Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1845-11-15
LECTURE ON CHINA.

Boston Mercantile Library Association'
Association, on Wednesday evening, was deli
vered by the Hon. Caleb Gushing. his suhec,
being "China." We copy an abstract from the
Boston Mercantile Jvurnal
Mr.. Gushing, in commencing his lecture
warned his audience against any disappoint.
ment that might be experienced as he should
proceed in his address, os, from the nature of his
theme, covering such an immense field for com.
mrn', he should necessarily be brief and deso'.
tory in his remarks. The vnstness Of his snh.
jet. the thousand details connected with il. the
topics of Importance and interest upon which
he must touch. would exclude all use of rheto.
ricql ornament /; and his audience must content
themselves with plain recital Of facts
To European or American. (continncd the
ecturcr,) gust lauied in China. every thing ap.
pears strange. lie finds himself not only at
the an'ipodes physically speaking hut at the an
tip des in moral sense. lie sees around him
countless mvriads of men in strange garb, and
with general appearance unlikr Io all that to
which he has heretofore been accustomed. He
observes the most studied uniformity among the
varions classes, and the progress of everything
which falls under his observation so slow and
So nrvaricd, strike him in a singular contrast
with our own changing manners ard locomotive
sperd A Thousand things adrnonsh him that
4
sounding of somrs: ir uh.crves innuincrahlc
boats on the rivers the dwelling places OF mil.
lions of Chinese; carts moved on land by sails,
as w1il as boats on tie water. Ifihc pilots look
To The compa.s TO direct his course upon the
deep. he looks to the pointing OF the south pole;
# ne receives letter h" utjl find i, written IN
lines running from top To bottom of the sheet,
reading from right to left, with The date at the
bottom of the lt,cr-no alphabet being used,
but idiocraphic characters. TIE mourning. in.
stead If be ing black. as with us, is white with
the Chiacse. The sl,uc even, is vh,encd with
some substance, TO correspond with uther pnr.
lions Of dresS. lie sees the saucer placed on
the cup, instead a the cup on the saucer; shut
'lecocks played with the feet, instead of their
waists; leaves of book cut open and trimmed
on the back q person swimming strikes his
hands critically, and not horizontally the top Of
the head shaved; and when friend meets vnn
you; the infantry armed with maichlncks. the
cavalry with the how and arrow and a colonel
u' The head of his regiment not unfrequsn'ly
brandishnga pan instead ofa sword. lie will
not only note these exterior forms of difference,
hut will learn that nobility is mol inherited
from the a'hcr hv tic son, bu, rather, if one
may so speak. by the father from the son-good
deeds refsciing hack upoI. n remote ancestry.
icc's ancestors long since dead and gone, though
il does not necessarily aiitc; pus,eri,y. All
these things will siiike one, upon n cnrsory
view hut il is just to trea, the subject in d,t-
grea, and polished people
We in America receive our longuacr, ard
unto, tuna:ely, too many IF our ideas, from En-.
rope. We speak ns If we weie The descendants
of the oldest nation of the globe, of history as
complete, that hisory is nurs- of unr civill
zaiinn n the unique idea of civilized society of
the fr.t voyage to India as discoveries as il the
teamng millions Of China had no existence ill
discovered by Portuguese navigator. tie, the
lecturer, wond no, speak "f Chinese cvllza.
tcn a'one. he, also of its hi.h antiquity. y.-.Chi-
na had for ages cultivated the arts. literature,
and the sciences. TIE language Of ConfIc us,
the co,emporarv of iIcrodotus, is now the ver.
nacnlar 'nngue nt thar great people The dis.
covcry gunpnwd"r. and the ma rnpr's com
pass. the manu'acnre Of silks and porcrlnins,
the invention OH printing press, and even the
circulation uf bank notes. had their day in Chi
m centuries ago. The lecturer did not know
ofany,ing that was not possessed By the Chi.
mes" anterior 10 the history Of Europe, excep,
the steam engine.
Our ward ''Chinu, as designating the land Of
the Chinese, is unknown to thrir language, aud
is Of Portuguese origin, Mr.. Cushing here
gave the three names by which the Chinese de-.
signste their country and also The English trans,
latlon otthem, which he said, were quite taul-
ty. Two of them ore translated---one the
GENITAL Land,"ihe other the "Central Flow.
er Land"-the third has escaped our ear. The
Chinese Empire consists OF two great classes of
peope-ihe Chinese who inhabit eighteen pro.
vnces of Chin, Proper, aud the Tartars, dt.
v'ded into the Msnchon, Mongol Tartsrs, &c.
1t has been estimated that China contains pop.
ulaiion of 35OOOOO0O souls; by many this is