Le Louisianais. [volume] (Convent, La.) 1865-1883, 1877-06-09

''>AA %ol' ~ yoN !
there r no philosophers in China !
DO you think that the Chinese who
have come in such numbers to
America, or even that the lecturer
before you is a fair representative OF
the Chinese literary men? If SO, YOU
are greatly mistaken. Aside from
our wonderful history look at the
inventions Of the Chinese. They
made the first printing, the first ma
riner's compass, the first porcelain,
the first cannon and the first system
OF laws. And if with all the intelli-
gent statesmen who assist in GOV
erning 100000 Of people here
there is so much trouble in governing
Alright, how do the Chinese manage
to govern their 5 $4,000, 900! All
your intelligence, your higher reli-
gion. your greater laws and your
more excellent principles are power
less to prevent crime. vet | affirm
that you have ten times as many
murdcrers as the Chinese with ten
times as many people. And how DO
we accomplish this. | will tell ynu.
1t is by the excellence Of our laws.
These laws have come down through
many generations of philosophical
minds. And we don't choose our
rulers by favor and by votes. Out
Of 10000 men who have studied
twelve or fifteen years the Emperor
chooses three or four whe can stand
the best examination. And these
men must not only have learned
the laws but have mastered the
principles. Can we not say then
that half the population must be
intelligent
"They say we bow down to stock
and stone. Yes, many of our people
do. exactly as the Christians do. l
saw a very intelligent Roman Catho-
lie gentlemen praying for half an
hour in front OF a crucitix once, and
when he got up l asked him if
that was his god. lIesaid no, it WIS
an emblem. We use emblems also.
But we do not consider them gods.
Does any Christian suppose that
the bread and wine you use is really
the boGY and blood Of Christ? 1t is
only q humbugging way of repre-
senting them.
II want to make two points: l.,
that a fern Of religion is given by
the Creator to every nation which
is suited to it: 2, that missionaries
going from one nation to another
only confuse matters in general.
the Americans and Chinese people
are exactly opposite in almost every
thing. With you, gentlemen remove
their hats in society. With us, if a
gentleman should do this he would
be thoughta savage. You shake each
others hands till you give one
another the rheumatism. We shake
our own hands when we gn..M our
friends, and the tighter we sd ueeze
the more we honor our friends, but
we only hurt ourselves. You take
your soup first, we take it last. You
have your wine iced, we have it
steaming hot, but we don't get SO hot
after drinking it You ask about
the health of one another's wives.
If one should be guilty Of asking a
Chinese gentleman about his wife
he would well, he would reply
politely, but he would say: "She is
altogether too insignificant a person
to engage your attention for a mo
ment. 1t is of no consequence about
her health." What would happen if
an American gentleman should say
this? | imagine he would have more
trouble than Brigham Young. And
you show your affection in public.
| remember how amazed | was when
| first saw a gentleman kiss and
embrace his wife in q depot. I
thoughtthe Americans must have so
much affection that they could not
control themselves. But l found out
afterwards that these people who
embraced themselves in public quar-
relied with themselves in private.
In China we keep our affection for
private life, and we + more careful
about marrying, for we have no
system of divorces. Perhaps the
reason is that we have no lawyers
to show us how to get rid of our
husbands and wives. All our pleasu-
res are different. | remember [ went
to hear a very famous p%iano,player
soon after l came to America, and l
sat for half an hour waiting for
her to begin. And when she went
ont l asked why she did not play,
for Thought she had been tuning the
instrAnent. And was astonished
that SO beautiful an instrument
should make such horrible noises.
And l have seen Chinese musicians
move a Chinese audience to tears
and to laughter without affecting in
the slightest degree two er three
E,,ro,,oon ronf1omon vvho xrnro ,,rn