LIFE AMONG THE CHINESE:

WITH

CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS

OF

MISSIONARY OPERATIONS AND PROSPECTS IN CHINA.

BY REV. R. S. MACLAY, M.A.,

THIRTEEN YEARS MISSIONARY TO CHINA FROM THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by

CARLTON & PORTER,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York.

PREFACE.

THE important events which have transpired in China during the past few years have awakened, both in Europe and the United States, an unprecedented interest with reference to that ancient and remarkable empire.

In the spring of 1858 the government of China formed treaties of amity and commerce with the respective governments of England, France, Russia, and the United States. The provisions of these treaties are of the most liberal character, and initiate a new and most auspicious era in foreign intercourse with China. In 1859 the treacherous attack of the Chinese on the English fleet at the mouth of the Peiho seemed to jeopardize these cheering prospects; but in 1860 the brilliant successes of the allies in the north of China, commencing with the