This being the cafe, we may eafily conceive that, in a city faid
to contain three millions o f people, a great proportion o f the;
nine thoufand, which we have fuppofed to be annually expofed,
may be o f the above defcription. According to the rules o f political
arithmetic, and fuppofing half o f thofe who died to be expofed,
the number would he dimlnifhed to about 4000. The expence
attending a Chinefe funeral is more extravagant than an
European can well conceive. A rich Hong merchant at Canton
is known to have kept his mother near twelve months above
ground, becaufe it was not convenient for him to bury her in a
manner fuitable to his fuppofed wealth and ftation.
I am informed alfo that foundling hofpitals do exift in China,
but that .they'are on a fmall fcale, being raifed and fupported by
donations o f Individuals, and their continuance is therefore
as precarious as the wealth o f their charitable founders.
T h e fe unfavourable features in the character o f a people, whofe
natural difpofition is neither ferocious nor morofe; but, on the
contrary, mild, obliging, and cheerful, can be attributed only to
the habits in which they have been trained, and to the heavy
hand o f power perpetually hanging over them. That this is
actually the cafe may be inferred from the general conduit and
character o f thofe vaft multitudes who, from time to time, have
emigrated to the Phillipine iflands, Batavia, Pulo Pinang and
other parts o f our Eaft Indian fettlements. In thofe places they
are not 'lefs remarkable for their honefty, than for their peaceable
'and induftrious habits. T o the Dutch in Batavia they are
mafons,
mafons, carpenters, tailors, ihoemakers, ihopkeepers, bankers,
and, in ffiort, every thing. Indolence and luxury are there
arrived to fuch a height that, without the affiftance o f the
Chinefe, the Dutch would literally be in danger o f ftarving.
Yet the infamous government .o f that place, in the year 1741,
caufed to be maffacred, in cold blood, many thoufands o f thefe
harmlefs people who offered no refiftance ; neither women nor
children efcaped the fury o f thefe blood-hounds.
In thefe places it appears alfo, that their quicknefs at invention
is not furpaffed by accuracy o f imitation, for which they
have always been accounted remarkably expert in their own
country. Man is, by nature, a hoarding animal ; and his endeavours
to accumulate property will be proportioned to the
fccurity and liability which the laws afford for the poffeffion
and enjoyment o f that property. In China, the laws regarding
property are infufficient to give it that fecurity : hence the talent
o f invention is there feldom exercifed beyond fuggefting the
means o f providing for the firft neceflities and the moil prefling
wants; ■ A man, indeed, is afraid here to be confidered as
wealthy, well knowing that fome o f the rapacious officers o f
the flate would find legal reafons to extort his riches from him.
The exterior deportment o f every clafs in China is uncommonly
decent, and all their manners mild and engaging ; but even thefe
among perfons o f any rank are confidered as objedls worthy the
interference o f the legiflature ; hence it follows that they are ceremonious
without fincerity, ftudious o f the forms only o f pplitenefs
A A without