1856.] SAU QUALA. 87 of that practical type which seeks to assist its fellow beings in the battle of life, in the thousand and one kind offices immortal in the traditions of man's wants, though no place is allotted them in the pages of poetry. They proved most valuable assistants to Mrs. Boardman in waiting upon her dying husband. When the day arrived that Mr. Boardman's failing strength gave warning he was about to be taken from us, and we must pause in our pleasing labours-for he was literally dying in his pulpitso soon as the sun sank beneath the linden-leaved wood-oil trees, Quala, with the other Karens, lifted up his couch, and laid him down beneath their tall shadows. The mountains, which he was first to cross with the message of salvation, loomed up before him as he reclined amid the fragrant koempferas, whose large stemless purple and white flowers rise in crowds from the bare earth without a leaf, typical of the resurrection; while the stream, whose noisy bubbling sources had been his pathway through the gorges, rested at his feet in a quiet cove, and formed a transparent baptistery, encircled by an amphitheatre of floating water-lilies, where thirty-four of those for whose salvation he had prayed and laboured were baptized in his presence; the largest number that had ever been baptized at one time in the Mission, perhaps in India, on a profession of faith. 書 Another sun; and as another rose, his converts stood with him, a few miles lower down in this stream; but when they looked to place him in the canoe that was waiting for him, "he was not, for God had taken him." "How doth the image of the past Through all my dreams in brightness roll, And, like some pious legend, cast A veil of sadness o'er my soul." The same hands bore him to his garden sepulchre, and laid him down at the steps of his little oratory, where he had prayed into existence the Karen Mission, and where he rests beneath the sacred tree, whose flowers are so deliciously fragrant that they have obtained a place in the quiver of the Hindu god of love, and whose impervious shade is so favourable to meditation, that the Buddhists say the next Buddha will obtain infinite wisdom, and enter the divine life, while in contemplation at its foot. During the first year of my residence in Tavoy I devoted a considerable portion of my time to visiting every house in the city and suburbs, leaving at each a tract and a portion of Scripture; thus bringing into actual use my knowledge of Burman, that I was acquiring from day to day. Sau Quala often accompanied me in these excursions, and, my knowledge of the language being quite imperfect, he would frequently repeat and enforce the sentiments I had uttered, in more "acceptable words," though he often met with the savage rebuke, "Who are you? You are just like that dog there. He knows nothing but what he is taught. He goes or comes just as his master orders him." He was ever unmoved by their cutting sarcasm, and more open abuse. He took the Bible as it said, and Christ at His word. When he read, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall * Vide Frontispiece. say all 88 THE OPIUM TRAFFIC. [AUGUST, manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven" then he rejoiced on finding himself in circumstances which entitled him to rejoice, and he looked heavenward for the reward of his labours. His father made repeated attempts to induce him to return to the jungles; but having found him to be a young man of promise, and desirous to stay with me, I told him to ask his father what he would ask for his son's services, and make no further claim for him. When he told his father, he received no reply, but was never more required to return to his jungle home. "At that time," he says in his reminiscences, "I was very zealous in studying the word of God, and I prayed with brokenness of heart. I thought of nothing else but to be skilled in the books. This occupied my whole mind continually." WE rejoice to find that a movement is being made to direct the attention of the British public to this inhuman traffic, and the calamities it is inflicting on the Chinese nation. England awoke to a consciousness of the barbarities connected with the slave-trade. She had herself shared in its unlawful gains. But she felt ashamed of having done so; she hastened to wash the plague-spot from her; and, by her noble efforts, that scourge of humanity has been crippled, and almost extinguished. She is now the great grower, and importer into China, of the opium. May her eyes be opened to the inconsistency of conflicting with one evil on the coast of Africa, and encouraging as monstrous an evil on the coast of China! Our Government in India was long connected, in various ways, with the system of idolatry in that country, but the tide of public opinion compelled that connexion to be dissolved. May a similar influence from home constrain the abandonment of that unhappy connexion that exists at present in full force between the Indian Government and the growth and sale of opium! Missionaries of all denominations bear the strongest testimony as to the evils which it causes. An American Missionary at Ningpo thus expresses himself on the subject The evils of opium-smoking can be appreciated only by those who have witnessed them. It is more destructive, both to the mental and physical faculties, than rum; while the neglect of business, the squandering of property, the suffering of families, especially of bereaved widows and children, left without even the means of subsistence, occasioned by its use, are not surpassed by the saddest tales of intemperance; and the number, also, of those who are thus affected far exceeds that of the victims of drunkenness in any other two nations, and perhaps all nations on the globe. Those in this country who suffer from this terrible scourge, as ascertained by careful calculation, cannot be less than 40,000,000 of persons. And the trade in and use of this drug are increasing, and have been increasing rapidly ever since the war with England. The reasons are, 1856.] THE OPIUM TRAFFIC. 89 first, the Chinese officers, who otherwise would respect the laws of this country, and punish those who sell or use the forbidden article, now dare not, for fear of the British and American powers, whom they consider set for the defence of the business. Hence, as intelligent Chinese have informed me, tenfold more is now used than previous to the war with England. Another reason is, the ports having been opened, and larger quantities having been brought for sale, it has become cheaper, so that all classes now can indulge in the fascinating habit. But the evil which we as Missionaries especially feel is, its hindrance to the spread of the gospel here. The opium-smoker, unless he can be first persuaded to give up his pipe, is a perfectly hopeless case. Besides, which is, if possible, a still greater hindrance, the impression upon the people generally that we are in some way connected with the opium business, or secretly favour it. They also suppose that opium is largely produced in America and England; indeed, that it is the principal business of the worshippers of one God and the disciples of Jesus at home: hence the tendency of the traffic is to disgrace Christianity in the estimation even of heathen, and to lead them to distrust and reject us, its Missionaries. We are thankful, therefore, to find that a Society has been formed in this country, having for its object the termination of our present governmental connexion with the opium traffic. The following poem, written by a gentleman who feels strongly on the subject, has been addressed to the Honorary Secretary of this Society, Major-General Alexander. England! ever swift and strong To deliver and to bless From the tyranny of Wrong All the children of distress Mother England! whose great love, Helping Man in every place— Yet there be some spots of shame In the face of Earth and Heaven, Rampant, rank, and-unforgiven! Heedless of thy sins and snares? 90 THE OPIUM TRAFFIC. Look you take but one sad scene, Our Religion, Knowledge, Laws, Yonder vast industrious realm With the very juice of death; Opium--not the viper's fang, Can be mingled into worse, Treacherous pleasure-seeming pain- All the hope and all the health- Out of nerves too dulled to flinch Oh, the sorrow and the shame, Though sad China pleads to spare, And the mis'ry and the sin True, from this our letter-laws But, for mighty Mammon's cause, For the lives and souls of men! [AUGUST, 1856.] A SHORT account of alexaNDER JOHN CHAPMAN. 91 Fool! if even God were Not, Crowded China slaves and starves, And the stagnant markets die! Friend of Commerce, friend of Man, Happily, for nobler crops Yearning Earth asks better Seeds! ALBURY, May 1856. wwwwww MARTIN F. Tupper. A SHORT ACCOUNT OF ALEXANDER JOHN CHAPMAN, LATE A CATECHIST OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, MADRAS. ALEXANDER JOHN CHAPMAN was the only son of John Chapman, an artificer in the arsenal of Fort St. George. His father died while he was only three months old; but though he had, while so young, lost the care and protection of his earthly parent, One who had a greater regard for him had taken him up, and brought him up as it were for His own service. His widowed mother, a convert from Romanism, had taken every pains to bring him up in the fear of the Lord. She placed him in the Church Missionary Society's Seminary at Perambore, where he received a Tamil education; and it was from thence he went out to work, while yet young, in the vineyard of the Great Husbandman. He had been labouring at Madras for some time before he left the Seminary; and in the year 1824, or thereabouts, he was sent to Púnamallí, a village about twelve English miles from Madras. Missionary work had already commenced here, but, through the unwearied exertions of Alexander, there was soon established in this village a more appropriate place for the labours of a Missionary agent. At Púnamallí he remained till the year 1838, when he was ordered to remove to Madras, in consequence of Púnamallí being made over to the Vepery Mission. His labours at Púnamallí must indeed have |