A poor man, passing through one of the back thoroughfares in Hankow, came upon a Tls. 50[*] note lying in the road and payable to bearer.  His first impulse was to cash it, but reflecting that the sum was large and that the loser might be driven in despair to commit suicide, the consequences of which might be that he himself would perhaps get into trouble, he determined to wait on the spot for the owner and rest content with the “thanks money” he was entitled by Chinese custom to claim as a right.  Very shortly he saw a stranger approaching, with his eyes bent on the ground, evidently in search of something; whereupon he made up to him and asked at once if anything was the matter.  Explanations followed, and the Tls. 50 note was restored to its lawful possessor, who, recovering himself instantaneously, asked where the other one was, and went on to say that he had lost two notes of the same value, and that on recovery of the other one he would reward the finder as he deserved, but that unless that was also forthcoming he should be too great a loser as it was.  His benefactor was protesting strongly against this ungenerous behaviour when the “second Prefect” happened to come round the corner, who, seeing there was a row, stopped his chair, and inquired there and then into the merits of the case.  The result was that he took the Tls. 50 note and presented it to the honest finder, telling him to go on his way rejoicing; while, turning to the ungrateful loser, he sternly bade him wait till he met some one who had found two notes of that value, and from him endeavour to recover his lost property.

    [*] Fifty taels, equal to about 15 pounds.

JURISPRUDENCE, NO.  II

From the previous sketch it may readily be gathered that the state of Chinese law, both civil[*] and criminal, is a very important item in the sum of those obstacles which bar so effectually the admission of China—­not into the cold and uncongenial atmosphere euphuistically known as the “comity of nations”—­but into closer ties of international intercourse and friendship on a free and equal footing.  For as long as we have ex-territorial rights, and are compelled to avail ourselves thereof, we can regard the Chinese nation only de haut en bas; while, on the other hand, our very presence under such, to them abnormal conditions, will continue to be neither more or less than a humiliating eye-sore.  Till foreigners in China can look with confidence for an equitable administration of justice on the part of the mandarins, we fear that even science, with all its resources, will be powerless to do more than pave the way for that wished-for moment when China and the West will shake hands over all the defeats sustained by the one, and all the insults offered to the other.

    [*] That is, local custom.