Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1845-12-11

to the East Indies as discoveries; as IT
the teeming millions of India and Chi
ma were hid, or did not exist, until u
wandering Italian merchant or Portu-
guese navigator had found his way out
Of the darkness OF Europe into the COM
parative effulgeht light of Asia. But
in fact nearly all our modern arts had
their day in China centuries SINCE
Her civilization, arts, literature, and
language, are Of the highest antiquity
and longest duration. From her we
have derived, to say nothing OF tea. gun
gowder, the mariners compass, silk,
porcelain, paper, printing both with
blocks and movable types) newspa-
pers, bank notes and paper money
All these things are of modern use with
us-not so with them. The language
of Confucius, the Contemporary of Hero
dotus, is yet the vernacular tongue oil
the Chinese--and, in short, do not
know OF anything now possessed byus,
except the steam engine, which they
did not possess anterior to history
While our fathers were skin clad bar
barians, rowing in the woods of Britain,
Germany and Norway, thousand OF
years ago, China was populous en-
pire OF polished men, clad in silk, liv-
ing in cities, having colleges of educa-
ton, frequenting crowded theatres,
drinking from porcelain, publishing
books, and engrossing all the chief arts
of civilization, just as it now is in Eu.
rope and America. Our word China
is Portuguese, and like the Latin Sina
| it is unknown in the country itselfas a
designation of the land. 1t is supposed
to be derived from the Tsin dynasty, a
family which once reigned in the EN-
pire, but is of comparatively modern
use, since, in the 18th century the name
was Carthary, as we learn from Column
bus and others. Their own names are
three in number.
1--Ta-tsing--frequently translated
ssGreat Pure"
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Land"
3--Chung-hwa--"Central Flowe'
ry."
4--Ta-tsing Chung-kwoh--"Central
Land of the Great Pure"
This last is the true political desig
nation Of China, while Nos. J. aud !
are the literary and No. 2 the popu
lar names. The error of trans!atine
these appellations gives them an all
of strangeness. The Chinese is a
primitive language, and of course al
the words are significant; these are
proper names and should be used as
sueh--to translate them is as if an
Englishman should speak of Sir Mark
Vetch, Lord Mayor of Strength, in
stead of Marcus Cicero, Consul Of
Rome. The Chinese Empire, a:
Europe has known it for nearly five
hundred years, consists Of two grea'
masses of men-viz. the Chinese, who
inhabit eighteen provinces of China
proper-and the Tartars, divided into
Manchus, Mongols, Mohammedan
and other Tartars, inhabiting vas
interior country, Iii. Add to these
lst. Tibet, under the protection o.
China, and cd, Tributary regions in
fluenced more or less by the Chinese
government-such as Corea, Cochia
China, Siam, sc. The population, ex-
elusive of m rely tributary States, by
the census Of the Chinese, is put
down at $4,000, oo0-but this is dis
puted simply because it is large. and
the amount is reduced, conjecturally,
to 100000 by most Foreigners
Yet this is without good reason, as we
may understand by view Of the cir
cumstances of the case, and COMPARE
son Of the territory. manners and Gus
toms of the Chinese with those oil
other nations. The immense throBgs
of people everywhere presenting
themselves to the eye are all extreme
Nv industrious, making the country ap-
pear one vast beehive or ant-nest.-
Let us consider-that two crops per
annum are produced in the populous
regions of China proper, whereas, here
and in Europe, but one is raised. We
consequently must produce food for
twelve months in six, besides the pro-
vision for our cattle in winter. and &C.
cupy much of our space in its sto-
rage till wanted for consumption. II
is not so with them. That there are
no beasts of burthen in Southern Chi
IA to consume food which men might
use. Horses are unknown, except in
small numbers for the troops; there are