Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1858-06-16
Minsk., copesrning China.

From the PaiiadeiDhis Le5ser
work has lately appeared in London, writ
ten by Mr.. Meadows, for many years a Brit
ish interpreter in China, which undertakes TO
put the Chinese in a more favorable light be-
fore the European and American world than
they have been heretofore presented in. Mr..
Meadows protests especially against the idea,
promulgated by the Jesuit missionary Hue,
that the Chinese, beyond all other nations, are
material, sensual, money-making and gross.
He pointedly remarks that, if the people OF
France, Great Britain, or Americs, were to be
Judged By the mammon- Eorsbipping Inhabitants
Of Paris, London, and New York, it would be
quite as fair a verdict as that pronounced By
Mr.. Hue, who has formed bis opinions Of the
Chinese from the selfish denizens Of the great
cities. He adds, with great truth, that tbs
majority Of every nation, even the most Chris
tian, have a lower scale Of morality than the
Intellectual and spiritual minority,-wh are
continually aspiring after loftier life.
Mr.. Meadows further asserts that the habits
and opinions of the Chinese have suffered in
justice from the ignorance Of translators, who
have misunderstood terms, giving them usually
a baser and grosser meaning than truth war
rants. He cites the antiquity Of the social and
political fabric Of China as proof that the
character and condition Of the people have
been misrepressuted for no empire, he pro-
perly remarks, could last 90 long, unless IL was
founded in substantial justice, or unless its de-
velopment was healthy. We explain the de-
cline Of Rome by it's corruption. We attribute
the prosperity Of Christian rations to the vir-
tue Of the people. The Chinese, Mr. Mead
oTs contends, have a right to the benefits Of
similar mode of argument. Thousands OF
years, it is well known, have seen no revolu-
tions in China. There have been no over
throws Of dynasty, rebellioBs without BuDbfr,
but no radical changes in the political or Sc
eial fabric. Is not this, instead Of being q
proof Of stagnation and death, as it is popu.
larIy considered, a proof, on the contrary, Of
vitality and health?
Fhs real, living faith Of the Chinese, accord
ing to MIR. Meadows, is not Buddhism, but the
religion Of COnfueius. The whole social and
political organization Of the empire Is based on
that religion Il is, in comparison with other
Pagan beliefs, pure and elevated. In one es-
sential poin. it differs, however, from Chris
tianity. Il makes no distinction between the
intellectual and moral nature of man, but
teaches that whatever there is Of good the mind
can perceive, aud that, having perceived It, the
inference is that they follow it. To render
men virtuous, therefore, educate them. In no
country in the world, not even in the United
States, is learning 80 general. The entire
civil functions Of the government are IN the
hands Of Il special class, trained especially for
that emplOyment, on the avowed principle tf
putting T" the right man In the right place. I"
Europeans and Americans, much as they affect
to despise the Chinese, might take Lesson
from them in this particular.
Mr.. Meadows also refutes the notion that
the Chinese are i'll fed. Their edihles, though
different from Ours, are nutritiousj and
sleeker looking race, be says, nowhere exists.
The best specimens OF the Chinese race are to
be found in the northern and middle provinces.
On the southern coasts, with which Europeans
are more familiar, the people are less civilized,
more brutal, and not so religious 1t is from
the bays and-creeks on the southern and south
eastern coast, which abound with mountains,
that the pirates who infest the ChiLese seas
swarm forth. The WsSt1inster RerieD, in an
able article on China, corroborstes the views
Of Mr.. Meadows by testimony drawn from va
riOus other sources. Ii is exceedingly difficult,
we all know, to understand a people, unless
upon a long and familiar acquaintance with
them; and the opinions Of Mr.. Meadows are
worth, therefore, more than those Of ninety and
nine other travellers, who have merely stopped
day or two at Canton, or lounged away a
summer az Macao.