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CURIOSITIES OF THE CENSUS.

BY CHARLES MACKESON, F.S.S.
VII. OUR FOREIGN POPULATION.

THE non-native part of our population is very considerable when viewed by itself or in sections, but it is comparatively small when regarded as a part of the great whole. Out of the gross population of England and Wales in 1871-more than twenty-two and a half millions-upwards of twenty millions were of English birth; nearly a million and a half hailed from the Principality; a little more than two hundred thousand came from the land north of the Tweed; more than half a million from Ireland; twenty-five thousand from islands in the British seas; seventy thousand from British colonies and the East Indies; and only about a hundred and forty thousand were born in what are termed "foreign parts," nearly forty thousand of whom were, however, British subjects by birth although born abroad. To these literal children of the soil must be added more than four thousand luckless wights who were fortunate enough, or unfortunate enough, as their parents probably thought, and as Mr. Plimsoll would undoubtedly affirm, to be born under Neptune's sway, either in the comfortable steamers of the popular P. and O., the noble passenger ships of Messrs. Green and the other great Blackwall firms, or more probably still in the steerage of the great emigrant ships. Practically, then, the foreign subjects resident in England numbered about a hundred thousand, of whom nearly nine-tenths were born in Europe, and nearly onetenth in America, the fractional numbers belonging to Asia and Africa. It must, however, not be forgotten that if we were to include the natives of our Indian Empire living in England it would largely swell the number of Asiatics; but they are counted as English men and women, and we therefore proceed to look in detail at our hundred thousand neighbours from the numerous European kingdoms, and from Asia, who for the time being are living under the rule of our good Queen, although they are still regarded by the law as foreign subjects.

Taking first the ninety thousand European residents, who it must be remembered were born abroad, and are not the children of foreign parents born in London, we find that Germany contributes thirty-two thousand, or more than one-third; France nearly eighteen thousand, about one-fifth; Poland about seven thousand; Italy, five thousand; Holland, six thousand; Norway, four thousand; Russia and Belgium, about two thousand five hundred each; Denmark, Spain, and Austria, about fifteen hundred each; Sweden, nineteen hundred; and Portugal, Greece, Turkey, and Hungary, about four or five hundred each. Of the whole number the proportion of males to females is almost two to one, there being fifty-seven thousand of the former, and thirty-two thousand of the latter. Four-fifths of the whole foreign population are above twenty years of age, a striking contrast to our homeborn population, in which the numbers under and above this period of life are almost exactly equal. The explanation of this anomaly probably is that the men migrate to England from other countries, leaving their wives and families behind them, as there is no reason to suppose that there is a preponderance of bachelors among our visitors. The favourite resort of the majority of these people is, as might

have been expected, the great metropolis, where, if they so will it, they can lose themselves among the myriads, or, if they have friends, can more easily arrange to live near them. Thus we find that of the ninety thousand Europeans no less than fifty-one thousand are within the London radius; the southeastern counties take six thousand; the south-midland, two thousand; the eastern only one thousand; the south-western, two thousand; the west-midland, three thousand; the north-midland, seventeen hundred; the north-western, ten thousand; Yorkshire, four thousand; the northern counties, five thousand; and Wales, eighteen hundred. The occupations of the foreigners are classified under the same heads as those of the ordinary population; and we find, as might have been expected, that they take comparatively little part in the agricultural work of the country, their main sources of employment being either mercantile, educational, or literary, for the upper classes, and the various forms of service for the lower.

The foreign authors and literary persons stand at a thousand, but of musicians there are twice that number, and of "teachers" no less than four thousand. For each of these classes, and especially for the second and third, there is and always must be a fair field for labour amongst us. The French or German litterateur, even if he is but an indifferent author, can generally find work in translating books from his own language into our "vulgar tongue," while in connection with our public offices and newspapers a skilled foreigner can often gain employment. This mode of occupation will, however, in time fail to provide even for the thousand who now live by their pens, for the increasing tendency to cast aside the study of the ancient in favour of the modern languages throughout our schools must in the end reduce the opportunities for the natives of the continent to profit by our insular ignorance.

With music the case is very different. The prevalent worship of the foreign in the concert-room and the shop is one of the standing disgraces of the country. A composer may perhaps have some chance if he sticks to his honest patronymic, although a little flavour of the Italian or German makes his wares decidedly better property; but the singer or the player very seldom appears in the concert-room or on the stage as plain Mrs. Brown or Miss Jones, and this arises from no other cause than the heresy which somehow or other has gained a place in our national creed, that an English musician is altogether below his foreign brethren. The absurdity of the idea is of course proved by the admitted ability of some of our foremost singers, who have been bold enough to keep their own names on their cards; but then they are, as a rule, even in the matter of mere personal appearance, such genuine Englishmen or Englishwomen that it would create a smile if they appeared as Signor this or Mademoiselle that. The case is altogether different, on the other hand, with a large number of mediocre artists, very respectable people in their way, who are unable thus to face the world, and who, unless they Italianised their names, would never get an engagement.

In the returns of the native population, strangely

enough, we do not find a single entry of these nomad music-makers, unless they are included among the "others" who come after the "musicians;" but in the foreign population the street musician asserts himself-and herself too; for there are three hundred and eighty-one males and fortythree females who are proved to gain their bread in this painful manner. Nor will it surprise the reader to learn that nearly the whole come from Italy and France, not a single representative of any other country appearing in the list. Of the males, King Victor Emmanuel might claim all but forty-five, and of the females all but one.

As regards the four thousand foreign teachers, we may fairly express a hope that the number may rather increase than diminish. Apart altogether from the desire of the maternal heart for a smattering of French "acquired on the continent," for her daughters, Paterfamilias sees the advantage of a more practical education than that which used to be too much confined to "the dead languages." French and German have taken their place beside, sometimes we fear before, Latin and Greek, and the probability is that considerably more than the four thousand teachers named in the census would in this age of education find employment.

The number of foreigners engaged as clergymen and ministers, or otherwise "connected with religion," is about a thousand, of whom one-fifth are Roman priests, chiefly from France, Italy, and Belgium. The number of foreigners engaged as clergymen," or, in other words, as ministers of the Established Church, is about forty; as "Protestant ministers," forty-three. In the other learned professions we find thirty-five barristers and twentythree solicitors, more than half being Frenchmen; upwards of a hundred physicians and surgeons, onethird coming from France, one-third from Germany, and the remainder from Italy, Poland, and Russia. Nearly all these gentlemen probably reside in England for the primary purpose of attending upon their compatriots.

The only other point worthy of note in the professional class is that there are about six hundred artists, only sixty of whom are women. France, Germany, and Italy, furnish the largest proportions to the body of painters, many of whom doubtless find ample employment among our capitalists, with whom, as was said recently with only too much truth, names go for more than artistic excellence, and who will give large sums for the merest daubs, provided they bear the signature of a well-known man. Such a fact doubtless brings a contingent of foreign artists to compete with their English brethren for the spoils of a rich field.

German nurse. The French cook, or chef de cuisine, is apparently more rare than would have been expected, there being only a hundred and fifty members of the craft localised amongst us. Out of twenty thousand persons in the commercial class, of whom only a hundred and fifty are women, twelve thousand are seamen, or employed in some similar capacity, and six thousand are engaged in mercantile pursuits. The foreign sailors who form such a considerable item in the complements of our merchant ships, are drawn from very different countries. Norway gives us more than a quarter of the twelve thousand, Germany upwards of two thousand, Sweden more than a thousand, and France a thousand, the total being made up by men of every European country, even Switzerland sending nine of her sons, Turkey five, and Hungary two. This calculation is of course altogether independent of the royal navy, in which foreigners are frequently to be found, although many of them are simply taken on board for tropical service. The number of foreigners in the agricultural class is only four hundred, drawn mainly from France and Germany. In the industrial class more than one-third of the twenty-two thousand persons at work are employed in connection with the manufacture of articles of dress. There are nearly four thousand foreign tailors, of whom fifteen hundred are Germans, and upwards of a thousand are Poles. We have, too, a strong infusion of foreign bootmakers. The German bakers number thirteen hundred. In the indefinite and non-productive division there are thirteen thousand.

Here our brief survey of this interesting portion of these volumes must close, and here too we must conclude our papers; which, though perhaps rather overcharged with facts and figures, will not, we trust, have wearied the reader or tired his patience. In the volumes themselves there are many other openings for inquiries of the utmost interest, to which we have only been able to allude in the most cursory manner, such as the tables relative to the lunatics, the prisoners, the deaf and dumb, and other sections of our population, and for these we must refer the reader to the Reports. Of their value to the statistician it is impossible to speak too highly, as the tables are throughout drawn up with the utmost care and perspicuity; and if the perusal of these articles tends to increase the number of readers from the general public we shall be much gratified.

THE MANDARIN'S DAUGHTER.

CHAPTER XX.-FILIAL PIETY AND WARLIKE FOLLY.

In the second, or domestic class, we find fifteen MENG-KEE inwardly congratulated himself on

thousand wives and others engaged in household duties, and nearly eight thousand domestic servants, of whom two thousand are men. Switzerland contributes nearly three hundred of the men and six hundred of the women engaged in service, a result probably due to our national propensity for "the Regular Swiss Round," during which the tourist not unfrequently becomes attached to some trusty attendant and retains him for home work. No less than twelve hundred Frenchwomen and fifteen hundred Germans are among our general servants, but the number of nurses from these countries is far smaller than one would have expected, remembering the partiality which is often shown for a French or

the satisfactory termination of the difficulty Cut-sing got into. Had he been detained, it is just possible that he might have involved the mandarin in his troubles by divulging his sympathy with the Taiping cause. In order to prevent any suspicion that the customs official or the naval officer might entertain regarding his relations with a common trader, he explained that he had furnished robes to the Board of Rites and Ceremonies, of which he was an officer. This explanation at once disarmed them of any suspicion, and they soon became on familiar terms, especially as the customs mandarin remembered seeing his visitor in that imperial bureau.

"What may have caused you, honourable sir, to

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consoling her on her death-bed, and have obtained permission to proceed thither."

"Thou speakest well!" responded his questioner sententiously. "Remember the maxim laid down by the immortal sage Kong-foo-tsze (Confucius): Filial duty is the root of virtue, and the stem from which instruction in moral principles springs forth.' Also the first of the sacred edicts promulgated by the Emperor Kang-hee: Be strenuous in filial piety and fraternal respect, that you may thus duly perform the social duties.' This filial piety is a doctrine from heaven, the consummation of earthly justice, the grand principle of action among mankind. The man who knows not piety to parents can surely not have considered the affectionate hearts of parents towards their children. When still infants in arms, hungry, they could not feed themselves; cold, they could not clothe themselves; but they had their parents, who watched the sounds of their voice and studied the traits of their countenance; who were joyful when they smiled, afflicted when they wept; who followed them step by step when they

divine commandment, "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land," that it will be acceptable to every sincere Christian. Accordingly, Meng-kee listened to the homily of the worthy mandarin with becoming respect.

"Are you travelling alone?" he inquired further. "My daughter accompanies me, honourable sir, and she will be glad to pay her respects to you if you would deign to visit our humble boat."

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The commander of the gunboat, who had paid but little attention to the grave conversation of his colleagues, pricked up his ears on hearing that there was a lady in the newly-arrived boat. He was a young man of rather a dashing appearance, evidently priding himself the upon uniform he wore. gay must not be supposed that in shape and decorations it differed from those worn by officers in the army, for the two services in China are so amalgamated that the commanders of the land forces have sometimes authority over naval forces, and naval commanders over land forces. Consequently, there is no distinction in uniform. and it frequently happens that a

naval officer is a more efficient soldier than a sailor, while sometimes, indeed, the commanderin-chief of an army belongs to neither of these services, but holds his appointment as the governor of a province, with his literary degree from the Hanlin examinations. Such is the anomalous rank of officials in China, which fairly puzzled the early Portuguese to classify according to European usage. Hence they adopted the general term "Mandarin" (from mandar, to command) for all government officers, so used by foreigners to this day.

Judging from his strut, Meng-kee concluded that the commander of the gunboat was more of a military than a naval officer, who was probably appointed on special service to keep an eye upon the foreign troops travelling between Peking and Tien-tsin. Be that as it may, he welcomed him and his elder colleague with great courtesy on board the passengerboat.

Loo A-Lee was taken somewhat by surprise on the entrance of these two officials into the cabin, for she feared that something wrong had happened to her father. He soon, however, dissipated her fears by recounting what had occurred at the station, and the departure of the other two boats. She expressed herself in choice terms to her visitors, and, as the morning meal was just preparing, invited them to partake of the humble fare on board, which was politely accepted.

"Do you visit these 'barbarian' troops at Tien-tsin on your way to Yang-chow?" the gallant officer asked Meng-kee, after he had done justice to the fish, fowl, and rice served up.

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'No, I think not. Unless we require some comforts for my daughter at that town for the remainder of our journey, we will not visit the place, but ascend to the entrance of the grand canal."

"You are right; and I am sure your fair daughter would not wish to look upon these Fan-kwei."

This term, which does not sound very polite when translated for foreign ears, brought a blush to the cheeks of Loo A-Lee. The blush was observed by the gallant commander, who, misinterpreting its purport, addressed her.

"Hi-yah!" he exclaimed, "you may well blush at the name of these outside barbarians, who have brought disaster into the land, and dishonoured the name of our late emperor. Ah! if the generals had only taken my advice, not one of these redcoats would have landed alive. We could have had all our gunboats ranged along the shore, five hundred in number, so that not a boat with troops could pass between, and as these came on we would have swept them into the sea, leaving not one alive. Ah! if I was only a commander-in-chief, even now I could drive the boasting cowards out of Tien-tsin. Let them come on. I could kill a hundred with my own hand in battle. Let them come down the river, and I would blow the rascals out of the water like-"

Here he suddenly stopped in his valiant speech, as he rose to show how he would annihilate the enemy, when his voice was arrested by hearing the sound of a brass band spreading its martial music over the murmuring waters. On looking up the stream there he saw approach a line of boats filled with British soldiers, whose bayonets glittered like a forest of steel in the morning sun. It was a stirring sight, and sent a thrill of delight through A-Lee's heart; but it had a very different effect upon our Chinese Captain Bobadil, who took his departure suddenly, and was

followed by the customs official, who excused himself that he had his duties to perform.

On came the boats in gallant array, the blast of trumpets and the roll of drums increasing as they passed the station. Meng-kee observed that the duties performed by the officials were to make obeisance in the most humble form, and to bang away at their gongs in token of respect to the much-hated foreigners who had conquered their army and navy.

As it was not judicious to remain longer at this place, Meng-kee gave orders to the boatmen to get under way immediately; and they followed in the rear of the British-freighted boats, to the chagrin of the dandy officer, who had been smitten at first sight with the charms of A-Lee.

CHAPTER XXI.-JOURNEYING ON THE GRAND CANAL.

Loo MENG-KEE ordered the boatmen to follow the flotilla of troop-boats, keeping within view of the last one, and on no account to attempt to pass them should even their speed be lessened. He knew that the Taiping emissary and his recruits were ahead, and he had no desire to come into contact with them. By keeping in the wake of the British transports until they reached the junction of the Grand Canal with the Peiho, their boat could pass the western suburb of Tien-tsin unnoticed, at which place he expected Cut-sing would be waiting for him.

The weather continued fine throughout the day, and the breeze became more favourable, so that the boats sailed along swiftly, reaching the junction early in the afternoon. Here the flotilla dropped their sails, and the boats were rowed easterly to the city, while that of Meng-kee sailed westerly, and in a few miles entered the famous Grand Canal, which intersects four of the most fertile provinces in China, from north to south, over a distance of 650 miles.

After passing a bridge of boats, an extensive prospect of the country on both sides opened up to view, as the level of the canal is several feet above the surrounding plain. Here a very laborious method of irrigation is adopted by dipping buckets into the canal and throwing the water into a tank, from which it is carried along small channels into the adjoining fields. At some places where the banks are high, two tiers of labourers may be seen drawing and pouring water into the tanks.

While the wind was fair it was extremely pleasant sailing along the canal for the first ten or fifteen miles. Not only are the banks in fine order and beautifully sloped, but in many places well wooded, which gives a pleasing variety to the otherwise monotonous landscape. In contrast to this is the ruinous appearance of the towns and villages by the way. The houses are built of mud-bricks dried in the sun, and plastered with clay and straw, giving them a poverty-stricken appearance.

As they reached a village named Pa-tow, the wind seemed to have suddenly shifted right ahead. It was not so; but in consequence of the canal being tortuous at this place-the channel of a stream having been taken advantage of in its construction-the boat had to wind round the reaches, making the distance more than double by water what it is by land. Here there were a number of boats starting in company; the boatmen, having disembarked, attached a long rope to the top of each mast, and marched along the right bank in single file, chanting songs to help them to keep time. Some large boats filled with produce

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had as many as twenty men tracking them. On the opposite bank another string of boats were proceeding northward, altogether presenting a very animated scene on the Grand Canal.

The inhabitants of this region are much less refined than in the more southern provinces, having a more boorish aspect, and their agricultural operations are performed in a ruder manner. In ploughing they use horses, mules, asses, and oxen indiscriminately, and occasionally women may be seen in the yoke. Sometimes the whole live stock and household turn into the field to plough, man and beast doing labour alike. Otherwise the absence of animal life is remarkable. There is no game to be seen, and of birds the magpie is the only kind that abounds, the Chinese having a superstitious regard for them, as they frequent the tombs, and thereby are supposed to be possessed of the spirits of their ancestors. At length the boat with Meng-kee and his daughter arrived safely at Lin-tsing, where the canal bifurcates; a small branch leading to the south-west, while the main channel proceeds in a south-easterly direction. This was once a fine old city of the third order in Chinese topography, but when the mandarin landed to call upon some friends, he found it a mass of ruins, the suburbs, which extend for two miles along the east bank of the canal, being the only habitable part of a once flourishing town. On inquiry as to the cause of this destruction, he was informed that the Taiping rebels had captured it some years before, and levelled it with the ground after burning and sacking the shops and houses. This was the first example he had seen of the desolating warfare carried on by the army of the so-called "Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace," whose cause he had espoused, and the contemplation of the ruins gave a great shock to his feelings. "If this be the manner," he said to himself, in which they spread the doctrines of Christianity and peace, then are they hypocrites and deceivers. I must wait, however, until I can question some of the chiefs upon this matter."

The boat having been hired only as far as Lintsing, Meng-kee and his daughter had to disembark and hire another for the remainder of their journey. Here the passenger boats were very inferior to the one they had left, as the owners of the better class did not care to venture near the districts occupied by the rebels, who had always an eye to comfort and luxury in their depredations on the peaceable inhabitants.

After a day's rest they resumed their voyage on the canal where it intersects a country more interesting than what they had hitherto traversed. In one tract extensive cotton plantations covered the land, and in a another large flocks of sheep were seen grazing on the pasture. Whole families, especially the females, were everywhere busy in the cotton-field picking the cotton-wool, while the men were employed in shearing the sheep. These animals have huge flat tails, three, four, or five pounds in weight, and many of them with black heads and white bodies. There is also a curious hybrid in this part of China between the sheep and goat, where the animal sheds its wool annually and exhibits the smooth hair underneath.

On these extensive plains the mode of carrying produce by land is curious, where the propelling power is the wind, and the vehicle an adaptation of a canal boat with sails. Some of them are as large as a spring-cart, but with only one wheel in the

middle, the sides being so finely balanced and loaded that they do not topple over. The sail is hoisted on a mast in the forepart of the vehicle, and is so rigged as to be raised or reefed at pleasure by the steersman, who walks behind with the braces attached to a hook by his side. There is an immense strain upon him when he has to guide the vehicle according to the velocity of the wind. Nevertheless they will carry six heavy bales of cotton, or more than half a ton of bean-cake, on one machine.

Through this fertile region Meng-kee and his daughter sailed smoothly and rapidly along the Grand Canal for two days, passing some flourishing cities, which the Taipings had not visited, until one morning the monotonous level of the landscape was broken by the appearance of a low range of hills to the south. At the base of these hills ran the famous Yellow River, which has been fitly designated "China's Sorrow," from the devastation caused by its floods upon the surrounding country through which it passed formerly on its lower course to the Yellow Sea. Even that course has recently changed, and a new outlet has been formed in the Gulf of Pe-che-lee by this most erratic and devastating stream. From time immemorial the character of this river has been the burden of the ancient sages and princes, in their lamentations of the people's sufferings.

It was with some difficulty, and no small degree of danger, that their boat was taken across the turbid torrent of the river. In order to effect an entrance to the canal on its southern bank, the boatmen dragged their craft some distance up the stream, then re-embarked, and guided it over with their powerful sweeps to the opposite side, where the current was least felt. While crossing, Meng-kee was impressed with the mighty volume of water in this river, which has been compared to a yellow dragon monster eating up the land along its course.

At length they arrived safely at that part of the canal where it joins the greatest of all the Chinese rivers, the famous Yang-tsze Kiang. However, as Meng-kee's destination was some twenty miles distant from that point, they disembarked from the boat, settled with the boatmen, and proceeded by land to Yang-chow, in one of the clumsy vehicles of the district.

This was the native city of Meng-kee, where he had been educated in the Chinese classics, by which he obtained his degree at the triennial competition in the provincial capital, that qualified him for his government post at Peking. Many years had elapsed since his previous visit, and great changes had come over the surrounding country from the incursions of the Taipings. He knew that they had attempted the capture of Yang-chow, but were driven off with great slaughter by the imperialist forces. Still he was anxious to see if the town had suffered much during the engagement, and it was with no small feeling of satisfaction that he beheld the pagodas and campanile towers appearing uninjured as they rose above the crenellated walls illuminated by the rays of the setting sun.

At the city gate the mandarin and his daughter left the vehicle, and hired sedan-chairs and porters to convey them and their baggage to the home of his aged mother. It was no false excuse on his part to have obtained permission to visit her on account of serious illness, for he had received letters from his relatives stating that his widowed mother was on her

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