970 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



fo fix his eyes on its face, Avhcn tlic 

 missionary thought he perceived tlie 

 feelings of nature begin to w ork ; 

 and he protracted the ceremony to 

 give time for the latent spark of 

 parental affection to kindle into 

 llame. When the ceremony was 

 ended, '' Now," says the mission- 

 ary, " I have done my duty in sav- 

 *' ing a soul from perishing." — 

 " And I," rejoined tlie man, "will 

 *' do mine, by saving its life," and 

 hurried away with the infant to de- 

 posit it in the bosom of its mo- 

 ther. 



" How very weak then, in re- 

 ality, must be the boasted filial af- 

 fection of the Cliinese for their pa- 

 rents, when they scruple not to be- 

 come the murderers of their own 

 children, towards whom, according 

 to the immutable laws of nature, 

 the force of affection will ever be 

 stronger than for those whom the 

 laws of China, in preference, have 

 commanded to be protected and'sup- 

 ported when rendered incapable of 

 assisting themselves. The truth of 

 this observation, which I believe few 

 will call in question, is a strong 

 proof that, as 1 have already re- 

 marked, filial piety among the Chi. 

 iiese may rather be considered in the 

 light of an ancient precept, carrying 

 with it the weight of a positive law, 

 than the efic6l of sentiment. 



" It is right to mention here 

 (what, however, is no palliation of 

 the crime, though a diminution of 

 the extent of it) a circumstance 

 which I do not recollect to have 

 seen noticed by any author, and the 

 truth of which I have too good au- 

 thority to call in question. As 

 every corpse, great and small, must 

 be carried to a place of burial at a 

 considerable distance without the 

 city, and as a custom requires that 



all funerals should be condiicted 

 with very heavy expences, people iu 

 Pekin, even those in comfortable 

 circumstances, make no hesitation in 

 laying in baskets still-born children, 

 or infants who may die the first 

 month, knowing that they will be 

 taken up by the police. This being 

 the case, we may easily conceive 

 that, in a city said to contain three 

 millions of people, a great propor- 

 tion of the nine thousand, which we 

 have supposed to be annually ex- 

 posed, may be of the above descrip- 

 tion. According to the rules of po- 

 litical arithmetic, and supposing half 

 of those who died to be exposed, the 

 number would be diminished to about 

 four thousand. The expence at- 

 tending a Chinese funeral is more 

 extravagant than an European can 

 well conceive. A rich Hong mer- 

 chant at Canton is known to have 

 kept his mother near twelvemonths 

 above ground, because it was not 

 convenient for him to bury her in a 

 manner suitable to his supposed 

 w ealth and station. 



" I am informed, also, that found- 

 ling hospitals do exist in China, but 

 that they are on a small scale, be- 

 ing raised and supported by dona- 

 tions of individuals, and their con- 

 tinuance is therefore as precarious 

 as the wealth of their charitable 

 founders. 



" These unfavourable features in 

 the character of a people, whose na- 

 tural disposition is neither ferocious 

 nor morose; 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 of power perpetually 

 hanging over them. That this is ac- 

 tually the case, may be inferred 

 from the general conduct and cha- 

 ractsr of those vast multitudes who, 



from 



