The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-10-23

de Tufenne.
At Nantes another clipper of 700 tons has been
launched from the yard u M. Guibert and is to be
commanded by Captain Souza.
We often complain of the superiority of England
and the United States in the matter Of maritime
commerce. 1t is just that we applaud the efforts
that are beginning to be made by some of our
builders to compete with our rivals.
The Ancient ind Modern Chinese.
CURIOUS MANNiRs AND cUsroAs-EDUCATIoN AND
LITIcs-PRoGREss OF THE REVOLUTION, ETC.
From The London News.
The news from China. brought by the overland
mall agrees with all that has recently arrived from
the same quarter. Success is still with the insur-
gents. "The government of Pekin is in she greatest
distress for money" "a scarcity OF grain wa be-
ginning TO be felt IN Pein, owing to the districts by
which The capital was principally supplied being
in possession OF tie rebels" 1.-The impersli-ts have
made 81 other unsuccessful attempt to recapture
Annoy; anc from the accounts received Of the spirit
less behaviour Of the Tartar troops it now evident
tbat oil is up with the ManchOo dynasty" Such is
the news and tie last paragraph gives graphically
enough the conclusion TO which the rebellion h as
evidently Tor some time past been tending. The last
OF lire OF kings is topping to overthrow; his
throne is undermined his prestige nearly gone; his
exchequer empty; his troops pusllsninous his star
about 10 set.
To spI rebate the bearings and probable conse-
Guences OF this political CONFUSION, now upsettiDg
the hitf stationary empire OF China, it is
sary TO remember the social and political peculiari
ties of this extraordinary and enlightened people.
We must cease to reg aid them simply as dark color
ed Wearers of plated tails. and mping sufferers
from deformed feet mere producers OF tea, fans,
foGing screens fireworks, and floss silk as carvers
OF ivory puzzles, OF buresque cae;snlen as IN skers
Of paper Kites, curious boxes, grotesque porcelain,
ana IEdis4l ink We must assure ourselves that the
whole three hundred millions do not habitualIy re-
sids in beats, or in bamboo rabbit hutches, sur
rounded by dwarfed trees and Grotesque gardens
that they do not all eat birds nests OF Fats, or cali
foreigners /" barbaIians," or spend their days IN
spping tea out OF toy or their nights in light
ing paper Lanterns and opium pipes great many
OF them doubtless do these things bat they have
done as a nation, and still do, a vast deaf more
The Chinese are, especially with reference to the
past, emphatical)y great people. When England
was mixture OF swamp and forest, the kingdom of
China covered with towns aud cities in state Of
complete political and municipal government. When
the ancient Britons wore paint, and huddled them
selves under wicker work huts. the Chinese were
dressed in silk, and resided in palaces While many
Of the European rivers bad yet to be explored Chioa
was inteIseCted with canals, bearing travellers and
merchandise on their waters from the Yellow Sea to
countries beyond the Great Wall. While the wisest
Of the Greciars believed in soothsayers aud drew
auguries from the stars the Chinese studied astro-
Domy. aLd computed the annual orbit of the earth;
when nobody III Europe could read but monks, the
city Of Nankin was daily placarded with advertise
NESTS Of books, and bills OF popular paysplsys the
success Of which puts to shame the boasts OF Euro
pean managers for some Of them have run. not hun.
dlt d. Of nights, but hundreds Of years; many being
performed, will venture to assert, AT the same mo-
meut that some OF readers these lines. When
tie most that could be done here in foreiga COM
clans, the Chinese supplied the whole of India with
luxuries, ara had nveI ted printing, guppowder,
the mariners compass and bank notes. Those,
again, who have studied the governmental poli,y Of
tie Chinese. declare it to be, theoretically (bat only
in theory perfection as is conceivable The
country is ruled, down to the mnut. st oeta Is aud
oberyances Of private life, not by dynasty Of ty
rams nor by tins that political faction but accord
n n VI
every sort of power ia China is limited aud checked
The Chinese originated what Sydney Smith ex.
IIessed such horror of-select committees. Every
department Of the state ls governed by Ooard-tbe
eImy, the navy, the law, &c. Cbina is the only
nation upon earth which, repudiating the idea Of
hereditary legislators processes to admit no one to
the ranks Of the noble who has not earned his n0b
lily by learning that is 10 say, by knowledge of
the laws, precepts and general literature OF their
classical sages The eOn Of the Emperor himself,
while his father lives, has 10 higher rank than the
meanest trucker on canal until he has earned rank
ut school. The consequence Is, that, to borrow
sentence from Guzlaff-there are in China more
books. and more people who can read them, than in
any other nation under the sun.
Vanity ray therefore be an e8ausable foible in
nation which achieved SO much while the rest Of the
world was in state of barbsrism, at best semi
bsrbasism But, unhsppily, the vanity Of the Celes
as (as they are 50 good rs to call themselves) is so
thoroughly national, and so intense that the first
ard fastest Article OF their creed is that they are per-
feet. They ssytbe institutions and precepts Of
ancient fages have made us what we are-perect
consequently to believe for an instant in anything
different from what find in books and inssitu-
tons il simple insanity; and to put grain Of faith
III the possibility Of Improvement is fiat blasphemy.
Hence, originality in Chinese is crime actually
punishable with Geath. Wet', Arksright, and Pro
lessor wheatstone, would inevitably have suffered
the extreme penalty OF the law had they invented the
steam engine, the spinning jenny, or the electric tee
graph in China. Those " men made perfect, their
sases have hey say) laid down the limit to invention
ano everything new must be wrong. Conservative
content has for several thousand years been the
bgioD Of China. For that reason they have shut up
every avenue from the outer world. For any native
to leave the country or any foreigner to enter it,
death by the law. The nation walled itself up in the
bliss Of ignorance. Nothing that they could see or
be told could benefit them, even il were not crime
to learn it.
This lasted up to 1912, when the war with Great
Britain took place. In that year two things were
proved to all Intelligent Chinese:-First, that they
were not invincibe; secondly, that after the most
rigid researches in the books OF their sages no au
theIity whatever for the ships which steamed up
their rivers to go against wind and tide, and without
rails could be found. Yet there they were, jartng
about under perfect control, fire devils as they
were" Neither had their classics accounted for
grt at many other things which cur army and navy
Introduced to their notice. Did they dream, were
their ssges wrong? The latter conviction is slowly
stealing on them.
The events Of the past year have proved that what
we showed TO the Chinese on that occasion vas not
shown in vain. II wonlo have been miracle if the
steamboat, improved fire arms, aud other astonsh-
ing Western inventions. had been exhibited to an
emnent'y literary and thinking people, without their
finding out that their sages had erred in not providing
better for the future They have manifestly during
the last ten years. been losing faith in the Instability
OF their ancient wise men. Add to this the govern
ment having become embarrassed for money, has
departed more glaringly than his predecessors had
done (or the Ia we Of China were never exempt from
the OF evasion from the honest plan of pro-
noting merit, ana adopted the pernicious abuse Of
selling office. Meanwhile the extreme pressure Of
population meeting diminished means Of existence,
and both happening coincdently with the discovery
Of gold TIE OPP osite coasts Of the Pacific induced
vast Numbers OF Chinese to break their law by emil
grating. Discomfort and disorganjzation have been
the patuIal consequences of these events, and any
SIT Of rebels have been welcomed whether members
OF the Triad Lily secret societies, the bandt from
the western mountainous districts the half Chris.
tan leader, who has headed and is evidently conso-
ldafipg the revolt.
OF course it Is the duty of the British as Of every
ether European vernment, to look on 10 silence;
but whatever be the ultimate result of the rebellion
the Celestial Dragons eye is opened and he will be
81 Gle