The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-19 00:00:00

SIR .TORN BOWRING ON CHINA.

At the meeting held at Liverpool on Wednesday
evening, in connection with the inauguration of
Brown Library and Museiam, Sir ohn Bowring
said,—ln China there are 400,000,000 of men who
make no progress. They don't learn what concerns
the business and draties of daily life. They are wholly
occupied with Ile past, which was the age of ignor-
ance. They look not forward. They have not learned
that great maxim of Bacon, that the present genera-
tion is the oldest of generations, and that the earliest
generation is the youngest. A maxim of more prac-
tical wisdom never fell from the lips of philosophy.
What I should desire to see in this country is
what I have seen in China—a universal passion,
a universal desire for instruction. Certainly that
does pervade the community, but the instructors
and the instruction of a valuable character are
wanting. A half dozen Lord Broughams—what
wonders would they not work—(hear, hear, and '
applause)—with a language which 500,000,000 of
men can read ! On that subject perhaps you will
allow me a word or two, because if there be any-
thing which keeps society together in the present
fearful disorganisation of that country—when
internecine wars are tearing, I may say, the
foundations of society up by the very roots—
when village is quarrelling with village, and man
with man—whop civil war is ravaging the
whole country, destroying cities, breaking up
wealth into pieces, and_ leaving everywhere
around it ruin and devastation—the one single,
solitary clement of se,:mrity and tranquility is the
great competitive organisation. (Hear.) Schools
are accessible t', every kind of boy, and the children
of the meanr,ot parents often rise to the mightiest
influener, and occupy the highest positions. The
man at this moment who stands at theheadof litera-
Imre—who bears the strange name of Chwang Tuen,
the first man in the empire of China—is the son of
a petty shopkeeper, a stationer who lives in an
obscure street in that very city of Ningpo. There
is scarcely a viceroy in China who has not risen
from the very lowest grades, for office is only
attainable according to the laws of China, by
that competitive struggle through which they
press towards distinction. (Hear, hear, and
applause.) I have seen youtbs, not youths only,
because there are men of 70, or SO, or 90 years of
age—(laughter)—l have seen 40,000 or 50,000 per-
sons enter the great cities of China in order to enter
upon that struggle : conceive what the struggle is.
A province of China ordinarily consists of
20,000,000 of human beings; and the village
schools are universally spread for the promotion
of education. There is not a father, however mean,
who does not struggle, if a lad of his family show
any evidence of superior talent, every effort is
made, every sacrifice undergone, in order to give
that youth the means of education •, for should he
succeed, such a blaze of light is thrown over his
family, over the village to which he belongs, that
the whole district is delivered over to rejoicing.
When this Then was nominated, no other person
from the district had reached Vile distinction for 200
years ; there was no man., however, elevated, who
did not go to pay homage to the family and pro-
genitors of the young man. They make their no-
bility run upwarao, and never downwards—
(laughter)—they ennoble the father and mother, the
grandfathers arid grandmothers, and ancestors, of
the men who distinguish themselves, and when I
discuss the matter with them, they say they have
better reason for what they do, for the descendants.
of a very wise man might be a great fool, and the
son of a good man might be a great rogue—
(Laughter.) And it is a strange fact connected
with Chinese history, that there is not a man, how-
ever poor, who does not know his forefathers for
many generations; and this teaching is given to
their children from the earliest period at which
their intellect can develope themselves. What I
want is this—that I may see in this country the
same passion for education and the same passion
for distinction which existed in China ; and in
China I would desire to see the valuable elemen-
tary books of this country, and the advanced in-
struction which we are enabled to give them.
(Hear, hear.) Perhaps that will be the result
in both cases. In this country we are beginning
to recognise the very important truth that some-
thing is to be learnt even from very remote coun-
tries ; and sorry I am that even in China, un-
doubtedly the proudest of nations, and the nation
least willing to receive instruction, the only
improvement of European origin is the lire
engine. (A laugh.) It was not long ago that
the Emperor of China heard something of
the English firelock, and he ordered some per-
cussion locks to be sent to Pekin ; but to this hour
they have not reached the use of the flint, much
less have they got the firelock. A very curious
communication was received from the French Am-
bassador at St. Petersburg, tbat the Emperor of
Russia had proposed to send the Elnperor of China
some 30 or 40 firelocks ; but ne would not have
them, because the
dish barbarians will use
them and have thel the
" ,
benefit of them upon his
own subjects."

SUDDEN DEATH FROM EXCITEMENT.—An alter-
cation took place in Warren's Hotel, at Kilkee, between
Don Seluco Gutieraz, a native of Lima, South America,
and others in the hotel, after dinner on Friday evening last.
In the affray the Don received a kick, and in a few minutes,
when in the act of paying his bill, he fell down and expired.
An inquest was held. The medical man, who made a post
morton examination, said death resulted from excitement.
A. Mr. Lawler, who was one of the persens present during
the quarrel, and who is a lieutenant IA the cure muitii,
incuet9cly,--1)0(ill 41,01ingjigg. j