A party of wealthy Chinese merchants arrived in New York the other day from San Francisco. They were on their way to Washington, to see the Chinese Minister and ask him to intercede for them with the Emperor of China. Their trouble is that the Emperor has kindly invited ten of them to visit China without delay: two to have their heads chopped off, and the other eight to be imprisoned for life. Of course none of the Chinamen are going to accept the Emperor's invitation, and so they are not seeking the help of the Minister for themselves. Their anxiety is on account of their relatives. It would seem that one of the curious little customs they have in China is to arrest all the relatives of a man accused of crime, as well as the criminal himself. These unfortunate people they cast into prison, taking away from them their property, and everything of value they possess. This punishment is for no known reason but that they have had the misfortune to be members of the same family as a rascal. The consequence is that when a Chinaman gets into trouble, his relatives, instead of standing by him, and trying to help him, desert him with the greatest possible speed, and do their best to hide themselves in less dangerous districts. While the Chinamen who are now in this country are able to laugh at the Emperor's decree, and have no intention of going where he can make things unpleasant for them, they are horror-struck at the way their poor relatives have been stampeded. A number of these have been thrown into jail, and only the nimblest have managed to escape the imperial vengeance. The Chinese merchants feel that this is very hard, because they have never been tried and convicted of any crime, and this punishment has fallen upon them because of a report of the Consul in San Francisco, which they say is absolutely false. It seems that the Consul sent word to the Minister in Washington that these ten men were "rebels and full of treason," that they were plotting the overthrow of the Emperor of China, and were collecting arms for that purpose. The Minister sent the report on to the Emperor, and his Celestial Majesty, fearful lest these ten men might overthrow his kingdom, instantly ordered them to come right home and have their heads chopped off. The accused Chinese merchants say that they are innocent, and that the charge was made against them by their enemies; and of enemies they seem to have an unlimited number. It appears that Chinese society is a very complicated affair. The Chinese, in their own country, live in families and clans, after the manner of the Scotch, and like the ancient Scotch people there are frequently terrible feuds or quarrels between the various clans. If one man of a clan offends a man of another clan, the two entire clans take up the quarrel, and every man of the one clan is ready to fight any man of the other clan, and injure him as far as lies in his power.