The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-02 00:00:00

ZVENING, JUNE 2, 1546. ,

SLAVERY IN CHINA.

(From the New York Journal of Commerce.)
CANTON, JAN. 18.16.—0 f all the men on the lace of
the globe (and I have sojourned among several nations
in my life), I have never seen any equal to the Chinese
in the love of money. It is said this people have many
idols, and so they have; but they are all worshipped as
means to an end : and their worship aypears to be
narrowed down to that one great ultimate end—riches,
and the enjoyment of riches. Every city, and every
street; nay, every house of every street, as far as I have
seen, has a niche on the side toward the street, dedicated
to the god who brings riches. And impious would that
man be esteemed who neglected to light a taper and
burn three incense sticks every evening before that all
adored idol. Even now do my ears ring with the ex-
clamation of horror which burst from my landlord, some
few nights ago, when on taking possession of the pre -
mises, his incense pot was thrown into the street. That
landlord now, of his own accord, comes almost every
evening to my study, to join in reading the Bible, and
uniting in prayer to the true God with the disciples.
The prominent position which the subject of slavery
is occupying in the minds of Christians at home, led me
to inquire into its existence in this great provincial city
—Canton. It seems that among the one million of in•
habitants, which it is said this city contains, there are
estimated to be about,loo,ooo slaves, all of which are
females; that is to say the number of male bondmen is
not computed to be beyond one hundred. The reason
of this disparity of numbers is the following:—the male
slaves in China are chiefly employed in agricultural pur-
suits, and therefore are not found in cities; whereas the
female slaves are chiefly employed in swelling the harems
of the rich. It is not legal in China to have more than
one wife, though it is legal to have as many concubines
as one can maintain. The former invariably maintains
her superiority over the other inmates of the inner
apartments, not deeming that her rights and privileges
are at all invaded by the number of the females who look
to her husband for support. The number and beauty of
these slaves are limited only by the ability of the owner
to support them. I was in a house the other day the
owner of which has from twelve to fourteen female slaves,
besides his wife. Some of them are very pretty ; and
one of them cost her owner 5,000 dollars. The general
average price of a slave, whether male or female, is from
200 to 500 dollars each. When old and unable to work,
these slaves are made either to act as door-keepers to
the houses of the rich, or, like worn-out horses in the
streets of New York, they are turned out of doors to beg
and die. And as in one case, so in the other, the former
owners are not regarded as deserving censure or notice
for such abandonment.

The supply of slaves to meet the demand is, generally
speaking, from such sources as the following:—A debtor,
hard pushed by his creditor, will sometimes sell his wife
or children, or even himself (having no family), into
slavery to pay his debts. Orphan children left destitute
are often sold into slavery, merely. to procure their sup-
port. Parents or guardians will often sell those under
their care, either to get rid of the charge, or to make a
little money. There came a very decent woman to my
house not long since, very anxious to sell me (what she
said was) her own grandchild (two years old) for the
sum of 6or 8 dollars. Very large numbers of slaves
are those who in infancy, or too young to remember,
were kidnapped from their friends. For many make it
a business to procure young children and maintain them
till adult age, either to sell, or make them minister to
the carnal appetites of the people.
Chinese slaves are not to be distinguished in colour of
the skin, in dress, or in any other particular, from free-
men, except that when quite young, female Slaves gene-
rally have their braid of hair wound with a string some
six or eight inches from the head, while free girls have
the braid tied close to the head. The former, too, ge-
nerally have large feet, while the latter, except the boat-
women and the very lowest order of respectable women,
have the feet cramped in infancy.
Female infanticide in China, about which I have
read so much in American papers or in books on
China, very rarely, if ever, occurs in Canton. Not
only have I never seen a case myself, but I have not
seen an intelligent Chinaman who tells me from his
own personal knowledge of a case of the kind. In-
deed, I suppose infanticide at Canton does not now
exist ; not because the people are any better than
they formerly were—but simply because it is not in the
nature of a Chinaman to throw away anything whirl.
can be turned into money, and they all know that a child,
male or female, will bring from ten to thirty dollars, ac-
cording to its health and beauty.
I have often thought, in connexion with this subject,
what miserable; lives those persons would lead whf.
should come as missionaries to this country, resolved
that they would neither touch, taste, nor handle, any-
thing that was the product of slavery. Not only does a
very great portion of the tea and silks exported to the
United States come from the hands of slaves, but in like
manner that consumed here, as well as perhaps four-
fifths of the food offered for sale, passes through the
hands of those who are slaves, in the very strongest
sense of the term. For, be it understood, that the chil-
dren to the farthest generations, of a slave, are likewise
slaves, until they are bought or liberated from their
despotic masters.

DARING HIGHWAY ROBBERY.—MOSELEY, WORCES-
TERSHIRE, MAY 30.—A highway robbery, attended with cir-
cumstances of considerable aggravation, occurred in the im-
mediate neighbourhood of this village last night. Mr.
Briscoe, a gentleman upwards of eighty years of age, resid-
ing at Great-hill Mill, had been spending the day with a
relation, Mr. Kemp, of the Fighting Cocks Inn, Moseley, and
left on his return home between seven and eight o'clock in
the evening. On arriving on Moseley Wake-green, at the
corner of the road leading in the direction of his own house,
and about half a mile distant, he was suddenly attacked by
two young men, one of whom pulled him npon his back and
rifled one of his pockets of a purse, containing 7s. or Bs., while
eh. <>the. J. chi ptsiosi ay Diu neau, and, upon pain of death.
demanded his money. Having secured the old gentle-
man's purse, the villains decamped, but in the confusion of
the moment, for it was a mere momentary affair, he was
unable to state the direction they took. Fortunately, it
being broad daylight, the thieves omitted to search more
than one of Mr. Briscoe's pockets, otherwise they would
have met with booty in hard cash to the amount of 40/. and
upwards. On his arrival at home Mr. Briscoe communi-
cated the robbery to his family, and his son, after hearing
the description of the men by whom his father had been as-
sailed, recollected seeing two fellows of like description
passing by the house a short time before. An alarm was
immediately given, and men sent of in all directions in
pursuit of the robbers, and in the course of an hour and
a half they were apprehended at Golden Hillock, about
two miles and a half from Birmingham. They gave their
names as Garrett and Bellingham, and their residence
Birmingham. They were found in possession of 7s. 814 d.
in money, nine skeleton keys, and a crowbar, but no
pistol. Immediately the prisoners were shown to Mr.
Briscoe, he identified them as the men by whom he was
attacked and robbed, and whom he had seen more than once
during the day at the Fighting Cocks, Moseley. They were
delivered over to the county police, and for the night con-
veyed to the station at King's-heath. Subsequent evidence
proved the correctness of Mr. Briscoe's statement. The pri-
soners, after the old gentleman left the inn, were seen by Mr.
Bird, the postmaster of the village, to follow him in the di-
rection of Wake-green, and this morning the police-officers,
Superintendent Potter, and Constable Clewer, found sear the
spot where the robbery was said to have been committed, a.
pistol loaded with powder, and two pebble stones. Both
Bellingham and Garratt admitted that they had been at the
Fighting Cocks Inn ; and the servant-man in waiting states
that they more than once inquired who Mr. Briscoe was, and
where he lived. The prisoners were this day taken before
Mr. Lawrence at the Public-office, Birmingham, and fully
committed to take their trial at the ensuing Worcester
Assizes. The general belief is, that their original intention
was the plunder of the Fighting Cocks Inn.
GALVANO-PLASTIC PROCESS. The galvano-plastic
process was applied on a large scale a short time ago at ths•
establishment of Baron de Harkewitz, at Berlin. The colos-
sal plaster head of Juno, by Ludovisi, and also the plaster
bust by the sculptor Rauch, of Berlin, were both covered
with bronze. The frontal region of the head has a diameter
of more than 6 feet, and a circumference of nearly 18 feet.
The operation, which was executed in the presence of the succeeded so well that no finishing off was necessary.
His King,
was so much gratified that he immediatelygave
orders for bronzing the colossal statue of Christ, by Thor-
waldsen, and the model in wood of the gates destined for the
royal palace of Wittemberg, on which are cut in relief the
texts of the ninety-five Theses of Luther. The bronze used
in the establishment of Baron de Harkewitz presents the
most varied and beautiful shades, and resists all the effects of
the weather.
FOITR BULLOCKS KILLED ON THE RAILWAY.—At an
early hour on Monday morning last four fine bullocks, the
property of Mr. Robert French, of Bull's Lodge, Boreham,
which had strayed upon the line, were killed from being rnn
over by a train of empty cattle trucks proceeding to Col-
chester. The poor animals were completely cut to pieces, so
that though the authorities of the Company (who, we under-
stand, without hesitation agreed to sustain the loss), gave
the porters at Chelmsford station permission to take away
any parts remaining for their own use, they were hardly
repaid for the jcurney, the whole of the animals being lite-
rally cut to piecemeal. It'is a providential circumstance that
the engine was not thrown oft the metals by the obstruction ;
but the break carriage was jerked off the rails and proceeded
for a considerable distance ploughing up the line before the
train could be stopped. The guard, however, maintained his
seat, and by means of the traversing jerks and levers carried
upon the e, gine the carriage was again got upon the rails,
after a delay of about two hours, and the train arrived at
Colchester without further accident.—Essex Standard.
ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS FOR IRELAND. Yes-
terday the annual report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
for Ireland, for the year ending the Ist of August last, was
printed. The Commissioners had within the year augmented
41 benefices to 1001. a year each, in the same manner as they
are now empowered to apply the moneys bequeathed by the
late Primate Boulter. The benefices augmented in the year
were in the dioceses of Armagh, Dublin, Meath, Kildare,
Clogher, Kilmore, Elphin, Connor, Down, Cork, Limerick,
Killaloe, Tuam, 'Achonry, Ferns, and Lismore. The aug-
mentation salaries paid to the clergy from and out of Pri-
mate Boulter's fund amounted, in the year, to 4,396/. 15s.
and, under the powers vested in the Commissioners by the
provisions of the Church Temporalities Act, the sum of
6,4091. 15s. 4d. has been paid in the way of stipends to the
city of Dublin and to other curates, and also to diocesan
schoolmasters. After providing for charges, the Commis-
sioners have within the year appropriated to church works
the sum of 24,0001, of which 18,4691. 16s. was allocated to
repairs, and 5,5301. 45. to rebuildinogs s, aided by private
subscriptions to the amount of 2,3591. 7
d .
withTh e C
theo m ms
ei
rs
_-
sioners have since the last report dispensed vices of a number of local agents, and have established an
agency office. The following passage occurs in the report
on " Perpetuity Purchases:"_" In relation r
et oe e
itvheed
perpe-
tuity purchases, 44 applications havebeen
within
the year, of which four were from sub-tenants, and the re-
mainder from immediate tenants. The sales of perpetuities
have amounted to 11,146/. 17s. 6d., arising principally from
applications received in preceding years, of which sum
10,821/. 18s. 2d. has been lodged in the Bank of Ireland to
the credit of the Perpetuity PurchaseiFund, and the residue,
324/. 19s. 4d., has been secured by mortgage; and in dis-
charge of the mortgages previously granted, the sum of
5,8011. Os. 3d. has also been received. The moneys arising
from this source of revenue have been from time to time in-
vested in the Government securities, pursuant to the pro-
visions of the statute in this respect." By an account of the
receipts and disbursements, it appears that 181,726/. 19s. 6d.
was received, which was expended in various ways, includ-
ing the purchase of considerable funded property, and a
somewhat large balance in hand. The balance on the pre-
vious year was 15,622/. 85. 411 d., and in the present account
6,47&. 15s. Bd. An account is rendered of Primate Boul-
toe. And rrunitto li•biDA9ll'4 ranClik