created a new paper currency, called hoei-tsu, or conventionals. In their origin, these new bills were current only in the province of Tche-kiang and its vicinity; but they were soon disseminated through the whole empire. The paper, which they used to make them of, was originally manufactured only in the towns of Hoei-tcheou and Tchhi-tcheou of Kiangnan. At a later period they also made it at Tching-tou-fou, in Sze-tchouan, and at Lin-ngan-fou, in the province of Tche-kiang.

The first hoei-tsu (conventionals) were equivalent to a string of one thousand deniers; but under the reign of Hiaotsoung, in 1163, they made them of 500, 300, and 200 deniers. In five years, that is to say, up to the seventh moon of the year 1166, they had issued this paper to the amount of 28,000,000 of ounces; and on the 13th of the eleventh month of the same year, that amount was found to be increased by 15,600,000 ounces. During the remainder of the reign of the Soung dynasty, the quantity of this paper went on constantly increasing.

Besides this, there were also the kiao-tsu, and some other paper peculiar to the provinces; so that the empire was flooded with paper bills, which depreciated from day to day, in spite of the different changes and modifications which the government thought fit to make in them, in order to enhance the currency of them.

Finally, in the reign of Ly-tsoung, of the same dynasty, and in 1264, the minister Kia-szu-tao, seeing the currency of the hoei-tsu so low, and the price of provisions so high, thought it proper to substitute in part for this paper, a new description of bills, which he called yn-kouan, or silver obligations. The hoei-tsu of seventeen terms, as they were called, were entirely abolished; and they took up three of those of eighteen terms with one of the new bills, which bore the character kia. But, though they received even the torn bills in payment of imposts, the minister could not succeed in effecting a rise in the currency in the paper issued by the treasury, nor a reduction in the price of merchandise.

While the latter emperors of the Soung dynasty were withdrawn into the south of China, the north part of the country found itself under the domination of the Niu-tchy, a people of the Tungusian race, that had founded a new em

pire under the name of Kin, or Kingdom of Gold. Their princes are known in the Arabian and Persian historians, by the name of Altoun-khan. The continued wars which laid waste all China, had considerably impoverished all the provinces of that fine country; so that in the year 1155, copper having become extremely scarce in the kingdom of Kin, they were obliged to establish among them banks for paper bills, upon the plan of the kiao-tsu of the Soung dynasty. The bills of two, four, eight, and ten strings of a thousand denier, were called large bills; and the small bills were of 100, 300, 700, and 900 pieces of copper. Their rate was fixed for seven years; and after that term they exchanged the old bills for new ones. In all the provinces there were banks, and the government retained fifteen pieces of copper for each string of one thousand, in order to cover the expense of making and registering the bills.

In the latter half of the XIIIth century, the Mongols made themselves masters of China, where they founded the dynasty called Youan, which reigned from 1279 to 1367. Even before the entire subjugation of China, Koublaï-khan or Chitsou, the first emperor of that dynasty, had introduced paper bills (assignats) among the Mongols, between 1260 and 1263. In 1284, he directed the mandarin Lou-chi-joung to present to him a plan for the emission of new paper money; but that emission did not take place till 1287; and from that time the Mongols only increased the quantity of their paper bills called pao-tchhao, or paper money of value.

Bills of one string, made in the years tchi-youa, (1264– 1294,) were substituted for those of five strings, or of 5000 deniers, which they had created during the years tchoungthoung, (1260-1263,) and which were made of the bark of the tchu tree, (morus papyrifera,) and one foot square, Chinese measure. Those of one string of the year tchi-ti, (1308-1311,) succeeded those of tchi-yuan of five strings. They were valued at one ounce of pure silver, and the tenth part of an ounce of gold. In this manner the government had reimbursed, by four per cent. of value, the capital of the first emission, and by twenty per cent. that of the second. Towards the end of the Youan dynasty, the paper money had lost much of its credit; and in 1351 they found themselves obliged again to make changes in their system of pa

per currency; but all their expedients and attempts to produce a rise in the funds were fruitless; and the Mongols were compelled to abandon China, which they had totally ruined by their tchhao, or "paper money of value."

This state of things obliged the emperors of the Ming dynasty, who succeeded the Mongols, not only not to abolish the tchhaos, but to create a new emission of them. In 1375, they issued six different kinds of paper, viz:- Bills of one string, of a thousand deniers, of 500, 300, 200, and 100 copper pieces; those of a thousand deniers were equivalent to one ounce of silver. They prohibited the people's making use of gold, silver, or valuable articles to trade with. The value of these bills fell at once, and they would only give thirteen strings of copper pieces for seventeen in paper.

It appears that the first Ming emperors increased considerably the quantity of these bills; for in 1448 they had so little credit, that they would only give three deniers for one tchhao of a string of one thousand. The government thought to remedy this disgrace of its paper, by prohibiting the use of copper pieces, and by forcing the people to use only paper bills. Seven years afterwards there appeared an ordinance, which provided that they would collect in the paper currency the imposts of the markets in the two capitals of the empire. However, these measures did not produce the desired effect, and the tchhaos, having remained in discredit, terminated by disappearing from circulation. At least, history makes no further mention of them after the year 1445.

The Mandchous, [Mantchoos,] who succeeded the Ming dynasty, and who are at present the absolute masters of China, have never attempted to issue any paper money whatever.

Note. The paper bills (assignats) of the Soung-Kin, and Mongol dynasties, were all made of the bark of the tchu tree. Those of the first were only sheets printed and authenticated, with the government stamps; but those of the Mongols exhibited other ornaments. The paper which was used by the Mings to make their bills, was made from all sorts of plants. We find in the work of Father Du Halde, (vol. ii. p. 163,) a figure of one of the paper bills of the time of the Mings.

J. P.

In the successive explorations of modern times, there has been no portion of the globe accessible by sea, which has defied curiosity more successfully, and been more worthy of investigation, than the Empire of China. Its vast resources, its mighty population, its "tame and immovable" civilization, and its pretensions to universal supremacy, have but enhanced the interest of its mysterious isolation from other nations. Within the last few years, the terrible war of which it became the victim, and the consequent opening of its ports to a general traffic, have made it the subject of general attention. If we add to these sources of interest the reasons that have made China a problem of the deepest significance to the learned world from the time of Marco Polo, the peculiarity of her language, the extent of her literature, the research of her philosophy, the antiquity of her history, and the light thrown upon the early ages of Asia by her annals, enough is adduced to prove the importance of accurate information upon the character of the Chinese population, the resources of the empire, and the probable nature of its future intercourse with foreign nations.

The documents translated by M. Pauthier, and the pamphlet by Mr. Forbes, contain much that is necessary to our purpose upon the statistics of China in reference to the amount of population, the nature of the existing trade, her ability to

1. Documents Statistiques Officiels sur l'Empire de la Chine, traduits du Chinois, par G. Pauthier. Paris. 1841.

2. Remarks on China, and the China Trade. By R. B. Forbes. Boston. 1844. 3. Documents Officiels Chinois sur les Ambassades Etrangères envoyées près de l'Empereur de la Chine, traduits du Chinois, par G. Pauthier. Extrait de la Revue l'Orient. Paris. 1843.

consume foreign manufactures, and her disposition to a more equal and reasonable reception of foreigners. The question of population and resources is a deeply important one to the United States, as it involves ability to consume, and to pay, for our manufactures. These two points being settled, it will then be time to consider whether our efforts to open amicable relations with the court of Pe-king will be successful. We propose to give a summary of such parts of the works before us as may throw light upon these points, and to deduce such conclusions as the premises may warrant.

In examining the "Documents Statistiques Officiels," it will be necessary to lay before our readers a summary of the principal facts therein stated, in order to give due force to the arguments for or against their credibility. They admit, at present, of no direct tangible proof, and no argument can compel conviction like a plain, undeniable fact. No foreigner has it in his power to know, from his own observation, the amount of the population; and the accounts of the natives are, therefore, the only statements that can pretend to accuracy. How far, then, are the official documents to be be

lieved?

The original Chinese, which is the eleventh book of the great" Collection of Administrative Statutes of the reigning Dynasty of China,"* comprises the Census, the Survey of the Land, and the Apportionment of Taxes; the two first constituting the permanent foundation, upon which the last is levied. The three parts form a collection of valuable facts, which can be derived from no other source.

The Census is the first and most important. The Law and the Commentary are side by side, and we will endeavor to sum up the results, translating only such passages as prove the careful manner in which the numeration is made. After directing how the registers shall be kept, the decree proceeds to declare, that the registration shall be made by yen hoo, fireplaces or doors, to be divided into twelve classes, (which it is not necessary to specify here,) and to be counted in the following manner : - The males, who are over sixteen years of

Tar-thsing-hoef-tien; or, more correctly, Ta-tsing hwuy-teen; Kiouan ix. fol. 1-28, section Hou-pou, administration of Finance; Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 572. In the orthography of Chinese, we shall follow, as far as practicable, the system of Mr. Pickering.