The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-12 00:00:00

CHINESE 'PROGRESS.

(From the Anglo-American Tinges.)
One of the show places in Peking is an Observa-
tory erected on the giant wall enclosing the Tartar
city. Tastefully mounted instrumcuts stand there
exposed to the weather, as well as bronze globes,
on which are raised brass stars to depict the
heavens. Curious and complex as satne are, ex-

quisitely finished as is the workmanship, some years
ago no magnifying glass was there in use, although
telescopes had attained a high degree of perfection
in the neighbouring island of Japan. Beneath this
Observatory stands the Han-lin College, where the
students live in long rows of low buildings enclosed
by a high wall. It now appears that the Chinese
Government are taking vigorous steps to obtain a
more perfect observatory, and a university on a
comprehensive scale, with the view of introducing
into the empire the science and inventions .of the
West. An account is given in the Transactions of
the German Oriental Society, derived from the
Peking State Gazette, showing the steps taken by
the Emperor's advisers to attain these ends. When
the father of the present monarch, who is a mere
boy, fled from Peking to Jehol, on the approach of
the Allies, the man who assumed power was Prince
Kung, a member of the royal family, to whose
liberal views and statesmanlike policy the sal-
vation of the empire is mainly due. A man
of his intellectual capacity coming into official
communication with the ambassadors of the Great
Powers formed the best channel for conveying
Western knowledge into the young Emperor's
mind. Recent events have shown unmistakably the
bent of Prince Kung's policy, and its effect on the
Government of his Sovereign. Almost immediately
a Chinese embassy will arrive in England, with an
intelligent member of the American diplomatic ser-
vice at its head. This mission is doubtless some of
Prince Kung's work; and although with a narrow-
mindedness which no education can wholly eradi-
cate, the spirit in England is to regard it with sus-
picion as a Chinese dodge, the very terms of the
treaty with the United States, which we last week
published, as those to be proposed to the Western
Powers, ought to dispel so mean and ungenerous an
interpretation. The Peking Gazette gives facts which
might correct these unworthy surmises, as they
mark a new epoch in Chinese history. It appears
that Prince Kling, who is at the head of the Foreign
Ministry, addressed a petition to the Emperor from
his Board, embodying several proposals, chief
among which were the foundation of a mathernati-
I cal and astronomical college. The Emperor received
this so favourably that the plan was at once adopted,
and the buildings, including an astronomical ob-
servatory on a large scale, commenced. The
petition reached the Emperor in December, 1866,
and in the following February the Prince's memo-
rial and proposals were published in the Gazette. In
it the employment of foreign professors is insisted
on, and the reasons urged with great art, so as to
meet the turn of the Chinese mind. It is well
known that the pride of civilization has been in-
herited by China through generations, while Em-
pires have grown up, culminated, and passed out of
record. To break down a pleasing vanity trans-
mitted through countless ancestors among those
who highly venerate the opinions of their fore-
fathers could be no light task, and Prince Kung
must have had rare courage and determination thus
to face the inborn prejudice of the nation. While
adhering to his declared intention he manages to
soothe and even to administer a fillip to Chinese
pride. He asserts that instead of their being dis-
ciples of the West, it is the West that derived the
sciences of astronomy, mathematics, and many
others from China carrying them to higher perfec-
tion, and what the Chinese now desire is not only to
pull up to a level with the Western nations in the
studies they gave them, but to carry their knowledge
further. Anticipating an objection that in the
matter of steamers and machinery they might be
bought from the European makers without this
trouble and with less expense, the memorial thus
replies :—" These people, in the first place, do not
know that China has to learn a great deal more
than how to make steamers and guns ; and further,
even with regard to these, what they propose is a
temporary measure, whilst we propose to go to the

PRICE . . 4d.
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foundation of the matter, and have a thing of
eterniiy. We intend not menly to acquire
the secret how to make these present machines,
but others, better ones of higher, more perfect

construction that any that now exist, or shall exist."
But the great stumbling-block evidently, was the

employment of foreign teachers in the new schools,

and the memorial is directed to refuting those who
considered it a dangerous innovation :—" There is

only one thing which is really disgraceful, ani that
is not learning from strangers, but being lyThind

other people in culture. Now, it is not only the
Western nations who vie with each other i❑ trying

:o be foremost in all sciences, but there is even

little Japan, lying in the Eastern Sea, sending men
to England to learn the literature of that country,
and to exercise themselves in mathematical com-
binations, so as to create a fleet of steamships
after the European pattern. Verily, the fruits of the
movement will soon be apparent. Let China look
to her own, and leave such retrograde people who
object to innovations and expect everything to
come by itself to their own sloth and indolence, but.
not drag the country with them into their disgrace-
ful state. One more objection we must meet—viz.,
that of its not being seemly for a learned man to
apply himself to practical manufacturing and build-
ing, and plying instruments of architecture, &c.
Now in the chapter Kackung of the Chou-li, which
is the third sub-division of the classical work Li-
Chi,' this will find its full refutation, for this
chapter treats exclusively of workers in wood and
of wheel-wrights. Let the scholars be the pos-
sessors of the theories, and may the common
mechanics work out their ideas. There is no

difficulty about that. Every learning must have
some practical bearing if it would be useful."
The memorial contains the following six proposals,

each accompanied with an elaborate argument to
show its advisability:—" 1. Only such graduates and
employes are to be admitted to academical classes
who, by a previous examination, have shown them-
selves sufficiently advanced to profit by the instruc-
tion. 2. The candidates shall live in the university
itself, so that they shall not only have the advan-
tage of being constantly within easy reach of their
masters during their private stuJies, but also in
order that they themselves may yield less to the
temptation of neglecting their work. For this pur-
pose also their absences shall be strictly noted down.

3. E cry month there shall be an examination
on some one special subject, by way of testing
the proficiencies of the single students, so that pro-
per distinctions and encouragements may be
conferred. These examinations shall take plac3

in the presence of the Prince himself. 4
Every three years there will be a great general
examination. The successful candidates shall be
recommen led to the Throne, an 1 shall at once be
suitably employed in the lower grades of the State
service. The unsuccessful onr_ss shall continue their
studies till the next examination. 5. The students
shall be properly remunerated in order that they
may apply themselves to their work with undivi led
attention. Apart from the free living it is pro-
posed to give them ten tae!s monthly in order that
they might not have to indulge in ' melancholy
reflections.' Generosity is above all things the
fittest stimulus for those who apply themselves to
science and learning. 6. The progress wade by the
students is to be properly and liberally acknowledged
and rewarded, not merely in token of satisfaction
with their labours, but also as an encouragement for
those within and without who might not otherwise
use all their energies for the purposes of study, since
it is in the interest of the State and the commonweal
to fire the ambition of study in every possible way."
This document was followed by another two months
later, as it appeared in the Peking Gazette, April
24, 1567, in reply to a counter-petition by Wo-Jen,
principal member of the Imperial Council, who
headed the opposition, and who had set forth the
arguments against the employment of foreigners
and the other designs of the innovators. He
considered that in their great empire there
were a sufficient number of able men proficient
in mathematics, astronomy, and the other sciences
to select as teachers, adding, " You need only
to look for them." The skill with which
Prince Kung is playing his cards can be seen in the
way he met this opposition. Taking Councillor
Wo at his word, an Imperial decree instantly
charged him to look for them himself, and
he was commissioned to form a rival institu-
tion rto try the competitive system. The effect
was immediate ; for in two days the Gazette
published an official communication : " That
whereas Wo-Jen had been charged with point-
ing out men of proficiency, of whom he said
there existed ample numbers in the empire, the
same bad now sent in an immediate report, stating
that he had not had any special men in his eye,
and that he would never dare to propose this one
or that one at haphazard—the said Wo shall not
for all that be freed from the obligation he has thus
undertaken. lle shall go on seeking for such indi-
viduals, and shall bring them under official notice,
in order that they may receive their further
education in the institution he will found in
friendly rivalry to that of Prince Kung." And
Wo was promoted to a seat in the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Several known European pro-
fessors have been invited to some of the new chairs,
and members of the learned professions have arrived
at their destinations. Two years are allowed for
mastering the Chinese language. It is not easy
for Western nations fully to appreciate the re-
form Prince Kung is working. It will be in-
ternal far more than external, although the
latter reform is in truth prodigious. China
is so enormous in population that whatever
really affects the Empire has an importance great
in proportion. The system of appointments in
China has long been by competitive examination,
and it is but reasonable to suppose that the men
educated in the new University will reach the
highest dignities, and the Government virtually
pass into their hands. This is clearly what Prince
Kung aims at, and if he succeeds he will in a few
years placearound the Emperor men skilled in West-
ern science, with a knowledge of political economy,
and the rules upon which good government is based.
Although the Chinese repel barbarian innovation,
they are highly imitative, and will speedily adopt
the new system when it is made to flow from
their own fountain of honour and promotion. In
this university we see one of the wisest and boldest
steps ever taken, and destined, we doubt not, to
produce an effect in the highest degree important.

A new line of steamers between Bremen and
New Orleans will be opened on the Ist of October.
TILE BROKEN ATLANTIC CABLE.—On Monday
night Mr. Willoughby Smith, the eminent electrician, left
for Valentia, County Kerry, in pursuance of instructions
from the joint committee of the Atlantic and Anglo-Ame-
rican Telegraph Companies. He was followed on Tues-
day morning by Mr. Latimer Clark, who will verify his
tests, which at present show that the fault lies at about
eighty miles from Newfoundland, in water not exceeding,
if it reaches, 100 fathoms in depth, and that the interrup-
tion of communication is so complete as to put it almost
beyond doubt that the injury has been caused by the
grounding of an iceberg. Communication will, it is ex-
' pected, be restored in less than a month ; but meanwhile
the other cable is fully equal to the work required of it.
Talking of the cable, it is stated that fully eighty per cent.
of the receipts come from the American side. The sums
paid for messages by the Atlantic Cable by the English
press for a year, amounted to a total of £1,400, against
exactly as many thousands paid by the American news-
papers.
The newspapers have been lately teeming with refer-
ences to economy in tea by co-operation. Ilorniman and
co. have for 30 years co- operatel through Agents to
supply tea on more advantageous terms than by the ordinary
channel; their tea reaches the consumer in the same pure
state as it leaves the grower; as it is secured in packets.
Williams College, Massachusetts, is to have an
art gallery, with two largo halls for the open literary
societies, to be erected west of the gymnasium ; and the
frame building now on that site is to be removed and
converted into a college boarding house on the commons
system.

The Bishop of London arrived at Bonn on Saturday
last, accompanied by Mrs. Tait and his family, and by
Mr. Ilassard, his private secretary. his lordship preached
to the English congregation in the chapel of the university
at the eleven o'clock service on Sunday. The chapel is a
handsome building, erected in the reign of Louis XIV.,
as the private chapel of the country seat of the Electors
(Archbishops) of Cologne. After the great French Revo-
lution the Electors of Cologne were almost virtually
swept away. On the re-arrangement of Europe after
the downfall of Napoleon, though the Archbishops
of Cologne had estates re-assigned to them, the old
country seat or palace at Bonn was never given back to
them, but has been turned into a great and thriving uni-
versity for the German nation. The jubilee (or 50 years
established) was celebrated at Bonn only last week, with
the King of Prussia, the Crown Prince, and a brilliant
company present. Between 300 and 400 English heard
the Bishop of London preach. Morning prayers were read
by the Rev. Dr. Anderson (formerly Lincoln's Inn
preacher), chaplain to the British residents at Bonn. The
Bishop was again present at the afternoon service, and later
visited the graves of Niebuhr and Bunsen, in the cemetery.
Thirty years ago the Bishop of London attended a course
of lectures at Bonn University, and was resident there
for several months. This fact is said to have always
formed a bond of union between his lordship and the late
Prince Consort. . The Bishop of London is still well
remembered by many of the old residents of Bonn as
" the Rev. Mr. Tait," the young English clergyman who
first established the English Sunday service. On Monday.
his lordship called on some of the professors, and later left
for Frankfort.

THE METROPOLITAN CAB-DRIFERZ

SOCIETY.

The members of this Society held their first annual
dinner at the Crystal Palace on Tuesday, Mr. George
Potter in the chair. Great interest was attached to the
meeting on account of the present disputes with the rail•
way companies iu regard to " privileged cabs."
The CHAIRMAN, in an interesting speech, proposed the
toast of the evening," Success to the Cab-drivers' Society,"
and gave some account of the grievances under which the
cabmen laboured. lie said that the number of licensed
cabs in London was about 5,900, and if £5O was allowed
as the average value of each cab and two horses, the
aggregate worth of this cab property amounted to
£294,500 ; but this property was subjected to an annual tax
duty of £lOO,OOO. In his opinion it was the existence of
this exorbitant taxation that was the principal cause of
the dissatisfaction which existed in the cab trade. There
must be a diminution in the cab taxation ; there must
be a better and more humane system of police regula-
tions ; there must be increased and improved standing-
room for the vehicles, and the system which compelled
numbers of cabs to crawl about the streets in search of jobs
must be abolished. In conclusion, he advised the men to
be conciliatory in their tone, and they would be sure to
succeed.

Mr. B. PEARCE, president of the society, responded to

the toast, and entered fully into the operations of tho
society and the remedies which were proposed by the cab-
men to improve their position. He said that informa-
tion in his possession justified him in stating that tho
strike against the railway companies would terminato
before the end of August in favour of the men. (Loud
applause. )
The meeting was subsequently addressed by Messrs.
Crompton, Barnes, Sawyer, Evans, and Silless, all 013-
drivers ; and the proceedings, which were of importanco
to this useful class of public servants, were brought to a
close by a vote of thanks to the chair.

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE FENIAN

PRESIDENT.

The Herald New York correspondent writes :
" Fenianism is not dead ; its directors have learned by
experience the value of silence ; they are quietly doing
what formerly they did with much bluster and noise. I
pretend to nu information concerning the exact time of
the threatened raid upon Canada, or the points of. attack.
I merely draw inferences from patent facts. I think
that the movement will soon take place, and that
its course will be over the ground selected in 1866.
Certainly Fenians in considerable number have collected
at B❑ffalo, Detroit, and St. Albans, and certainly the
persons who are known to be the adjutants of O'Neill are
passing hither and thither to confer with acknowledged
leaders of Fenianism. Curious to know something of the
personal appearance and traits of the Fenian ' President,'
I lately secured an interview with that official,' at his
headquarters. The office of the Fenian President' is upon
the second and third floors of an unpretentious brick
building in Fturth-street, in a central locality, and not
more than one hundred feet from Broadway. No placards
or signboards indicate the whereabouts of the 'Executive
Mansion.' A few large show-bills, with harps, sun-bursts,
and enormous letters, printed in green ink, are stuck to
the walls on each side the street doorway ; these announce
Fenian picnics at Jones's Wood, Elm Park, and other
places. The stone steps of the old dwelling-house are
battered and broken ; the dirty winding wooden
stairway which leads up to the second floor
trembles beneath th 3 bead. Turning sharply to
the right, one sees an or en door : this leads to the main
office of the Fenian Government.' This apartment, in
the rear of the building, is perhaps twelve feet square.
Its furniture consists of four chairs, a stool, and a desk.
Directly opposite the door is an old•fashioned fireplace,
over which hang pistols of every variety. In the corner
to the left, and next the window, are half a dozen rifles
and muskets. About the walls are crossed sabres
and short swords, bowie-knives, and miscellaneous
cutting tools. On the walls also hang, from brackets,
heaps of blue and green uniforms, with red and yellow
stripes, and upon the floor at the right is an immense box
filled with green jackets trimmed with yellow cord ; these
lest, lam told, :ro for the cavalry.' On the walls ale
lithographs of Emmett, Corcoran, and Meagher, and
highly-coloured prints of the Battle of Limestone
Ridge,' and the ' Battle of Pigeon Hill.' In the works
of art possibility of mistake is prevented by the fore-
thought of the artist, in giving to the coats of the
British' a crimson of peculiar intensity, and to the dress
of the Fenians a preturnaturally vivid green. While I
look upon these pictorial treasures, the Fenian ' President'
enters. He is saluted with great respect by two large,
full-bearded men, in black garments, whom he

addresses respectively as Colonel' and Major.'
These men, after a few words, pass into the
front room, uncarpeted and cheaply furnished. The
' President,' to whom I have been named, is a
man of the middle size, rather robust in appearance,
with a good head, a sharp blue eye, a face by no means
lean, though bearing the unmistakable Celtic stamp. He
wears a dark brown moustache. His smile is pleasant,
his manner courteous, his words well chosen. He speaks
with great caution. He requests me to be seated, and
after a little desultory talk he gives me, at my request, a
description of his movements at Fort Erie and elsewhere, in
1866. In a quick and soldierly manner he sketches out the
campaign, shows the position of the Canadian troops and
his own men, describes the trap into which he had nearly
fallen, and explains the ease with which be crossed from
Fort Erie after the regulars and the Canadians had driven
him to the water's edge. He tells the story of his sacri•,
flees for Fenianism, his success in recruiting 20,000 men
in Tennessee alone, and the deceits practised by the self-
styled Fenian leaders. He speaks with great respect
of the British troops, and with great contempt of the
Canadian Milit:a. Finally, I ask him plumply, what he
hopes to gain by attacking the people of the provinces.
' Sir,' says he, my principle is that every English-
man is an enemy to Ireland ; that when an Englishman
is assaulted anywhere the whole nation must feel
it ; and I think that England will never be brought
to her senses except by this continual attack.
England understands force, but she does not care
for discussion. Socially, I think that the Canadians are
very respectable people, and I have no personal grudge
against them. But they are English.' I tell him that if
a new movement is contemplated I suppose that the
present year is the most favourable for Fenian pur-
poses. Well,' he replies, I have nothing to say on that
subject. But General Grant knows, and the Democrats
know, that the party which interferes' too strongly against
us will get the vote of no Irishman.' Of course Ido not
speak of O'Neill's plans, and only venture a hint—that if
any attack be made this year it will take place before
September. 'Either before or after,' he says with a
laugh, if it take place this year.' And thus the inter.
view ouch,. I come away convinced, not by what O'Neill
has said, but by his manner, that the Fenian ' President'
means mischief."

The royal commissioners appointed to inquire
into the pollution of rivers, navigable streams, &c.,
will
shortly return to the metropolis, on the completion of their
personal survey of the rivers Mersey and Ribble. The
report on the rivers, it is expected, will be ready by the
meeting of the new Parliament.
DETERMINED SUICIDE.—The Surrey Standard
gives an account of a singular suicide which has occurred
in the parish of Preston. The deceased, Harriet Figg,
was the wife of a gardener employed at Patcham. She
appears to have fastened a cord to the top of a bedpost,
then put her head through the noose while kneeling on the
heel, and while in that position it would seem that she
opened a large vein in her arm with a razor. Having done
so, she shut the razor up, laid it on the lodge, and
becoming weak from loss of blood, fainted, fell forytard,
piwgitrpglecl by tbo 014,