The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-06-15
IN FAR CATHAF.
Oriental observation from a Parisiaa
Standpoint.

N. Simon, ex-Frsnch consul at
Pekin. writes very alphabetically OF
the Chinese. A picnic party recalls
the Arcadisn age. A number OF
persons hire kiosqus for che day in
pretty situation on the river; thew
act out early in the morning, with q
stock Of paint brushes, ink and
paper. Alter well breakfssting, some
members of the party draw, others
form group and compete in the
grinding OF poetry on q given subjeo!.
Dinner winds up the outing. A
learned thane can aspire TO the high
est employment, If he obtains dis
sInguished marks at the public COM
pssltive examinations; be is eligible
even for the hand and heart of q
maiden of the imperial family.
Dominic Simpsons are not so favored
among the outer barbarians.
Posting is left to private ENTERPRISE.
aud thanks to the spirit OF conpeti-
ton, contractors are always forth
coming. In the matter of expedition
and fidelity, the service leaves moth.
ing to be desired. There are not
exactly what are called cabinet min
listers in China, but rather function
aries, or heads of departments. Eeah
of the latter dispatches his own cour-
Ter. who will often, by good relays of
horses, do 400 to 500 leagues in as
many hours. This explains the
rapidly OF the overland route, which
often Outdistaness boats.
The best minister. say the Chinese.
is every body; definition applicable
to the wittiest individual. There are
no taxes in the interior of China:
only dues are collected a! the treaty
ports; and while China buys European
goods, representing about half q franc
per individual. che exports produce
for six times that ratio. Among the
reasons alleged for the Chinese not
leaving Vanderland-Ssn Francisco
and Queensland will of course demur
is the belief that the soul does not
quit the soil where born, and to quit
ones native parish is to risk death in
strange country, and if not brought
back, OF being thus deprived of eter-
nal association with grandsires.
Families In China do not scatter:
they 'stole" out, like growing corn,
a kino OF tadpole expansion. Its
thus 100 families can trace their
stretching up to the mountains of
Thibet. the sands of dessret, or the
borders OF the sea. And this siding
conquest has been effected, not by
arms. but by the plough. France
and England would do we'll to note,
SO they have nomadic Arabs to deal
With, that China has subdued, In the
Tartars, and overcome their repug-
nance fer an agricultural life, q race
OF free rovers, wilder than those round
Berber or in Southern Algeria.
The real tribunals in China are the
domestic circle, the respect for aness>
tors. Just as Frenchman, when all
other modes of affirmation fail, will
testify by the head, or the ashes Of
bis ma-neyer by his grandmother.
Legal suicide is permitted in China.
| Athenian though, the republic is
claimed to be. it has not arrived, as
yet, at that Socraiic stage. Political
crimes are the most severely punishe
because striking at the unity of the
state. The common family. a
murderer cannot be executed till he
avows his crime. but he ia kept in
prison, not on q bed Of roses, till he
oonfesses. Here open confession ia
not only good for the soul, bat the
body also, and is the most direct road
TO presidential clemency. For a third
repetition OF robbery, or adultery, the
penalty is deato. There is no faith
felt in letting loose couvic!s as SO
many Robinson Crusoes ia the Pac; &c
archipelago, or mulctiDg in damages
as a cataplasm for wounded honor.
M. Simon concludes that individual
ism ia the basis of Chinese social and
| political life. Bismarck, France and
England must blush, on learning
there are no Socialists in China, no
dynami:ers, no druukards - save
opium, which does duty for tobacco,
chloral and alcohols. No psupers,
| no wife heaters, no tax gsthsrers.-
| Paris Letter.