Wheeling times and advertiser. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1839-1849, 1845-10-30

CHlNA.-A very interesting lecture was
delivered by the Hon. Caleb Cushing last
week in Boston, before the Mercantile libra
~ Association, on the subject OF China
From running report OF it, published in
the Journal, we make the following extracts:
To- AN European or an American, said the
lecturer, just landed IN China, every thing APP
pears strange. lie finds himself not only at
the an,ipodes, physically speaking but at the
anupodes IN moral sense. He sacs around
MN countless myTiadS of men in Il strange
garo, and with "a general appearance unlike
10 all that To which he has heretofore been ac-
customed lie observes the most studied IT.
hiiormlty among the various classes and the
progress OF every thing which falls under his
observation, so slow and 81 UNMARRIED, strikes
MN III singular contrast with our own chan
SihG manner and locomotive speed. A thou
sand things admouish him that he is In a
strange land. He hears the constant sourd.
my oi gongs. he sees the innumcratle boats
on the rivers, the dwelling places of millions
oil Chiiicsc-carts moved by sails on land as
well as boats on the water. II the pilot looks
to the compass To direct his course upon the
deep, lie looks TO the pointing of the south
pole-it he receives letter, he will find it
written In lines running from top to bottom
oil the sheet, reading from right to left, with
the date at the bottom of the letter-no al
phabet being used but idiographc characters
Inc mourning, instead of being black as with
us, Is white with the Chinese-the shoe even
Is whitened with some substance. to cores.
pond with other portions of the dress He
sees the saucer placed on the cup, instead of
| the cup on the saucer--shuttlccock PLAYED
with the feet instead of the hands-ladies
feet compressed instead of their waists-leaves
oil book cut open and trimmed at the back
"a person swimming strikes his hands verti-
cally and not horizontally-the top of the
mead shaved-and when friend meets YOU
IN the street, he does not shake your hands,
but shakes his hands at you-the infantry ar.
med with matchlocks, the cavalry with the
DOW ami arrow-and d Colonel at the head of
ms regiment not unirequently brandishing a
pan instead ola sword. He will not only
note these exterior forms of difference, but
Will learn that nobility is not inherited from
the father by thc son, but rather, il one NAV
so speak, by the father from the son-good
deeds rejecting back upon a remote ancestry
corruption oil blood, for crimes committed,
affects ancestors long since dead and gone al
though IT does not necessarily affect posteri-
ty. All these things will strike one. upon a
cursory view; but it is just to treat the sub
Ject IN different manner, or injustice will be
done TO great and polished people.
we IN America receive our language, and,
unfortunately too many of our ideas from Eli-
rope. We speak as if we were the descend
ants OF the oldest nation on the globe-of his
tory as complete, if that history is ours-of
our CIVILIZATION as the unique idea of civil
ihed society--oi the first voyages To India as
discoveries, as II the tecming millions of Chi
ma had no existence till discovered BY Por-
tuSuese navigator. He, the lecturer, would
not speak of Chinese civilization alone, but
also OF It's high antiquity. China has for ages
cultivated the arts, literature and the sciences.
The language OF Coniucius, the contemporary
Oh Herodotus, is now the vernacular tongue of
this great people. The discovery of gunpow-
der, oil the mariners compass, the manufac-
ture OF silks and porccans, 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 was not possessed by the Chinese; ante
nor to the history OF Europe, except the steam
engine.
Our word "China, as designating the land
OF the Chinese, is unknown 10 their language,
and Is oil Portuguese origin. Mr. Gushing
here gave the three names by which the Chi
nese designate their country, and also the
English TRANSACTIONS of them, which he said
were quite faulty. Two of them are transa-
ted, one of them the Central Land" the 9th
er the Central Flowery Land'-the third es-
capped our ear. The Chinese Empire consists
OF two great classes of people-the Chinese,
VINO lnhablt eighteen provinces of China pro-
per- and the Tartars, divided into the Man
chou, Mongol yar,ars, &c. It has been esti-
mated that China contains a population of
3oO,OO0,O00 souls-by many this estimate is
doubted, but those who doubt concede pop
ulation OF 250 ,000,000; dcducting at libitum
irom..the census taken by the Chinese them
selves. slight analysis of the facts of the
case will put an end TO all speculation. One
| VIII gee III China vast multitude of human
beings, all active and Industrious a compa-
rIson 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 a vast pop
ulatlon. a portion of China lies on the trop-
les; where two cropsarc easily produced eve
| ry season. No beasts of burden are To be
seen IN southern China. All transportation
Is carried on on the canals, or on the backs of
men. The boats on tile canals are tracked by
men-no horses are to be seen except those
III use Tor the Tartar cavalry, and but few buff
ialocs, which are used for ploughing some pc
| cullar soils. These facts prove that the com
try Is capable OF supporting dense pup,ia-
| non. III IS not TIM cas-, in China as in this
country-they have not to produccin one crop
sufficient to support them the year round or
To sustain beasts of burden, that consume as
much as men of the agricultural products of
the country. The land is one entire cultiva-
ted garden, except the large grounds left for
the burial Of the dead These lacts would
leave nothing to deduct from the estimation
oi the Chinese as to their own population -
But there are others The abstemiousness of
the Chinese is. They also eat cats, rats, dogs
&C. lhere Is AN immense,emgation constant
| ly gong forth. I'm southern China there are
more productiblc articles of fruit than I'M
most any other section Of the globe. eve I'M
dcrstood Mr.. Cushing To say that the hnans
producesas 30 TO ! of our wheat, and AZ 10
one Of our potato.
When we consider the facts Of the i'm
mense population of China that its govern
nent and laws have endured lorl centuries
we come to ask what is the form Of its govern