The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-13 00:00:00

EVEN ENG EDITION.

TER AT

THE ASIATIC JOURNAL.
The distorted view taken of the Opium question by
a periodical so expressly devoted to the discussion of
Oriental alLiirs as the Asiatic Journal, really surprises

us. All at once a film appears to have fallen on the
eyes of those guardians of the national honour who
only a few weeks since could discover in the accidental
position of a flag at the Mauritius a sufficient pretext
for a war which must have shaken Europe to its
centre. They cannot see why any ship's crew should
feel the slightest reluctance to sign a bond declaratory
of their great willingness to be hanged in the event of
a Chinese Mandarin swearing, by the god Fo,
that he had discovered seven-eighths of two
ounces of opium on board, and why like-
wise the ship and cargo should not be declared lawful
Prize by Lin and his successors for ever ! Neither can
they discover the slightest departure from what is just,
legitimate, and proper in such cases, in the enforcing
Custom-house regulations by the seizure and starvation
of all foreigners, whether innocent or guilty ! But then
it must be borne in mind that the same persons esti-

mate the necessity of wars by the political opinions of
those with whom they originate, and the effects they are
l'kely to have upon certain principles. A war with
China does not promise to abridge political liberty, to
add to the chains with which religious intolerance
would fetter the human mind, or to increase the mi-
litary and naval patronage of the Tories, and
hence the Tory tools, one and all, cry out against
But as the Asiatic Journal does not wear

the livery-of faction, we cannot account for the
very absurd view which it takes of a question which
it has the best means of understanding aright. Some
very useful hints may be gathered from a practical ar-
ticle on the " Administration of Justice in the British
Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, and the Govern-
ment of Penang and Singapore," from the pen of Mr.
Anderson, for some time Secretary to the Govern-
ment in these Settlements. " Notes of a Journey
from Alexandria to Boulak," by Miss Roberts, throws
some additional light on the social condition of Egypt.
As everything regarding the domestic and religious his-
tory of the Chinese is at present invested with more
than ordinary interest, the following extract from an
article entitled " Analecta Sinensia," is introduced

without any apology for its length. It is a description
of a pictorial representation of
THE CHINESE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD.

" On particular occasions, it is the custom of the
Buddhist priests to exhibit pictures of the pains and pe-
nalties awarded in a future state, in order to obtain money

from thurelatives of deceased persons, and the following

account is digested from copies of these drawings, accom-
panied by valuable notes, in the possession of J. Reeves,
whose services to Chinese literature arc only equalled
by his liberality in endeavouring to forward the study.
" At the end of the seventh day, the departed souls, who
appear in their ordinary usual human form, are taken up
to an elevated terrace, called the wang lieang tae, or look
homeward terrace,' in order to see their native place, and
feel convinced that they are dead. From thence they are
brought to the first yuen, or court of the yen-wang, or
judges of the dead, the infernal monarchs, as their name
imports. Each of these monarchs is dressed in high of-
ficial robes, the colour of which varies, and attached to
every court is an executioner and clerk. The attendants
charged with the administration of the penal punishment
are demons, with animals' heads, and on the table before
which each judge is seated are the ordinary implements of
writing, and the tseen, or wooden counters, which the
Chinese magistrates fling down to indicate the number of
blows awarded. To each apartment are two doors, over
which is an enormous tiger's head, and underneath the
head, which forms the top of it, is a chop or warrant, ge-
nerally having reference to the scene going on within the
,court. The apartments are decorated, as is usual among
the Chinese, with long red labels, each containing a verse
or .sentiment, placed against the wall, and these generally
bear Allusion to the subject tried before the judges. Each
judge has before him an oblong table. The first court is
that of Tsin kwang wang, or the Monarch Tsink wang.
The scene which takes place in this court is the release of
Lin te, the mother of the priest Lo puh. She is suffering
under the cangue, and her son, who has descended into
hell for the express purpose of rescuing her, stands in the
attitude of addressing her, while two other spirits, almost
naked, are dragged before the court, or hindered from es-
caping by one of the officers. Another spirit is on the
Point of entering, and at the side-door is the figure of a
sns`n seated quietly, awaiting the judgment, with a
sort pity of countenance which strikingly contrasts with
the nsisery and anxiety depicted on the visages of the
'Picked 0,212. The second court represents the trial which
takes place. upon the fourteenth day after death, or the
second week and the septennial notation of time : the
seventh month and seventh day apparently points to a notion
borrowed from a ;surer source than Buddhism. This is
before the King Tso o keang. The face of the clerk of
this court is of a supernatural blue colour. A demon
charged with the execution, and whose head is in the shape
O 5 a sheep's, stands on the right side of the monarch.
Before his tribunal appears a person of high rank, appa-
rently connected with the imperial blood, charged with
seducing a lady of the palace, who is at his side. His
accuser stands in mourning at the left, and in the centre of
the picture is an officer holding two maces. They are con-
demned to a lingering death. The third court is that of
the monarch Tsung te. Before this tribunal appear three
military officers, who have been decapitated; two bear
their heads in their hands, and the third grasps by the
heard a civil functionary, whom he drags before the court.
These three accuse the civilian, as a warrant informs us,
of the kingdom, and betraying it by his villany ;
he is condemned never to return again to human exist-
ence an officer of the court stands looking a rne
towards him, and holding in his hands a pair of handcuffs.
The fourth court is of the King Woo kwan. One of the
inferior officers leads by a halter, attached to the neck of
each, a priest and priestess of Fish, who are charged with
having violated their vow of celibacy ; they are destined
for eternal punishment, while a fowler, seated quietly,
awaits his turn, smoking a pipe, A soul, which has just
entered, humbly ko tows to the court. This court judges
at the end of the fourth week, or twenty-eighth day. The
fifth hall is superintended by the monarch Tsung 10. A
decapitated person, with unearthly blue features, appears
before the court, kneeling down and looking up to a person
ai.,parcntly of imperial rank. The scene here probably
all udes to some story of Chinese history or fable, and men-
tion is made in the warrant of the state of Wei, and the
Link- Wang, or dragon monarch of the Tong hae, or
Eastesui seas. The red labels refer to the story

Did the old dragon think to escape the decree of Heaven ?
The sixth hall is under the direction of the monarch Peen
thing, and effenders are brought here at the expiration of
forty-two days. A female, who has lost her life to pre-
serve her honour, leads, by a silken halter, her persecutor
before the court ; a clerk and an executioner, the last of
whom bears considerable resemblance to a Hercules, wear-
ing a dog's head attire, and with a pard's akin round his
loins, brandishes his sword, while a miserable or wicked
soul appears in a supplicatory attitude before the judge.
I❑ the seventh hall appear an adulterer and an adultress,
with her murdered husband, of dwarfish proportions. The
offending wife is accompanied by an old woman, who, it
appears, advised her to the murder, which was accom-
plished by poisons secreted in the golden lilies, or shoes of
her feet. The red labels in this apartment clearly refer to
the crime

It is soon known that lost chastity can never be regained ;
And let them in the world, who seek for pleasure, behold its
reward !
This hall is under tae authority of the Judge Tee shan.
Cases are adjudicated here at the end of forty-nine days.
The eighth Court, which tries the departed souls at the
expiration of fifty-six days, is occupied with investigating
a charge of rebellion. An inferior officer, wearing a red
bead, and who thrusts his hands in his girdle with the air
of a man of letters, stands by the side of a female listen-
leg to the accusation of a functionary. Attached to the
Court are two officers, one with a sword, and the other

•
with a bamboo, for punishment, and two unhappy souls
await their turn. The Judge's name is Ping ching.
In the ninth Court, over which presides the Judge Too
101 C, are six virgins, who have destroyed themselves by
drowning. They stand upon the left of the picture, and
a man prostrates himself on the right, holding a chain.
Another soul is waiting trial, while the red labels again
allude to the trial going on, and the warrant states the
circumstances of the case. The tenth hail, the last of these
awful tribunals, is under the charge of the Chuen lun
Wang, the ' monarch of the metempsychosis,' and it is be-
fore this Court that the souls are brought, three years after
leaving this world, and having gone through their appointed
trials. Here it is finally decided what change they arct o
experience, whether to be restored to the human shape, or
transformed into animals. A military officer, pierced by
five arrows, drags another personage before the Court. To
the right, a demon changes a man into an animal, while
a purer soul on the left passes on to a better state of ex-
istence. A prostrate soul, just introduced, kneels in sub-
mission to the Court. The last plate, which demands a
more specific detail, is the Yin yang keae, or boundary of
the invisible state, and in this the dead, and the functiona-
ries of justice in the next world, are represented strolling
k hoist. One personage conducts along, by a string, a
eroole of living skeletons, and, at a distance, is a walled
City, Fung too ching, ' the Fung too city,' a name given
to the Hades, from its being situated under a mountain of
the sem,' name.
"The 6,'lter draWings,comprising this interesting series,
I "Present Oh' punishment awarded to the wicked, for as
Yet the description has on:, applied to the simple trial of
the dead, accor,iing to the legal p
C rocess of Chinese
~ourts, which rather assimilates IP our examinations be-
fore Magistrates, than the trials of guropean nations, es-
Fweially such as use the mode of Jury, and the Chinese
Punishments of the dead far outstrip even the yen-
N'eance doled out in Greek archaeology to the
w` eked• I xion, with his wheel, the parched lips
d
of Tantalus, the eternal fear of Sisyphtizi
mercan the vul-
ture to the
a the rock-bound Protnetheus, aid
Chinese system. The Danaids, with their perforated urns
mall, ildaed, of the fabled trials of the Greek limiest, are
Jests to the Chinese—mere metaphysical pangs, instead of
.
which the torturer is called to uphold the performance of
rectitude in this world by the terrible and revolting ex-
amples "I'tes of the penalties for the base in a future statee of
existence. What the as a
What • y are
is awarded to the malefactor here—is aggravated in
", i! world of shadows, and corporeal zuffering, in all its
wr\ thing forms, at which humanity shudders, is depicted to
the laitticei ;yes. Devils, in the shape of Ine4, dvavv out,
ant!Ainputate -vith knives the tongues of slamlerers, er
,
o,.rec red-hot bulk:, down the thrc,2.s of liars ; others are
urged on to the
their arrival gate of Wang sae to T.,":,
, some with the frightful heads of e.
where grinning
nirn,::'. await
, arrival ; women wh3 have died during parturitir;;'.
Bathe in the sea of blood, or are torn topieces by viii,
iand dogs, lashed into submission by demons ; here as soul'
:pstc_elli.ed in burning oil, forced into crackling flames, or
\
. vehL tee-ribbed rocks, falling down with violence to their
I, .V4Qsed by prongs upon mountains planted with hooks

of iron still reeking with the blood of those who have gone
bcfocc ; there the damned are sawn between planks,
pounded in husking-mortars, and beneath gigantic bells,
or ground up in rice-mills, while the dogs of hell lap their
oozing blood—terrible examples, which none can stay ex-
cept by prayer ; and in one picture only, the goddess
Kwan-yin exhibits her peculiar attribute, that of mercy, by
pouring water from a vase and throwing down a flower of
the lotus, to rescue an impounded soul. It is one of the
few rays in the gloomy picture before us ; all the rest are
dedicated to vengeance, and torture is the order of the
day. Like the 11Iahommedan bridge, some pass over the
Na ho kcaou, or Bridge of Woe, into whose stream the
wicked are immersed, while the good pass over in safety;
and in another representation, a pious son, in mourning,
sleeping upon a mat, beholds in a vision his deceased
mother rescued by a good genius from the power of the
evil spirits by whom it is surrounded. One picture alone
exhibits a female passing to the state of bliss, while another
represents the wheel of the metempsychosis coloured blue,
black, white, red, and green ; from this issue five streams
of human life, two of which are occupied by females and
animals, and the other three by the different grades of
mankind, to whose final ordeal are dragged, by the minis-
ters of the invisible state, animals, from whose forms, as
from the chrysalis, men are bursting forth."
" During the seventh moon of every year,
.throughout the
whole Chinese empire, prayers are offered up for the spirits
supposed to be suffering in the invisible state, or purgatory.
These prayers are attended with illuminations and various other
rites, and at this time ten pictures (from which these twenty-
four are taken) are hung up, oftentimes upon a very large
scale, in their temples, or in temporary buildings, where the
rites are performed. They are intended to fill the people with
a dread of vice, as well as to induce them to commiserate those
wicked persons who are in a state of misery. But as the priests
keep up the idea, that spirits suffering in this way are to be re-
lieved by prayers said for them—and which prayers they will
not offer up without being paid for so doing—it is fair to infer
that one object of this exhibition is to obtain money from per-
sons who have lately lost a relative or friend."—M. S. note.

OBSERVATIONS IN THE VETO ACT.
By the REr. JAMES ROBERTSON, Minister of Elton.
Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh.

The author of this able pamphlet proposes in the
work to establish the following points :
That the Act on Calls, commonly denominated the
Veto Act, is, on the part of the Church, regard being had
to the Acts of Parliament regulating her establishment,
ultra tires.

That the principles of the said Act are no where recog-
nised in the acknowledged laws and Constitutions of the
Church.

That it is inconsistent with the idea of Presbyterian
Government.

That it is subversive of the rational and tried principles
of liberty, on which our Civil Judicial Institutions have
been founded.
That it seriously derogates from the spiritual jurisdiction
essential to a scripturally constituted Church of Christ.
That in the decision which the Civil Courts lately pro-
nounced, in the case of Auchterarder, they did not invade
the province of jurisdiction rightfully belonging to the
Courts Ecclesiastical.
That the substantive objects which are sought to be at-
tained by the Veto Act, may be attained, both with greater
safety and certainty, by a vigorous and well directed appli-
cation of the powers which:the Church, as established by
law, already possesses.
Most of our readers will naturally ask what this
Veto Act" is which has made, and still threatens to
make, such an uproar in Scotland ; and in looking over
the arguments which are all directed against it,
we endeavoured to find out the precise ground of corn.
plaint, and place it in conspicuous characters before
the public, but though all the other acts are given at
full length, the teterriina belli causa is (as far as we
have been able to discover) omitted. The substance,
however, of this bone of contention, which was thrown
among the peaceable and religious people of Scotland
in the year 1834, appears to be this. The General As-
sembly agreed to a provisional law, which was after-
wards confirmed by a majority of presbyteries, nomi-
nally to give the people the choice of their pastor, and
though the patron was still allowed to present, his pre-
sentation was utterly useless without the consent of a
majority of the heads of families in communion with the
Kirk. In other words, the Assembly passed an act infi-
nitely more unjust towards the p Aron and the presentee
than the short-lived Act of William and Mary, inasmuch
as by the Veto Act the presentee could not demand of
the people reasons for their disapproval, and as no remu-
neration was made to the patron for taking away his
vested right. Both these were specially provided for
in the only Act passed for the abolition of patronage.

Mr. Robertson enters into the subject at great
length, discusses every point dispassionately, and with-
out any of that religious rancour or sectarian bitterness
which generally distinguishes, above all others, the
broils of churchmen, and thereby gives one presumptive
proof that he has the best of the argument. Ile proves
to demonstration that neither the Veto Act nor any-
thing like it, ever was the law of the land,
or even the law of the Church, that it is un-
British and anti-Scriptural, and that it must, if
not timely checked, exert upon the character
of the Christian people, an influence highly prejudicial.
" It has nothing whatever," he states truly, of the open,
straightforward, and manly character which the advo-
cates of popular election may, looking at the matter in
theory at least, plead in support of their favourite mea-
sure," and he openly avows that be would prefer the
out-and-out popular election to this miserable, Jesuitical
attempt to impose upon the Christian community a be-
lief that they are electing their pastor, while the elec-
tion is virtually in the hands of only a portion of the
ministers of the Church.

On this subject we have repeatedly expressed similar
sentiments, and have had them confirmed by numerous
letters from Scotland, written by men who had evidently
studied the question in all its bearings. If there is to
be a popular election, let it be a reality and not a name.
The veto act robs the patron, mocks the people, and
exalts the Church. It makes the patron a non-entity,
contrary to all the acts passed on the subject. It limits
the franchise, according to the caprice, pride, and ty-
ranny of Ministers of the Gospel, all fallible men, who
under the cloak of promoting religion and the pure
worship of God, have but too often sanctioned the
greatest injustice, and justified the worst of crimes.
The Catholic priesthood, when they had the power,
burned Protestants at the stake, the Protestant
priesthood in turn even within less than a century
hunted Catholics like wild beasts in Ireland, and
the Chalmerses and Candlishes under the same
pretence begin their system by setting the law at
defiance, and would consummate it by establishing the
most insufferable tyranny that ever afflicted a Christian
community. The present Government have unwittingly
lent themselves to the scheme. With the utmost sim-
plicity and ignorance of the character of these clerical
agitators, they have given all the Crown patronage
to the heads of families in communio❑ with the
Church—that is, enfranchised by the Church, thereby
increasing yearly the power of a party, encouraging the
ambition of an insolent and rebellious priesthood, and
changing the character of a Church approaching nearer
to perfection for usefulness, morality, and pure religion,
than any Church ever established on earth. Never
was that Church in greater danger, and appropriately,
therefore, does Mr. Robertson conclude his defence in
these beautiful words—" Pray for the peace of Jeru-
salem ; they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be
within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.
For my brethren and companions' sake, I will now say,
peace be within thee. Because of the House of the
Lord our God, I will seek thy good."

FINE ARTS.

EXHIBITION OF WATER-COLOURS.

We went on Saturday to a private view of this popu-
lar Exhibition, which, as a whole, is of more than ave-
rage merit, though some few of the pictures arc very
inferior performances indeed, both as regards design,
and skill, and vigour of colouring. Among the bet-
ter class, we may mention No. 32, " St. George's
Chapel. Windsor," which is from the pencil of
Chase. The long reach of perspective in this painting
is skilfully managed ; and some of the deeper tints in
the foreground show a practised hand at effect. No. 122,
" A Scene at the Gate of the Convent of San Gero-
nymo, at Belem, Lisbon," by Haghe, is a productipn
full of animation, and richly, but not tawdrily, coloured.
The figures of the monks in the archway of the monas-
tery, and of the ailing mendicant, who is lying down, on
a sort of rude pallet, in the front, are well defined,
more especially the latter. No. 139—the subject of
this picture is " Ibrahim Bey, with two of his confi-
dential officers, reposing in the Nubian desert, in their
flight before the troops sent against them by Mohammed
Alec, in 1812." In the foreground, we see the indivi-
duals in question, sitting close together on the ground
engaged apparently in conversation respecting the state
of their affairs, while on both sides and behinthem, the
flat, monotonous desert stretches away to an immense dis-
tance. The artist has given the appearance of extreme
sultriness to this picture with striking accuracy. We
see it in the still, burning atmosphere—across which
scarcely a cloud travels, to intercept the blistering rays
of the tropical sun ; as also in the burning expanse of
sand, portions of which look just as though they were
red hot. No. 1.55, " The Death of Titian." There
are some good points about this picture, but as
a whole, it wants effect. The best executed figure
is that of Titian, who is lying, in the last
stage of decay, GM his bed. No, 189, " Dutch
Fishing Boats riding out a gale off the Dogger Bank,"
by Duncan, is a very vigorous piece of colouring, and
exhibits a breadth and boldness of which we did not
suppose that this species of drawing was capable, The
heavy undulating swell of the seas exhibits much of the
spirit and freshness of Ituysdael. No. 197, " Pic Du
Midi, from the Pass of the 'reurmalat, on the road from
Bareges to Bagneres de Bigorres," is a fine, bold Pyre-
i-,66ar, landscape, vividly pourtrayed by Oliver. No. 201
The Canterbury hlgrims," is one of COrbouldis
most effective productions. No. 279, " The Last Man,"
exhibits some showy effects of colouring, in which the
artit seettl to bave attempted an imitation of Turner's
manner ; but tine Gonzeptiou is very indifferently worked
out, and there is a want of natural force and simplicity
in the exnution. There are several other pictures,
• hut want of space prevents us from commenting on them,
d

On Sunday, a inotse-race fora bottle of spirits
was run for on the forest, and several respectable trades,
men went purposely to witness it.— NotfitTitain Review.

MUSIC.

- —*-
NATIONAL ENGLISH AIRS.
Chappell, London, 1840.
This collection consists of ancient song, ballad, and
dance tunes, many of which have been harmonized for
the piano-forte by Dr. Crotch. Some are of a lively,
others of a serious character, and all are of genuine
English origin, which we take to be no slight recom-
mendation in their favour.