1841.
Six Months with the China Expedition.
511
note-book, are wanting. "Reasons of state," perhaps, caused these omissions. The words China and mandarin, used as adjectives, never sound well in our ears; indeed, we thoroughly dislike the word 'mandarin,' for it is neither English nor Chinese, and is often so used as to convey an erroneous idea of its meaning. To talk of man- darin guns, mandarin swords, mandarin boats, mandarin chopsticks, mandarin wine, &c., is both ridiculous and nonsensical. For “Chi- na mission," authority may be had by citing such phrases as Burmah mission, Canada mission, &c.; and then we might go on, and write America mission, Holland mission, England mission. Thus too we may have all manner of China things-China tea, China rhu- barb, China opium, China pride, China language, China religion, China emperor, China mandarin, and such like.
In turning over the leaves of lord Jocelyn's book, we have observ- ed some things, given as facts and opinions, which we think are
erroneous.
Thus, he says, "when a Chinaman leaves the flowery land to wander in countries beyond the sea, he rarely, if ever, is permitted to return to his native land;" and adds, in a note, this is "an expres- sion taken from the Chinese, a liberty which it will be seen the au- thor often avails himself of in other parts of his narrative." (p. 2.) Now the truth is, the Chinese, who go abroad, are never forbidden to return, and they generally do return. This erroneous statement he cites to substantiate another, which we also consider as unfound- ed; viz., 'the Tartar rulers deem it necessary to their system to keep their subjects as blind as possible to the movements and feelings of all foreign nations.' Now so far as we can discern, they entertain no such opinion or purpose; and 'systematic darkness' is no more inculcated by the rulers than it is by the people. Instead of taking this opinion second-hand, and endorsing it, lord J. ought to have exploded it, as he has done another, which is akin to it, viz., that, 'the Chinese people are hostile to their Tartar rulers.'
On page 4th, he says the military power rests in the hands of the Tartars (Mantchous), while the civil appointments and magistracy rest with the people. Here again he is in error; there is no such division of power.
*
On the same page he says, "the police have strict orders never to interfere [with mobs], as they conceive that difficulties are far more likely to arise from meddling with, than benefits to accrue from sup- pressing, them." The case he cites in confirmation of this, is inap- posite. The police very often interfere to suppress mobs; and some
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