William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 2

[213] the United States, were heaped together, they would scarcely equal those of her two Eastern provinces. Add the denizens of Europe to those of America, and the totals will not reach the total of China. Queen Victoria may have a larger empire, but she has fewer subjects than the “ Son of Heaven.” Keang-Su has twice as many persons on a square mile as Belgium, the most thickly peopled corner of Europe. Che-kiang is scarcely less dense than Kiang-Su. The soil is various, and in many provinces rich; but no soil, however fertile, could support such swarms. There must be many mouths unfed. Are they not certain to escape by every open port?

3. The ports of China are not really open and the people free. No fact in Chinese history permits us to believe that this Chinese emigration is a voluntary act, as Irish or Swabian emigration is a voluntary act. Rich and happy people never quit their homes; learned and prosperous people seldom quit their homes. In almost every case, they are the indigent and thriftless members of a family who seek for settlements on a foreign soil. But when the ports are open and the act is free, there is