimrod or houses of British residents on the river were struck by shot is would be his duty to interfere. The Mondego and her consort lorehas immediately departed for Shanghai. The Canton fleet is still either engaged in convoying or at anchor in the river,; and, to the great comfort of the merchants and ttie missionaries, so also is the Nimrod. I do not for a moment seek to implica'e the Por tuguese nation in the crimes of these Macao ruf tilos, except so far as that it wis the duty of Por tugal to prever t such deeds. But thcsti citcum stsacassuggest serous considerations in conueotion. with our next treaty with China. They show how important and how difficult is the question of po licing the coast and exterminatng, p•racy ; they show also how importan.. it is that the great Euro pean Powers should exercise a strong control over la wles 3 vagabonds as those who acted with the Cantonese ; they also suggest very grave conside rations how far it might be right to extendto small and not very conscientious Governments like that of Portugal the treaty-privileges which England is about to ask, not only for herself, but for all other civilised nations. A circumstance has just occurred which still flu ther illustrates the great impolicy of allowing Eu ropean vagabonds to be uncontrolled in this coun try. " Squeezing" has become so intolerable in this province that a large city not 40 miles distant is in rebellion. Every power in China " squeezes." ' The Toutai sends forth to " squeeze," the Can ten fleet sends out to " squeeze," and squeezing par ties are undertaken upon private account. A few days since an Irishman, accompanied by some Chinese, went into the interior to one of the villages where I had passed the previous night, upon, it is alleged, a squeezing expedition. While there he accidentally shot one of his Chinese compa nions. Delighted with this opportunity of "getting the law on their side," the populace rose, seized the Irishman, bound him as though he had been a wild beast which no thongs could make harmless, and sent him up—after severe debate among themselves whether they should not behead him on the spot— to the Toutai of Ningpo. He arrived here in a ter ribly lacerated condition, and claimed the protec tion of the British consul. Doubtless it became the consul's duty to grant this protection, and the man is now in Dr. Parker's hospital. Small advantage, however, will be derived by any British merchant from any treaty which may "open up China," if China is to be opened up to European brigands. There must he some arrangement among the Euro pean Powers upon this matter. PRICES OF SIIABES. From the Official List. rUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY EVENIN LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 30, 1857. BRIDGES. Dividend per Name of Company. Annum. Hungerfard.... •• Southwark ......•• Di tto New of 7% p.c. Waterloo .... .. .. • . • . Ditto Old Ann. of 8/. Ditto Nw ditto of 71. Vauxhall ...... ~.... lOs per cent.! 11. 12s. Od. 11. Ss. Od. 28s. Amount of Share. X s. d. 25 0 0 100 0 0 30 0 0 100 0 0 60 0 0 40 0 0 70 10 3 Paid. Price X A. d. Name of Company Commercial • • • • • . Do. Preference East and West India.. Grand ';urry D. & Canal I , o. Loan Notes Do. 5 per cent. Pref. London .•• . .4. Katharine ........ 'outhampton ........ Victoria •• •• .. • • .• •• Ditto New ........ Same of Company. Albion • • •• • • • • • • • • • • Kilian Brit. and For. Ditto Marine....... Ithenmdm. Atlas .. Vrg,LIS Life . • • • • •• .. • • ISritish Commercial .. Church of England .. City of London .. • • Gen. Life county ........ Crown .............. Eagle . Equity and Law...... European Life P'amily Endowment •• General— •• e• •• •• •• •• (41obe Gresham Life . Do. Do.. . • • luardian • • • • •• • • • • .• Imperial Fire... • • .... Imperial Life Indemnity Marine.... Law Fire .• •••• • • Law Lite.• • •• •• •• Legal and General Life London London & Prov. Law• • Nlaritie ..... Sled. Invlid& Gen. Life Vlincrva • • ...... Monarch .. • • • • • • gew Equitable Pelican ...• •• •• •••• Phoenix Profeerional Life • • • • .• Provident Life Rock Life.... •• Royal Exchange .... • Sun Fire •• •• •• Ditto Life United Kingdom Universal Life Victoria Life DOCKS. Dividend per Annum. 51. pr cent. 61. pr cent. 41. per cent. 51. p;Cent. 4% i. per cnt. 4 per cent. 51. Os per c. 'RAN CE CO: Dividend per Annum. 71. per c. 71. 143. 6d. il. p.c. & bs. 15s. 04. & 41. per cent. 71. 10s. 71, Ios. bl. 5 pr ct.& bs. 11. per share, Il 18s. ss. i 46 per cent. 41. per cent. a per cent. 51. per cent. 5/. per cent 121. per cent 143. st. p. ct. &bs. 2s & 2s bons 2at. per sh . 49. per share 183.84 ba. 4 per cent si. per cent 5L per cent. 6 per cent 51 p. et. St. per cent. 51. per cent. I 2) per c. p. c. & bs 6% p. c & bs i/ 14s. 41. & bonus. 5/. & bonus. 5/. & onus. JO INT-S LOCK Paid. I Price Paid. Name of Company. A.ustralasia • ....... Bank of Egypt Bank of London British North American Bk. Ind. Aust & Ch. City• • • • Colonial Commercial of London. EnT, Scot & Aust. Ch. bond. Caar. Bk. of Aua. Do. New London and County .. Lon & Eastn B nkg. C. London Joint-Stock ... Londn and Westminatr sat. Provincial of Eng. Ditto, New .. •. •• Ditt, ditto Naticnr..l Bank .. New -.oath Wales nrientat Bank Corpora. Ottoman Bank Provincial of Ireland Ditto, New..• south Australia •• Union or Australia.... Ditto .............. Union of Hamburg• • .. Union of London...—. Unity Mutual .... • • .. Western Bank of Londn. Dividend per Annum. 40/. per cent. 5/. per cent. 9 per cent. 4 , per cent. 51. per cent. 7/. p. c. & bs. att. per cent. 5L per cent. le/. per cent. 61. per cent. 28 per cent. 18 per cent. 16p c. & bs it.per cent. 20'. per cent. 101. per cent. 41. p. ct.6tbs. 81. per cent. 51. per cent. 0!. per cent., Ili. per cent.l Amount of share. s. d. 40 0 0 25 0 0 :OD 0 0 50 0 0 20 0 0 100 0 0 1 100 0 0 100 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 60 0 0 100 0 , 50 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 50 0 0 I 20 0 0 25 0 0 20 0 0 100 0 0 10 0 0 25 0 o 25 0 0 25 0 0 A s. d. all 18 15 0 50, 0 0 all 6 0 0 50 0 0 25 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 5 0 0 0 10 0 0 20 0 0 3 5 0 0 10 0 0 5 0 0 22 10 0 OP 15 0 0 25.0 0 51. per cent.' 15 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0I 2 10 0 3 0 0 10 0 0 50 0 0 50 0 0 Price --- - .. , ov v V I - LIST OF SCOTTISH COMPANIES' PRICES. Dividend Aincu a t ' Name of Company. per of Paid, Price Annum. Share. - -- B fl r a i n t k ish of L S li c l o en ti c an e d mp . e . e .; T;11,. per rr cent XOO 1,00400 a. d. O 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 ' O O . d O O . 2 Caledonian Bank ..... 81. per cent 10 0 0 210 0 3 1 1 8168 1 11C° i City of Glasgow Bank 5/. per cent. 10 0 0 10 0 0 11117, 7 5 1 14 . 1 p . e p r cent. cent 500 2 0 0 0 100 1 0 0 0 ;4 3 0/ 5 i C ely in d rn ett e l j e a l i l l aak rik • • .... Eastern Bank.. •• •• •• 61. per cent. 25 0 0 10 0 0 14/ 0 Edinb. & Glasgow.. •• 3 14 I. p cent. 5 0 5 0 0 41 16 National Bank •• •• •• 5 14 per cent. 100 0 0 100 0 0 1901 0 Nortnof seotland Bank 5/.percent 20 0 0 210 05/ lit Royal Bank of Scott. .. 51. per cent. 100 0 0 100 0 0 131, i Union Bank of Scot. ~ 81. per cent. 100 0 0 50 0 0 1001 We.sterr, Bank •• ••- .. 71. per cent. 50 0 0 50 0 0 531 i alliance Fire and Li'e.. 8% Lpr cent. 100 0 0 11 0 0 17112, British Guarantee .. 41. per cent. 10 0 0 2 0 0 11 1 1.. Caledonian Fire Incur. 10,.per cont. 100 0 0 10 0 0 24110 s City of .4iasgow Lite.. Q. percent. 25 0 0 2 0 041 ,s Co onial Life ......... 51. per cent. 50 0 0 3 0 0 71 Or Edinburgh Life. Diann 51. oer cent. 100 0 0 15 o'o 281 7, Eng. & Scot, Law Life 51.,tcr cent. 50 0 0 3 5 0 41 6s Life 'assoc. of Scotland 61. per cent. 40 0 0 3 0 06/ Is , Nations, Fire and Life 6/. per cent. 10 0 0 1 4 0 2! 0 f North British Incur... 71. per cent. 200 0 0 20 0 0 37/ 0 Northern Assurance Co. 20 0 0 1 0 0 Il 14s Scottish Provincial .... - 50 0 0 2 0 0 2/ 19 Scottish Union Insrne. Ni. pr cent. 20 0 0 1 0. 0 II IS Standard Life •• -.. •• 5/ per cent 50 0 0 7 0 '' 26l 1 MISCELLANEOUS. Dividend 1 Amount Name of Company. per of Paid. Price ' Annum. Share. £ e. d. £ s. d. Acadian Charcoal Iron •• 10 0 0 2 0 0 - African Steam Ship .. .. 20 0 0 10 0 0 - ASS3III lea •• - •• • 6.. per cent. 30 0 0 20 0 0 - . - Aactian Mart•• •• •• .. 241 per cent 50 0 0 - - Australian Azriculturi - 25 0 0 19 0 0 23% Australian Trust •• .. 81. pr cent. 100 0 0 25 0 0 - Australian Royal Mail - 10 0 1) all ...- Anglo-Mexican Mint.. 11. 10s. 10 0 0 all - British American Land S i . , . perer percent 100 50 0 032 10 0 00 40 0 0 - Canada ... •• •••• • • •• i •120 Do. 5 per cent Bond , 51. pet cent Stock 100 0 0 - Ditto, 5 per cent bds 5/.per cent. Stock 100 0 0 - 6 6 p p e e r . b e d e z e i t 1 .8.; ‘ . l 6 6 1 /.. p p e e r r c c e en nt t .. S S le o e c k k 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ....- D p i it tt t o @ , Ditto, 6p c. bds 1876 6 2 1 1. .p p e e r r sent. eent. 3 Sto o ck 0 100 al l 0 - I - 14 i Crystal Palace Ditto Preference 7l pr. cent. 5 0 0 4 0 0 5 all 0 0 3% - Crys. Palace of France - - - 0 City Navigation Bonds 3% 1. per cent - Electric Telegraph 5 0 0 100 a 0 0 10 ll - Eng.&Aus. Cop. Smelt. - 50 0 0 'all - Eng.&lris. Slag. T. Co. - Eq p ula e bl N e e lt w ev . e . r . s . lo . n . ry . Si per cent. 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 2 0 10 0 0 0 _- Gen. steTers. & Invest. 51. p a and 11 100 0 0 00 0 0 - Gen. I. Sc. Col. (Lim.) - 25 0 0 all - Gen•SteamNavigatlon 10/, per et. & 15 0 0 14 London Gen. Omnibus 121. per cent 4 0 0 allO 0 2 3 % 3% Hudson's Bay 5/. per cent. Stock Stock - - Bur - terford ......•• Loa. Ne. &N. 5. Mauso - 10 0 0 , all - - London Raversionary 5/, per cent. 15 0 ii all die:. & S. American - 10 0 0 a ll Nat. Discount Comp - 25 0 0 50 0 3% N.S.W. Gov.sp.c. Deb 5l. per cent. Nor. Bri. Australasian 6d. 1 - 0 0 0 7 North of Europe, Sttn. 111. per cent. 20 0 0 17 100 erice'sPatentCa l d. Co - 21 0 Peel ltiver.Land&Min. all 0 o__ - 0 11 0 - - - 5 0 0 a ll - Pen. & Oriental Ste am 71. per cent 50 0 0 a ll 72 Ditto New ...... - 50 0 0 10 0 0 - - fle.rersionary Int. So c . 114/. pr cent 100 0 0 all L Daf t Mail S New team-. 11. •• -• • -4%/. Oar.- 10 0 opr cec.t. 100 0 0 0 if 0 0 581 4 p. Scottish Ans. Invest. 151. per cent. 10 0 all 1 1 4 - South Australian Land 71. per cent. 25 0 0 Trust and Loan Co m p. 7 1 4... Tr cent. 20 0 0 all : 1 , 0 ) 0 0 _:" VAR Diemen's Land.. los. 1 00 0 0 2 -- J - Gov. 6 per cen t. i , n d s• 6 p er cent. M. Horace Guarracino," says the Malta Times, " who, oar readers may remember, was severely wounded in the ,treetg of Constantinople by a eunuch of the Sul tan's hou,ohold, has received 1,0001. from the Porte as compensation. M. Guttrracino has completely recovered, we understand., from his wound." HADDINGTON GRAIN MARKET—OCT. 30. winsaT. EARLEY 1 OATS. I 28A701. First 62 s Od 41 s 9d 31s Od 1 508 Od iecond 4is lld ; 34s 6d } 24s 8d ; 45s 9.1 Chird 3 48 Od 116 s Od I 20s Od 141 Od Total quantity of wheat in market, 463 qrs., 363 sold barley „ 1099 qrs., 993 sold oats ,; 552 qrs., 467 sold Pt beans ~ 21 qrs., 19 sold AVERAGES PER IMPERIAL QUARTER. Wheat, 2/. 711 1-12ths ; Barley, ...11. 14 6 11-12ths Oats, ... 11. 4 8 0-12ths I _Beans, ..... 21. 5 9 s.l2tiai IP , ABERDEEN—OcT. 30. Potato oats 22s Ott to 23s t d 1, 401bs per bushel Common oats 19s Cd to 21s Od Bere 28s Od to 31s Od 1 531bs Barley 28s Od to 31s Od Wheat, red (spring)37s Od to 38s Od white 35s Od to 48s Od 1 621ba I . , Oatmeal 178 fd to 19s Od per boll. Flour 42s Od to 43s Od per sack. PROVISION MARKET. _ _ 9 0d d t o o 3 0 8 81 6 01 Beef, per lb 6d to 9d Butter, p lb. Os Od to is 13 Lamb, Mutton, p d e o r . , Ib oB 6d Ducks,Chicke n s d , o d .o: Os s s 0 6 d d to o 2 2 : ; 6 0 l i Ed Oa 9d 9d I E Hens, ggs PP doz. lair 3s Os I Pork,Veal, p p e e r r i l b b :0 . ; 0 6 a d to to 0 0: 0 9 d ti salmon, per lb Os Od I Ducklings,do Os Od t o 2s 6 I Grouse, per brace.....os to Os Turkeys, each 5s Od to 44 61 Callow, p stone, Os to —s 01 Potatoes, pr pock, 10d to 12 I Rabbits, each ......... 04 to Od. Butter for exportation (present cure) . per cwt. —1 to 1001 Eggs, wholesale price, per dozen ......... .......... - dto Bcl , . RETAIL PRICES. Flour, 141b....0s Od to 28 4d Barley flour,l4lb.Os to 2s 0,1 Oatmeal ......Os Od to is lid „ dust, Beremeal ....Os Od t o i s 10d 10d , per lb .......... 2d t o 2i d Peasemeal... Os Od t o 2 8 4d Sid's, ........................ 74 Cheese, per imperial at one , 4a.. Od. to . 4a . 6d 4-Ib. 10af...8d. 12-Ib. 10af...4d. DUBLIN, OCT. 30. Our market to-day was very fairly supplied. A slow sale for wheat at fully last day's prices. Inferior barley At rather lower prices. The transactions in Indian corn were more frequent, but at a decline. White wheat, 303 Od to 32s Od ; red ditto, 28s Od to 30s ;d; ditto new, 30s 6d; barley, malting, 17140 d to 20s; grind. vg, —s to —s ; oats, old, 15s 6d to 18s; ditto, new , 14 v a to 15i 01; oatmeal, 14s Od to 16s; bere, new, 15s to 16e ; rapeseed, 26s Od to 28s Oct per brl ; bakers flour, 18s Odd to 21s Od per cwt; Indian corn, 36s 01 to 376 6d per 180 lbs. [A DVERTISEMENT. HOLLOWAY'S PILLS. —Ano th er Wonderful Cure of Asthma.—Extract of a letter from Mrs. Ann Jones, Lord-street, Liverpool, to Professor Holloway :—" I was seriously afflicted for five years vith asthma, frequently expectorating blood, palpitation f the heart, together with faintness and cold sweat. In this state I continued for se►eral mouths, I consulted he faculty until all hope of relief vanished, when I was prevailed upon to give ,your pills a trial. Under their influence this terrible malady quickly disappeared, and my health is now re-established "—Sold by all medicine vendors throughout the world ; at Professor Holloway's -stabli.ihments. 244, Strand, London, and 80, Maiden a,ne, New York ; by A. Stampa, Constantinople ; A. Guidicy, Smyrna ; and E. Muir, Malta. A I.OVII iTISSMENT. I- SIGIIT AND HEARING SPECTACLES.. POWERFUL TELESCOPES OPERA, RACE, AND PERSPECTITi GLASSES. —S. and B. Solonions, opticians, 39, Albemarle .treet, Piccadilly. Observe—opposite the York Hotel, W. By her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent for valuable and ex traordina.y improvements in the most powerful and brilliant Telescopes, Camp, Race-course, Opera, and Perspective Glasses, to know the distances. These Telescopes possess such extraordinary power that some, three and a-half inches, with an extra eye-piece will show distinctly Jupiter's moons, Saturn's ring, and the double stars ; with the same telescope can be seen a person's countenance three-and-a-half, miles iistaut and anobject from 16 to 20 miles. For the waist coat-pocket, and are of larger, and all sizes, with incr eas i ng powers accordingly. The Royal! Exhibition, 1851. —A valu able, newly-invented, very small, powerful, Waistcoat-pocket Gla,ss, the size of a walnut, by which a person can be seen and known one and a-half mile distant. They answer every put.. pose on the Race-course and at the Opera-houses. Country scenery and ships are clearly seen at 12 to 14 miles. They ire invaluable for shooting, deer-stalking, yachting, to sportsmen, gentlemen, gamekeepers, and tourists. Opera. Camp, Perspective, and Race-course Glasses, with wonderful powers. Invaluable preserving Spectacle &Lenses of the greatest transparent power. The great advantage derived from this invention is, that vision impaired becomes pre served and strengthened and very aged persons are enabled to employ their sight at the most minute occupation—can NCO with tlioie lenses of a much less magnifying .power—ana they do not require the frequent changes to the dan. gerous effects of further powerful assistance. Persons can be suited at the most remote part of the world by send. ing one of the glasses out of their spectacles in.a letter, and stating the dist ince from the eye they can read small print with it, and those who have not made use of spectacles by stating their ago. Deafness.—New Discuvery.—The Organic Vibrator, an extraordinarily powerful, small, newly-invo oted instrument for deafness, entirely different from all of 'sera, surpassing anything of the kind that has been, or prob ably can, be produced. Being of the same colour as the sk in, is not perceptible. It enables deaf persons to hear distinct ly at churchand at public assemblies ; the unpleasant seusatic D el singing noises in the ears is entirely removed, and it affords all the assistance that possibly could bo desired.-39. Albs. , uarle-street, Piccadilly.—Opposite the York Hotel, W. Amount of Share. £ s. d. Stock. Stock. Stock. 100 0 0 100 0 0 25 0 0 Stock. Stock. 50 0 0 20 0 0 20 0 0 X s. d. Stock. , 00 - 0 0 MO 0 0 5 0 0 Stock. 50 . 0 0 20 0 0 14 0 0 PANIE6. Amount of Share. s. d. 500 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0 1 0 0 50 0 (1 (00 0 0 50 0 0 50 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0 50 0 0 50 0 0 100 0 0 20 0 n 100 0 0 5 0 0 Stock. 20 0 0 100 0 0 500 0 0 100 0 0 10Q 0 0 100 0 0 100 0 0 50 0 0 25 0 0 50 0 0 'OO 0 0 50 0 0 20 0 0 5 0 0 10 0 0 6 5 0 100 0 0 5 0 0 Stock. 20 0 0 10(1 0 0 ANKS. . £ a. d. 50 0 0 11 0 0 25 0 0 all 5 15 0 25 0 0 5 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 5 0 P 5 0 0 5 0 0 01 4 0 0 47 p 50 0- 0 20 0 0 32 0 0 2 10 0 13 0 0 2 10 0 12 10 0 2 0 0 12 10 0 2 0 0 20 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 o 10 0 10 0 0 o 10 0 all 5 lo 0 10 0 0 5 0 0 THE WATERLOO MYSTERY-4 BANKER MISSING. The Journal du Loint contains the following, which it declares to be of some interest, in connec tion with the Waterloo-bridge tragedy :—" We have received details on a mysterious event which plunges into desolation one of the most respectable families of Montargis, in this department. About a month ago M. B--, junior, banker in that town, left for Orleans, with 81,000 f. in bank-notes, des tined for his correspondent. On arriving at Or leans, he was told, in answer to his inquiries, that it would be possible to go up to Paris and tack again by railway before night, provided he started at once. As he had some business to transact at Paris, he went ; but found that his affairs took more time than he had expected, and he resolved to remain till the next day. He wrote to his wife to tell her not to be alarmed at his a,iisence, and passed the night at the hotel at which he was accustomed to put up. He left the hotel the next morning, and since then nothing whatever has been heard of him, and all the reearches made after him by the prefecture of police, and by his family and friends, have led to no result. As he was very prosperous in busi fleas, was liked by all who knew him, and was de votedly attached to his young wife, by whom a few months ago he had a child, it is impossible to con ceive that he has disappeared voluntarily. It is therefore likely that he has been the victim of a et i me; and the investigation made before the coroner of Westminster into the crime of Waterloo-bridge tends to awaken painful suspicions. The details given by the English journals as to the height, colour of the hair and beard, and the dress of the victim, apply to M. B—. The discovery of the remains at London appears, it is true, at first glance, to repel the supposition that he is the man ; but, on the other hand, these remains had been placed in a liquid which prevented decomposition, and it is therefore not impossible that a crime may have been committed in France, and that the authors of it may have endeavoured to remove all traces of it, in order to escape detection. In such a case, all suppositions are allow able. M. B--, father of the deceased, who is a juge de pain and universally respected, has been advised to write to the coroner." The supposition of a crime having been committed in France ana the remains of the body removed to London, seems quite out of range of possibility, as, were these no other difficulty, the examination at the custom house would of itself preclude the clandestine in troduction of so large a package. That the gentle man alluded to in the above account may have gone to London is possible, though not very probable. Besides, the general quality of the clothes found in the carpet bag in Loudon seems quite inferior to the rank of life in which the missing banker of Moutargis must be supposed to have moved. Country Markets. DALKEITH GRAIN MARKET—OCT. 29. Qrs. Best. Current. lnfelfor 387 Wheat 57s 6d. 4os sid 2Bt Od 1362 Oats 30s 6d 22s 10d l6. Od 1132 Barley 403 Od 3os o§d 22i Od 18 Peas & beans 50s Od 46s 2d BIRTHS. OF A $O4 On the 30th ult., the wife of Alfred Poland, Esq., 10, Bolton-row, Curzon-street, Mayfair. On the 30th ult., 3,1 38, Old Broad-street, Mrs. A. A. Henriques. OF A DAVOIITHR, On the 26th ult., at Bath, the Marquise Taliacarne. On the 28th ult. , at 208, Marylebone-road, the wife of John Walter, Esq. MARRIED. On the 29th ult., at St. George's, Hanover-square, John Morgan O'Callaghan, Esq., of the War Department, To wi-r, to Eliza only child of the late John Scott, Esq., of River-street, 'Myddelton-square. On the 30th ult., at St. Lawrence Church, Ramsgate, Richard Simmonds, Esq., Paymaster R.N., to Emily nor delta, only daughter of the late Wm. Carter, Esq., of the Admiralty, Somerset-house. DIED On the 30th ult., at Lichfield, the Rev. Wm. Gordon, aged 69. (in the 30th ult.. at Tottenham, Anne Marianne, the wise of John Day, Esq., aged 21 On the 29th ult., Mr. Wm. Hammond Webb, for many years confidential clerk to Messrs. Woolley and Co. On the 29th ult., the Rev. Robert Moore, jun., rector of Wettreringsett, Saffolk, aged 46. On the 28th ult., at Coventry, Mr. J. Southern Evans, of that city, aged 71 On the 27th ult., Jean, the wife of Patrick Cassidy, 25, Aldersgate-st reet. On the 24th ult. ' at Ventnor, L W., Mr. Wm. Cubitt, of Oakley-street, Lambeth. On the 25th ult.. in London, Thomas Mant, M.D., late of Ipswich, aged 87. LONDON: Printed and Pubiiahed. by MURDO YOUNG, of No. 712, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, Ne. 11.?, Strand, in the Precinct a the Savoy, in the county MidtPesex, Monday, November 2,1367. .~~-' ..~; THE SUN, LOND:ON, MONDAY EVENING NOVEMBER 2, 1857, Paid. Price .(