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manufacturing towns, the learned French traveller even speculated upon the possibility of England one day sending to China for the means of gratifying the depraved tastes of her own people. Those who have read Dr. Bridges's remarks on the prevalence of this evil in our northern towns will hardly regard M. Huc's idea as so fanciful as to be absurd.

In the debate on Sir Wilfrid Lawson's motion, the Under-Secretary endeavored to produce the impression that the evils of opium-smoking and opium-eating had been enormously exaggerated. Mr. Gladstone, in a more cautious temper, argued that the question was an open one; and by resorting to what I must call a species of casuistry, gave just offence to many of his supporters, who thought that he, at any rate, would not fail to recognize the value of those moral considerations to which the originators of the discussion had appealed. The time has gone by for impeaching the facts upon which the exceptional enormity of the traffic is based. In China, from the Emperor and his chief offcers down to the native painter who, after the manner of Hogarth, has depicted the successive stages of the opium-smoker's progress from prosperity to ruin, there has been but one testimony as to the frightful injury which the use of opium is inflicting on the people. It may consist with official ideas of expediency to represent the assailants of the trade as drawing upon their imagination for their facts, but it must not be forgotten that there is the strongest official evidence in support of even the extreme views which found expression in the speeches of the minority in the House of Commons. A select committee of that House is not a bad witness in such a case, and the select committee which sat in 1840 reported that "the demoralizing results of the opium trade are incontestable and inseparable from its existence;" while the East India Company, in a notable access of candor, declared that "were it possible to prevent the use of the drug altogether, except strictly for the purpose of medicine, we would gladly do it in compassion to mankind." A sentence like this conclusively reveals the existence of those mortal perturbations which secretly disturb the equanimity of even the most confirmed offenders against public morality. Similarly the slaveholders of the Southern States would some

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times admit that their "peculiar institution was an evil of colossal magnitude, although, like the East India Company, they never sufficiently turned from their evil ways to resist the temptation to extend the system of which they professed to be unwilling supporters.

The opium trade has vitiated the whole of our relations with the Chinese Empire. That trade simply embodies in its most odious form the pretended right of the strong to ride rough-shod over the weak. The mob who, in driving a missionary out of a Chinese city, taunted him with hypocrisy in coming to teach them virtue when his countrymen "had burned their palace, killed their emperor, and sold poison to their people," may have been as brutal and unreasoning as mobs of the lowest class generally are, but it would be absurd to deny that their shout had in it a painful element of truth. The horrible spirit of fanaticism which resulted in the recent massacre at Tientsin merited a severe example of retributive justice; but it should, nevertheless, be remembered that during the last few years the French have dragooned the Chinese Government into making concessions which were eminently calculated to inflame the passions of an ignorant populace. To mention only one fact-the French Government has com pelled the Chinese to restore to the Jesuits property which although granted to them two centuries back, was confisca ted at the time of the Christian persecution a hundred and fifty years ago. An observant Englishman, writing to me from China, says that "the right of beating Chinese servants is openly claimed by the English masters, and our consular agents shrink from restraining this violence by proper severity." If the European, intoxicated with the pride of race, behaves in this lawless manner to his Chinese dependants, is it surprising that the latter should avail themselves of the first oppor tunity to retaliate? Professor Pumpelly of Harvard University, in his work "Across America and Asia," relates an incident which, if he did not speak with the authority of an eye-witness, one would be disposed to read with incredulity. After remarking that to the average for eigner "the teeming population around him is simply a swarm of chattering animals useful as producers of tea and consumers of opium," he says:—

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"A steamboat which had been undergoing repairs made a trial trip, crowded with most of the leading foreigners of Shanghai, all, like myself, invited for a pleasure excursion up the Wusung river. As we were steaming at full speed we saw some distance ahead of us a large scow, loaded so heavily with bricks as to be almost unmanageable by the oars of four Chinamen who were propelling it. They saw the steamer coming, and knowing well how narrow was the channel, worked with all their force to get out of it and let the boat pass. As we all stood watching the slow motion of the scow, which we were rapidly approaching, I listened every instant for the order to stop the engine. The unwieldy craft still occupied half the channel, the coolies straining every muscle to increase her slow motion, and uttering cries which evidently begged for a few instants' grace. There was yet time to avoid collision, when the pilot called out, Shall I stop her, sir? 'No,' cried the captain, 'go ahead.' There was no help for it. Horrified at hearing this cold-blooded order, I waited breathlessly for the crash, which soon came. The scow, striking under the port bow, veered around lengthwise, and was almost instantly under the paddles. A shriek, a shock, and a staggering motion of our boat, and we were again steaming up the channel. Going to the stern I could see but one of the four Chinamen, and he was motionless in the water. Among the faces of the foreigners on the crowded decks there were few traces of the feelings which every new comer must experience after witnessing such a scene. The officers of the boat looked coolly over the side to see whether the bow and paddles had suffered any damage, and such remarks as were made on the occurrence were certainly

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not in favor of the victims."

This being the temper of many of the Europeans in China, it is impossible that we can regard the future of our relations with that empire with a feeling of confidence or of hope, unless indeed we believe that a day will come when the British public will insist upon conferring on the Chinese a community of rights as well as of duties. If that day should ever dawn, the doom of the opium traffic-let its abolition cost Great Britain what it may -will be sealed. Indian financiers, ignoring the dictum of the Dutch Commissioners, who, in 1803, declared that "no consideration of pecuniary advantage ought to weigh with a European Government in allowing the use of opium," appear to think that in preferring revenue to morality they are clearly performing their duty to India. English statesmen,

who are or should be something more than the guardians of the State money-bag, may well be excused if they think of the honor of their country and of her moral influence, which has been so rudely shaken by the selfish and aggressive character of her policy in the East. The silk and tea which we export from China render her the benefactress of the world. The opium which we introduce into the Flowery Kingdom is of a value nearly equal to the two commodities with which she enriches the commerce and the homes of the civilized world. To suppress the opium traffic, now that its roots have struck so widely and so deeply, may appear to be a Quixotic enterprise; but, at all events, there can be on just reason why the Indian Government should not be divorced from its present indefensible connection with the cultivation, manufacture, and sale of the poison, or why the Chinese Government should not be at liberty to prohibit or to restrict its importation into the empire in such manner as it may consider practicable.

In the debate of last session, Mr. Grant Duff based his defence of the Bengal monopoly mainly on two grounds: first, that a revenue of seven or eight millions could not be sacrificed without gross injustice to the people of India; and, secondly, that the evils of opium smoking had been enormously exaggerated. Upon the second point I might have heaped authority on authority-Ossa upon Pelion; but enough has been said to show that the Chinese themselves entertain a very dif ferent opinion from that expressed by the Under-Secretary, and also that the Indian Government itself formerly held language which it is impossible to reconcile with the new theory of the comparative harmlessness of the drug. With regard to the question of revenue, while I cannot admit that the moral argument is affected by considerations of this nature, it must yet be admitted that, if the Indian Government were to retire from the monopoly and to substitute for it a system of export duty, the nation itself would be relieved from that direct complicity with the traffic which appears to me especially odious and indefensible. Sir William Muir, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces, strongly advocates the abolition of the Government monopoly; and he does so, partly because he believes it would greatly tend to diminish the spirit

of gambling which, he says, "has ruined many a firm in Western India," and also because he is of opinion that "the change would relieve the British Government from the odious imputation of pandering to the vice of China by over-stimulating production, over-stocking the markets, and flooding China with the drug in order to raise a wider and more secure revenue to itself." Nor does Sir W. Muir stand alone in urging these views. Mr. George Campbell, late Chief-Commissioner of Oude, and now Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, in speaking at the Newcastle Social Science Congress, declared himself in favor of abolishing the monopoly and of limiting the export from India, the Chinese Government, on its side, undertaking to do all in its power to restrict the use

of the drug among its own subjects. The major question is one which comes properly under the purview of Mr. Fawcett's India Committee, which will render a service to the empire if it takes into its serious consideration the present fluctuating and unstable character of the opium revenue. I so far agree with Mr. Campbell, that I believe our statesmen could not do themselves or their country more honor than by giving the Chinese Government to understand, that if it really desires to abate this great evil it would meet with every encouragement at our hands, and that no financial considerations on our part would be allowed to stand in the way of restricting or abolishing the use of the drug in the Celestial dominions. F. W. CHESSON.

Chambers's Journal. FOOD ECONOMIZERS.

THE man who makes two ears of corn grow where only one grew before is very justly held to be a benefactor of his kind. With equal justice may we include in the list of such benefactors all those who, by their skill and inventive genius, aid in improving and economizing the food of the community. Creative power must, in fact, be called in, in most cases, to effect economization of food; so that there is no real distinction to be drawn between the man who adds to the human store by growing more, and him who increases that store by diminishing its waste. That much is wasted, and will, we fear, continue to be wasted, from sheer carelessness and lavish indifference, is only too true. But ignorance is the most fruitful cause of waste-ignorance which leads mankind to persevere in wasteful methods of preparing their food; while a knowledge of improved modes of cookery would add immensely to the health and comfort of the human family, and increase to an enormous extent the material wealth of the world.

The accomplished M. Soyer, writing at the time of the Crimean War, remarks that almost all the productions of nature can be made available, and produce wholesome and nutritious food for man. But this admirable cook, and really clever scientific man, goes on to show how essential knowledge is to the attainment of the benefits nature so liberally provides,

but which are so woefully wasted by adherence to old methods of preparing food. M. Soyer himself did much to reform the waste of which he complained, more especially by the improvements which he introduced in the cookery for the army and navy of this country, and which he also extended to our public institutions. That there was great need for this improvement may well be admitted if we are to credit M. Soyer's assertion, that by the system of cooking then in general use more than fifty per cent., or one-half of all animal and vegetable productions, was lost; and that the loss was aggravated by the food, generally, being so much less palatable than it ought to be. He mentions instances where, in some charitable institutions, the plan adopted was to cut one hundred pounds of meat into pieces of a quarter of a pound each, to put these pieces into one hundred gallons of water at twelve o'clock of one day, and boil them till twelve the next day, in order to form a soup for the inmates and patients. By this mode of proceeding, the osmazome, that is, the real nutriment of the meat, was lost by evaporation from the boiler; and only the gelatine and fibrine were left. A medical Board, instituted at Paris for the purpose of inquiring into the subject, proved that gelatine contained no nutriment whatever, and that the fibrine contained about the

same as a piece of dry wood. In short, as M. Soyer sums up the matter, it was much the same as if a cook put a piece of meat of a few pounds weight before a large fire to roast for twenty-four hours.

By the ordinary methods of cooking now pursued, that is, by roasting before the common fire, boiling in the common stew-pans, and using the ordinary oven, the waste is far beyond what most people can be aware of, and the result is not half so satisfactory as those who have tried improved methods know to be attainable. In roasting meat in the common way, the loss is one-third of the original weight, or 5 ounces in the pound. Boiled meat loses 44 ounces in the pound; while baked meat shows a loss of only 3 ounces in the pound. Confining our remarks to butcher-meat only, we beg the reader to bear in mind that though there are some parts of Britain where a considerable portion of the population taste but very little of butcher-meat from one year's end to another, the consumption is, nevertheless, something enormous, and the amount of money to be saved by avoiding waste is really startling. From the known quantity of butcher-meat that enters the London market, it is easily calculable that the average quantity consumed by each man, woman, and child in the metropolis must be about seven ounces each per day; while the average for all England is calculated at about five ounces per head per day. If even fifteen per cent. of the waste on this enormous quantity of meat can be saved by improved cooking-and a greater saving than that can be effected -we arrive at results which cannot be too generally known. Captain F. P. Warren, of the royal navy, as our public authorities and scientific men in general are well aware, has done wonders by the introduction of his Patent Cooking-potnow greatly used both in our land and naval forces-and by which, while the flavor of the food is improved, the saving of waste amounts to full fifteen per cent. Now, as Captain Warren has shown, were this saving to be universal in this country, we should, assuming the average price of butcher-meat to be eightpence per pound, the consumption to be no more than four ounces per head, and the population to be 30,000,000, effect a money saving of no less than £11,000,000 per annum―

enough of itself to defray the whole cost of our navy.

But it is by improved methods of cooking by gas that we are to look for the greatest saving in the future, for here we shall save not only in food, but in fuel. The adaptation of gas for the purposes of boiling, stewing, or frying is simple enough, and is in common use both in public and private establishments. The great difficulty heretofore has been to adapt gas so as to roast meat in a cleanly, economical, and satisfactory manner. In fact, it cannot fairly be said that meat has yet been properly roasted at all by any apparatus hitherto in use, as none of them have fulfilled the essential condition of having round the meat a free current of air, whereby all offensive fumes are carried off, and a genuine roast is effected. The difficulty just alluded to has, we think, been completely overcome by the adoption of an entirely new principle to gascooking. A new gas "Roaster," as it is called, is exhibited in the International Exhibition now open at Kensington, and which is marked in the catalogue as Southby's patent. Instead of the old plan of rows of gas jets above which the meat was placed, and from which it too often acquired unpleasant odors from imperfect combustion, which created a prejudice against gas-cooking--this new apparatus exhibits only one gas-burner, placed at one end of the frame-work, and standing quite clear of the food to be roasted. The burner is enclosed in an iron chimney, above which the flame is not allowed to come. When the gas is lighted, a light iron cover (the cover of the specimen in the Exhibition is of porcelain) is placed over, and encloses the chimney, the end of the cover farthest from the gas resting on the edge of the stand, and allowing free outlet to the heated air within. It will be seen that the principle upon which this roaster acts is, that the heated air from the burner ascends at once to the top of the cover, proceeds to the cool end, descends to the cooler outside air by the raised edge, and thus a free current is effected, which is said to be greater even than is obtained by roasting at an open fire. As an enormous quantity of fresh air impinges on the gas jet, the combustion of the gas is rendered absolute, so that no smell or extraneously unpleasant taste can impregnate the meat. We can speak

from experience that meat cooked by this apparatus is as perfect as can ever be attained by the best open fire cooking in the most skilled hands. The juices are all retained in the meat, which secures its being tender, full of flavor, and consequently in the most digestible condition. The loss of weight by cooking is reduced to a minimum, for, whereas a joint of meat of eleven pounds weight loses never less than three pounds by cooking at an open fire, the loss by this gas-roaster, on a joint of the weight above mentioned, is reduced to only one pound. Owing to the complete consumption of the gas,

aided by the consumable parts of the common air which rushes in to feed it, the cost of cooking is so markedly lessened, that such a joint as we have just described can be perfectly cooked at a cost not exceeding one penny. From what has just been stated, it will be seen that at the least a most important and valuable improvement has been effected. As money may be saved, comfort promoted, and health improved by accepting the aid of science as a handmaiden in the every-day but absolutely-needful operation of preparing food, we have thought it a matter of duty to draw attention to the subject.

Saturday Review. M. THIERS.

THE singular and unprecedented position of M. Thiers throws a reflected interest on his past career. The almost unanimous suffrages of his countrymen have been given under the influence of various motives, but chiefly perhaps in the well-founded conviction that M. Thiers is a typical Frenchman of the age which followed the Revolution. When rational politicians elect to be governed by a man of seventy-four, they express their willingness to dispense with experiment and with novelty. It would be absurd to expect that an aged statesman should modify in the exercise of power the opinions and tendencies which have been associated with his active life and with his reputation. It would be an idle task to attempt the conversion of M. Thiers to free trade, to decentralization, or to non-intervention and permanent peace. His ideal of domestic and foreign policy is the Consulate of 1800, tempered perhaps by the Parliamentary system of 1830. In his History he never tires of quoting Napoleon's maxim that confidence should proceed from below and power from above. As chief of the actual Government, he probably inclines with his Imperial prototype to dwell rather on the efficiency of power than on the necessity of confidence; but he can never forget that his own greatest triumphs were achieved as a Parliamentary leader of the class which Napoleon habitually designated as a cluster of advocates. Notwithstanding his passion for military glory, M. Thiers has become the first man in France as a brilliant writer

and as a master of all the weapons of debate. It is remarkable that his admiration and his support have been largely given to characters utterly unlike his own, and to systems with which he had nothing in common. A great orator, he has applauded the silence which is enforced by military despotism; a disciple of Voltaire, he has long been the earnest advocate of the pretensions of the Pope. Whatever doctrine or practice seems likely to promote the greatness and glory of France requires for him no other justification. He has no objection to the Republican form of government, which he praised in his early writings; but there is no danger of his tampering with theories of Socialism which he probably finds utterly unintelligible. The satisfaction with which he may regard his present pre-eminence is perhaps tempered with regret for the strange isolation which causes him to stand alone without competitor or designated successor. With the exception of Princes who are recommended to notice by rank as well as by ability, and of two or three second-rate Generals, M. Thiers is not only the first of living Frenchmen, but the only conspicuous personage in the country. Gambetta, whose turn may possibly come hereafter, is thus far only the chief of a faction.

M. Thiers's youthful lot was cast in circumstances unusually favorable to the exercise of his remarkable faculties. As a first prizeman of the Polytechnic School, he commenced life with a promise which has been amply fulfilled. During the

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