CHARACTER OF THE CHINESE. 235 
The tales of Chinese infanticide had made me very watchful for 
every circumstance that could illustrate the ordinary state of those 
feelings that must be violated in its commission ; and had certainly 
led me to look for a lower degree of parental affection in China 
than in other countries. Under this impression I recorded in my 
journal many examples of parental tenderness, which now appear 
almost too trivial to mention. I may be permitted, however, to 
state, that in the multitudes who often assembled about us, I have 
repeatedly seen parents in the lowest rank of life expose them- 
selves to the lashes and insults of the soldiers in defending their 
children from the pressure of the crowd ; and that whilst I often 
witnessed all the acknowledged proofs of the existence of this prin- 
ciple in its perfection, I on no occasion observed an instance of its 
defectiveness. 
That infanticide is practised in China, especially in times of dread- 
ful scarcity, to which, from the nature of the government, and the 
corruption of local officers, that country is peculiarly subject, the 
concurring testimony of many authors scarcely admits of a doubt ; 
but that it ever materially affects the amount of population, and 
still less that it ever depends on any general want of that divine 
and uncontrollable principle which guards the safety of offspring, 
the entire absence of all evidence, within our experience, even of 
its mere existence, does not allow me to believe. From all that I 
was capable of observing, and from all that I was enabled to learn, 
I am quite of the opinion expressed by an eloquent writer, 44 That 
when the parent has any possible means of supporting his offspring, 
there is no country where maternal affection is stronger than in 
China.” * 
Regarding the alleged indifference of the Chinese to the fate of a 
fellow-creature struggling for life, of which Mr. M 4 Leod has had oc- 
casion to record a frightful instance in his voyage to Lew-chew, but 
* Lord Macartney’s Journal of an Embassy to China. 
H H 2 
