The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-11-09
AR. SEKIRh,s InrRYET.
The Tale Of his lFlFelS-IS Told by Z
Reporter.

> hss interviewed the Hon. w. II. Sew
IS ard, and makes an interesting repol
e OF his account of his voyage aroun
-, the world. Some of the points follow
It was our good fortune to accompa
4 ny Governor Seward from MOntrOse
on the Lower Hudson, TO Auburn, tn
q last stage in his journey around tn
: world We conversed with him, boil
! on the railway train and at his house
! after his arrival at Auburn, about hi
remarkable tour.
I We were agreeably surprised to fine
Governor Seward in such excellen
, health. Excepting the inadequate
muscular action of his arms, he seem!
to possess nearly as much bodily Wig
/, or as when he entered the State De
partment ten years ago, while his in
tellect is as clear and elastic as it eve
, was.
Reporter how many mile;
. have you Travelled on this last jour
ney?
Mr.. Seward-At a rough cBlcula.
ton, or rough summing up-wheTC
distances were often coniectured Ol
measured by time, and not by mile:
and by leagues-forty-fOur thousand
miles.
Reporter-Where did you land on
your native shore?
Mr.. Seward-At Verplanck's Point.
My children carefully executed the
instructions 1 sent them by telegraph
from Paris to convey me through the
city of New York without stopping
: there. [ took a steamer at Quaran-
3 ff1n aud 1nv,Io1 - L. =. nj
near the residence of my son Frede-
rick. The people there told me or re-
minded me that only one other per-
son had ever terminated a European
voyage at that point, and that was
Hendrick Hudson.
Reporter-Is there ANYTHING like q
Journalistic press in Japan?
Dir. Seward-I was not interviewed
| by any japanese reporter, and I infer,
therefore, that there is no japanese
press. l never knew of any; but ev-
erybody in Japan reads and writes,
and bookstores are as numerous in
Yeddo as In Boston. 3
The real great man of China is Wan
Iang, who chiefly carried through the
Burllngame mission, and established
a university for the education of Chi
nese youth by Western professors, in
Western arts and sciences. A reae-
tion which was really i'm the interest
Of the Chinese laerdti followed these
measures, just as a similar reaction
l against the Burlingame treaty had
obtained among the foreign residents
in China Wan Zang was i'll and in
/ temporary retirement, under a law
which Obliges every public servant on
the death of his mother to go into ab-
sOlute seclusion and mourning for one
year. Filial affection, you know, is
one of the five virtues recognized in
Chinese morals. Wan Zang visited
me, and we reduced into O personal
! friendship the cordial relations which
we had entertained toward each other
while was at Washington.
China, like Mexico, though on a
vastly greater scale, embraces all eli
mates, and its industry is all self-sus-
tanning. Nothing in our own coun-
try, think, can be compared to the
internal trade and navigation of that
empire. People live by the thousands
and tens of thousands on its rivers and
canals. Floating taverns and store
houses accommodate them at every
point. The need of China for foreign
trade is therefore small. The fear Of
discomfort on the part of foreign pow
ers prevents the government from
raising any considerable revenues
from foreign trade. The skill and
boldness of Chinese bankers is the
surprise of the East. The activity
and efficiency of the merchants and
the magnitude of their operations are
a wonder. With rates of interest sell
dom lower than sixteen per cent. the
merchant carries on trade with all the
distant cities of the empire, and with
Mongolia, the most distant regions of
Thibet, Siam, and Cochin China;
while the revenue derived from the
foreign trade of this immense pOpula-
latiOn amounts only to SIS, 100000
only One-half of which, I think, goes
to the Imperial Treasury, and the res
idue is appOrtioned to the treasury of
the districts where the foreign trade is
carried on. Besides this commerce
through inland navigation, you find
in China that the ship of desert is en-
plOyed with wonderful effect. You
can scarcely conceive the amount of
traffic carried on upon the backs of
camels, not only in the interior of
China, but extending nOrthward and
westward far into the Empire of Rus
sia.
RepOrter-What is the dress of the
common people of China?
Mr.. Seward-It changes with the
climate in different parts of the cOun- I.
try. In the South, cotton Of the ma |
tive production, sewed and dyed blue, l
flowing as you see the habiliments of
the immigrants to California, who are /
all from the province of Canton. As |
you go further north, sheepskins be- |
come the clothing the year round, the /
wool being never removed from the |
skin. The Chinese beat the Jews all /
hollow in the merchandise of clothing. 1
The simple flowing costume is made /
up without any measurement by the /
tailor, and is adapted to all sizes and /
conditions OF men. 1t is worn by the /
common people by night as well as by /
day. When it ceases to satisfy the |
original purchaser he sells it to the 1
dealer, who Immediately finds a pur- 1
chaser in the still poorer class; and |
when he has worn the garment as
long as he can stand it, it is again .
transferred, and so on until it is worn
to tatters, so that the person of the /
Chinese laborer, chair-bearer, or what
ever he may be, is commonly often
sive. have never seen the traveller
who did not remark upon the often
siveness of the person who drove his
mules or carried his chair.
But you must not think that all the |
Chinese are poor and mean. 1 do not /
know of the private gentleman of
America who lives in q more costly /
style than the princes, merchants or
mandarins Of Canton. The higher /
classes wear silks and furs such as the |
Imperial Court Of Europe would not .
but envy. 1 was seeking furs in China 1
to send home to the ladies of my fam |
lily when the merchants answered me, /
undoubtedly truly, that the fur market |
had risen because the Court had come 4
in for tbe season.
RepOrter-You went to see the great /
Wall of China. Please state whether
you were disappointed on seeing it, as
travellers are generally disappointed /
when they first see Niagara.
Mr.. Seward-I don't think that the /
Almighty made a mistake in Niagara.
Ifthere is any mistake in that matter /
it is in the creatures that he made to /
study and contemplate his works. The /
Chinese have been for at least two or
three thousand years a wall making 4
people. 1t would bankrupt New York /
or Paris to build the walls Of the city /
of Pekin. The Great Wall of China /
is the great wall of the world. It is
forty feet high. The lower thirty feet /
is of hewn limestone or granite. The |
modern carriages may pass each other /
on the summit. II has a parapet /
throughout its whole length, with |
convenient staircases, buttresses, and /
a garrison house at every quarter Of a /
mile, and runs, not by cutting down I
hills and raising valleys, but over the /
uneven crest Of the mountains and /
down through the gorges, a distance /
of thousand miles.
Reporter-What did you see of the |
traces Of the wars of Lord Give and /
Warren Hastings in India? Did you 1
see the famous Black Hole of Calcut- !
ia?
Mr.. Seward-I was over a large pOr- /
ton Of the scenes of those conflicts, |
but found them all as peaceful as a |
summers day. The residents of Cal |
cutta were surprised when l asked |
them to show me the Black Hole, as |
they had never seen il, and had for /
gotten, if they ever knew its tradi- /