It has been the custom of late to disbelieve in
the ancient estimates of the population of China ; but the North China Herald, a well-informed journal, publishes statistics which strongly support them. It appears that the authorities at Pekin have recently taken a census for taxing purposes, and that the village bailiffs, whose interest it is to understate the figures, return the population at 319,383,500. Five provinces are omitted, and their population, as recorded in the last census, brings the total up to 392 millions. Even this figure is inde- pendent of the population of Tibet, Kashgar, Ili, and Cores; and the total number of souls ruled by the Emperor of China, therefore, exceeds 400 millions, and still displays a tendency to increase. As the population of India exceeds 250 millions, the Indians and Chinese together constitute more than half the entire human race ; a fact worth the attention of those philosophers who study London and Paris, and then announce that "Man believes" this and that. There are many races of men ; but some of the foremost among them—e.g., the French and the Arabs —scarcely increase at all; while a few—e.g., the Ottomans— slightly decline. If the process now going on continues for another century, the world will belong in the main to four races, or rather peoples,—the Teutons, most of whom will speak English, the Slays, the Chinese, and the natives of India. It is quite possible, however, that they may quarrel, and that their march towards the mastery of the planet, which else will belong to them like a cheese to mites, may be seriously checked.
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