The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-10-28
IEcTuRE ON CHINA.

bOSlON MERCANTILE LIBRARY AoS<ySihi'o4''
j The lecture before the Mercantile Library Assoc
citation, on "Wednesday evening, was deliyered py
the Hon. Caleb Cushing, his subject being "China,"
We copy an abstract from the Boston Mercantile
Journal:
4 Mr.. Gushing, in commencing his lecture, warned
his audience against any disappointment that might
be experienced he should proceed In his address,
az, from the nature of his theme, covering such an
i immense field for comment, he should necessarily
be brief and desuory in his remarks. The vast
ness Of his subject the thousand details connected
with it, the topics of importance and interest upon
which he must touch, would exclude all use OF
rhetorical ornament; and his audience must content
themselves with plain recital OF facts.
\ To European or an American, Continued the
lecturer Just landed in China, everything appears
strange. He finds himself not only at the antipodes
physically speaking, but at the antpodes IN moral
sense He sees around him countless myriads Of
men in strange garb, and with general appear
ance unlike to all that TO which he has heretofore
been accustomed. He observes the most studied
uniformity among the various classes, and the prog
ress Of everything which falls under his observation
SO slow and UNMARRIED, strikes him in singular
contrast with our own changing manners and loco
motive speed. A thousand things admonish him
that he is in strange land. He hears the constant
sounding of gongs he observes innumerable boats
on the rivers, the dweng-places of millions of Chr
nese; carts moved on land by sails, as well boats
on the water. If the pilot looks to the compass to
direct his course upon the deep, he looks TO the
pointing ofthe south pole; if he receives letter, he
will find it written in lines running from top to bot
tom of the sheet, reading from right to leh with
the date at the bottom Of the leer-no alphabet be-
ing used, but Geographic characters. The mourning,
instead of being black, with us, is white with the
Chinese The shoe, even, is whitened with some
substance, to correspond with other portions Of
dress. He sees the saucer placed on the cup, in
stead Of the cup the saucer; shuttlecocks played
with the feet, instead Of the hands; ladies' feet
pressed, instead Of their waists; leaves Of book cut
open and trimmed on the back; person swimming
strikes his hands vertically, and not horizontally;
the top of the head shaved and when friend meets
youin the street, he does not shake your hands, but
shakes his hands at you; the infantry armed with
matchlocks, the cavalry with the bow and arrow;
and colonel at the head of his regiment not unfe-
quently brandshing pan, instead of a sword. He
will only note these exterior forms of difference,
but will learn that nobility is not inherited from the
father by the son, but rather, if one may speak,
by the father from the son-good deeds rejecting
back upon remote ancestry. Corruption ofblood,
for crimes committed, affects ancestors long since
dead and gone, though it does not necessarily affect
posterity. All these things will strike one, upon
cursory view but is just to treat the subject in
different manner, or injustice will be done to great
and polished people.
Il We in America receive our language, and unfor-
tunately, too, many of our ideas, from Europe We
speak as if we the descendants of the Oldest
nation of the gobe-of history complete, if that
history is oursof our civilization the unique idea
Of civilized society-of the first voyage to India
discoveries, as if the teeming millions Of China had
no existence till discovered by Portuguese naviga-
tor. He, the lecturer, would not speak of Chinese
civilization alone, but also of its high antiquity.
China had for ages cultivated the arts literature and
the sciences. The language Of Confucius, the con-
temporary of Herodotus, is the vernacuar
tongue of that great people. The discovery of gum
powder, and of the mariners compass, the manu-
acture of silks and porceains the invention of the
printing-press, and even the circulation of bank
notes, had their day in China centuries ago. The
lecturer did not know Of anything that not pos
sessed by the Chinese anterior the history of Eu-
J rope, except the steam engine
Our word "China," as designating the land of the
Chinese, is unknown to their language, and is of
Portuguese origin, Mr. Gushing here gave the
three names by which the Chinese designate their
country, and also the English translation of them
which, he said quite faulty. Two Of them are
transated--one the "Central Land" the other
the Central Flowery Land'--the third escaped our
} ear. The Chinese Empire consists Of two great
classes of people-the Chinese, who nhabit eighteen
provinces of China Proper, and the Tarars divided
} INTO the Manchou, Mongol Tartars, &c 1t has
been estimated that China contains population Of
$50 900 900 souls; by many this estimate is doubt
; ed, but those who doubt concedc a population of
} 250,0O0000, deducting ad Hbi,un from the census
taken by the Chinese themselves. slight anal
yss of the facts in the case will put an end to all
|, to all speculation. One will see in China vast
multitude of human beings, all active and indus
trous. comparison of the territory of China, its
climate, its laws, customs and habits Of the people,
with those of other nations, will soon convince one
that the empire is the seat of vast population.
portion of China lies the tropics, where crops
are easily produced every season. No beasts of
burden are to be seen in Southern China Ali
portation is carried the canals, the backs
OF men. The boats on the canals tracked by
mem no horses are to be seen, except what are in
use for the Tartar cavalry and but few bufaloes,
which are used for ploughing some peculiar Soils
) These facts prove that the country is capable Of
supporting dense population. 1t is not the case in
China as in this country--they have not to produce
I in one crop sufficient to support them the year
round, sustain beasts of burden, that consume
much as men Of the agricultural products of the
country. The land is one entire cultivated garden,
except the large grounds left for the burial of the
9 dead. These facts would leave nothing to deduct
r from the estimation of the Chinese to their
own population But there are others. The abste-
!, mousness of the Chinese is one. They also eat
: cats, rats, dogs, &c There is immense emigra-
: ton constantly going forth In Southern China
there are productible articles of fruit than in
almost any other section of the globe. 1--WE under
stood Mr. Gushing to say that the banana produces
as 1873 TO Of our wheat, and Al to Of our potato)
To recall to mind the population of Europe will
serve to dispcl any doubts one may entertain to
the correctness Of the estimate of the population of
4, China. China covers as large space Europe;
, and why not contain as large population II the
u nomadic regions of the north scarce in popula-
tlon the tropical regions of the south make up for
9 the deficiency. If Europe is capable of sustaining
,00O,0 600 of people, why not China larger pop.
ulaon, possessed Of superior advantages to Europe
To European, accustomed to look at Europe di-
il vided into IS distinct governments, with popua-
ton of but $50 900 000 the idea of country I'M
d der one government with population Of 35O,0O0,-
o 900, is perfectly astounding.
o When we consider the facts of the immense pop.
ulation of China-that its government and laws have
u endured for centuries we come TO ask what is the
form Of its government, and what the principle oil
Q its social organizaton' The exterior form is an
n hereditary monarchy. The reigning sovereign
J, bears particular name-not his own name, but The
o name of his reign, it is deemed sacregous to
i pronounce the name Of the sovereign after he as
II cends the throne. The prominent and, it may BE-
u said, almost the only principle of government the
II paternal relation. The Emperor is called the father
Of his people; and the idea Of the paerna relation