The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-22

Tien-Tsin Correspondence of the Boston
Transcript
l had the pleasure of hearing very re-
Gently an address by the Rev. Arthur
Smith, the author of that brilliant and ac-
curate book, Chinese Characteristics"
an analysis of Chinese character so faith-
full and unprejudiced that it leaves little
to be told. A speaker of such force, origi-
nality and eloquence that he could count
upon crowded audiences in any church in
the United States. Mr.. Smith has chosen,
with a wife as brilliant and almost as
talented as himself to spend his life at
missionary station, a weeks journey
from Tien-Tsin, in the interior, cut off
from his own people almost as absolute
ly as if he We're in exile. He has lived and
worked among them for nearly thirty
years, and it is his belief that mere com
mercial relations with the so-called civil
lied nations will avail very little to ad-
vance the Chinese He believes that the
whole race needs moral and spiritual up
lifting. Intellectual force they have al
ways possessed, and a literature still In
existence and eXerting vital influence
throughout the empire, from the howell of
the beggar to the yamen of a mandarin,
as potent to-day as it was a thousand
years ago. They must be brought to real
ize the need of purity in their lives, re-
gard for moral obligations and reverence
for truth-a trait in which they are almost
wholly lacking; and he did not think that
this could or would be accomplished by
mere buying and selling.
While walking through the streets of
Tien-Tsin one night he was amazed to
see fash out, suddenly Illuminating the
darkness, the globe of an electric light i'm
front of an official residence. Yet behind
the entrance 30 the court there
was the same old oppression, the wives
and concubines of the man who was sup
posed to be advanced" simply because
he has availed himself of electricity 20
light his house He did not think she lit
tie fragment of electric railway in Peking
that ran from no place to nowhere had
exerted the slightest influence to rid the
people of the evils from which they suf-
fered and would continue to suffer until
they were really enlightened in
the best and highest sense of
tho term. or skill. craft, cum
ming. intellect. the Chinese has enough:
he needs to be made to think and feel as
only spiritual development can make him
think and feel. He had no faith in the
speedy accomplishment of this; the Chi
nese as a race moved slowly, but when
they once adopted a new order of things
they would firmly adhere to it. He did not
think 1t fair to compare China with ia
pan. IT was comparatively easy to nut off
borrowed customs and manners, and un-
til they had seen fit to adopt Western Gus
toms all that they had had been borrow
ed from China. lie thought the unwilling
ness Of the Chinese TO give up that Which
they had acquired and held through count
less ages was a proof Of steadfastness
and fidelity that was a hopeful augury
for the future. Whatever advancement
the nation made would be ground perma-
nently gained, not merely acquired TO be
relinquished when some new within alb
sorbed them. But he believed that II was
a crucial time in their history. and one
for whose outcome the Western nations.
must be held strictly RESPONSIBLE. W