The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-07-08

pushed further than the others the poverty Of
and the difficulty of elevating
his intelligence to the comprehension of the
general laws which govern the universal frame
of things, and whose practical consequence es,
applied to morals, to philosophy, medicine, the
exact sciences, industry, political and social
economy, have insured to the genius OF Europe
its incontestable superiority. Among the
races which have attained an eminent de-
gree of civilization, there is not one so hostile
to theory as the Chinese race. In this re-
gard they are even very inferior to the Arabs
and the Hindoos. Both of these latter have
cultivated certain branches of the sciences
mathematics, astronomy, and chemistry, for
examrle--to quite an advanced point. The
Chinese have none-have never seemed to
suspect any thing of the sort. They have
the knowledge of great many facts, it is
true; but this knowledge comes to them from
cmpiricism exclusively; il is (paydon the ex-
pression) long series of old women's re-
ceipts. discovered by chance, and between
which they do not imagine it is possible to
discover any connexion. They have never
made any attempt 20 do so.
Like many others, long sought to per-
suade myself that the artistical and literary
fantasies and philosophical eccentricities of
the Asiatics were the production Of an inn
agination which could not contain itself, and
ran riot with luxurance, like the nature and
the vegetation of their climate; but | have
been cured of this idea; contact with Asiatics
themselves, and especially with the Chinese,
has defnitively efsced il from my mind. The
truth is that intellectually they combine some-
thing Of the child and Of the greybeard The
stories of the "Thousand and One Nights" g.
the foolish cosmogony of Buddhism are chill
dren's tales; the absorbing Puntheism of the
Brahmins and the chmerical creations of the
Chinese are the sterile dreams of decrepit
Imagination.
This incoherency of ideas, this incapacity
of rising to general views, Of embracing any
general law, the Chinese have carried into
their political order. 1t is impossible to con-
test that they represent in the midst of the
human race perfectly distinct unity; bu. it
is unity which lacks cohesion and force OF
resistance. 1t is like some great sand noun
tain, of which all the component molecules
are very much like each other, but disunitcd,
capable of being blown away by the least
breath Of air, each in turn, without the others
oppoing any obstacle. We do not perhaps
sufficiently appreciate it seems 50 natural to
us, that faculty of the European mind which
knows how to frame doctrines, to lay hold
always of the connexion of the details of any
general proposition or truth, which gives 10
the humbest citizen Of the State sounder no.
tions Of government and of society than the
most ariStocratic Asiatic possesses, which has
created the powerful sentiment of patriotism,
and given this superiority to our laws, our arts,
our sciences, our industry, and our army.
Unquestionaby it would be injustice to
pretend that in point Of personal courage the
Arabs whom we combat in Algiers are not
the equals of our soldiers, and it is more
certain that the mgurS of the Arabs would
seem to make them apter to military life than
the conscripts of our regiments; and yet the
Arabs never hold their ground against our
battalions, because in our ranks the senti.
ment OF the collective mass multiplies the
force Of all by the force Of each one, and gives
to it an irresistible power whatever the en-
emies' numerical force.
That which the Arabs have experienced on
the battle field the Chinese have felt, not only
in war, but in all the details of their history.
What other reason is it possible to give to
the incredible events which, in the midst of
the i7lh century, delivered an empire, which
certainly even then reckoned several hund-
reds OF millions of inhabitants, into the
hands of horde, n tribe Of shepherds, in
fnitely less cultivated than they, whose first
army sent into China was perhaps not above
some 10000 men, whose supremacy in the
country was established, not after some of
those grand catastrophes which sometimes
fell on nations and throw them at the feet of
their conquerors, but after a long series of
small victories Of detail, Cor the limited numb
er of Manchous did not allowed them to un-
dertake great operations; nay, there are parts
of the country, such as certain districts of
the Kwang- See, and almost all of the Yunnan,
which they had not succeeded in penetrating
when the cannon Of Europe shook the la
boriously constructed ediiice of their domina-
ton
Now, after the defeat and humiliation of
the Manchous by foreigners, the wind which
blows from these provinces has raised
tornadoes of people, who, for the last three
years, have been marching from the south to
the north, bearing with them anarchy, pilage,
fire, and, it may be, the ruin of their ancient
conquerors. Were this all which shall spring
from this movement, we might doubtless lend
it but a slight attention, or the interest of
mere curiosity; it is impossible, however, but
that there shall arise from it consequences of
the gravest Importance to the policy and the
commerce of the world.
From TEXAs.-Galveston papers to the
llth inst. have been received.
Lutte intelligence has bsea received at
Houston from the Rio Grande, to the effect
that the peaceful citizens o; that section are
kept in state oil constant alarm by bands of
Mexican and American outlaws. Several
parties of Mexican robbers have visited
he settlements on this side OF the river, and
murdered a number of settlers. The Ameri- |
cans have retalated, and killed several Mex
cans, most of whom were probably innocent |