The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-08-02
FROM CHINA.
CANTON, CHINA, May 8, 1855.

FROM CHINA.
CANTON, CHINA, May 8, 1855.
! To the Editor o. the National Era:
Nothing exerts so great an influence upon
the character of people, as their system of
education. The training which the youth re-
ceives leaves its indelibe impress upon his
mind through all after life. The education of
the Chinese has done more than anything else
to make them the singular people we find them.
AT an early age, boys are sent to school, where
two or three years are spent in learning the
form and sound of the characters or symbols
which are the representation of things and
ideas. The school is very much like one in
our own country, the teacher being paid by the
parents of the boys.
After having become familiar with large
number of characters, the teacher explains
their meaning and they are also instructed in
, the doctrines of those ancient sages, Confucius
and Mancius, whose writings are yenerated by
all the learned in China. Writing good hand
is deemed great accomplishment; and early
attention is paid to tracing the characters on
their paper, under which is the copy.
AS the boys advance, they are required to
write compositions, the subjects of which are
some of the aphorisms of their ancient sages
kindred studies, form no part of the education
of Chinese youth but principles of industry,
morality, and virtue, flial and fraternal affec
ton and obedience, are constantly instilled into
their minds.
The following quotations from the first book
placed in the hands of children afford spec-
mems of what they are taught:
| THAT boys should not learn is improper thing
For lfthey do not learn iii youth what will they do when
Gems uhwroueht form nothing useful.
So men untaught never know the proprieties"
"There are three bonds-between Prince and Minister,
Between father and son. affection; between and
wife, concord"
Humanity, Justice. propriety, wisdom, and truth
These 1--WE cardinal virtues be confused"
lie who learns in youth. and when of age
Extends his influence To the prince benefits the people
Makes has name renowned, renders ilusrious his pa
Reflects glory on his ancestors and enrches his poster
iy.n
! This instruction, while it is very useful in
impressing on the youthful mind the relative
obligations and duties of life, is not calculated
to develop those faculties Of the mind which
give man power over his fellows, and over the
elements of nature. The ability to investigate
abstruse questions, and to separate truth from
error by logical reasoning, is wanting to great
extent.
! In each school room is a tablet, dedicated
! to Confucius and to the god of letters, before
which incense is constantly kept burning. Ev-
cry morning, on first coming to school, the pu-
pills bow before them, and also to the teacher.
Education has always been esteemed by the
Chinese, and, several centuries before Christ,
the advantages for attaining it we're superior
to those of contemporary nations. Native his
torians say, that in ancient times public pro-
vision was made for schools; but now, they are
supported by private individuals. Teachers
are numerous and much-respected class of
persons, and are mostly of those who have
been disappointed in obtaining preferment at
the public examinations, an account of which
will be given hereafter. The stability of the
Empire for so many centuries, the spirit of
obedience to law and order which characterize
the people, is to be attributed greatly to those
maxims of obedience to parents, and respect
for superiors, which enter into the first rudi.
ments of instruction, and form considerable
portion of education in the more advanced de-
partments.
Since the successful expedition of the Impe-
rial forces against the rebels, in March. and the
expulsion of the latter from their stronghold,
eight miles east of Canton, the neighborhood
of the city has been quiet. Many parts of the
Province, however, are still in possession Of the
rebels, and the renewal of trade is effectually
prevented. The scarcity and high price OF
food, and want of employment, continue to
produce great distress among the poor and
laboring classes, which must continue while
the country is disturbed by the insurgents
pirates, robbers, or patriots, as they are vari
ously called. X.
Col. KINNEY, who was held to bail lately in
this city, on charge of fitting out an expedi
ton against friendly Power, and who, seeing
| ind; n;ol Is
with eighteen others in the schooner Emma
bound ostensibly for Kingston, Jamaica, has
been wrecked. Full details are given by cor
respondent of the Ecening Post, writing from
Turks Island. The captain lost his reckoning
and, after coquetting with reef finally stuck
| fast at ii o'clock at night on the 18th June
The Colonel threatened to shoot any man who
attempted to escape by the boat, saying the
vessel would not go to pieces before morning
and the tide was ebbing and the land near
Little Daniel Webster whistled, while some
others recommended prayer during the trying
occasion. Colonel Kinney, we are told, ex
hibited the most heroic traits in tightening the
vessel of its stores and provisions and getting
to land, leaving the vessel to the wreckers
The place of the wreck was the northwest
Caycos Island, commonly called, by the fifty
or sixty half-starved colored people who inhabi
1t, Blue Caycos, from the appearance of the hill
on Iva northern coast" The American Consul
the Vice President of the colony, and others
Hospitality received the wrecked party, and they
were to leave on the morrow for their port o.
destination in Central America. SO the benign
project of the Colonel is not yet crushed-nei
Their ugly disasters caused by moral wrecks
ashore, nor material wrecks at sea, battling his
philanthropic ardor.-N. Y. Tribune
DEFEAT OF WALKERS RECOMMENDATIONS
OF THE INvADERs-The following intelligenc,
from Nicaragua has been received in lette
from Captain Blethen, of the Transit Company
steamship Sierra Nevada, addressed to Charlie
Morgan, Esq, of New York:
HCaptain Walker was beaten out Of Reibas
with the loss of twenty men, The natives VIII,
had Joined him all deserted. He was hotl,
pursued by General Bascker. He threw off. hi
coat, containing all his documents and privau
letters. In their fight, the invaders passed
: through San Juan del Sud on the night of thu
lst of July, seized schooner in the harbor
and sailed for parts unknown. They left the
barracks at San Juan a smouldering mass o
ruins. They took the passengers boats to EN-
bark in, but returned them, and did no injur,
to the property of the Transit Company"
A DIAMOND FOUND IN PENNSYLVANIA
supposed diamond, of extraordinary size, it il
stated, has recently been found in Lancaster
county, Pennsylvania, and is deposited in Pro
fessor Phiips's Office, Philadelphia. 1t. color
{ less, perfectly crystalline, resembling drop o
, clear spring water, in the middle of which you
will perceive strong light, playing with goot
it to be of the first water, although there is no
| tho laoof douhf of its haipy of HI,