The Press. — London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

JANUARY 20, 1E15,5. selling their judgments, and hence the moral and physical interests of the people sank gra dually into absolute decay. The people, how over, apparently indifferent to the political situation of the country, have yet, during this time, formed secret societies, which have kept a spark of nationality burning, waiting only for the signal to burst into a flame of revolution. That signal has now been given : a single isolated act of highway robbery led to the association of several villains to resist the power of the Mandarin of the district, whose efforts in the cause of justice were, of course, very weak and futile. The band increased, till at length a little force was raised, which occjisioned some secret uneasiness to the vice roy of the province. A victory or two over the police and then over the Government troops sealed the fate of the highway robber : he broke out in absolute rebellion against his Emperor, proclaimed himself generalissimo of the army, summoned the secret societies to his aid, declared that he came to restore a national government, assumed the title of Emperor and Son of Heaven, and, defeating the Government troops upon every occasion, took town after town in the southern province of Kouang-si, and by the latest accounts had captured a squadron of the imperial fleet and besieged Canton with every prospect of success. Upon what trifles do the fate of em pires hang ! Had this man been caught and thoroughly well bambooed, or been executed, the Chinese empire, with its 361 millions of subjects, might perhaps have slumbered on for another century or two. The personal adventures of M. Hue and his companion will be eagerly read. Having been detained on the frontiers of Thibet, they were seized and sent to the capital of the nearest province, by order of the Emperor, there to undergo trial for traversing the im perial country without leave, as well as to satisfy the authorities that they were not Chinese subjects, a suspicion which had arisen from the facility with which they spoke the Chinese and Tartar languages. Being conducted from the frontiers of Thibet to the capital of the western province of Sse tchouen, the great city of Tching-tou-fun, they were tried, and, being acquitted, were from thence conducted by the Emperor's order through the empire to Canton, and there de livered over to the European authorities, from whence they returned to France. In this manner, traversing the empire entirely from west to east, M. Hue enjoyed every oppor tunity of studying the customs, manners, and institutions of the people. His narrative is totally free from that exaggeration which is so generally found in missionaries' works. He frankly tells us that missionaries hare little or no cause to boast over their converts in China. The mind of the nation is so eminently scep tical, that the people, like the Ciugalese, would as soon put on one faith as the other, provided they can make money or gain an object by their conversion. Upon leaving their hospitable Thibet friends and arriving at the first frontier town of China, Ta-tsieu lou, their difficulties commenced, hut, being somewhat acquainted with the cunning and pliability of the Chinese character, M. Huc assures us that both he and his companion were determined never to submit to any impo sitions or ill-treatment, travelling as they were under an imperial safe conduct. " The Chi " nese Mandarins," says M. Hue, " are pretty " much like their own bamboos if one can ",but manage to get hald of them in the right " way, they are easily bent double and kept " so ; but if for a second you let go, they aro " up again in a moment as straight as ever." Three hundred miles from the frontier they reached the town of Tching-tou-fou, where they were lodged in the court of justice pre paratory to their trial ; but an immediate invi tation to dine with the Mandarins of the town dispelled much of their anxiety about the result. The dinner passed off in an amusing manner, and the next morning they were con ducted to the judgment-hall, and subjected to an amusing cross-examination by the public prosecutor. The examination, however, ter minating in a favourable manner, M. Hue and his companion returned to their lodgings, and after some day s th e v i ceroy o f the province admitted them to an interview, THE PRESS. and informed them that they were free, but that they must be conducted to Can ton under (wart forthwith. The report which the viceroy made to the Emperor upon the subject is a well-written document, con taining little or none of that bombastic language which we have been accustomed to think inseparable from Chinese writings. It is the simple, common-sense report of an educated official. After some days' stay at the town, they started once more on their journey to Canton, travelling in state and receiving the honours due to the highest functionaries, by order of the Emperor. They halted for rest and refreshment at the communal palaces, which form a peculiar feature in the hotel system of China. They are simply hotels kept up by the State, and provided solely for the use of the Govern ment functionaries on their journeys through the country. The other hotels are for the civilians, and are quite as plentiful as the inns and hotels in England. The communal palaces are kept up in great state ; servants in rich liveries, magnificent furniture, excellent cookery, and a beautiful situation, generally constitute the main features of these splendid hotels. Here is a sketch of one at Kien tcheou : After traversing a vast court planted with trees, we as cended to the main building by thirty beautifully-cut stone steps. The apartments were spacious, lofty, exquisitely clean, and deliciously cool and fresh : the furniture was richly ornamented with gikling, in an infinite variety of patterns ; the hangings were of gorgeous red or yellow silk, the carpets made of woven bamboo•peeling, and painted in the liveliest colours; there were antique bronzes, immense porcelain urns, vases of the must elegant kit ma, in which flowers and shrubs of the moat whimsical ap• pearance were growing : such were the ornaments that we found in this superb abode. Behind the house was an im mense garden, in which Chinese industry had exhausted its resources to imitate the freedom and even the capricious sports of nature. Our traveller had, of course, excellent oppor tunities of observing the habitudes of official life. The ordinary existence of a Mandarin is certainly not overburdened with labour : The life of a Chinese Mandarin appeared to us a very leisurely one. At sunrise Pao•ngan installed himself on his judge's seat, and passed the first hours of the morning in administering justice, or, more properly speaking, in arranging and legalising the extortions of his scribes. After this rather superfluous labour came the great affairs of the day. namely, breakfast, dinner, and supper. Pao ngan kept a very good table, as he received an extra allowance on our account; but, ample as it was, the unfortunate man could not, after the third day, resist putting water into the excellent rice-wine, in order to squeeze a little more profit out of us. It seems as if a Chinese really must make use of some kind of fbaud and trickery ; every unlawful gain has for him such an irresistible attraction. In the intervals between his meals, the occupations of Pao-ngan were not very laborious ; he smoked, he drank tea, he amused himself with munching dried fruits, or fragments of sugar cane ; or he dozed upon a divan, or fanned himself with large palm-leaves, or possibly played a game of cards or chess. Then some other Mandarin, as idle as Limself, would oome sauntering in, and they woull sit down together and mourn over the inconveniences and toils of public life. In his progress through the country M. Hue frequently met with Chinese Christians ; for it appears that there are some sincere con verts made here and there in the empire, in spite of the imperial edicts which have proscribed the religion of the " Lord of Heaven." Christianity was originally intro duced into China as early as the fifth and sixth centuries, and flourished under Court protection in the thirteenth, but gradually fell into disrepute, until at length it was proscribed to a certain extent. The Mandarins of the various provinces are perfectly well aware of the existence of the sect, and, indeed,. one even admitted that the environs of his own palace were surrounded by Christians, and that he could hear the sound of their hymns which they sang upon festival days ! Yet, in general, little notice is taken of them, as their seizure and trial would only entail a considerable amount of unprofitable trouble. Bnt it must not be supposed, as we have remarked, that the character of the Chinese is favourable to conversion. The fact is, there is a radical indifference to all be lief in the future inherent in the Chi nese character. They are so utterly ab sorbed in their temporal interests, that their whole life, as M. Hue says, is only " mate rialism put in action." If you speak to a Chinese about the importance of reflecting upon a future, or of the certainty of a life beyond the grave— He admits everything, approves of all you say, does ao4 find the least difficulty, or make the smallest objection. In his opinion, all this is " true, fine, grand," and he puts himself into en oratorical attitude, and makes a beautiful speech against idolatry, and in favour of Christianity. He deplores the blindness of men, who attach themselves to the perishable goods of UM. world ; perhapa be will eves give utterance to some fine sentences on the happiness of knowing the true God; of serving him, and of meriting by this means the reward of eternal life. To listen to him, you would thick him just ready to become a Christian, in fact, that he was such already ; yet he has not advsuced a single step. "No doubt," said a Chiuese gentlemau to M. Hue, " that the Christiatu religion is Watt " tiful it n d sublime, but Just consider—we have a body ; how many cares it demands! It must be clothed, fed, and sheltered from the injuries of the weather; its infirmities are great, and its maladies numerous. It is agreed ou all hands that health is our most precious good. This body that we see, that we touch, must be taken care of every day, and every moment of the day. Now, is not this enough, without troubling ourselves about a soul that we never do sae? The life of man is short and full of misery ; it is made up of a succession of important concerns, that follow one another without interruption. Our hearts and our minds are scarcely sufficient for the solicitudes of the present life—is it wise, then, to torment one's self about the future oue? In China every official situation under Go vernment is obtained according to literary qualification, and State employments are given as prizes to the best scholars, a system that has been in practice for many thousand years ; so that our much-talked-of refor mation of the civil service, both at home and in India, is really nothing more or less than an adaptation of the Chinese system. As a consequence of this, education in China is in a highly advanced state. The rich have private tutors for their children, and both public and private schools abound in all parts of the empire. Books, as might be expected, are plentiful upon every subject government, law, political economy, commerce, agriculture, gardening, novels, history, geography, poems, and romances—and as there are more books there are certainly more people to read them than in any other country in the world. Each person may print what he pleases; but we suspect the reason why they enjoy such per feet freedom of speech is, that although when once plunged into rebollicn they yield to every excess, yet as a general rule the people hardly ever interfere with politics or criticise the acts of Government, unless contrary to law and custom. " Listen to me, my friend," remarked a Chinese to M. Hue, who was speculating upon the policy of the present Emperor and his Government, why should " you trouble your heart and fatigue your " head by all these vain surmises? The " Mandarins have to attend to the affairs of " State ; they are paid for it. Let them " earn their money, then. But don't let us " torment ourselves about what does not con " cern us. We should be great fools to want " to do political business fox nothing !" "You " men of the West," said another, "are too " hot-blooded; you cannot take things coolly ; " but We Chinese (they say) print whatever we like; books, pamphlets, circulars, and placards, without any interference from Government. We may even print for ourselves at discretion, provided we du not find it too troublesome, and have money enough to get the types carved. We do not abuse this liberty; we print what may amuse or instruct the public, without prejudice to the five cardinal virtues and the three social relations. We do not meddle much in public affairs, because we are persuaded that the empire would not be well governed if SUO,OOOPOO of individuals attempted each to make it go his own way. It does sometimes happen, indeed, that books are printed which might trouble the public peace and throw distespeet on authority, and on such occasions the Mandarins leek out the author of the crime and punish him severely. Rut this is no reason to prevent others from expressing their thoughts and composing books: the misdemeanour of a bad citizen should not entail the punishment of the whole nation. It seems that this is not the way in the countries beyond the Western seas ; and it is not surprising, for we know that different nations have different tastes and dis positions. It is the disposition of the Western people to be excited to anger, sometimes in one direction. sometimes in another ; it is their taste to think their Governments good one day and bad the next : it is evident that if such people were suffered to have as much liberty as we enjoy, there would be no end to confusion and disturbance. It may be good sometimes to change Governments, but such alterations should not be rapid or frequent. One of our wisest philosophers has said, " Unhappy the nation which is badly governed ; but yet more unhappy the nation which, having a tolerable Government, is not wise enough to keep it." But in spite of all this edµcaticiu and love far literature the state of morals from the utter