The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1884-07-02

NJ. Simon, ex-French Consul at Pekin, writes
very sympaihetically Of the Chinese.
There are not exactly what are called Cabi-
net Ministers in China, but rather function
aries, or heads Of departments. Each Of the
latter dispatches his own courier. who will
often, with good relays of horses, do 400 to 500
leagues in as many days. This explains the
rapidity Of the overland route, which often
ui-disiances boats.
The best Minister, say the Chinese, is every
body; definition that is applicable to the wit
test individual. There are no taxes in the
interior Of China, only dues are collected at
the treaty ports, and while China buys Eu-
rUpean goods, representing about half frame
per individual, she exports produce for six
times that ratio Among the reasons alleged
for the Chinese not leaving Naterland-San
Francisco and Queensland will Of course de-
mur-is the belief that tho soul does not quit
the soil where born, and 10 quit ones native
parish, is to risk death in a strange country,
and If not brought back, Of being thus deprived
Of eternal association with grandsires.
Families in China do not scatter; they stale
out like growing corn; kind Of tadpole ex-
pansion. Il is thus one hundred families can
trace their stretching up to the mountains of
Thibet, the sands Of the desert, or the borders
Of the sea- And this sideling conquest has
been effected, not by arms, but by the plow.
France and England would do well to note, as
they have nomadic Arabs to deal with, that
China has subdued, in the Tartara, aud over
come their .epugnance for an agricultural life,
a race of free rovers, wilder than those round
Berber or IN southern Algeria. Property in
China is valued at 1000 milliards of francs
China has no Treasury; few functionaries
merely "sit at the receipt of customs" She
=, ,1F NJ
no savings banks, no pensions, in 4 sense no
civil servants, and no banks, SO no financial
Hraehs. The Chinese lend money among them
selves, charging no interest; if outsiders ro-
quire accommodation, the 'shent per sbent"
principal-perhaps TO disgust spendthrifts-is
acted on, at the rate of 80 per cent; the loan is
limited to three years, and if not repaid, the
only penalty is inability ever again TO negotiate
a tael. Were q Chinese discount company 10
be started here, such conditions would insure
troops Of clients.
France particularly, ought to take note,
since her budgets are in admirable disorder,
caused by NJ dc Freycinot's ideal scheme Of
public works. that in China bridges are built |
and highways constructed, by rich private in
diEiduals who only demand as recompense for |
their patriotism, that their names be engraved 4
on one Of the stones, or indicator slabs. Such
a method is worthy to be added to Sherne 6 /,
three manners for handing ones name down
10 posterity. 10 China, man on reaching the
age Of three score years and ten, receives Off
cial honors, whether rich or poor; such will
be invited to the banquets of fuuctionaries,
and be waited on by the latter.
The real tribunals in China are the domestic
circle, the respect for ancestors. Just as a
Frenchman. when all other modes Of afhrma-
tion fail, will testify by the head or the ashes
Of his Mal-nevor by his grandmother. Legal
suicide is permitted in China. Political crimes
are the most severely punished, because strik-
ing at the unity Of the state, the common fam
ily. A murderer cannot be executed until he
owns his crime; but be is left in prison, not on
a bed of roses, until he confesscs. For third
REPETITION of robbery adultery, the penalty
is death. There is no faith felt in letting loose
couvicts as so many Robinson Crusoes in the
Pacific Archipelago, or mulcting in damages
as n cataplasm for wounded honor.
Simon concludes that individualism is toe
basis Of Chinese social and political life.
France and England must blush on
learning that there are no socialists in China;
no dynamiters; no drunkards-save opium,
which does duty as tobacco, ohloral and alco-
hols no paupers; no wife beaters; no tax. gath
erers. And materialists will be glad to hear,
there is no religion. With the heather Chinee,
Suspect religion" is rule Of life. "Tiola
re',senli" said Gambetia Of the clergy; and so
meet