and a wit among lords. When Lord Ches- leader prisoner, put him to death. It was terfield arrived in Ireland, all the Catholic many years before the Spaniards were perplaces of worship were closed. A Mr. Fitz-mitted by the Indians and Dutch to enjoy gerald saying mass in the obscure garret of quiet possession of Chili. In 1809, a revolua condemned house, an immense crowd had tionary movement took place, and the party assembled, and the floor giving way, the offi- which espoused the cause of independence ciating priest, with many of his flock, were was at first successful; but in 1814 nearly buried in the ruins, and the greater number the whole country was subdued by a Spanish were maimed and wounded. Lord Chester- army from Peru. Chili remained under the field, horror struck at the event, ordered control of the royalists until 1817, when that all the chapels in the capital should be General San Martin, with a body of troops opened. A zealous Protestant. thinking to from Buenos Ayres, entered the country, and pay his court to the lord lieutenant, came to being joined by the people generally, deinform him that one of his coachmen was a feated the royalists in several engagements. Roman Catholic, and went privately to mass. The independence of the country was finally "Does he, indeed?" said his lordship; "then I achieved at the battle of Maypu, April 5th, shall take care that he never drives me there!" 1817. The government has since experienced The Bishop of Waterford related that the many changes, but Chili has been perhaps vice-treasurer, Mr. Gardiner, a man of good less disturbed than any of its sister republics. character and considerable fortune, waited Santiago, the capital of the republic, has upon Lord Chesterfield one morning, and in 50,000 inhabitants. Valparaiso, the princia great fright told him that he was assured pal port and centre of commerce, has 30,000. upon good authority that the people in the The southern part of Chili is inhabited by province of Connaught were actually rising; the Araucanians, a powerful aboriginal nation upon which the viceroy looked at his watch, over whom the republic has only a nominal and with great composure answered him, "It authority. They maintained their independis nine o'clock and time for them to rise; I ence through many contests with the Spanbelieve, therefore, that your news is true." Lord Chesterfield preserved a Catholic population in the most perfect peace and obedience, during the whole of that rebellion which in Episcopal England and Presbyterian Scotland, had nearly restored the Stuarts to the throne they had forfeited by their blind and bigoted attachment to papal institutions. CHILI, a republic on the western shore of South America, which has an area of 180,000 square miles. The eastern part of Chili is mountainous, and many volcanic summits here elevate themselves from the lofty chain of the Andes. Innumerable small and rapid rivers irrigate the rich soil, and the climate is remarkable for its healthiness. The mineral and vegetable productions are valuable and abundant. Exclusive of the independent Indians, the population has been estimated at 1,200,000. The Roman Catholic is the established religion. iards. They subsist by cultivating the land and raising cattle. A Toqui (hereditary noble) is at the head of government, and he strictly maintained the neutrality of his people during the South American struggle for independence. Among the many interesting customs of this people, we may mention that they amuse themselves with a species of chess and backgammon, both of which they knew previous to the arrival of the Spaniards. CHILLINGWORTH, WILLIAM, a celebrated English divine and Protestant polemic. He was born at Oxford, 1602, and died in 1644, having been appointed chancellor of Salisbury, in July, 1638. CHILTERN HUNDREDS, a phrase often encountered in English political history. It is an estate of the crown in Buckinghamshire, the stewardship whereof is a nominal office, conferred on members of parliament when they wish to vacate their seats; for by accepting an office under the crown, a member becomes disqualified, unless he be again returned by his constituents. This custom Pedro de Valdivia who was sent thither by Pizarro, overcame the opposition of the aborigines, and founded several cities in the north and south, but the Araucanians defeated the Spaniards, and having taken their has existed time immemorial. CHINA is a vast country of Asia, bounded on the north by Chinese Tartary, from which the famous Chinese wall separates it; on the east by the Eastern Sea; on the south by the Chinese Sea and Further India; and on the west by an extensive and sandy desert, and long ridges of mountains, which divide it from Western Tartary and Thibet. Inclusive of the tributary countries, and those states which have voluntarily placed themselves under the protection of China, the population is estimated at 353,000,000 inhabitants, which are scattered over a surface of about 5,250,000 square miles. The subjected countries are Mantchouria, Mongolia, and Tourfan; the protected ones, Thibet, Bootan, Corea, and Loo-choo. China Proper is divided into eighteen provinces. The Yang-tse-kiang and the Hoang-Ho, or Yellow River, are the two principal rivers of China. The former is more than 3,000 miles long, the latter about 2,500. The face of the country is greatly diversified; the northern and western parts being the most broken. A distinguishing feature of the climate is the unusual excess in which heat and cold prevail in some parts of the empire at opposite seasons of the year; as well as the low average of the thermometer in comparison with the latitude. The soil is diligently tilled, rice being the prevalent crop. But the production of most importance to 'outside barbarians,' is tea, which is the universal beverage throughout China, while enough is grown to supply other countries with a hundred million pounds each year. The commerce is very extensive; the principal articles of export being tea, silk, nankins, porcelain, and the valuable vegetable productions of the east. The imperial canal and the Chinese wall are monuments of Chinese skill and industry. The religion of China is Buddhism, or the religion of Fo. The language of the Chinese is peculiar, its characters being symbols of ideas, instead of sounds. The Chinese are, to a certain degree, well educated, but revengeful, timid, vain, and deceitful. Polygamy is permitted, and the condition of females wretched in the extreme. Poor parents are permitted to drown their female children, and this is done without remorse. The Chinese is, on the whole, by far the best native government of Asia. It is better, far, than any of the Mohammedan despotisms; it is better than any government that the Hindoos ever possessed, and it is far preferable to the theocracies of the Birmans, Siamese, and other Chinese nations. The absence of a powerful and influential priesthood, and of an hereditary and privileged aristocracy, as well as of petty principalities with delegated and hereditary authority, may be stated as among the leading causes of the prosperity of the Chinese empire. The government of China is patriarchal; the emperor has the title of "Holy Son of Heaven, sole Governor of the earth, and Great Father of his people." But it is patriarchal on the largest scale of which there is any record, for the family consists of more than three hundred million members. China may be considered as a huge school-house, the master having the birch constantly in his hand, frequently using it, and delegating his authority to thousands of ushers, who are equally liberal in its application. But the rod, although the chief, is not the only instrument of government. There is the canque, or wooden ruff, a kind of portable stocks or pillory, very convenient to the executors of the law, but exceedingly inconvenient to the wearer, who can neither sleep nor lie down for it. Then there is imprisonment in cages; furthermore decapitation, not however very frequent; and in extreme cases their crucifixion, or as it is technically called, the death by painful and slow means. The grand panacea, however, after all, is the rod. The general application of this vigorous instrument of administra. tion, is by no means confined to China, but embraces the other countries of the east, from Japan to Bengal, including nearly one third the human race. There the rod, under its various appellations of bamboo, cane, cudgel, or birch, is actively at work from morning till night, and afterward from night till morning. The grand patriarch canes his first ministers; the prime minister canes his secretary of state; the secretaries of state admonish the lords of the treasury, by belaboring their backs; these enforce their orders to the first lord of the admiralty by applying what is equal to the cat o' nine tails. Generals cane field-officers, and field-officers the captains and subalterns. Of course the common soldiers of the celestial empire are caned by everybody. The husbands cane their wives, and the wives cane their children. The Chinese and their neighbors may be truly described as well-flogged nations. Whatever may be the actual antiquity of the Chinese nation, no doubt seems now to exist that they very early knew the art of printing, the composition of gunpowder, and the properties of the magnetic compass, which have been considered by European nations three of the most important discoveries of modern times. To these may be added two very remarkable manufactures, of which they were unquestionably the first inventors, and in which they yet excel, those of silk and porcelain. Their mode of printing differs from ours, but its effect în multiplying and cheapening books is the same, and it was practiced by them as far back as the tenth century. Gunpowder they did not use in fire-arms, but for fireworks, of which they are extremely fond, and with which they have amused themselves from a very remote date. The empire is very ancient, and is said by the Chinese to have existed forty-one thousand years before the Christian era. We give a list of the dynasties which have sat upon the throne in more modern times. The Hia dynasty, 2207 to 1767 B.C. From 220 to 280, China was divided into three kingdoms, the Shohang dynasty, 220 to 263; that of the Goei in the north, 220 to 265, and that of the El in the south, 220 to 280. The Tsin dynasty, 265 to 420. Shun-tchi, 1644 to 1669. Taou-kwang, 1821 to 1850. Sze-hing, or Yih-Chu, 1850. reign Confucius lived, authentic history may be said to commence. During the reign of Ching the first emperor of the fourth dynasty, B.C. 256, the great wall was built. Elated with his own exploits, he formed the design of making posterity believe that he was the first emperor that filled the Chinese throne, and for this purpose ordered all the historical books, which contained the fundamental records and laws of the ancient governments, to be burned, and four hundred of the learned to be put to death, for having attempted to save some of the proscribed volumes. In the thirteenth century the Chinese called in the aid of the Mongols to beat off the east With the Chow dynasty, during whose ern Tartars. These fierce allies soon subdued not only the Tartars, but the people whom | quickly forsook this wise policy and adopted they came to defend, and seized the mastery. reactionary measures. An insurrection broke Kublai Khan (he who 'in Xanadu a stately pleasure dome decreed') was a monarch of eminent talents, and endeared himself to the Chinese by his equity and virtues. In less than a century his successors so degenerated that the Chinese regained the ascendency. Some of the expelled Mongols found refuge among the Tartars, and from these united strains came the race known as the Mantchous, who in 1644 expelled the last Chinese dynasty, and founded a permanent Tartar dominion, which is yet in power. When China was sundered into two or three states, the northern portion was called by the neighboring nations Cathay, under which name it became known to the Russians and Mongols; whilst the inhabitants of India called the southern part Chin, under which name the Portuguese and other Europeans became acquainted with it. Not till the seventeenth century was it discovered that Cathay was China. The Chinese are passionately addicted to the use of opium. The government formerly prohibited its importation, and in attempts to enforce this restriction came in collision with the British, whose merchants were largely engaged in the contraband traffic. Hostilities commenced in 1839, and continued till Aug. 29th, 1842. By the treaty of peace, the Chinese were to pay $21,000,000; the ports of Canton, Amoy, Foo-choo-foo, Ning-po, and Shanghai were thrown open to the British; and the island of Hong-kong was ceded to the British crown; a great inroad being thus made upon the exclusiveness which the Chinese had so rigorously observed. 6 out in consequence, in the southern province of Quang-si, August, 1850, which quickly became of alarming importance. At first the insurgents proposed only to expel the Tartar dynasty. In March, 1851, a leader arose among them, first by the name of Tien-teh, celestial virtue,' but afterward assuming other names. He is said to be a native of Quang-si, of obscure origin, who obtained some education at Canton, and also became acquainted with the principles of Christianity from a native convert, and from the missionary Roberts. He announced himself as the restorer of the worship of the true God, Shangti, and had derived many of his dogmas from the Scriptures. He declared himself to be the monarch of all beneath the sky, the true lord of China (and thus of all the world), the brother of Jesus, and the second son of God, and demanded universal submission. In addition to the dangers thus besetting the peace of China, new disturbances with England broke out in 1857, and a war commenced, but the attention of the British was diverted by the serious crisis in India. Peking, the capital of the empire, has a population of 2,000,000. The principal streets vary from 140 to 200 feet in width, but the buildings do not correspond, few of the houses being above one story. Nanking was the capital before the time of the Mongols, and had 4,000,000 inhabitants, now dwindled to 300,000. It is one of the principal seats of Chinese learning, and is noted for the porcelain tower attached to one of its pagodas. Canton is a place of much commercial importance, from having formerly been the only As to the insurrection that broke out in port open to American and European vessels. 1851, conflicting accounts are given. The in- It has a million of inhabitants. The surroundsurgents gained ground steadily, capturing ing scenery is charming, and the eastern hills the important cities of Nanking, Amoy, present a most noble prospect. The houses, Shanghai, and besieged Canton; but victory with the exception of those of the mandarins afterward passed to the imperialists, and many and wealthy merchants, are low; the streets of the towns held by the rebels were retaken. long, narrow, and well-paved, spanned, here The following is one version of the nature of and there, by triumphal arches, and shaded this outbreak. Taou-Kwang, the last empe- at the sides by continuous ranges of piazzas. ror, during the latter years of his reign became But the main charm of the city consists in its somewhat liberal in his views, and favored the beautiful pleasure gardens, which are studded introduction of European arts. His son and with fish-pools. The exports are tea, India successor, a rash and narrow-minded prince, ink, varnish, porcelain, rhubarb, silk, nan |