their neglect of duty. Now and then a hue and cry is raised about "traitorous natives," and these teachers are obliged to absent themselves for a time; while their pupils are requested not to speak Chinese in the streets, or to stand looking at native handbills, lest some police-officer, observing it, should trace them to their factory, and procure the arrest of the compradores who permitted, or of the teachers who assisted them in acquiring the language. The fears of the compradores on such occasions are exactly in proportion to the amount of property they possess, and are consequently liable to lose; and thus, the more respectable and trustworthy a purveyor may be, the greater the probability of his being robbed of all.
The Chinese do not, or will not, perceive their own inconsistency in these proceedings; for, if foreigners are expected to obey the laws, they ought to be able to peruse them; but, if they are kept in ignorance of the imperial will, they can hardly be blamed for opposing it. The native rulers, however, consider that the security merchants have a sufficient knowledge of the English language to instruct foreigners in their duty, and sufficient influence over them to secure their doing of it, without the barbarian's busying himself with the Chinese tongue. Thus the study of the native dialect is prohibited to merchants, and much more to missionaries, who have sometimes found it very difficult to get a teacher, and at other times have had their studies interrupted for months together. They have, therefore, preferred locating themselves in the Malayan archipelago, where they might learn the language from the Chinese colonists without restriction.
Another difficulty in the way of missionary opera-
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