April 7th.—­I went on Monday to visit a college which the priests have about six miles off, with about seventy scholars.  It appeared to be in good order.  I walked back with a priest who had been in Canada in our time.  He was talkative, and gave me a good deal of information about the Jesuits.  It came on to rain very hard as we returned, but we found our letters from home to reward us on our arrival....  No doubt, as you say, one cannot help sometimes regretting that one is mixed up with so bad a business as this in China, but then in some respects it is a great opportunity for doing good, or at least for mitigating evil.

[Sidenote:  American missionary.]

I had a visit to-day from Dr. B., who is, I believe, the most eminent of the American missionaries in China.  He began by expressing his gratitude to me for the merciful way in which matters had been conducted at Canton, adding that they were bad people, that they insulted foreigners.  He had lived among them fifteen years, and had never been insulted when alone.  He always went about without even a stick, and they knew that he did not wish to injure them, &c.  I then asked him whether there was not some inconsistency in what he had said about their treatment of himself and the epithet ‘bad’ which he had applied to them.  He said that perhaps the word was too strong, that he was much attached to the Chinese, but that certain classes at Canton were no doubt very hostile to foreigners, and that the chastisement they had received was quite necessary.  I really believe that what Dr. B. said is pretty nearly the truth of the case, and it is satisfactory to me that the fact that I laboured to spare the people should be known, known not only by those who approve, but by those who abhor clemency.

From the foregoing and similar extracts, it will be seen how much interest he took in the labours of the missionaries, and at the same time with what breadth and calmness of view he handled a subject peculiarly liable to exaggeration on one side or the other.  During his stay at Shanghae, it was brought before him officially in the shape of an address from the Protestant missionaries of the port, praying him, in the first place, to obtain a separate decree of toleration in favour of Protestantism, distinct from that which the French had already obtained for the ’Religion of the Lord of Heaven;’ and, in the second place, to procure for them greater liberty of travelling and preaching in all parts of China.  His reply contained words of grave warning, which have a special interest when read by the light of recent events.  After saying that ’it certainly appeared to him to be reasonable and proper that the professors of different Christian denominations should be placed in China on a footing of equality,’ he proceeded as follows:—­

[Sidenote:  Reply to address of Protestant missionaries.]

    I should be wanting in candour, however, if I were not to state that,
    in my opinion, the demands which you prefer involve, in some of their
    details and consequences, questions of considerable nicety.