The London Quarterly Review. July. (Wesleyan Conference Office.)—The most striking
article in this number is "A Liberal- Conservative Chinaman on Western Countries." This is an analysis, with copious extracts, of a very striking pamphlet, published a few years ago in Shanghai, under the title of " Echoes from the Far Seas." There will be, we imagine, but few readers who will not be astonished at the sagacity, acuteness, and general accuracy of the Chinaman's observations and estimates of national character, of political situa- tions and prospects, &c. In some things he cannot shake off the conventional forms of Chinese speech, talking, for instance, of British Ambassadors as bringing "tribute," a phrase which he must perfectly well know to be delusive ; but on the whole, he has a lively appreciation of the real condition of affairs. Nor does his satire fail, on occasion, to be sufficiently pungent. Here is an example :- " All the populations of Europe are very covetous and very brave, Kings and Ministers, upper and lower ranks, rising at cock-crow, and incessantly fluttering about after gain. Where gain is concerned, fathers and sons and brothers do not take each other into account at all. There is no labour or hardship from which they will flee. They will exhaust the very last fringe of life and strength in adding an inappreciable element to the fringe of a handicraft, or a microscopic trifle to the construction of an implement. In delicacy they seek a still more exquisite delicacy, and in skill a still more subtle skill, advancing with an undivided and all-consuming desire, and never knowing how to stop."
The writer of the review of " Senior's Conversations " has performed with success the not very difficult task of making a readable article out of one of the most interesting of modern books. The other articles are " German Preachers and Preaching of the Present Century," " Bishop Wilberforce," " St. Augustine of Canterbury," "The Last Victory of Christianity," and "Dr. Moulton on the Hebrews."
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