346 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Oh. XX. 



evil, the division of profits having failed greatly to benefit 

 them ; while the old stream of commerce, which enriched 

 the few, has been nearly dried up, and decay and ruin have 

 in too many instances been the only harvest that has been 

 reaped. 



But that "Western influence is slowly but surely making 

 itself felt is fully proved by the action taken by the Pekin 

 College within a year of the present date. It was represented 

 in a memorial to the Emperor, from the department of 

 Foreign Affairs, that it was desirable that officials should be 

 invited to pass an examination in astronomy and mathe- 

 matics " with a view to the acquisition of a thorough under- 

 standing of foreign appliances." The memorial went on to 

 state that whenever the usual path for the admission of can- 

 didates to the public service had been widened, talent had 

 been called forth, and scholars of ability had eagerly pre- 

 sented themselves ; and it called attention to the fact that 

 in 1862 a school of languages had been established in the 

 same department, in which English, French, and Russian 

 teachers were assigned to every class; and explains that 

 since the appliances of foreigners — ^their machinery and fire- 

 arms, their vessels and carriages — are one and aU. derived 

 from a knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, it is de- 

 sirable that they should be learned, not superficially, but 

 from the very foundation. The memorial then specifies the 

 class of Uterate graduates who shall be competent to offer 

 themselves as candidates for this new study, who are not to 

 be under 20 years of age; and states that foreign instructors 

 were to be engaged under the direction of Mr. Hart, 

 Inspector- General of Chinese Customs, in virtue of his 

 high official position; and they characteristically add, " The 

 Chinese are not inferior in ingenuity, or cleverness and 



