Excerpt from The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review, Vol. 5: July to December Inclusive, 1858 IN reviewing the events of the past year we cannot avoid being struck with their magnitude and importance, affecting as they do nearly one-half of the whole human race. In the course of the last twelve months we have seen China, with its three hundred millions of people, opened to modern civilization and the blessings of Christianity. Japan, hitherto secluded from the rest of the world, is also found entering into a treaty with this country, and taking the first step towards what we hope may be a better ao quaintance. The Old world and the New have been connected so as to bring them within speaking distance, and the time is pro bably not far off when a message may be transmitted from Eng land to any part of the globe, and an answer returned within a few minutes. In India we have, by the blessing of God, been able to crush one of the greatest rebellions that history can relate; and in none of our own records, glorious as they are, can nobler deeds of chivalrous bravery or Christian endurance be shewn, than in the deeds of our noble countrymen in the East. During the same time we have beheld the dissolution of that company of merchant adventurers, whose history is without parallel in ancient or me? Dern times; and the transfer of their rule over a hundred and fifty millions of people to her Majesty, whose direct sovereignty has been acknowledged by a corresponding change of title. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.