The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-02-03
CHINA: HER
From the Princeton Review.

FROM the Princeton Review.
China Is great in her antiquity.
Founded before Nineveh or Egypt,
she still exists. Before Romulus
bull. the wallsof Rome, before saT-
uel anointed Saul TO be king over
Israel, she was q vastly extended.
mighty empire. Her records reach
back four thousand years. Before
Columbus was born, 4 canal twelve
hundred miles long was finished
Their great wall, covered with gra-
mite, has been built twenty centnr-
les. While we Americans were bar
barians-befUre the days Of Alfred
tho Great-while our ancestors
were savages, the merest plchians
of China were clothed in silk and
s%atins. Visited by Marco Polo in
l250--thc frst European traveller
who ever saw thom, and who told
about their civilization, their silks,
their p~orcelains, and their wonder
ful citlos-he a pronounced in
sane and the greatest liar of his age.
It Is only lately We have rccogniz-
&c HIM as a truthful traveller
Then China is great and almost un-
rIvailcd among nations in her age
and antiquity.
She is also great in her discore-
RES. The fruit Of her genius, Sci
ence, and Investigation. Secluded
from the world, she studied them
out alone. Printing, gunpowdcr,
the mariners compass, porcelain,
the making OF paper, india ink to
stgMp It-such discoveries would
make any nation proud, and Immor-
talize any people. Printing on
wooden blocks she iEveDtri IN the
year LII Of tie Christian era we
Invented printing in 1850. In tho
eighth century she had fifty-Lhree
thousand old, and twenty-eight
thousand new works in her public
library. The mariners compass,
without which Amerlea could not
have been discovered, or our ma
tim have any existence, we owe to
China. a paople making such great
and useful discoveries so early must
be u great and interesting peo-
pie.
She Is also great in her manufsc-
tories. Her silk fabrics she InYen-
ted as original, and in beauty, dur
ability, and excellence they cannot
be equalled or surpassed. Humid
reds of years later they were made
IN France and Italy, but these can
not compare with those Of China
The Queens diamond must be cut
in Holland, and yet the art was
we'll known in China for centuries.
Their tissue paper, out Of rice, can-
not be made by US, and no substi-
tuts for india ink has beer discov-
cred. Untaught and alone they
studied these out Except the steam
engine and electric telegraph, there
is no great invention they cid not
originate. Then they can compare
~favorAbly with the polished NATIONS
Of the whole world in all manufac-
lures.
China IS likewise great in her
system Of internal improvements,
and In this (steam exccpted) excels
most nations. They have easy and
free intercourse through all the en-
Pirc, and have bad for hundreds of
years. Napoleon's road over the
Alps is the wonder of modern engI-
neering, and yet they have roads
over the Himalaya Mountains G.
1ualling the Simploc road over the
Alps. They have two thousand ca
nails, the great highways of travel.
which serve also for irrigating and
draining. Their agriculture Is tho
best IN the world. For hundreds of
years they have been using the
same land, supporting IN immense
population, and yet tho soil is far
richer than ever it was. We boast
much of our virgin soil. but it can
not surpass theirs. They have a
bridge of granite At Fouchow, eight
hundred years old. Here many Of
our bridges break down. If such a
thing happens in China. they bast-
made the builder. All these works
were built and IN complete opera
ton while tho dark ages lowered
over Europe, and the civilized ma
tons of France, Germany and Eng
land bowed down to priest and
Pope, and monkish professions and
worshipping old bones and relics
were the earnest occupation Jfmul-
titudes IN polished Christian Eu-
rope. Certainly the contrast IN CT
vfiization is in many points IN faT,
or of China.
Great in her system OF laws and
languages. The great Roman ON
pire in her palmiest days, number
cd $780, 00.0 600 China exceeds 400,-
OO0, 600. The Pandects of JUSTIN
ian, the great law code Of the Ro-
mans, SO highly euiogized by Glib
bon, was made late IN the empire.
The laws of China ware eodifed g.
900 years ago. These laws, exam
ined by The ablest British iurists,
and commented on by the EdIu-
burgh Review. are pronounced the