Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1859-06-27


= mans fall and redemption. believing man
born in sin, the Chinese believe thai man
is born perfectly good, and that from this
VeIiei the political peculiarites ofChna are
uirectly derlyable. For instance, the doc.
'rlne that man is radically good sanctions
an appeal to the mass of men whose de
cisions must be right, as truth or good.
ness is their common point of agreement,
Whlle divergence proceeds from individual
want OF harmony with the whole. Ac-
cordngly for thing to be publicly done
IS equivalent to its being right. Hence
the publicity of appointments and of all
social transactions in China" Public of,
noes IN China, we are informed, are con.
ierred under process of severe, public
examination, giving an equal chance to all
men, to the ablest and most worthy. No
distinction is made between intellectual
and moral qualification. Education is
generally diffused by system of public
schools i'll which the same lessons were
taught four thousand years ago. The sys.
TEN OF training youth for public office has
worked very successfully till lately. We
have seen 1t stated elsewhere that the re-
cent practice of selling high positions,
which Is regarded as one of the causes of
the present rebellion, was the heconscquence
of the financial embarrassment of the gov
ernment, occasioned by the British opium
war, and opium tariff. Chinese revolu,
tions are never directed against the prin,
ciples of government, which have been
authortatively decided on rs the best,
but against the rulers who are not mas
ters but servants of the form of govern
ment, and who must be removed when
they disagree or peryert it. Their CONS
mission Is then considered at an end
This doctrine explains that while so many
rebelliOns have swept over the Empire,
deposlng dynaSues, the government re
manned unchanged. The following rules,
we are assured, form solemn part Of the
instruction of every educated Chinese:-
81. That the nation must be governed
by moral agency in preference to physical
force"
80. That the services of the wisest and
ablest men in the nation are indispensa.
bic to its good government"
%. That the people have right to de-
pose sovereign who, eth er from active
wickedness or vicious Incidence, gives
cause to oppressive and tyrannical rule"
So far from China being the unmitga.
ted despotism which we hold it to be, even
the succession of the throne is under the
above rules better and more nationally
regulated than in any European country.
While it is usually restricted to the MEM
bcrs of the reigning family, the crown is
awarded to merit within that family, in
stead of seniority.
The writer contends that the centri Ii
- hal |,
dence OF despotsm. He proves by the
condition of England that freedom and
government are not ALWAYS the same
thing. 1t was to be remembered that the
apparatus OF government in China, is not
one of physical force, but of intellectual
superiority and moral persuasion, and
that under doctrine of the radical bad
ness of man there must in all consistency
be government relying more upon force
and less upon trust, than under the oppo
site doctrine.
The practical evidences which Mr..
Meadows give us of the freedom of the
Chinese, agree with the observations of
former travellers, who failed to explain
the reason of it. He says: THE China
men can sell and hold landed property
with a facility, certainty and security
which is absolute perfection, compared
with the nature of English dealing of the
same kind. He can traverse his country
through its 2OOO miles of length, unques-
toned by any official, and in doing so can
follow whatever occupation he pleases "
| This and the practice of annual public eX.
aminations of candidates for office, under
a free competition, contradict the opinion
prevalent here and in Europe of caste ru-
| ling in China, which opinion may have
arisen from the fact that children gener-
ally follow the occupations oftheir parents,
but they are evidently not obligated to do
So Mr.. Meadows further remarks that
the Chinaman can quit his country and
re-enterit 1t without passport or other hind
rance that the inhabitants of the inte.
rior hardly ever see an official except once
a year the tax-oollector, and that they are
prompt to resist every kind of tyranny;
that, in fine, they enjoy larger amour t
of practical freedom than European ma
tions in the disposal of their persons and
property.
Another traveller, Lieutenant FORBES, |
testifies to the same effect The Chinese, !
be says, "enjoy fair portion Of liberty,
and more happiness than falls TO the lot
of most nations. The empire is one fam
lily, and if the Imperial father sometimes
visits severely the error of a member of il,
yet is he slow to exercise his Authority
and though death be the penalty that the
law awards for many Offences capital pun
ishments are extremely rare, and the bent
of legislation aims at providing against
the ills of humanity relieving its wants,
and preventing rather than Furnishing
crime. For this purpose, education is
general, arts are encouraged, gigantic un-
dertakings are completed for facilitating
trade, agriculture is held in honor, and
every possible means adopted for feeding
the people, and preventing and allevia-
ting famine, which, without some such
regulations would perhaps oftenter occur"
--"If some of the above particulars do not
square with European notions, amongst
their fruits may be mentioned that tie
Chinese are the most oontended, good
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