who had been permitted, under many restrictions,, to enter the country. But now that five of the largest maritime cities have been opened by treaty to the trade and free intercourse of all nations, we begin to have the accounts of travellers who have made themselves acquainted with the language, and whose opportunities of observation have been more extensive and more unreserved than those of any of their predecessors. class alone are selected all government officials, from the lowest clerk up to the greatest mandarin. Candidates for admission are subjected to a strict and generally an impartial examination. After having passed this first examination, they undergo a second and more searching one before they can become eligible for office; and a third is necessary for those who aim at the highest posts. The candidates for these literary honours are always very numerous, and an intense interest is shown at the periods of examination, both by the individuals themselves and their relatives. A great many are of course rejected, but these return again and again to their studies, and make repeated attempts to pass the ordeal. Once accepted, they are almost sure to succeed in time to some Government employment, and the highest appointments are open to all. So highly is admission into this literary class prized by the people, that a successful aspirant sheds a lustre on his family, and even ennobles his more humble parent. The population of China both from native statements and the calculations of foreigners, has been estimated at not less than 360 millions. Immense as this amount of human beings appears, it is perhaps not an over-estimate. The city of Canton is said to contain a million of inhabitants; that of Foochow 600,000; and the other cities visited are reported to be generally swarming with inhabitants. But even supposing the estimate above given to be correct, the whole area of China Proper contains 1,300,000 square miles, so that we have to each square mile 277 human beings. Now, if we compare this rate of population with that of England, as In general, the habits of the Chinese populaafforded by the last census of 1841, we shall find tion, especially in the country districts, are peacethat in it there are 297 persons to every square ful and submissive. In the large towns, howmile. We must not then be deceived by exag- ever, especially in Canton, there are frequent gerated conceptions of the extreme density of the tumultuous ebullitions of the mob. Their conpopulation of China. With a comparatively tempt and hatred of foreigners cannot be easily level and arable country, a rich soil, that in many restrained, and the appellation "Fanquee," or localities bears two crops year, and an indus-"foreign devil," is a term of common reproach. trious and frugal people, the average density of the population comes considerably short of that of England. With an extent of surface, and an amount of population equal to twenty-five Englands, this vast empire is ruled by the despotic sway of one individual. The genius of a people most frequently moulds their government. The mild and submissive, and generally unimpassioned character of the Chinese, peculiarly fits them for implicit subjection, Their leading mental characteristic is plain homely common sense-they have not the imaginative qualities or passionate enthusiasm of other oriental nations, neither have they the profound, excursive, and restless intellects of the nations of the West. Filial respect and veneration is their most prominent instinct-their notions of rule are patriarchal. From their fathers and kindred their respect extends to their rulers and their Emperor, who again, on their parts, take care to foster and encourage such feelings, and not to outrage them. Public opinion exists and prevails to such an extent as to keep a check on bad government, or outrageously corrupt administration; but there is neither the desire nor energy to carry it further. There is no permanent or hereditary nobility among this people. There are many old families who are held in estimation, but the two great distinctions of the people are into the literary class and the plebeian. Admission into the literary class is open to every individual of the empire, however poor or unknown; and from this Canton, however, affords not a favourable specimen of Chinese manners. In the more northern cities, and in the country districts, a stranger may safely mingle with the people, without any other inconvenience than that arising from their excessive curiosity. They are almost uniformly kind, hospitable, and good-humoured. A great proportion of the lower orders of the community fare but poorly, and have great difficulty in making out their daily bread, while hosts of beggars are to be found in all the cities. For these a tax is levied in Amoy, and perhaps in other cities throughout the kingdom, the collector of which is called "the king of the beggars." This tax is partly optional with the payers, and is indirectly under the cognisance of the Government. "The king," who is duly elected from among the number of the beggars, calls on each householder at the beginning of the year, and ascertains the monthly subscription which he is willing to give, in order to be free from the annoyance of their visits for alms, and the clatter of the sticks by which they implore relief. For the sum of five or six hundred cash,* a month, he gives a red piece of paper, inscribed with three copies of the characters for "great good luck," inclosed within an outline of a jar or vase; this is affixed to the door-post as a sign of immunity, and is renewed at the commencement of every year. Any beggar overlooking this A hundred cash are worth fourpence,half-penny of our money. 66 bill of exemption, and entering a shop for relief, may be seized by the householder, and be beaten on the spot. The king," after giving a certain proportion to the mandarins, and appropriating a certain fund for the support of the incorporated society of beggars, contrives to appropriate the remainder to his own use, and to become a rich man. The beggars are covered with tattered rags, wear long dishevelled hair, and are not very particular in the mode of satisfying their hunger. "I observed," says Mr. Smith, "one of these beggars pass the shop of a confectioner, and stealthily slip a cake into his hand, and throw it into his sleeve. One of the partners, who saw the theft, ran out and followed the thief, caught him by the hair, made him restore the cake from the folds of his sleeve, and then, by a species of lynch-law very common in a country where ordinary law is expensive, and bribes must precede justice, gave the beggar a severe beating, and let him depart, amid the applause of the crowd, the good humour of the tradesman himself, and a remarkable nonchalance on the part of the offender." The recently-arrived stranger naturally manifests surprise and incredulity on being told that the estimated population of Canton exceeds a million. As soon, however, as he visits the close streets, with their dense population and busy wayfarers, huddled together into lanes from five to nine feet wide, where Europeans could scarcely inhale the breath of life, the greatness of the number no longer appears incredible. After the first feelings of novelty have passed away, disappointment, rather than admiration, occupies the mind. As the visitor pursues his course, narrow lanes still continue to succeed each other, and the conviction is gradually impressed on the mind, that such is the general character of the streets of the city. Along these, busy traders, mechanics, barbers, venders, and porters, make their way; while occasionally the noisy abrupt tones of vociferating coolies remind the traveller that some materials of bulky dimensions are on their transit, and suggest the expediency of keeping at a distance, to avoid collision. Now and then the monotony of the scene is relieved by some portly mandarin, or merchant of the higher class, borne in a sedan-chair on the shoulders of two, or sometimes four men. Yet, with all this hurry and din, there seldom occurs any accident or interruption of good nature. On the river the same order and regularity prevail. Though there are probably not fewer than 200,000 denizens of the river, whose hereditary domains are the watery element that supports their little dwelling, yet harmony and good feeling are conspicuous in the accommodating manner with which they make way for each other. These aquatic tribes of the human species show a most philosophic spirit of equanimity, and contrive, in this way, to strip daily life of many of its little troubles; while the fortitude and patience with which the occasional injury or destruction of their boat is borne, is remarkable. "To return from the wide expanse of the river-population to the streets in the suburbs, the same spirit of contented adaptation to external things is everywhere observable; and it is difficult which to regard with most surprise-the narrow abodes of the one, or the little boats which serve as family residences to the other. There is something of romance in the effect of Chinese streets. On either side are shops, decked out with native ware, furniture, and manufactures of various kinds. These are adorned by pillars of sign-boards, rising perpendicularly, and inscribed from top to bottom with the various kinds of saleable articles which may be had within. Native artists seem to have lavished their ingenuity on several of these inscriptions, and, by their caligraphy, to give some idea of the superiority of the commodities for sale. Many of these sign-boards contain some fictitious emblem, adopted as the name of the shop, similar to the practice prevalent in London two centuries ago. On entering, the proprietor, with his assistants or partners, welcome a foreigner with sundry salutations; sometimes advancing to shake hands, and endeavouring to make the most of his scanty knowledge of English. They will show their saleable articles with the utmost patience, and evince nothing of disappointment if, after gratifying his curiosity, he departs without purchasing. At a distance from the factories, where the sight of a foreigner is a rarity, crowds of idlers, from fifty to a hundred, rapidly gather round the shop, and frequent embarrassment ensues from an incipient or imperfect knowledge of the colloquial medium. In these parts the shop-keepers know nothing but their own language, are more moderate in their politeness, and, as a compensation, put a less price on their wares. To write one's name in Chinese characters is a sure method of enhancing their good favour. Sometimes no fewer than eight or ten blind beggars find their way into a shop, and there they remain, singing a melancholy dirge-like strain, and most perseveringly beating together two pieces of wood, till the weary shopman at length takes compassion on them, and provides for the quiet of his shop by giving a copper cash to each; on receiving which they depart, and repeat the same experiment elsewhere. The streets abound with these blind beggars, who are seldom treated with indignity. A kindly indulgence is extended to them, and they enjoy a prescriptive right of levying a copper cash from every shop or house they enter. It is said that this furnishes a liberal means of livelihood to an immense number of blind persons, who, in many instances, are banded together in companies or societies, subject to a code of rules, on breach of which the transgressor is expelled the community, and loses his guild. "In every little open space there are crowds of travelling doctors, haranguing the multitude on the wonderful powers and healing virtues of the medicines which they expose for sale. Close by, some cunning fortune-teller may be seen, with crafty look, explaining to some awestricken simpleton his future destiny in life, from a number of books arranged before him, and consulted with due solemnity. In another part, some tame birds are exhibiting their clever feats, in singling out, from amongst a hundred others, a piece of paper enclosing a coin, and then receiving a grain of millet as a reward of their cleverness. At a little distance are some fruitstalls, at which old and young are making purchases, throwing lots for the quantity they are to receive. Near these again are noisy gangs of people, pursuing a less equivocal course of gambling, and evincing, by their excited looks and clamours, the intensity of their interest in the issue. In another part may be seen disposed the apparatus of some Chinese tonsor, who is performing his skilful vocation on the crown of some fellow-countryman unable to command the attendance of the artist at a house of his own." (To be continued.) CHRONOLOGY. For Friend's Review. question of this kind may be certainly decided for any time past or future. Take then the first seven letters of the alphabet to denote the seven days of the week, always denoting the first day of the year-whatever day of the week it may be-by the letter A. Then as twenty-eight days make exactly four weeks, the twenty-ninth of the first month will also be denoted by A; and the letters being taken in alphabetical order, the thirtieth and thirty-first will be respectively denoted by B and C. Consequently the first of the second month will be indicated by D. In case the year is a common one, in which the second month has 28 days, the third month begins on the same day of the week as the second. That day is therefore represented by D. Proceeding in this manner through the remaining months of the year, and recollecting that the fourth, sixth, ninth and eleventh have thirty days each, we readily perceive that the days on which the twelve months of the year begin, commencing with the first, are denoted by the letters A, D, D, G, B, E, G, C, F, A, D, F. To assist the memory in retaining these letters in their proper order, a simple couplet has been devised, the words of which begin with them: "At Dover Dwell George Brown Esquire, It is sometimes highly convenient to be able Now, as a common year contains 365 days, to determine with facility the day of the week or 52 weeks and 1 day, the last day of such on which a given day of the month occurred. year is always the same day of the week as the D'Aubigne, in his History of the Reformation, first. Hence the new year immediately sucinforms us, that the mother of Martin Luther ceeding a common one, begins one day later in being questioned respecting the time of his birth, the week than its predecessor. It therefore folreplied that she remembered the day and the lows that whatever day is denoted by the letter hour, but was not certain as to the year. The A in one year-supposing it a common oneday, we are told, was the 10th of November; and the next day was Tuesday. The year was supposed to be 1483. There the historian leaves us to make out the date as we can. A writer, on a certain occasion, professing to relate the circumstances of a transaction which took place many years before, begins his narrative, "On Sunday, the 22d of August, 1778." The statements appeared questionable, and one mode of sifting the testimony was to examine whether the dates were consistent; if they were not, the whole testimony was greatly impaired. But an almanac, fifty or sixty years old, was not likely to be at hand. Bonds, or other legal documents, dated many years back, are sometimes produced under circumstances which furnish presumptive evidence that they were forged long after their date. Now it may readily happen that an instrument, fraudulently dated several years back, may bear on the face, a day which was in reality the first of the week. Such a fact, fairly proved, would unquestionably set the obligation aside. Let us then see whether an easy method, which requires no great exertion of thought, may not be given, whereby a the next day of the week must be denoted by the same letter in the following year. Thus, confining our attention at present to years of 365 days, suppose the year begin on the first day of the week, then A, which always stands for the first of the year, will represent First day. A is then styled the Dominical letter. But the next year beginning on Second day, A will then denote the second and G the first day of the week; hence G is then the Dominical letter. Again, the next year commencing on Third day, A must denote that day, G the second, and F the first; F therefore becomes the Dominical letter. Thus, we find that on passing from the old year to the new, the Dominical letter (or that which denotes the first of the week) falls one place back in the alphabet. But in a leap year, the second month contains four weeks and one day, hence the third month begins one day later in the week than the second; consequently, to make the same letter D denote the first of both months, the Dominical letter must fall one place back upon passing from the second month to third. Of course every leap year has two Dominical letters; one for the first and second months, and the next preceding one in the alphabet for the other ten. If, then, we know the Dominical letter for any given year, it is readily determined for any succeeding or preceding year. The mode of doing this is to reckon one day backward in the alphabet for every succeeding year, with an additional day for every intervening leap year. For a preceding time, the reckoning must be made in the order of the alphabet. The first thing to be done is therefore to find the Dominical letter for some given year, which is easily done when the day of the week on which it begins is known. But to place the subject on a general basis, we may begin with a centurial year. Under the Gregorian style, now in use, the centurial years, if the century is not divisible by four, are common ones. Thus, in four hundred years, three leap years are dropped; of course, there are 497 changes of Dominical letters in that time, which number is divisible by seven. Hence the Dominical letters at the end of that time begin anew. If, then, we determine the Dominical letters for four successive centurial years, under the new style, we have them for all other preceding or following centurial years. To begin then with 1700, we require nothing more than the fact, that the present year 1847 began on Sixth day, and that every fourth year since 1700, with one exception, was a leap year. Now as A this year denotes the sixth of the week, the first must be represented by C, which is therefore the Dominical letter. Now from 1700 to 1847, there were 147, of which 35 were leap years; the sum of which numbers is 182: and this sum being divisible by 7, it follows that the Dominical letter for 1700 was C, the same as for 1847. Now from 1700 to 1800, there were 100 years, 24 of which were leap years; hence 124 being divided by 7, the quotient shows that the Dominical letter had run seventeen times round the circuit, and the remainder 5 indicates that it had run over five letters from C in a retrograde order, thus ending in 1800 at E. In like manner it would run during the interval between 1800 and 1900, from E to G. But as 2000 will be a leap year, the changes from 1900 to the third month, 2000, will be 125: hence the Dominical. letters for that year will be B and A. The Dominical letters for the centurial years being thus determined and fixed in the memory, those for any intermediate years are easily found. Recurring to 1778, if to 78 we add its fourth, 19, the sum divided by 7, leaves a remainder of 6: whence counting back six letters from C, (the letter for 1700,) we stop at D, the Dominical letter for 1778. If, then, we trace the foregoing couplet to the eighth letter C, we find that the eighth month, 1778, began on Seventh day; for when D denotes the first of the week, C must indicate the seventh. Hence as the 22d of the month is always the same day of the week as the first, the 22d was on seventh day and not on the first. From these premises the following simple process is deduced. Take the number of the century, (that is, use the two last figures denoting the year, omitting the former two,) add onefourth, and divide the sum by 7, the quotient being disregarded; count from the letter of the centurial year, backward a number equal to the remainder, and we have the Dominical letter for the year. If it is a leap year, that letter applies to the last ten months, and the next following one to the other two. Thus, to find the Dominical letter for 1925, to 25 add 6 (its fourth part); the sum, 31, divided by 7 leaves a remainder of 3; and the Dominical letter for 1900 being G, that for 1925 must be D. Suppose now, we wish to know on what day of the week the 4th of 3d month 1849, the day for inaugurating the next President, will occur. To 49 add 12, its fourth part, and divide the sum, 61, by 7, the remainder 5 counted backward from E, the letter for 1800, brings us to G, which will therefore be the Dominical letter for 1849. The letter D which indicates the 1st of the 3d month, will therefore represent the 5th of the week, and of course the 4th of the month will correspond to the first of the week. To accommodate our reckoning to the old or Julian style, we observe that the first of the year 1800, old style, corresponded to the 12th of the first month in the new; and computing as before, we find that the 12th of the first month 1800 was the first of the week. Hence the year 1800, according to the old style, began on First day; and as A denotes the first of the year, the Dominical letter for 1800, old style, during the first and second months, was A, and for the other ten it was G, the next preceding one in the alphabet. The Julian account makes every fourth year a leap year; hence there are 125 changes of Dominical letters in 100 years, when the old style is used. But 125 divided by 7 leaves a remainder of 6, and counting 6 backward from the Dominical letters corresponding to one centurial year, we have those for the next; hence the Dominicnl letters for seven centurial years, old style, are as below: 1800 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300 2400 gins anew; hence for 1400 the Dominical letters of at least five years was committed, the year | Prince of Peace, of whose kingdom there shall be 1483 was the true one. From these data we may easily decide, beyond the possibility of cavil, the day of the week on which a given day of the month in any year, past or to come, occurred or will fall. History informs us that the great battle by which the Narragansett Indians were overpowered and large numbers of women and children consumed in their burning wigwams, took place on the 19th of December, 1675. This being under the old style, we readily discover, upon the principles above explained, that this tremendous destruction of life occurred on the first day of the week. FRIENDS' REVIEW. L. PHILADELPHIA, ELEVENTH MONTH 20, 1847. The Yearly Meeting of North Carolina was probably concluded near the end of last week, but no information relative to its proceedings had been received when this. number was put to press. Whenever authentic intelligence on that subject shall come to hand, the earliest opportunity will be taken of presenting it to our readers. The poetical paraphrase, which is closed in this number, is not an American production, but was copied from an English pamphlet lately received. The author's name is not given. 252 THE PEACE MANUAL.-A small 18mo. volume of pages, with the above title, has been published at Boston within the passing year. The work is composed chiefly, though not wholly, of extracts judiciously selected. The object of the writer is to unite the professors of Christianity, of the various denominations, in a general effort for the abolition of war. He, in consequence, avoids the discussion of those questions connected with the subject, on which a diversity of opinion is known to exist, even among those who hold the custom of war in abhorrence, and sincerely desire its extinction. There are no doubt many professors of the Christian name, who fully assent to the truth of those sublime and impressive predictions which abound in the prophetic volumes, particularly of Isaiah and Micah, and yet entertain the belief, that, situated as the world is, war is sometimes allowable. The time when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, or the people learn war any more, must unquestionably come, whenever the Christian religion shall have produced its full effect among the nations of the earth. To this opinion, Christians in general will doubtless agree. We all admit that the founder of Christianity was the no end. And that the dispensation which He came to introduce and establish, must eventually put an end to war. For to that conclusion the prophetic annunciations unavoidably conduct us. Here then would appear to be one important practical issue upon which we can unanimously agree. If the religion of our Lord and Saviour is immutable in its nature, whatever it must produce at a future time, it may produce now, if not counteracted by human perversity. And that perversity, while unrestrained, must always operate to a similar end. Why then should Christians and philanthropists wait for the fulfilment, at some unknown and distant period, of a prophecy, which the religion professed by us all is capable of accomplishing in our own day? In order to effect any object which requires the tially needful to be impressed on the public mind : concurrent action of many, two things are essenThat the object proposed is really important, and that the attainment is practicable. To fix a just impression of the importance of general and permanent peace, the author of the pamphlet before us devotes several chapters of his work to an exposition of the physical evils of war. Under this head we are presented with a number of estimates of the enormous expenditures attendant upon warlike operations; sufficiently proving, that even in an economical view, the cost is greatly beyond the value of the object for which wars are professedly waged. The wars of Europe, from 1793 to 1815, are computed to have cost and wasted not less than forty thousand millions of dollars. The loss of life, and the personal sufferings, occasioned by war are vividly portrayed; and the estimated slaughter by the various wars which history records, is set down at fourteen thousand millions of human beings; or about fourteen times the whole population of the globe at the present time. Nearly ninety pages of the work are devoted to the moral evils of war. Here its demoralizing influence is forcibly illustrated, and the important and undeniable fact brought to view, that the early Christians refused to participate in war; not merely because of the idolatry then usually connected with it, but because it was inconsistent with their religion. SUMMARY OF NEWS.-The steamship Washington arrived at New York on the 9th inst., with dates from England to the 24th ult., five days later than our last report. The condition of affairs does not seem to have at all improved since the sailing of |