pioneer missionary
in the person of Dr. Bridgman. Besides cooeperating with others in
the revision of Morrison's Bible, or, more properly, in making a
new version, Bridgman won immortality by originating and conducting
the _Chinese Repository_, a monthly magazine which became a
thesaurus of information in regard to the Chinese Empire.

THE PRESS--A MISSIONARY FRANKLIN

The American Board showed their enlightened policy by establishing
a printing-press at Canton, and
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in sending S. Wells Williams to take charge of it, in 1833. John
R. Morrison, son of the missionary, had, indeed, made a similar
attempt; but from various causes he had felt compelled to relinquish
the enterprise. From the arrival of Williams to the present day the
printing-press has shown itself a growing power--a lever which,
planted on a narrow fulcrum in the suburb of a single port, has
succeeded in moving the Eastern world.

The art of printing was not new to the Chinese. They had discovered
it before it was dreamed of in Europe; but with their hereditary
tendency to run in ruts, they had continued to engrave their characters
on wooden blocks in the form of stereotype plates. With divisible
types (mostly on wood) they had indeed made some experiments; but
that improved method never obtained currency among the people. It
was reserved for Christian missions to confer on them the priceless
boon of the power press and metallic types. What Williams began at
Canton was perfected at Shanghai by Gamble of the Presbyterian
Board, who multiplied the fonts and introduced the process of
electrotyping.

Shut up in the purlieus of Canton, it is astonishing how much Dr.
Williams was able to effect in the way of making China known to the
Western world. His book on "The Middle Kingdom," first published in
1848, continues to be, after the lapse of half a century, the highest
of a long list of authorities on the Chinese Empire. Beginning like
Benjamin Franklin as a printer, like Franklin he came to perform a
brilliant part in the diplomacy of our country, aiding in the
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negotiation of a new treaty and filling more than once the post
of charge d'affaires.

EXPANSION OF THE WORK

The next period of missionary activity dates from the treaty of
Nanking, which put an end to the Opium War, in 1842. The opening
of five great seaports to foreign residence was a vast enlargement
in comparison with a small suburb of Canton; and the withdrawal
of