Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/46

 The politician is not less interested in the question of China's population; for, if it be true that that empire contains its hundreds of millions, it will become an important enquiry how she is to be dealt with; and what precautions are necessary to prevent her enterprizing, though not warlike people, from pressing with their teeming myriads upon the neighbouring populous and fertile states. If they be so numerous, and if they threaten to become doubly so, not only will the restrictive policy of the Chinese, which would prevent its inhabitants from emigrating, be broken down, but the welfare, if not the peace of surrounding nations be disturbed by the influx of a mass of shrewd and hungry intruders; who, if they cannot obtain a livelihood by honest competition, will first by petty thefts, and then by more daring robberies, become dangerous to the colonies where they reside; and in time present such annoyances as can only be checked by their exclusion from the scene of their chosen residence.

There are already two colonies in the eastern Archipelago, one under the Dutch and the other under English authority, where the annual influx of Chinese colonists has, whether right or wrong, been the occasion of much alarm; and in one district in particular the revolt, or supposed revolt, of the Chinese has ended in the utter extermination of the suspected tribe: while in Borneo the Chinese have settled themselves down in the interior—have made head against the European authorities—and carried on the war for a considerable time; concluding with an honourable peace, by which they have retained full possession of a rich province,—abounding in the precious metals,—and secured the mouth of a river, affording a favourable outlet for