conceive of the existence of a brighter and better philosophy, where evolution and progress reign supreme. He is nevertheless charged with latent energy and intelligence, which, as we shall see only requires change of condition and fitting opportunities for their liberation. The Chinaman out of his own country, enjoying the security and prosperity which a more liberal administration confers, seems to develop into something like a new being. No longer chained to the soil, he finds wide scope for his energies and high rewards for his industry. In Singapore, I found him filling positions of honour and trust, figuring as a member of the Legislative Council, as a contractor, builder, handicraftsman and labourer, and so full of resource as to render his services indispensable to the European community, having indeed no equal among Asiatics. But the love of combination, of the guilds and unions in which all Chinamen delight, tempts him at times too far. His countrymen combine among themselves to get as much out of each other as they possibly can, and when practicable to monopolise trade and rule the markets; and feeling the strength of organisation, the societies so formed set up laws for themselves, for the rule and protection of their members, in defiance of the local government. The congsee, or guild, thus drifts from a purely commercial into a semi-mercantile, semi-political league, and more than once has menaced the power of petty states, by making efforts to cast off the yoke which rested so lightly on its shoulders. These societies are imitations of similar institutions existing in every province of the Chinese Empire, where the people combine to resist government oppression, and the peasantry unite in clans and guilds to limit the power of local officials and of their employees, and to promote their own commercial and social interests. Such societies are frequently
