d hundreds of
miles, and thrown upon your lap, damp and reeking, ere yet the process
has had time to dry. If Faust was supposed to have been assisted by the
Evil One, what would his persecutors have said, had they been shown a
picture like this? What would they have said? Why, that even Satan
himself possessed not such power, and denied that to the devil, which is
now accomplished by a poor _devil_ of a printer! And yet how often do we
throw aside the teeming sheet, placed as regularly before us as our
breakfast, and declaring it indifferent, petulantly begrudge its
publisher the poor penny of its price. Let the grumbler be stationed in
these Chinese waters for two years and upwards, and when he has been
deprived a greater part of that time of the "Sun," that awaited his
pleasure to shine, the "Herald," ushering in the morn at his bidding,
the "Times," that never grew old, and the "News," expressly awaiting his
perusal,--let him, I say, after perusing papers that have reached him in
March, '51, bearing the date of the past Christmas, pick up a paper out
here, even if it be a colonial one, upon the day of its publication, and
he will sing, _Io Triumphe_, as I did.

There are two newspapers printed in Victoria (Hong-Kong), and both of
these, I believe, are bi-weekly. One is called the "Friend of China, and
Hong-Kong Gazette;" the other, "The China Mail." The latter is the
government organ, and has the colonial printing. The former is
independent, and slashes away right and left, sparing neither friend nor
foe, and its columns are always open to complaining correspondents. Sir
Geo. Bonham, the Governor, often got severely handled; and either
because the government laid itself open to attack, or the editor had
some cause for pique, it appeared to be continually "pitching into" it.
Its articles were bold and forcibly expressed, and from their tenor
would suppose it exposed itself to prosecution for libel, but understood
it had steered clear of the Courts that far. Its editor shows a great
deal of industry and perseverance in its management. His Marine List is
full and complete. Not only does he give the arrivals and departures of
shipping at Hong-Kong, but at all the other ports in China waters; also
a full and corrected list of all vessels at Whampoa, Shanghae, and
Macao, and publishes all the information that can be obtained of the
extensive commerce of this part of the East, such as statistics of
imports and exports, &c.,