The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

you took upon you that office ?—No ; I told you be- thing equivalent to this in your four books 7—Such
fore we are only expected to speak Teeth." is not said in the four books."
I
s,liot benevolence spoken of in the four books ?
" Then did your Excellency never study Chinese
law ?—Never. --Yes'
What is benevolence ?—lf you desire men to
"Did you never read the Chinese Code I—No." love you you must love them. If you do not wish
" Did not your want of reading in Chinese law men to hate you, you must not hate them."
make your judicial duties onerous ?—No." " Would not the saying of Confucius before re-
" Perhaps you were assisted by good secretaries ? tetrad to forbid punishment to criminals ?—The
—Sometimes I was ; sometimes not." Taoli does not mean that."
"Is there any class in China who know the code ? "Or revenging an injury 7—That would depend
—Those who fail in our higher examinations often on the man."
apply themselves to study law and other matters. " Would it not be wrong ?—Yes."
They sometimes become our secretaries." "Does not this Taoli give an advantage to bad
"Is it a proper;question to ask your Excellency people who commit injuries 7—The knowledge of
-Vow much you paid your secretaries f—Usually 100 Taoli is nevertheless the better."
taska month."—(33l.) " Why I—The object of our wishes is to come to
" And what did they make by perquisite 7-300 a knowledge of Taoli."
or 400 more.'" He afterwards withdrew this reply " Are murder, robbery, and adultery forbidden
and substituted 30 or, 40, but this was an after- in the four books I—Not directly, but it results
thought. The first was the true estimate. from the Taoli."
"If these are influential in China, how does it
" Your Excellency will excuse my importunity
for we are talking upon matters foreign to our become necessary to punish so many ?—The good
are in the majority. It is impossible for all to be
Wt stern ideas. May I believe that it man who un-
good."
derstands the four books and the five classics is "You have spoken of benevolence as a part of
thereby, and without any other study, fitted for Taoli ; is the benevolence you speak of merely a
every publicoffice in China ?—From the very corn- condition of the mind, or is it a course of action
mencement of the Chinese Empire it has .been the dictated from within f—Benevolence is Taoli—
custom to depend entirely on the four books." Taoli is benevolence."
"Do you never uponbecoming an officer readup He was evidently getting tired of a lecture which
the duties of the office i—The high officers often usa had interested him at its commencement. It was
secretaries to look up such matters." necessary to drop the subject. We had many sub-
I took up a Mantohou book,—" Can your Excel- sequent talks with him on the same matters, but he
lensy speak or read Mantchou I—No. had evidently reconsidered the matter, and had
" Nor the Cantonese dialect?--No." made up his mind to give us no further information.
On a day subsequent to our last conversation we
—No. I was educated at Pekin, as my ancestors
referred to a previous conversation which had been
.
t t dand 'd
in errup e , said—
Your
were, and I speak only the language of Pekin."
" Your Excellency said the other day that it was
It would be impertinent in me to point the moral
of this conversation. It tells more of the inner work-
not by your will that the English were excluded
ings of the Chinese system thanall that has hitherto from Canton city.—lt was the will of the Emperor
and the people.
been written on the subject.
"
The question remains, what is the " Taoli," " Who are the people 7—The 100 surnames.
Not only the gentry 7—The feeling was not
which is the sole knowledge of thegoverning classes only that of the inhabitants of the city, but of the
of China ? Ido not ask what is the exact English villages all round about.
word which will convey the meaning of the corn- " What was that feeling based upon I—That you
pound Chinese word. It is of small importance to must ask the people, you must not ask me.
bumble practical inquirers whether we are to trans- "There is no
demonstration of such a feeling
late it " true doctrine," " truth," or "reason," or now
when
know nothing about that.
the " ultimate principle," or the way of the uni-
verse," or " the rule of right."
~
right." All this has been hen Capt. Pyns, the captain of the police,
goes about
sufficiently fought out bydreatny sophists and scho-
lastic pedants. My inquiry is whether this word say, 'We are glad to see you here, you preserve
r
" Thole is a term comprehending a cycle of know-
ou property l'— No answer.
ledge whichwill tend to make the student an honest " Does your Excellency understand the two sys-
man, an intelligent officer, and an efficient 'magis-
tems of collecting duties as in exercise at Canton
trate. and Shanghai, and would you think fit to give an
opinion upon them ?—I do not know."
I look in vain to all the European books on He returned of his own accord to the Canton
Chinese philosophy for an answer to this question. topic.
" Absolute truth," or " the ultimate principle," "It is not my city ; how could I let sou in ?
conveys no tangible idea to the European mind. "But the treaty was express 7—l do not re-
If we attempt to read the four books by the light member."
of mere common sense we utterly fail to deduce I only cite this conversation to note that,
any system of philosophy or even of ethics from although Yeh is willing, and indeed anxious, to
them. I have toiled through the Latin translation have it reported that he adheres to the transparent
of "Y King," and find it as unintelligible to me as fables he put forth in his State papers,- yet he will
a sheet of algebraic signs would be to a man who enter into no discussion upon them. -
has not learnt their meaning. I have no doubt
~ He afterwards -added of his own accord—
however, that it is quite capable of explanation, "I did make preparations. A man would have
and I suspect that under the tuition of a learned no sense who did not. It was not that my pre-
Chinese doctor these to me nonsensical apophthegms parations were insufficient, nor that my soldiers
about "the dragon " would resolve themselves into were cowardly, nor my officers were inefficient, but
some fine-spun speculative system of cosmogony, only because your guns are so tremendous (li-hai)."
producing itself in some fanciful moral philosophy, one night Capt. Brooker beat to night quarters,
some subtle web of objective truths, hung upon and we went down to forewarn Yeh, lest he should
ridiculous atheistic conceits. I believe that, stolid, suffer by being startled from sleep by the sound of
gaiuseeking, and matter-of-fact as they appear to heavy guns. He and his servant were already up
us, there is an dice/30)1c in the mind of a Chinaman, and inquiring. They had heard the sudden bustle
that it is more generally diffused than we imagine, upon deck. Having been told that the men were
and that it contributes greatly to the marvellous going to exercise with the great guns, he quietly
conceit of the national character. I believe there turned in again. He actually affected to be fast
is in this people a habit of dreamy cogitation upon asleep while the 681 b. pivot gun was blazing away
a self-generating system, and upon abstract truths, just over hs head, and the broadsides were shaking
deducible from what they assume to be the laws of the ship from stem to stern. He had the impu-
the universe, and that they consider this the highest dente to declare next morning that he had slept
occupation of the mind of man. They imagine that quite through the firing.
they akne have this faculty, and that the barbarians One clay, after he had been sitting fanning him-
who are without it are scarcely thinking creatures. self for seven hours without saying a word, or even
We see this cropping out at every footstep in their smoking a pipe, I asked him whether it did not dis-
to wns. Go into a shoemaker's shop and you find concert him to see every one else around him en •
his walls adorned with mysterious characters— gaged in some occupation. H said "It did not
very large golden characters at top, and scrolls of surprise him. He knew that the English were
smaller writing pendent below. You expect that always busy; but such was not the Chinese
this large character means the man's name, or, at custom."
any rate, the sign of his shop ; but the Chinese I asked him why he did not smoke ?
scholar at your side informs you that it means, He said, "The hot principle is in the ascend-
" May the pencil and the ink flow fragrantly." You ant."
continue to imagine that the smaller characters There is in the day of these blue tropical seas one
mean "Boots and shoes mended on the shortest hour of beauty, when the plain of waters is just
notice." No, they mean "Ten thousand unities heaving to the light head breeze, and the only
to all eternity." These things are nearly universal visible object is the red, roundsun, falling down the
in China. The examples I have just cited I take western heavens so rapidly that it seems at last
from 20 which I noted at Singapore. I believe that to drop, and quench in the reddened waters. Our
every Chivaman above the condition of a Coolie captain chooses this cool healthy moment to put
talks Taoli, or affects to talk Taoli, in his little way the men through their exercise, and Yeh, full of
—not with that application of an affectation- of dinner, waddles upon deck and sits in a big ham-
learning to his trade which would induce an Eng- boo chair,i with his two attendants behind him.
lish shoemaker to register his podosokyan pumps, What a wild turmoil of well regulated confusion
but from real reverence for " Taoli." immeliately takes place on board the Inflexible !
' This preface is not to introduce any theory of Mr. Beaver', the first lieutenant, is dictating an
my own upori. the subject of " Taoli," although, of ititerminabie series of manoeuvres, more rapidly,
course, I have one, but only to explain the Um.- I believe, than man ever before talked ; 300 men
portance of getting Yeh to talk upon the subject. are in perpetual motion, moving in every different

"What does your Excellency mean by Taoli ?
What you ought to do is Taoli ; what you ought
not to do is not Taoli."
" Has Taoli no more extended meaning ?—Taoli
has the most comprehensive meaning—.-it compre-
hends everything."
" Does Taoli teach of a Creator 7—There are
many Taoli. There is Heaven's Taoli, and earth's
Taoli, and, man's Taoli."
" Are these Taoli distinct 7—No ; they are all
parts of one Taoli."
" Can you explain to me what you mean by
Heaven's Taoli I—lf the sun shines out it becomes
hot."
" It has relation only to the material heaven 7
" Tien' mesas properly only the material heaven,
but it also means Shangti'(Upper Spirit), for, as
it is not lawful to use his name lightly, we name
him by his residence, which is in Tien."
" One of our Christian sect uses the word 'Tien-
ohu,'—is that a Chinese word 7—lt is not a word
known to the Chinese language."
'Your Excellency used the word Shangti'—
what does that word mean ? Our people dispute
about it ?—Shangti is a Shun, but Shun is not ne-
cessarily Sbangti, for the Shun are very many."
" Have Shangti and Taoli any connexion ?
When you discourse about Shangti you discourse
about Taoli. Shangti and Taoli are one and the
same thing."
" Is Taoli a corporeal being I—ln things that
are done by it it is a thing having body ; but when
you discourse of it it is a thing having no body—it
is a" principle."

direction, but with purpose in their heads and
speed in their hands and feet. In a few seconds
the naked ship is clad in canvass. Another order,
and before the expanded sails can feel the gently
opposing zephyr she is again naked to her spars.
Then a whistle, and a hoarse boatswain's call, and
the bees swarm again. In a moment every gun is
manned. Every man in that straining crowd seems
to have a special work to do, knows it, and does it.
Handspikes are worked with a will, the blue-
jackets heeding to the labour as though a real
enemy were at our yardarm. The broadside guns
are run in and out like children's gocarts, and the
huge pivot-guns are spun round as though they
were dummies of cork instead of mountain cast
iron. But the captain's sharp eye is not always
satisfied, and ever and anon comes a voice from the
paddlebox, awarding extra drill to No. 2 or No. 5
of some designated gun for not being smart enough
or for being in his wrong place.
What is Yeh doing all this time ? Is he mark-
ing this orderly energy, this discipline, this zeal
of art, this heartiness of work, this scene of a
multitude in motion, with one object, and is he
pondering over the lesson ? Not at all. Two
middies, Ilidden by the awning from the eye of the
captain, are skylarking together, and the bigger one
has just forced his smaller comrade- breech-fore-
most into a tub of water. Yeh is slyly watch.
ing those scapegraces through the corner of his
thin eyes, and when the young gentleman goes
s )use into the full tub he chuckles, but immediately
turns away his head, to hide the undignified
enjoyment. Then in • a moment it is night.
Twenty minutes after the sun is down nothing can

Has teat body any visible form ?—No; it has
no form. Different people have notions that it has
different forms."
" And do those people worship those forms ?
Yes."
"`Has Shangti any visible form t—Shangti is
produced by the Yin and Yang, the Tai-chi—the
male and female principle. It has no visible form.
It has never been represented under any form."
4' Were there men in existence before this pro-
duction of the Shangti I—There were men.
"Is there authority for this ?—That is what
everybody says from ancient time ; it is said so in
the books."
"Is Shang:i Confucian t—lt is hinted at by Con-
fucius, but not explained. Shangti is a Taouist
Taoli.

he seen but the tall windsails glancing to and fro
like ghosts in the gloaming. Yeh has gone down
to drink tea and sleep ; remembering, as I believe,
nothing of what he saw on deck, except only the
whimsical face of the "small boy" who was forced
backwards into the tub of water.
On the ninth day of our voyage from Singapore
we sighted the two pilot brigs which lie out of
sight of land, but give notice of our approach to the
S indheads. Then, having taken a pilot on board
and pursued our course fur some hours, a distant
streak of red sandy coast line (such as we may see
on some of our own eastern coasts, but still more,
like the first glimpse of Egypt from the Mediterra-
nean) vouched the land of Ind. Yeh was told this,
and he went to bed.

67 Which is superior—Tai-chi or Shangti

Next morning we steamed up the muddy
Hooghley, with its low green banks like Essex, or

"So that the Upper Spirit or Ruler is only a like the shores of the mouth of the Rhine—if the:
`-stet- being, emanating from the ultimate laws of lands would only grow a few palm tree's- among
nature ?—Yes. their other foliage. I tried to interest Yeh in the
,
" What produced Tai•chi I—lt came of itself." customs of the Hindoos, and he listened so far as
(Tzu-jan-rlijan.) to remark that the drowning of aged parents in this
I deduce from this that the Roman Catholics river was a "strange Taoli." He had hear d of the
have chosen the best word for God. They have Ganges, and thought
mighthtitm haveigbt
been
betruet that
wade a new word, whereas our Protestant mission- Ilan dynasty water brought a r
inf
rtheom
arias have adopted a word known to the Chinese as
rtioiriss,rihvuetr,l,o,rhithleeacroniu
rongatthioenhoisftotrhye
oCfhcinheinsea Ehemhpaed-
the name of a created being.
WeWesterns
thoroughly." I asked, 4‘ Has Tai-chi any form ?—.lts form is a not attended
ste
rn to s
such
have a proverb
mvaetrtbertshea,t ewhareateewveerredi,s
" Has any one seen Tai-chi f —No."
circle divided into two parts—male and female.
wotth d
for a
is
moment,worth
doingan said,h "That is notHe a
form 1- then have agreed to represent it by that thought
" How, then, do you know that it is of that
Chinese Taoli." He had never heard that the
Ganges was a sacred river. I talked to him about
Co .m. 71
The Confucian philosophy, therefore, recognises
it with the hope of inducing him to go upon deck
only nature self-produced, active, but wililess an l and look at it. l e sat and fanned himself in the
unintelligent. The disciples of Confucius tolerate cabin, immovable.
the idea of the existence of ruling spirits born of Some of us were not sorry that he would not
the operations of nature—the creatures, and not comp on deck. The distant approach to the City of
the creators of the universe. In this way they are Palaces is not prepossessing. The river contracts
able to engraft Taouism and Bhuddism upon Con- almost to the dimensions of our Thames at Mort-
unianiere. lake. Though the palms are still beautiful, the flat
When Yob turns to the east and remains in con- landscape wants relief; recaionally a great, square,
tetnpletion he is adoringfactory--own brother
ritual creetiona nature, and not the Spi- brick-bililt, window
nature in her best
of nature. He is contempl tang to a dozen I could pick out in Derby—appears hor-
rid in the sun glare. A factory is not a picturesque
I was anxious toalephaerentsomething of the practical object even in the glens of Glossop ; it always sug-
working of pues,
ii If a man who riaFT.I gests hard work and close breathing, and here in
meet to talk Taoli does not s ;arching
do Taoli, does any punishment
Such a man would be very eaedn,t, arise to him 1— India that idea must be ahorrent even
to the Chinese unities. The bungalows come in
Would Shangti ptuelnii7,h, him I—The things Of heir
svei t higher up, but the stains of mildew upon t
Heaven how can we to pliister pillars hint of disrepair. That dead
"Does your Excellency recollect a saying of Con- Ilindoo floating past with four carrion birds
g y facies:, ' That which you would' not that another perched uon him, drivin their heav beaks into
should do to you that do not to him I'—lt is 00n_ the corruption, does not suggest absolute security
‘ andgood order. Yeh would think of the Canton
fuciari Moll. I forget the exact "Premien in the river heavy with dead bodies after one of his great
bat_teeesap above.
four books."
"In our WestetuTaoli we have a more extended
bo,ly,h,chvowever, sees none of these flings ; every-
Taelis which commander" dutyapvte as forbids an
c the steward,i seems to think it a shame
offence. - It runs; 6Do unto others everything that that a
you would wish others to do to you. Is there any- and little l)4 miss the first sight of India,
stratagems are tried to make him look.