“Barrow's Travels in China, containing descriptions, observations and comparisons, made and collected in the Course of a short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-min-Yuen, and on a subsequent Journey through the Country of Pekin to Canton” (Publication, 1805)
Year
1805
Text
Southey, Robert. Barrow's Travels in China, containing descriptions, observations and comparisons, made and collected in the Course of a short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-min-Yuen, and on a subsequent Journey through the Country of Pekin to Canton. By John Barrow, Esq. late private Secretary to the Earl of Macartney. [Review]. In : The annual review, and history of literature ; no 3 (1805), S. 69-83.
http://books.google.ch/books?vid=HARVARD:HXJG6E&printsec=
titlepage&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=barrow%27s%20travels&f=false.
http://books.google.ch/books?id=cY4FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA75&lpg=
PA75&dq=annual+review+and+history+of+literature+barrow%27s+
travels+in+china+proselytes&source=bl&ots=QgyA-1Ri9O&sig=UA
LqsNLFH_hj8CaYZiga0ZpBmm8&hl=de&sa=X&ei=LE2YUvXfM
Mu8ygOi_4DQBA&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=annual%20
review%20and%20history%20of%20literature%20barrow%27s%20
travels%20in%20china%20proselytes&f=false. (Sout3)
http://books.google.ch/books?vid=HARVARD:HXJG6E&printsec=
titlepage&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=barrow%27s%20travels&f=false.
http://books.google.ch/books?id=cY4FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA75&lpg=
PA75&dq=annual+review+and+history+of+literature+barrow%27s+
travels+in+china+proselytes&source=bl&ots=QgyA-1Ri9O&sig=UA
LqsNLFH_hj8CaYZiga0ZpBmm8&hl=de&sa=X&ei=LE2YUvXfM
Mu8ygOi_4DQBA&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=annual%20
review%20and%20history%20of%20literature%20barrow%27s%20
travels%20in%20china%20proselytes&f=false. (Sout3)
Type
Publication
Contributors (1)
Southey, Robert
(Bristol 1774-1843 Keswick) : Dichter, Kritiker
Mentioned People (1)
Barrow, John
(Dragley Beck, Ulverston 1764-1848) : Staatsmann, Sekretär der britischen Admiralität, Astronom, Mechaniker
Subjects
Literature : Occident : Great Britain : Prose
/
Travel and Legation Accounts
Chronology Entries (2)
| # | Year | Text | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1805.1 |
Southey, Robert. Barrow's Travels in China [review]. (1) [ID D31052]. Whatever may have been the commercial effects of our embassy to China, literature has reaped ample advantages from it. The drawing of Mr. Alexander, and the work of Mr. Barrow, have communicated more information concerning this extraordinary empire and its inhabitants, than could be collected from all our former travellers. Mr. Barrow in his preliminary chapter disclaims all intention of dwelling on those subjects which have been already treated on by sir George Staunton, his object is to shew the Chinese as they really are, and to lay before the reader such facts as may enable him to settle in his own mind the point of rank which China may be considered to hold in the scale of civilized nations. By the arly travellers, China had been represented as in a far higher degree of civilization than Europe ; it is here well observed, that those travellers represented it truly, but that during the two centuries and a half which have elapsed, Europa has been progressive in all the arts of life, while China has stood still. The first part of the Chinese dominions which the squadron touched was one of the islands of the Chusan Archipelago. It was the best in the groupe, and the most populous, except that of Chusan, a native told them that it contained ten thousand inhabitants ; but the English discovered afterwards that this was an indefinite phrase of amplification, and that when a Chinese means to speak expressly of ten thousand, he always says nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine. The country ships were now seen in considerable numbers sailing along the coast of the main land. They were generally laden with small timber, piled dangerously high upon the decks ; beams which were too long to be upon the deck of a shingle ship, were laid across the decks of two lashed together. These ships are very ill adapted for such tempestuous seas. The form of the hull is like the new moon ; the bow is a square flat surface, the same as the stern, without any cut water, and without any keel ; the two ends of the ship rise to a great height above the deck ; each mast consists of a single piece of timber, and has a single sail of matting, stretched by means of bamboos, and frequently made to furl like a fan ; the rudder is so placed that I can be taken up on approaching sands and shallows. They can sail within three and a half, or four points of the wind ; but lose this advantage over European ships by drifting to leeward, in consequence of the round and clumsy shape of the bottom, and their want of keel. The Chinese keep no reckoning, and have no idea of drawing charts. They keep as near the shore as possible, and never lose sight of it, except in voyages where they must fairly put out to sea ; they then, let the wind be fair or foul, keep the head of the ship pointing, as nearly as possible, towards the port by means of the compass ; an instrument which, beyond all doubt, came from Asia to Europe, and was probably brought from China by Marco Polo. Behind the compass is usually placed a little temple with an altar, on which is continually kept burning a spiral taper of wax, tallow, and sandal-wood dust, which serves, like Alfred's time-lights, to measure the twelve portions of the day. It is also an act of piety to keep this taper burning ; the needle seems to be regarded as something divine, and on every appearance of a change of weather they burn incense before it. When a ship leaves Canton for a foreign voyage, it is considered as an equal chance that she will never return, and in fact ten or twelve thousand persons from that single port are supposed to perish annually by shipwreck. The coast naviagion also is so dangerous, that the internal communication by means of rivers and canals, between the two extremities of the empire, was opened because many of the ships employed to transport the taxes paid in kind to the northern capital foundered on the way. Yet, in early times, it is certain that the Chinese were an adventurous and colonizing people. M. de Guignes believes that about the seventh century of our era they carried on a trade to the west coast of North America. Wrecks of Chinese vessels were found by the early Spanish naviagors in different parts of this western coast, where the nations were more civilized than in the interior and eastern parts. Mr. Barrow should have referred to his authorities in this part of his work. Even at Rio Jeneiro this gentleman observed in the native Brazilians a very strong resemblance to the Chinese in their persons. It appears from Persoue, that the island of Tcho-ka, or Saghalien, in the Tartarian sea, has been peopled by the Chinese. They traded formerly with Bussora, and many places in the Persian gulph still bear Chinese names. In some of the voyages (here again we have to regret the want of references) it is observed, that a colony of Chinese had problably settled in Sofala, the descendants of whom were, in the time of the writers, easily distinguished from the other nations by their colour and features. But the ruins in Sofala are said, by Barros, to resemble those in Upper Egypt, and this whiter race would be more probably of the Coptic or Jewish origin, Marco Polo certainly visited Madagascar in a Chinese ship. Mr. Barrow even suspects that the unmixed Hottentots are of Chinese family. The resemblance, as it appears in his annexed portraits, is very striking, and the Dutch themselves call this people Chinese Hottentots, from the obvious similarity. Sumatra probably, and Ceylon certainly, was colonized by the same enterprising race ; the Chingalese, indeed, acknowledge their descent, a fact with which Mr. Barrow seems not to have been acquainted. Ceylon derives its name from them. A fleet of eighty Chinese had been wrecked between that island and the continent, and the straits where they perished were therefore called Chilam, signifying the destruction of the Chinese. The Moors softened it into Cilan, and applied it to the island itself, not knowing its true name : from them the Portuguese made it Ceilam, and we retain their pronunciation in the unenglish manner where with we nasalize the last syllable of Ceylon. The Chingalese were so called by the other inhabitants of Ceylon, as meaning the Chinese of Gall ; for they were a mixed breed speaking the language of these colonizing conquerors, who withdrew to that mountainous district when the Chinese abandoned their intercourse with India altogether, as destructive of their fleets and people. These circumstances are here selected on the authority of Barros. Mr. Barrow's digression is very curious, and affords strong proof that the state of China is materially different now from what it was some centuries ago. A small brig was sent forward to Chu-San to take on board the pilots, who according to the Imperial order were expected to be found ready to embark. But though this was one of the best and most frequented ports in China, no other means of procuring them could be devised that by sending out soldiers to collect all the persons in that place who had ever visited Tien-sing by sea ; the poor wretches were brought before the governor, and dropping on their knees were examined in that attitude as to their qualifications. Two were at last found who were thought qualified ; they pleaded earnestly to be excused, saying that they had quitted the sea for many years, and were now comfortably settled in trade which would be ruined by their absence. In spite of all their pleas they were pressed into the service, and after all, the English found them of little or no use. They could not be made to comprehend the difference in the draught of water between their own ships and ours, which in the latter was as many fathoms as feet in the former, although they were palpably shewn by a piece of rope the depth which was required. The passage up the Pei-ho, or White River, in the country yachts, convinced our people of the hospitality of the natives, and of their extraordinary numbers, but conveyed no idea of great wealth or comfort among them, or of great abundance in the country. Both sexes here crowded indiscriminately to see them. The dress of the women was calculated to shew the foot and ankle, which for singularity, it is observed, may challenge the whole world, the foot having been cramped in its growth to the length of four or five inches, and the ankle being generally swoln in the same proportion that the foot is diminished. This deformity is produced by bandaging the toes of the infant under the sole of the foot, and retaining them in that position till they literally grow into and become a part of it ; and by forcing the heel forward till it is entirely obliterated. As none of the earliest travellers mention this strange custom, Mr. Barrow conjectures that it has been introduced since their time. The people were cheerful and dirty. Only a small proportion of the land was cultivated. The cottages very mean, without any appearance of comfort, and thinly scattered ; seldom standing alone, but generally collected into small villages. The rivers seem to be better peopled than the land. In the distance of ninety miles upon this small branch of a river, Mr. Barrow computed, that there were floating not fewer than 100,000 souls. The approach to Pekin is admirably described. The external appearance of this great city is by no means answerable to the expectation which a European traveller would have formed of the capital of China. None of the buildings overtop the walls, though these are not above thirty feet high ; not even a chimney is seen rising above the roofs of the houses, which are all nearly of the same height, and all straight lines, so that the whole has the appearance and the regularity of a large encampment. "Although the approach to Pekin afforded little that was interesting, we had no sooner passed the gate and opened out the broad street, than a very singular and novel appearance was exhibited. We saw before us a line of buildings on each side of a wide street, consisting entirely of shops and warehouses, the particular goods of which were brought out and displayed in groups in front of the houses. Before these were generally erected large wooden pillars, whose tops were much higher than the eaves of the houses, bearing inscriptions in gilt characters, setting forth the nature of the wares to be sold, and the honest reputation of the seller ; and, to attract the more notice, they were generally hung with various coloured flags and streamers, and ribbons, from top to bottom, exhibiting the appearance of a line of shipping dressed, as we sometimes see them, in the colours of all the different nations in Europe. The sides of the houses were not less brilliant : in the several colours with which they were painted, consisting generally of sky blue or green, mixed with gold : and what appeared to us singular enough, the articles for sale that made the greatest show were coffins for the dead. The most splendid of our coffin furniture would make but a poor figure if placed beside that intended for a wealthy Chinese. These machines are seldom less than three inches thick and twice the bulk of ours. Next to those our notice was attracted by the brilliant appearance of the funeral biers and the marriage ears, both covered with ornamental canopies." "At the four points where the great streets intersect one another were erected those singular buildings, sometimes of stone but generally of wood, which have been called triumphal arches, but which, in fact, are monuments to the memory of those who had deserved well of the community, or who had attained an unusual longevity. They consist invariably of a large central gateway, with a smaller one on each side, all covered with narrow roofs ; and, like the houses, they are painted, varnished, and gilt in the most splendid manner." "The multitude of moveable workshops of tinkers and barbers, coblers and black-smiths ; the tents and booths where tea and fruit, rice, and other eatables were exposed for sale, with the wares and merchandize arrayed before the doors, had contracted this spacious street to a narrow road in the middle, just wide enough for two of our little vehicles to pass each other. The cavalcade of officers and soldiers that preceded the embassy, the processions of men in office attended by their numerous retinues, bearing umbrellas and flags, painted lanterns and a variety of strange insignia of their rank and station, different trains that were accompanying, with lamentable cries, corpses to their graves, and, with squalling music, brides to their husbands, the troops of dromedaries laden with coals from Tartary, the wheel-barrows and hand-carts stuffed with vegetables, occupied nearly the whole of this middle space in one continued line, leaving very little room for the cavalcade of the embyssy to pass. All was in motion. The sides of the street were filled with an immense concourse of people, buying and selling and bartering their different commodities. The hurry and confused noises of this mixed multitude, proceeding from the loud bawling of those who were crying their wares, the wrangling of others, with every now and then a strange twanging noise like the jarring of a cracked Jew's harp, the barber's signal made by his tweezers, the mirth and the laughter that prevailed in every groupe, could scarcely be exceeded by the brokers in the Bank rotunda, or by the jews and old women in 'Rosemary-Jane'. Pedlars with their packs, and jugglers, and conjurors, and fortune-tellers, mountebanks, and quack doctors, comedians, and musicians, left no space unoccupied. The Tartar soldiers, with their whips. Kept with difficulty a clear passage for the embassy to move slowly forward ; so slow, indeed, that although we entered the eastern gate at half past nine, it was near twelve before we arrived at the western." "Although an extraordinary crowd might be expected to assemble on such a particular occasion, on the same principle of curiosity as could not fail to attract a crowd of spectators in London, yet there was a most remarkable and a striking difference observable between a London and a Pekin populace. In the former the whole attention and soul of the multitude would have been wrapt up in the novel spectacle ; all would have been idlers. In Pekin, the show was but an accessary, every one pursued his business, at the same time he gratified his curiosity. In fact, it appeared that, on every day throughout the whole year, there was the same noise and bustle, and crowd in the capital of China. I scarcely ever passed the western gate, which happened twice, or oftener, in the week, that I had not to wait a considerable time before the passage was free, particularly in the morning, notwithstanding the exertions of two or three soldiers with their whips to clear the way. The crowd, however, was entirely confined to the great streets, which are the only outlets of the city. In the cross lanes all was still and quiet." No Chinese women were to be seen in the streets of Pekin, though the female Tartars seemed to enjoy full liberty. None of the streets wer4e paved, a defect the more remarkable, as the road to the city is paved with stones of granite from six to sixteen feet in length, and proportionately broad, which must have been brought at least sixty miles. No kind of filth was to be seen in the streets ; all this, be it of whatever kind it may, is collected in large earthen jars, of which every family has one, and the gardeners' carts which supply the city with vegetables, return laden with this liquid manure, so that the city enjoys the full odour of agricultural economy. In the provinces these precious articles are made into cakes thicker than our crumpets, and dried in the sun ; then sent to the capital, where the gardeners purchase them, and dissolve them in urine for manure. The police is very strict. At the end of every cross street, and at certain distances in it sentry boxes are placed, and few of these streets are without a guardhouse. The proprietor of every tenth house is answerable for the good conduct of his nine neighbours ; this villainous system, which is carried to its utmost length in Japan, was once the custom in England. While the ambassador went into Tartary to be introduced, Mr. Barrow remained near Pekin, having apartments in the palace of Yuen-min-yuen ; he had permission to visit the city whenever he thought proper, and prudently chose to have none but Chinese servant,s that his knowledge of the language might be improved. His lodgings were mean and miserable, but bad as they were, they were what one of the ministers of state occupied when the emperor was at this residence. Here the largest and most valuable of the presents were to be fitted up for the sovereign's inspection, and they attracted an infinite number of beholders. "The two elegant carriages made by Hatchett puzzled the Chinese more than any of the other presents. Nothing of the kind had ever been seen at the capital ; and the disputes among themselves as to the part which was intended for the scat of the emperor were whimsical enough. The hammer-cloth that covered the box of the winter carriage had a smart edging, and was ornamented with festoons of roses. Its splendid appearance and elevated situation determined it at once, in the opinion of the majority, to be the emperor's seat ; but a difficulty arose how to appropriate the inside of the carriage. They examined the windows, the blinds, and the skreens, and at last concluded, that it could be for nobody but his ladies. The old eunuch came to me for information, and when he learned, that the fine elevated box was to be the seat of the man who managed the horses, and that the emperor's place was within, he asked me with a sneer, if I supposed the Ta-whang-tee would suffer any man to sit higher than himself, and to turn his back towards him ? and he wished to know if we could not contrive to have the coach-box removed and placed somewhere behind the body of the carriage." A planetarium completely puzzled the president of the tribunal of mathematics, as the Jesuits have denominated the board at which he presides. A few Portuguese missionaries are members of the board, their business is to supply the astronomical part of the national almanack, the astrology being managed by a committee of their Chinese associates. These Europeans were not much more skillful than the natives ; they honestly confessed that they were more indebted to the Connoissances de tems of Paris than to their own calcula ions, and as the revolution had cut off this resource, they considered a set of the nautical almanack calculated for the meridian of Greenwich up to the year 1800, as an invaluable present. These missionaries, however, on the whole, are represented in a favourable light. The Tartar officers had heard of sword blades which would cut iron bars without injuring the edge, and so great was their astonishment on proving the fact, that they could scarcely credit what they saw. Gill's sword blades, Mr. Barrow thinks, might be advantageously introduced in the regular course of trade through Canton. "Among the presents carried into Tartary was a collection of prints, chiefly portraits of English nobility and distinguished persons ; and to make the present more acceptable, they were bound up in three volumes in yellow Morocco. The emperor was so pleased with this collection, that he sent it express to Yuen-min-yuen to have the name, rank, and office of each portrait translated into the Mantchoo and Chinese languages. The Tartar writer got on pretty well, but the Chinese secretary was not a little puzzled with the B, the D, and the R., that so frequently recurred in the English names. The duke of Marlborough was Too-ke Ma-ul-po-loo, and Bedford was transformed to Pe-te-fo-ul-te. But here a more serious difficulty occurred than that of writing the name. The rank was also to be written down, and on coming to the portrait of this nobleman (which was a proof impression of the print, engraved from a picture by sir Joshua Reynolds, when the late duke of Bedford as a youth), I told the Chinese to write him down a Ta-giu, or great man of the second order. He instantly observed, that I surely meant his father was a Ta-gia. I then explained to him that according to our laws, the son succeded to the rank of the father, and that with us it was by no means necessary, in order to obtain the first rank in the country, that a man should be of a certain age, be possessed of superior talents, or suitable qualifications. That these were sometimes conducive to high honours, yet that a great part of the legislative body of the nation were entitled to their rank and situation by birth. They laughed hartily at the idea of a man being born a legislator, when it required so many years of close application to enable one of their countrymen to pass his examination for the very lowest order of state-officers. As, however, the descendants of Confucius continue to enjoy a sort of nominal rank, and as their emperor can also confer an hereditary dignity, without entitling to office, emolument, or exclusive privilege, they considered his grace might be one of this description, and wrote down his rank accordingly ; but they positively refused to give him the title of Ta-gia, or great man, asking me, if I thought their emperor was so stupid as not to know the impossibility of a little boy having attained the rank of a great man." The news from Gehol, that lord Macartney had refused to perform the nine prostrations before the emperor, threw all the officers at Yuen-min-yuen into dismay, and Mr. Barrow and his companions felt the effects of their ill humour in their table, which was very materially affected by it, both in the number and quality of dishes. This, however, wore off, though the old eunuch of the palace used to call them proud head-strong Englishmen. The famous gardens of the palace Mr. Barrow could only visit by stealth ; what little he saw was such as to induce a very favourable opinion, though they fall very short of the extravagant descriptions which sir William Chambers has given of Chinese gardening. Gardening, however, seems to be of all arts that which they have studied most successfully, Lord Macartney's account of the imperial park at Gehol, contains the highest praises of their good taste and knowledge of the picturesque. But except in this single art, the Chinese are wretchedly below the rank which was heretofore assigned to them among civilized nations. The women are in a state of abject slavery. In infancy, by a preposterous and cruel fashion, they are crippled, and, as if this was not a sufficient means of confinement, it is made a moral crime for a woman to be seen abroad. The wives and daughters of the lower class, indeed, are not thus immured, but the drudgery of agricultural labour falls upun them ; they drag the plough and the harrow, while their husbands are gambling or idling ; and there is reason to believe that sometimes a woman is yoked to the same plough with an ass. Even at home the wife must neither eat at the same table, nor sit in the same room with her lord and master ; and boys at the age of nine or ten are entirely separated from their sisters. For mental pursuits the women are totally unqualified, and to fill up their tedious hours smoking is the usual expedient. Love of course cannot exist in a country where there is this grievous disparity between the sexes. The bridegroom always bargains for his intended bride with her parents ; she herself has no choice, her price is paid, she is locked up in a close chaire, and sent to a man whom she has never seen, who, if he does not like her when he unlocks the door, may turn the key again, and send her back to her parents, if he chuses to forfeit what the has cost him, and a sum of the same value. If she be found guilty of adultery she may be sold for a slave, the method by which girls are punished for having been debanched. Polygamy is customary among the great : the poor of every country where it is permitted are prevented by their poverty from having more wives than one ; but as one of its constant effects, the most detestable of all crimes is so common, that it is publicly avowed by many of the first officers of state. There are no social pleasures in China, for gambling is a selfish one. The upper rank stupefy themselves at home with opium. The people are free from drunkenness, but they are also without those friendly and cheerful feelings which, though they sometimes lead to it, produce more good than evil. There are no meetings for dancing or feats of activity, none even for religious worship ; the Chinese are without a sabbath, the same solitary and dissocializing system pervading their devotion and their private life. All ranks are addicted to gaming, with cards, dice, or at the game of the fingers, the morra of the Italians, which is mentioned by Cicero. Cockfighting, with which of few despicable Englishmen are still permitted to disgrace their country, is eagerly purused by the upper classed in China : they train quails for the same wicked purpose, and having found a species of gryllus, that will attack each other with such ferocity as seldom to quit their hold without bringing away a limb of their antagonist, they keep these insects for the pleasure of seeing devour each other ; and during the summer months scarcely a boy is to be seen without his cage. Cruel amusements are as such a cause as an effect of national cruelty. Their punishments consist in inflicting mere physical pain, they produce no shame, for shame is a sentiment whereof they know nothing. Compassion also seems to be a feeling with which they are wholly unacquainted, and as if their hearts were not hard enough already, one of the most absurd laws that ever disgraced a criminal code contributes to harden them still more. Whoever takes a wounded man under his care in the hope of healing him, or of alleviating his sufferings, is liable to be punished with death if the man die, unless he can produce an undeniable evidence how the wound was made, or that he survived it forty days. The poor wretches, therefore, who by any accident are dangerously hurt, are left to die in the streets. The horrible practice of infanticide is not indeed expressly allowed by the laws, but it is sanctioned by them, as no punishment is provided for it : and it may indeed be considered as a legitimate consequence of that paternal despotism to which their whole system of government refers. The son is the absolute property of his father, he is his slave, and may be sold at his pleasure : but when human beings are once considered as mere animals, any West India planter can tell how cheaply their lives are held ; and a proprietor may be allowed to calculate how many he can conventiently rear. "It is, however, tacitly considered as a part of the duty of the police of Pekin to employ certain persons to go their rounds, at an early hour in the morning, with carts, in order to pick up such bodies of infants as may have been thrown out into the streets in the course of the night. No enquiries are made, but the bodies are carried to a common pit without the city walls, into which all those that may be living, as well as thouse that are dead, are said to be thrown promiscuously. At this horrible pit of destruction the Roman Catholic missionaries, established at Pekin, attend by turns, as a part of the duties of their office, in order, as one of them expressed himself to me on this subject, to chuse among them those that are the most lively, to make future proselytes, and by the administration of baptism to such of the rest as might be still alive, pour leur sauver l'ame. The Mahomedans, who, at the time that their services were useful in assisting to prepare the national calendar, had a powerful influence at court, did much better : those zealous bigots to a religion, whose least distinguishing feature is that of humanity, were however, on these occasions, the means of saving the lives of all the little innocents they possibly could save from this maw of death, which was an humane act, although it might be for the purpose of bringing them up in the principle of their own faith. I was assured by one of the Christian missionaries, with whom I had daily conversation during a residence of five weeks within the walls of the emperor's palace at Yuen-min-yuen, and who took his turn in attending, pour leur sauver l'ame, that such scenes were sometimes exhibited on these occasions as to make the feeling mind shudder with horror. When I mention that dogs and swine are let loose in all the narrow streets of the capital, the reader may conceive what will sometimes necessarily happen to the exposed infants, before the police-carts can pic them up." Upon an average twenty-four infants are thus found dead, or dying, every morning in the streets of Pekin ! These unfavourable features, says Mr. Barrow, in the character of a people whose natural disposition is neither ferocious nor morose, but on the contrary mild, obliging, and cheerful, can be attributed only to the habits in which they have been trained, and to the heavy hand of power perpetually hanging over them ! Never have we seen the vices of any people more fairly stated or more candidly considered than in the volume before us. The proverbial knavery of the Chinese in their dealings with Europeans partly proceeds from retaliation, partly because a merchant, a buying and selling man, as they call him, is considered as the lowest character in the country, as one who will cheat if he can, and whose trade it is to create and then supply artificial wants. "The gaudy watches of indifferent workmanship, fabricated purposely for the Chinese market and once in universal demand, are now scarcely asked for. One gentleman in the honourable East India company's employ took it into this head that cuckoo clocks might prove a saleable article in China, and accordingly laid in a large assortment, which more than answered his most sanguine expectations. But as these wooden machines were constructed for sale only, and not for use, the cuckoo clocks became all mute long before the second arrival of this gentleman with another cargo. His clocks were now not only unsaleable, but the former purchasers threatened to return theirs upon his hands, which would certainly have been done, had not a thought entered his head, that not only pacified his former customers, but procured him also other purchasers for his second cargo : he convinced them by undeniable authorities, that the cuckoo was a very odd kind of a bird which sung only at certain seasons of the year, and assured them that whenever the proper time arrived, all the cuckoos they had purchased would once again 'tune their melodious throats'. After this it would only be fair to allow the Chinese sometimes to trick the European purchaser with a wooden ham instead of a real one." |
|
| 2 | 1805.2 |
Southey, Robert. Barrow's Travels in China [review] (2) [ID D31052]. England, we fear, could produce blacker anecdotes of commercial knavery than China. Large fortunes have been accumulated in this country by manufacturing bad guns for the African trade, which sooner or later are sure to burst and to maim or kill the purchaser. But it is not from such instances of individual villainy that the national character is to be estimated. It may also be remarked with respect to the tricks practiced at Canton, that the worst people of every nation are always to be found in its sea-ports ; and also that the Chinese only extend that principle of overreaching which is openly practiced in our own country by all genteleman dealers in horse-flesh. Some valuable extracts from lord Macartney's journal are given in this volume, and a hope expressed that the whole may one day be communicated to the public. In one part of these the Chinese comedy is described, and the diversions given at court in honour of the emperor's birth-day ; they were somewhat in the style of Sadler's Wells, but very inferior, only the fire-works exceeded any thing in Europe or in any other part of the world ; for they have the art of colouring flame, probably by the combustion of metals. Their drama is very like a burlesque on the Italien opera, just as absurd in its principles, and supplied with performers by the same atrocious means, though such means are more necessary to the Chinese theatre, no women being suffered to appear in public. Having no change of scene, they have a very ingenious method of representing change of place. If it be necessary to send a general on a distance expedition, he mounts a stick, takes two or three turns round the stage, brandishes a little whip, and sings a song ; when this is ended he stops short, and recommences his recitative, and the journey is supposed to be performed. To represent a walled city, a parcel of soldiers lie in a heap to be scrambled over by storming party. Thus easily do the spectators admit the excuse of time, of numbers, and due course of things which cannot in their huge and proper life be there presented. Their dramas are as despicable in composition as in stage management. They complain as we do, that a depraved taste for modern productions prevails ; but there seems no reason for believing that their classical stock pieces are materially better than the gross and disgusting medleys of filth and barbarity which delight the present generation. The account of the Chinese language is exceedingly curious. In this part of the work Mr. Barrow acknowledges his obligations to sir George Staunton, from whose rare or rather unequalled erudition in this particular subject, England and Europe have much to expect and hope. The characters of this language on which so much has been ignoranly or superficially written are here most perspicuously explained. "Certain signs expressing simple objects or ideas may be considered as the roots of primitives of this language. There are few in number, not exceeding two hundred and twelve, one of which, or its abbreviation, will be found to compose a part of every character in that language ; and may, therefore, be considered as the key to the character into which it enters. The eye soon becomes accustomed to fix upon the particular key, or root, of the most complicated characters, in some of which are not fewer than sixty or seventy distinct lines and points. The right line, the curve line, and a point, are the rudiments of all the characters. These, variously combined with one another, have been extended from time to time, as occasion might require, to nearly eighty thousand different characters. To explain the manner in which their dictionaries are arranged will serve to convey a correct notion of the nature of this extraordinary language. All the two hundred and twelve roots or keys are drawn fair and distinct on the head of the page, beginning with the most simple, or that which contains the fewest number of lines or points, and proceeding to the most complicated ; and on the margins of the page are marked the numeral characters one, two, three, &c. which signify, that the root or key at the top will be found to be combined on that page with one, two, three, &c. lines or points. Suppose, for example, a learner should meet with an unknown character, in which he perceives that the simple sign expressing 'water' is the key or root, and that it contains, besides this root, six additional points and lines. He immediately turns over his dictionary to the place where the character 'water' stands on the top of the page, and proceeding with his eye directed to the margin, until the numeral character six occurs, he will soon perceive the one in question ; for all the characters in the language, belonging to the 'root water', and composed of six other lines and points, will follow successively in this place. The name or sound of the character is placed immediately after it, expressed in such others as are supposed to be most familiar ; and, in the method made use of for conveying this information, the Chinese have discovered some faint and very imperfect ideas of alphabetic writings, by splitting the monosyllable sound into a dissyllable, and again compressin the dissyllable into a simple sound. One instance will serve to explain this method. Suppose the name of the character under consideration to be 'ping'. If no single character be thought, sufficiently simple to express the sound 'ping', immediately after it will be placed two well-known characters 'pe' and 'ing' ; but as every character in the language has a monosyllabic sound, it will readily be concluded, that 'pe' and 'ing', when compressed into one syllable, must be pronounced 'ping'. After this, the meaning of explanation follows, in the clearest and most easy characters that can be employed. When, indeed, a considerable progress has been made in the language, the general meaning of many of the characters may be pretty nearly guessed at by the eye alone, as they will mostly be found to have some reference, either immediate or remote, though very often in a figurative sense, to the signification of the key or root ; in the same manner as in the classification of objects in natural history, every species may be referred to its proper genus. The signs, for instance, expressing the 'hand' and the 'heart', are two roots, and all the works of art, the different trades and manufactures, arrange themselves under the first, and all the passions, affections, and sentiments of the mind are under the latter. The root of an unit or one comprehends all the characters expressive of unity, concord, harmony, and the like. Thus, If I observe a character compounded of the two simple roots, 'one' and 'heart', I have no difficulty in concluding that its signification is unanimity ; but, if the sign of a negative should also appear in the same character, the meaning will be reverwed to discord or dissention, literally 'not one heart'. Many proper names of persons have the character signifying 'man' for their key or root, and all foreign names have the character 'mouth' or 'voice' annexed, which shews at once that the character is a proper name employed only to express sound without any particular meaning." "The sounds and various inflections incident to languages in general, are not necessary to be attended to in the study of the Chinese characters. They speak equally strong to a person who is deaf and dumb, as the most copious language could do to one in the full enjoyment of all his senses. It is a language addressed entirely to the eye, and not to the ear. Just as a piece of music laid before several persons of different nations of Europe would be employed by each in the same key, the same measure, and the same air, so would Chinese characters be equally understood by the natives of Japan, Tunqin, and Cochin-China ; yet each would give them different names or sounds that would be wholly unintelligible to one another. When, on the present voyage, we stopped at Pulo Condore, the inhabitants, being Cochin-Chinese, had no difficulty in corresponding by writing, with our Chinese interpreters, though they could not interchange one intelligible word." The plan of bishop Wilkins, it is observed, for a universal character, though more systematic and more philosophical, is so similar to that upon which the Chinese language is constructed, that it will convey a very complete idea of it. The roots are only 121 in number, but their combinations have been extended to 50,000 different characters. A European can only make out 342 monosyllabic sounds in this whole language ; a native, by the help of aspirates, intonations, and accentuations, can increase them to 1331 : a number so small, when compared to the written vocabulary, that, on an average, 60 characters of so many different significations must necessarily be called by the same monosyllabic name. Hence a composition, if read, would be totally unintelligible to the ear, and must be seen to be understood. If a Chinese has not made himself intelligible, he draws the character, or its root, in the air, with his finder of fan, and the ambiguity is removed. The system of education is slow and laborious, and destructive of any thing like genius. The boys begin at about six years old to learn by name a certain number of easy characters without any regard to the meaning ; for the name has no reference whatever to the meaning. The only object of the scholar is to acquire the sound ; five or six years are employed in this stupefying process. A regular bred scholar is required to get by heart a very large volume of the works of Confucius so perfectly, that he may be able to turn to any passage from hearing the sound of the character only, without having one single idea of their signification. The next step is to form the characters, which requires four years more, and the last step is to analyse them by the help of the dictionary ; so that at the end of his education he first begins to comprehend the use of the written characters. In proof of the absurdity of this wretched process, if any proof were necessary, it is stated that sir Geo. Staunton, at the age of twelve years, and in little more than twelve months, not only acquired a good colloquial knowledge of the language, but had learned to write it with such accuracy, that all the diplomatic papers of the embassy addressed to the Chinese government, were copied by him. The excellence of a composition depends on three points ; that every character be neatly and accurately made : that each character be well chosen, and not in vulgar use ; and that the same character do not occur twice in the same composition. Fine writing, therefore, would be a literal term of praise. The beauty of an expression depends entirely on the choics of the character, not on any selection or arrangement of sounds. This whimsical taste would render poetry impossible, even if the natives were not by their habits, and their want of all the better and nobler feelings, made totally incapable of that noblest of all human arts. Poets, however, they have, after their own fashion. The emperor Kien Long was considered the best of modern times, and the following ode, in praise of tea, is the most celebrated of his compositions. It has been painted on all the teapots in the empire. "On a slow fire set a tripod, whose colour and texture shew its long use ; fill it with clean snow water ; boil it as long as would be necessary to turn fish white, and crayfish red ; throw it upon the delicate leaves of choice tea, in a cup of 'youé' (a particular sort of porcelain). Let it remain as long as the vapour rises in a cloud, and leaves only a thin mist floating on the surface. At your ease, drink this precious liquor, which will chase away the five causes of trouble. We can taste and feel, but not describe, the state of repose producted by a liquor thus prepared." ' Some ludicrous errors, into which Europeans have been betrayed by their ignorance of Chinese manners and arts, are noticed in this volume. The famous lines or marks on the back of the tortoise, which, by one of the missionaries, were supposed to contain the sublimest doctrines of philosophy, are nothing but the schoolboy's musical square. And a copper coin which was found in an Irish bog, explained in the Collectanea Hibernica, proves to have been a common coin of the last emperor Kien Long : though a very able antiquary had pronounced the characters on the face to be ancient Syriac, and those on the reverse, talismanic symbols, and inferred that it must either have been imported into Ireland by the Phoenicians, or manufactured in the country, in which case the Irish must have had an oriental alphabet ; in either case, he adds, these medals contribute more to authenticate the ancient history of Ireland, than all the volumes that have been written on the subject. Astronomy is little understood by the Chinese, though they affect to value it highly. The main business of their astronomical board is to prepare the national almanack ; of this, whatever is scientific, is made up by the missionaries from European almanacks, and the chief business of the native sages, is to mark the lucky and unlucky days. An eclipse occasions a public mourning, and gongs, and kettle drums, and trumpets, are sounded to frighten away the dragon, lest he should swallow the moon. It is no part of the system of Chinese government to interfere with the superstition of the people, so that this is solely the effect of ignorance. When Kublai Khan conquered the country, he invited learned men from every part of the world ; and chiefly by the help of Mohammedans, who were not then the brutalized race that they are at present, he surveyed the empire, adjusted the chronology, and corrected the astronomical observations ; he imported mathematical and astronomical instruments from Balk and Samarcand, and repaired the great canal. This is acknowledged by the Chinese annalists. They know as little of earth as of heaven, fully believing, as they were taught above two thousand years ago, that the heaven is round ; the earth a square fixed in the middle ; the other four elements placed at its four sides : water to the north, fire to the south, wood to the east, and metal to the west ; and they believe the stars to be stuck, like so many nails, at equal distances from the earth, in the blue vault of heaven. For the good maps of their own country which they now possess, they are indebted to the Jesuits. They were certainly acquainted with gunpowder before it was known in Europe. Mr. Barrow quotes Mariana from bishop Watson, to prove that it was first used at the siege of Algeziras in 1342, but it had been used before this by the Spanish Moors. Zurita mentions it in the year 1331, as exciting great terror when employed by the king of Granada. It is remarkable that the balls discharged at Algeziras seem to have been red-hot ; if the chronicle, who is Mariana's authority, be accurate in his expression - 'venian ardiendo como fuego', they came burning like fire. But though the Chinese know the use of gunpowder, there is reason to believe that, like the other eastern nations, they were unacquainted with the art of casting cannon, and that their matchlocks were imitated from the Portugueze. That their printing should have continued in its present imperfect state is more the fault of the language, than of the people ; the component parts of the characters are sufficiently simple, but the difficulty of putting them together upon the frame, into the multitude of forms of which they are capable, Mr. Barrow thinks is perhaps not to be surmounted. The Romans were more stupid in this respect. The power of imitation which they possess is truly remarkable ; a Chinese at Canton, on being shewn an European watch, though he had never seen any thing of the kind before, undertook to make one like it, and succeeded ; only the main spring which he could not make was furnished him. All those ingenious pieces of mechanism which were formerly sent to China from the repositories of Coxe and Merlin, are now fabricated at Canton as well as in London, and at one third of the expence. Of this imitative power a ludicrous instance is related by Mr. Price. In the course of a very long passage to China, the chaplain's cassock had been so often patched and mended, that it was necessary to have a new one ; it was therefore sent to a tailor at Canton, that he might make another by it. He so accurately copied every patch and darn of the old one, that, except by the freshness of the new cloth, it was impossible to tell one from the other. This ingenuity would probably long ago have introduced many improvements into the country, had it not been counteracted by the contented ignorance of the government, and the contempt for Europeans which it has so successfully inculcated. A native of Canton who began a ship upon the English model, was obliged to destroy it. Their music is despicable ; of all their instruments there being not one that is tolerable to an European ear. A Chinese band generally plays, or endeavours to play, in unison ; but they never attempt to play in separate parts, confining their art to the melody only. Du Halde relates an ingenious trick to which this custom gave occasion. A king of Tsi was very fond of the instrument called Yu, and assembled three hundred men to play upon it in concert : a fellow who understood nothing of the matter, thought that, with a little impudence, he might pass in the crowd ; accordingly he offered his services, and received wages safely for a long time. But the next king happened to be a still greater lover of the instrument Yu, than his predecessor, and he chose to hear each of the three hundred performers play singly. Several popular Chinese airs are given in this volume ; they themselves have no other notion of noting down music, than that of employing a character expressing the name of every note in the scale, and even this imperfect way they learned from Pereira the Jesuit. Of their painting we have specimens enough in Europe ; for though these be not the work of the best artists, they sufficiently show what progress has been made in the art of design. Their architecture is well explained as imitating a tent, the curved roof of all their dwellings, and the wooden pillars in imitation of the poles, forming a colonnade round the brick walls, clearly denote the origin, and from this original form they have never ventured to deviate. Their temples are mostly constructed upon the same plan, with the addition of a second, and sometimes a third roof, one above the other. The whole of their architecture indeed, 'says this traveller', is as unsightly as unsolid ; without elegance or convenience of design, and without any settled proportion, mean in its appearance and clumsy in the workmanship. This censure is perhaps too harsh ; the inconvenience of their dwellings Mr. Barrow had experienced, and the meanness of appearance may probably result from bad workmanship and poor materials ; but the view of a mandarin's house which he has given, is certainly picturesque, as indeed the buildings mostly appear in the prints published with sir George Staunton's account. The village in the same plate might be mistaken for an English one. Mr. Barrow could not discover for what the pagodas were intended ; they are now decaying, and no new ones erected that in Kew Gardens is not inferior to the very best which he saw. Their knowledge of medicine is contemptible, and quackery flourishes as successfully there, as in England. The hired sophists of tyranny in Europe have labored to prove the propriety of absolute power in the sovereign, by deducing it from what they are pleased to call the patriarchal system of parental authority. In China, the government is actually established upon this system ; the son is the slave of the father, the subject the slave of the emperor. The Great Father is a title which the emperor takes ; and being thus placed above any earthly control, he is supposed to be also above earhly descent, and therefore, as a natural consequence, he sometimes styles himself the sole ruler of the world, and the son of heaven. The late emperor Kien Long, seemed indeed, in his latter years, to have been himself the dupe of this impiety, which was designed to impose upon the people. His reign had been unusually long and fortunate, and he conceived that the Lama had condescended to become incarnate in his person. This system, or more properly speaking, this language is carried through all the subdivisions of power ; the head of every province, city, or office, is considered as the father ; but, Mr. Barrow says, this fatherly care and affection in the governors, and filial duty and reverence in the governed, would, with much more propriety, be expressed by the terms of tyranny, oppression, and injustice in the one, and by fear, deceit, and disobedience in the other. To curb my disposition to abuse this parental power in the monarch, a singular check has been devised. "This is the appointment of the censorate, an office filled by two persons who have the power of remonstrating freely against any illegal or unconstitutional act about to be committed or sanctioned by the emperor. And Although it may well be supposed, that these men are extremely cautious in the exercise of the power delegated to them, by virtue of their office, and in the discharge of this disagreeable part of their duty, yet they have another task to perform, on which their own posthumous fame is not less involved than that of their master, and in the execution of which they run less risk of giving offence. They are the historiographers of the empire ; or, more correctly speaking, the biographers of the emperor. Their employment, in this capacity consists chiefly in collecting the sentiments of the monarch, in recording his speeches and memorable sayings, and in noting down the most prominent of his private actions, and the remarkable occurrences of his reign. These records are lodged in a large chest, which is kept in that part of the palace where the tribunals of government are held, and which is supposed not to be opened until the decease of the emperor ; and, if any thing material to the injury of his character and reputation is found to be recorded, the publication of it is delayed, out of delicacy to his family, till two or three generations have passed away, and sometimes till the expiration of the dynasty ; but this indulgence they pretend, that a more faithful relation is likely to be obtained, in which neither fear nor flattery could have operatedto disguise the truth. An institution, so remarkable and singular in its kind in an arbitrary government, could not fail to carry with it a very powerful influence upon the decisions of the monarch, and to make him solicitous to act, on all occasions, in such a manner, as would be most likely to secure a good name, and to transmit his character unsullied and sacred to posterity. The records of their history are said to mention a story of an emperor, of the dynasty or family of Tang, who, from a consciousness of having, in several instances, transgressed the bounds of his authority, was determined to take a peep into the historical chest, where he knew he should find all his actions recorded. Having made use of a variety of arguments, in order to convince the two censors that there could be nothing improper in the step he was about to take, as, among other things, he assured them, he was actuated with the desire only of being made acquainted with his greatest faults, as the first step to amendment ; one of these gentlemen is said to have answered him very nobly, to this effect : 'It is true you majesty has committed a number of errors, and it has been the principal duty of our employment to take notice of them ; a duty', continued he, 'which further obliges us to inform posterity of the conversation which your majesty has this day very improperly held with us." The press in China, we are told, is as free as in England : but Mr. Barrow's notions of the freedom of the press seem to be taken from the days of archbishop Laud and Mr. Pitt ; for this liberty, he says, seems to excite no apprehensions in the government. The summary mode of punishing any breach of good morale, without the formality of a trial, makes a positive prohibition against printing unnecessary, being itself sufficient to restrain the licentiousness of the press. The printer, the vender, and the reader of any libelous publication are all equally liable to be flogged with the bamboo. So much for the liberty of the press in China ! The censorial board of the inquisition is mercy, when compared with such freedom. A short account of the laws is given, which it is the less necessary to notice, as a compendium of the complet code is likely to appear in an able and faithful English translation. We have searched the volume in vain for an account of the state of property ; a most important subject, which will of course be fully explained in these institutes. Birth and fortune are of no weight in China ; learning alone, such as it is, leads to office and distinction. But such learning as can neither soften the manners or strengthen the intellects is of little avail, and the officers of government carry on a system of plunder far more oppressive thant the regular taxation. They who have acquired riches by their trade or possession, dare not openly enjoy them, for the officer of the district would find no difficulty in bringing the wealthy within the place of the sumptuary laws. To repress this act, a system of espionage has been established ; the magistrates keep watch upon each other, and secret inspection upon all. No viceroy can hold his office longer than three years, no servant of the crown from a family alliance in the place where he commands, nor obtain an office of importance in the place where he was born. These precautions sufficiently show the extent of the evil. That a government should have continued without any material change for above two thousand years, is certainly a singular phenomenon in history, and the wonder is increased by the magnitude of the empire. Its unambitious character, and its situation, having no formidable neighbours, have contributed to secure it ; but the main cause of its stability has been the wise plan of interesting all the learned in its cause. The disturbances which occasionally arise, are produced by famine, an evil to which this great empire is miserably exposed. To allevitate this evil government stores up a part of the grain which it receives in taxation, for all taxes are paid in kind ; the people have no other relief, and this, which in itself is insufficient, is impeded by those impertinent and oppressive delays, which are not peculiar to the public officers of China. It is however the desire of government, as it is the interest, to administer effectual relief, and whenever it appears that an officer has withheld the relief from the poor, either through neglect or malice, the punishment is justly severe, even sometimes extending to the life of the culprit. Taxation is fixed and certain ; the main and enviable blessing of this government. No new assessment is ever required, except in cases of rebellion, when an additional contribution is sometimes demanded from the neighbouring provinces ; and it happens quite often that the land tax or rent, is remitted in such districts as have suffered by drought or inundation. The annual value of the whole is about sixty-six millions, not more than double the revenue of Great Britain, exclusive of the poors-rate and parochial taxes. The civil and military establishments, and all the incidental and extraordinary expences are paid on the spot, and the surplus revenue remitted to Pekin, amounting to about twelve millions. The military force is stated to consist of eighteen hundred thousand men ; the whole expences of this great establishment lord Mcartney calculated at little short of fity millions sterling. But it mus be remembered, that in China soldiers do not cease to be useful. They are parceled out in the smaller towns, villages, and hamlets, where they act as jailors, constables, thieftakers, assistants to magistrates, subordinate collectors of the taxes, guards to the granaries, and are employed in a variety of different ways under the civil magistracy and police. They are posted in little forts all along the public roads, canals, and rivers, at the distance of three or four miles asunder ; thus they prevent robberies, and carry dispatches to and from the capital, there being no other post. Every soldier has his portion of land which he cultivates : such a provision induces them to marry, and the married men are never removed from their station. It is, however, probable, that some convulsion is brooding in this great empire. The Tartar family on the throne retain a national prejudice which it was formerly their policy to conceal : though the conquereors adopted the dress, the manners, and the opinions of the conquered, they have not sufficiently blended with the mass of the people ; the court is now becoming partial to its own race ; all offices of importance are given to Tartars, and the Tartar language is likely to become prevalent at court. This partiality is not regarded by the people with indifference ; secret societies of united Chinese have been formed, and it appears by the last accounts that a very serious rebellion has broken out, with one of the family of the last Chinese emperors at the head, who had assumed the imperial yellow. To predict its fate would be impossible ; this only is certain, that from a change of dynasty no good results, and the expence of lives and tranquility at which such a change must be purchased, is actual loss. Such revolutions we deprecate as sincerely as Mr. Barrow, but we have not, like him, that horror of the enlightened doctrines of the rights of man, which he expresses in a manner so little consistent with his usual good sense and good manners. We have expressed our difference of opinion on this head, in reviewing his Travels in Africa ; and will therefore here only repeat our hope, that a system, which, like that of the Chinese government, and indeed all the Asiatic governments, totally prevents all improvement, all increase of knowledge and happiness, may be radically destroyed. "The primitive religion of China, or, at least, those opinions, rites, and ceremonies that prevailed in the time of Confucius, (and before that period all seems to be fable and uncertainty) may be pretty nearly ascertained from the writings that are ascribed to that philosopher. He maintains in his physics, that 'out of nothing there cannot possibly be produced any thing ; - that material bodies must have existed from all eternity ; - that the cause, (lee reason) or principle of things, must have had a co-existence with the things themselves ; - that therefore, this cause is also eternal, infinite, indestructible, without limits, omnipotent and omnipresent ; that the central point of influence (strength) from whence this cause principally acts, is the blue firmament (tien) from whence its emanations spread over the whole universe ; - that it is, therefore, the supreme duty of the prince, in the name of his subjects, to present offerings to tien, and particularly at the equinoxes, the one for obtaining a propitious feed-time, and the other a plentiful harvest. Other parts of the doctrine of Confucius were will calculated to keep alive the superstitious notions that still prevail among the multitude. He taught them to believe that the human body was composed of two principles ; the one light, invisible, and ascending ; the other gross, palpable, and descending ; that the separation of these two principles causes the death of man ; that at this awful period, the light and spiritual part of the human body ascends into the air, whilst the gross and corporeal matter sinks into the earth. The word 'death', in fact, never enters into the philosophy of Confucius ; nor, indeed, on common occasions is it employed by the Chinese of the present day. When a person departs this life, the common expression is, 'he has returned to his family'. And although the body resolves itself in the course of time into its primitive elements ; and becomes a part of the universe : yet, he contended, the spirits of such as had performed their duty in life were permitted to visit their ancient habitations, or such places as might be appointed for receiving the homage of their descendants, on whom they had the power of conferring benefactions. On this ground, it became the indispensable duty of every good man to observe a strict obedience of the performance of sacred rites in the temple, consecrated to the memory of ancestors. He maintained, that all such as neglected this great branch of moral duty would be punished for their neglect, after death, by their spiritual part being dprived of the privilege of visiting the hall of ancestors ; and, consequently, of the pleasure arising from the homage bestowed by their descendants." The system of Confucius, or Gong-foo-tse as the name should be written, is pure Pantheism. What is most remarkable is, that his disciples should never have attached any superstition to their master. They regard him as a philosopher, who, by the strength of his own intellect, had attained to the knowledge of the truth, and who is worthy of reverence as the benefactor of mankind, because has has enlightened them. Two other sects, more adapted to human folly, have established themselves. That of the Tao-tze, or 'Sons of Immortals', is not very clearly explained. Its founder Lao Kung, by the account which is here given, would be more properly classed with Mainaduc, than with the founders of new religions. He maintained that enjoyment should be the main object of man, and that he could make man immortal by certain preparations taken from the three kingdoms of nature. Many princes are said to have been poisoned with this liquor of life. That such an imposture should maintain its credit for more than one generation appears incredible. Whether or not this part of the system is still believed we are not told ; but the priests of Lao Kung still continue a separate body ; they devote themselves to a state of celibacy, and associate in convents. Their temples are crowded with images, which represent the different passions, or the benefactors of the particular monastery, or the deceased brethren ; to these images they offer no homage. This account must be accurate ; but if the of Lao Kung's system be accurate also, it is very extraordinary that the practice of the disciples should so materially differ from the doctrines of the founder. The other superstition is tha of Fo, or Budha, which is so widely diffused over the east. Formerly these hostile sects struggled for the mastery, each aiming to be established by favour of the court eunuchs. They often took arms against each other, monasteries were burnt, and thousands destroyed ; but as the people took no part in the contest, leaving it entirely to the priests, such wars were rather useful than prejudicial to the state. The present dynasty has reconciled the two parties by the sure method of neglecting both. The court religion is that of the Lama, whose priests are paid and maintained as a part of the imperial establishment : to this superstition also the Tartar officers of state are attached. Their burying grounds are strikingly described. "A plain, extending beyond the reach of sight, opened out on the left of the river, upon which were observed many thousands of small sandy tumuli, of a conical form, resembling those hillocks which in myriads are thrown up on the continent of Africa by ther termites or white ants. In several parts of this plain were small buildings, in the form of dwelling-houses, but not exceeding four or five feet in height ; in other places were circular, semicircular, and square enclosures of stone-work, and here and there were interspersed small pillars of stone or brick, and other erections of every variety of form. This was the first common burying-ground that we had observed, except a very small one at Tong-tchoo ; and the tumuli and the different rections marked out the mansions of the dead. In many parts of this extensive enclosure we met with massy coffins lying upon the surface, some new, others newly painted, but none in a mouldering state. It was explained to us, by our interpreter, that some of these coffins had been deposited there, until the proper advice should be obtained from the priest, or the oracle consulted, or from casting lots, as to the most propitious place of interment, and the most favourable day for performing the obsequies ; some were placed there till the pecuniary circumstances of the surviving relatives would enable them to bestow a suitable interment, and others were left to dry and moulder, to a certain degree, in order o be burnt, and the ashes collected and put into stone jars or other receptaccles. On no occasion do the Chinese bury their dead within the precincts of a city or town, much less within the walls of their temples ; but slways deposit them at a proper distance from the dwelling of the living, in which respect they have more discretion than the Europeans. The bank of the river, being one of the enclosing fences to the burying-ground, was ornamented with beautiful weeping willows, which, with a few solitary cypresses interspersed among the tombs, were the only trees that appeared in this part of the country. In a corner of the cemetery was a temple, built after the usual plan, with an altar in the center ; and a number of deities moulded in clay were ranged on each side on some pedestals. We observed no priests ; but an elderly lady was very busily employed in throwing the sticks of fate, in order to obtain a lucky number, in which, however, she failed. During the operation of shaking the cup, her countenance betrayed a greater degree of eagerness and anxiety than usually appears on the face of a Chinese ; and she left the temple in a peevish and muttering tone, sufficiently expressive of the greatness of her diasappointment, which, it seems, was no less than a refusal, on the part of the oracle, to hold out the hope of her being blessed with a second husband. Till this circumstance had been explained to us by the keeper of the temple, it was concluded, that the old lady had been muttering imprecations against us for disturbing her in the midst of her devotion." Though nearly a fourth part of the whole country consists of uncultivated lands, it is probable that the population is not over-rated at 333 millions. Enormous as the aggregate appears, yet this population is to that of Great Britain only as 256 to 120, or in a proportion somewhat greater than two to one. Mr. Barrow has set this point in a clear light, and sufficiently proved, in confutation of the common opinion, that China is not over-stocked. The latter chapter describes the journey from Pekin to Canton. This article has been extended to so great length, that we have no room to notice its details farther. We have said enough of the volume to evince its excellence. Bruce's is the only work of equal value which has appeared dring the present reign – we had almost said during the last century. |