The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1871-11-09

thus wash away all sin; in the Othe
! they burn the dead Gu the bank Ofth
sacred river, so that they can cOnveu
lently spread the ashes upon the DO
som of the Ganges. I do not think
saw anywhere a more unique sDecta
Gle than the tanned elephants VIII,
were continually going up and ,dowI
these stone steps, unattended an,
alone, with the security and caution
Of human being.
RepOrter-How were you please,
with Java?
Mr.. Seward-Java is the garden o.
this world, excelling in elaboratenes:
aud cultivation even Japan. The
colonization Of the Dutch in the
Oriental Archipelago is a great sue,
cess.
The unique and Oriental city of the
Thousand and one Arabian Nights
is undergoing a process OF recOnstruc-
ton, expansion and embellishments
such rs Napoleon III carried out 81
/ splendidly in Paris. The VicerOv, in
his private right, builds and sells
Z houses and stJres innumsrab!e, while
7 as ruler he opens streets and aven-
I ueS, and constructs palaces and foun-
/ tains lavishly. He also owns the
I great majority of the stock of the SueZ
/ Canal. The banks of the Nile are
! covered at intervals Of thirty or forty
miles with vast sugar plantations be
longing to the Khedive, upon which I
found machinery for manufacturing
sugar, equal, if not superior, to any
which [ found in use on the great
! plantations of Cuba. I would not
vOuch for the fact, but I was told that
the NicerOy owns One-ffth of the till
able land OF Egypt. He buys and sells
merchandise boldly, and [ suppose
prOfitably. think that the railroads
in Egypt are thousands miles, and
they are chiefly owned by him and
he IS projecting their extension up the
Nile to SOudan. He maintains an ar
my Of twenty-five thousand men, and
has an armed steam yacht, built in
England, which they told me cost one
million dollars. His taxes are not re-
garded as oppressive. / heard no
complaint against him of extOrtiOn
and none of fmaladministratiOn by his
ministers. Before the fall of the
French Empire the sympathies Of the
Egyptian government were with
France. The Khedive is about forty
five years old, active and affable in
his ways.
epOrter-Which of these oriental
countries seemed to know more about
the United States, their institutions
ahd history, and especially the late
civil war.
Mr.. Seward The United States are
universally understood and regarded
in every Oriental country as the freest,
most prosperous, and most lust of all
nations. Their history cannot be said
to have been n study among the na-
tives of these countries, who have
only literature which is peculiarly na-
tiOnal and exclusive, borrowing moth
ing from either the Western nations
or modern times. The nation upon
whom the American mind has most
acted, of course. is Japan,
which is nearest oar Pacific shore
The people who understand the story
of our late civil war the best are those |
of India, who built up immense for
tunes during that conflict on the pro- |
ductiOn of cotton. Fortunes were lost !
more rapidly than they were made |
when the war came to an end. The /
losses of that period still remain the |
subject of commentator in Bombay. |
RepOrter-YOu are aware, Governor, |
that the subject of the antiquity of /
man has for few years past enlisted .
the attention of some of the ripest /
minds in Europe and America. Did /
you, while in Oriental countries, see |
any remains of human workmanship,
which, in your judgment, threw light |
upon that subject.
Mr.. Seward-The antiquity of man .
is q subject more profound than Ihave /
ever attempted to solve. I saw moth /
ing which could throw any light upon .
that great mystery. / did receive 4
some impression about the antiquity /
of nations. / had always supposed, |
before making this journey, that /
China, or some central region of Con- !
tinental Asia, was the seat of the na-
tiOns in which civilization, as q con-
tinu;ng force, first began; but, though /
have had an opportunity TO see what
is old as we'll as what is new in the
East, as well as in Europe, I have
found nowhere else monuments and
50 old, or 6 condition of /
society so primitive as those of Egypt.
With Difference for those whose stud
les have been more careful than my
own, I think that the present civiliza-
tiOn of mankind had its earliest date
in Egypt, and I think our Biblical
must cOncede that the
date is even farther back than is al
lowed in the chronology of Archbis-
hop Usher.
Reporter-You visited Greece. I
should be happy to heary you say what
you have time to in respect to that jn-
-eresting country.
Mr.. Seward-Of the ruins of an
;ient Greece you must excuse me from
speaking. l found modern Greece fee
be enough butimproving; am hope
-uI Of Greece; but her progress must
continue to be very slow.
Rep0rter-Did YOU confer PERSONAL
v with the King? h
Mr.. Seward-His Majesty was in
Denmark. I had the honor Of an au-
iience from the Queen. She is an en-
.husiastic admirer of the United
States. She is n daughter, you know,
If the Grand Duke of Constantine,
md spoke with much earnestness of |
he approaching visit of her brother
Alexis to this country.
RepOrter-AreyOu at liberty 10 speak
II the conversation you had with the
oOntiff?
Mr.. Seward it was largely
lpOn the present condition Of Italian
lffairs. He spoke of the friendship
which had long existed between the
ate Archbishop Hughes and myself,
md of his appreciation of my liberal
toward his people, rs he
,alled the Catholics of the United
States. He also referred to the de-
nand 1 made upon him for the sur
'ender of John II. Surratt, and his
,wn prompt compliance with it, and
If many other matters too tedious to
II
RepOrter-Including this present
Quincy and that to Mexico and Alas
IA, how many miles have you travel
ID since you retired from the State
Mr.. Seward-About seventy-twO
i