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Title: Some Observations Upon the Civilization of the Western Barbarians, Particularly of the English


Author: John B. Swazey

Other: John Yester Smythe

Release date: May 23, 2020 [eBook #62209]

Language: English

Credits: Brian Coe, Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Library of Congress)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THE CIVILIZATION OF THE WESTERN BARBARIANS, PARTICULARLY OF THE ENGLISH ***



Produced by Brian Coe, Graeme Mackreth and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by the Library of Congress)










 SOME OBSERVATIONS

 UPON THE

 CIVILIZATION

 OF THE

 WESTERN BARBARIANS,

 PARTICULARLY OF THE ENGLISH;

 MADE DURING A RESIDENCE OF SOME YEARS IN THOSE PARTS,

 By AH-CHIN-LE,

 MANDARIN OF THE FIRST CLASS, MEMBER OF THE
 ENLIGHTENED AND EXALTED CALAO.

 TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE INTO ENGLISH,

 By JOHN YESTER SMYTHE, Esq.,
 OF SHANGHAI,

 AND

 NOW FIRST PUBLISHED OUT OF CHINA AND IN OTHER THAN CHINESE.

 BOSTON:
 LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.

 NEW YORK:
 CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM,
 678 BROADWAY.
 1876.




 COPYRIGHT.
 J.B. SWASEY.
 1876.




TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.


This Translation of the Work of Ah-Chin-le is trustworthy as to the
meaning of the Text--though the literal translation has not been, in
many cases, attempted.

Preserving the Spirit of the Author, the Translator has desired to be
intelligible in good, readable English. Where it is impossible to give
the precise thought of a mind so differently cultured, the _nearest_
English is given. It is hoped that the inherent difficulty of the task
may excuse errors of grammar and style.

The Translator has been so absorbed in his Author, that he fears he may
have often slipped in his Syntax, and been rude in his manner. However,
with whatever faults, he hands the volume to his Countrymen--thinking
that they may be as much interested in it as he has been; and may
derive as much amusement. If it do not commend itself for its Wisdom,
it may, at least, for its novelty--that is, as a genuine expression of
intelligent _Chinese_ opinion, concerning the "_Civilization of the
Western Barbarians, and particularly of the English_."

The Author's own Preface explains the Origin of the Work, and its
claims to consideration.

 The Retreat,
 Shanghai, China, 1875.

 J.Y.S.




AUTHOR'S PREFACE.


Ah-chin-le, Mandarin, and member of the exalted _Calao_, to the
Illustrious _Wo-sung_, Mandarin, First class, President of the most
Serene, the grand Council, _Calao_; virtue, health, and the highest
place in the Hall of your Sublime Ancestors! Trained from my youth
for many years in the school of the Foreigners [Fo-kien], so as to
be versed in the languages of the chief Barbarians of the West, and
particularly of the English, afterwards perfected in the latter at our
port of Shanghai, and sent by your Illustrious command upon a private
mission with the Imperial Embassy to the outside Barbarians of the far
West to curiously seek into the state of those Peoples, and report upon
the same to your Illustrious mind--that being so informed exactly,
your Wisdom might, in those matters appertaining to the Western
Barbarians, enlighten the Son of Heaven (our Celestial and Imperial
Majesty [Bang-ztse] most renowned and exalted) when, in Council, things
touching those outer Barbarians should be considered: these, my poor
words, in so far as to your Illustrious Wisdom it has been thought
proper to make general, are now produced: that the happy subjects
of our Central, Flowery Kingdom, may understand more perfectly the
condition of those outside Barbarians, respecting whom so very little
is known, and may the more cautiously guard the Sacred Institutions
[Kam-phfe] of our Celestial Land--wise, peaceful, powerful, and teeming
with an industrious and contented people, before the Western Barbarians
had so much as the rudiments of learning.

Ah-chin prostrates his poor body before your Illustrious Benevolence,
and craves forbearance that these, his unworthy _Observations_, are not
better ordered:--the circumstances of travel, fatigue, agitation of
mind, hurry and confusion, have been unfavourable for that due ordering
of the same which a respect for your Illustrious Wisdom required--in
this particular the precise Report, submitted to the Exalted, the
_Calao_, through the hands of your Illustrious Greatness, is more
perfect. These are minutes, rather, jotted down and fastened for better
reordering, if, at another time, it should be judged fit. May the
Sovereign Lord of Heaven [Chang-ti] keep your Illustrious mind and body!

 AH-CHIN-LE.

NOTE.--These _Observations_ now following were made in England, and
refer chiefly to the _English_ Barbarians, who pride themselves
upon being the most powerful and most enlightened of all the outer
Barbarians, and, in fact, of any People in the whole, immense World.

 Ah-Chin.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


 CHAPTER                                                            PAGE

 I.--OF THE RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE
 ENGLISH                                                              1

 II.--OF THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE ENGLISH                    45

 III.--SOME PARTICULARS OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION               76

 IV.--UPON EDUCATION: A FEW REFLECTIONS                              98

 V.--OF THE LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH                               109

 VI.--OF THEIR TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT                   131

 VII.--SOME REMARKS UPON MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND
 BURIALS [HI-DI]                                                    150

 VIII.--OF ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SOME WORDS ABOUT
 SCIENCE [KNO-TE]                                                   170

 IX.--OF AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES                          195

 X.--OF EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE, AND ASPECTS OF
 DAILY LIFE                                                         214

 XI.--OF THE HIGH-CASTES: SOME PARTICULARS OF THEIR
 DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS                                        223

 XII.--OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY, THE CLIMATE,
 AND OTHER THINGS                                                   246

 XIII.--LONDON                                                      257

 XIV.--SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS                                    278




OBSERVATIONS.

[Illustration]




CHAPTER I.

OF THE RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ENGLISH.


The worship of the supreme Lord of Heaven [Chang-ti], is not unknown to
these Barbarians, though degraded by many Superstitions.

The purity of the divine and original Worship (as with the vulgar in
our Celestial Kingdom) is too simple. About 500 or 600 years after
our Confutze, in the time of the Romans, there appeared in an obscure
province of their Empire a new Sect of devotees, who asserted that
they had among them a Son of Heaven. This Son they called _Christ_;
and those who adopted this new deity were called _Christians_. This
was nearly 2000 years [met-li-ze] ago. The Sect increased and spread.
One of the Emperors of the West adopted the new god, and enforced the
worship of him upon the subjects of the Empire.

All the Western Barbarians derive their knowledge from the Romans;
whose power, indeed, they over-turned, but whose civilization they
imitated. Particularly, the Bonzes (Priests) of the new _Superstition_,
joined to the Chiefs of new powers (which arose upon the ruins of the
Roman Empire), preserved some remains of the ancient Learning, and
enforced the new Superstition. What little of letters remained was
almost entirely with the Bonzes. This event was much the same as the
introduction from the Hindoos into our Central Kingdom of the worship
of the Hindoo god, _Fo_; and, curiously, these events happened at about
the same time.

It is to be observed that in our Illustrious Kingdom there is a
tendency to superstitious observances. We have several _Sects_
[pho-ti]; but our _Literati_ merely tolerate and do not worship. A
simple and pure homage to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven [Hoang-chan-ti]
is an act of the Wise: and even the _Sects_ make their _Spirits_
subordinate to Him. The Western Barbarians, however, dishonour the
true worship by strange "rites"--even by incredible superstitions,
when the intellectual culture is considered. It is not long since, in
the monstrous credulity of the people, directed by the Bonzes, it was
believed that the _Devil_ (Chief of the _Evil Demons_) would enter into
an individual--generally some old, ugly, and friendless woman--and,
_by her_, turn the milk sour, drive the cattle mad, torture children,
shrivel up the limbs, blast with the _Evil Eye_; and even plague
with disease and with horrible death! And these wretched women, and
sometimes men, themselves often fancying that the Devil was really
in them, were seized upon, dragged through mud and mire, fearfully
maltreated, and put to death by the horrible torments of fire, upon
this wild accusation: and this terrible scene was not caused by a
maddened rabble of the common sort, but under the lead of the Bonzes,
and according to the Laws of the Land.

The great, central figure of idolatry is the Pope, who sits enthroned
in Rome; and is, generally, a very old man, not always remarkable
for wisdom nor virtue. He claims to be the sole vicegerent of the
Christ-god, and only visible divine Head--all who do not worship
him are really not true worshippers. Yet, there are many _Sects_ of
this _Superstition_; and in England, the Sovereign is held to be the
true Pope and Head! The English Pope now worshipped is therefore
a woman--the Queen! Such a thing seemed to me to be too wild--a
phantasy--I could not comprehend. I knew that this Sect--the Roman--had
long ago followers in our Flowery Kingdom; and our annals show was
tolerated: not, however, for the _Superstition_, but for the Bonzes,
who were masters of some useful knowledge. Personally, I never knew any
native devotees of the Superstition--in fact it has steadily diminished
in repute, and its few and scattered adherents are very obscure. So I
was, and am still, puzzled by this extraordinary _Sect_. I have read
the _Creed_; a sort of verbal incantation, made by devotees in the
temples.

One day, I begged of a good-natured, large-bellied, Priest to explain
to me; and ventured to ask him if the _Creed_ was really an Article of
Belief, or only a formal and meaningless Invocation--like some of the
mummeries [phin-zi] of our Superstitious Sects. He looked surprised;
but when he saw that he was thus accosted by a "_Heathen Chinee_" (as
these Barbarians always contemptuously call the inhabitants of our
Central Land), he merely said: "Why, you have in China our Missionaries
to enlighten your darkness; have you never met them?" "No; I have
heard of them at Shanghai; but they do not speak our tongue, nor do
we understand them; and their teachings, even if understood, would
attract no attention from the _Literati_, who would consider them as
unworthy of notice as any other Superstition." "How so? our Religion is
no Superstition; it is the true and _only_ true Religion, revealed by
God himself to his chosen people, and miraculously preserved for all
believers." "I bow before your Illustrious mind and body; but we have,
and have had from time immemorial, just such pretensions; they are as
old as history." "I will not argue; but look at the excellency of our
divine religion!" "Where shall I look? If you mean the excellency of
certain moral principles, there is nothing peculiar to your _Sect_
in them. They have been taught in our schools for thousands of
years--they _are_ excellent; they show the divine in man--man is of the
divine; morality comes of that." "But look at your frightful vices;
at your Pagan worship--see the effects of idolatry!" "I bow to your
Illustrious mind." I saw my effort to obtain any reasonable explanation
was fruitless; I made my obeisance and left. What an illustration of
ignorant and superstitious conceit! Vice, thousands of miles beyond
sea, so dreadful; the vice at hand, defiling every corner, unseen! The
only true Religion of this Priest will not see, or, seeing, he will
not believe that it is Vice--or, at any rate, idolatrous--pagan Vice!
I could not believe, at first, that the _Superstition_ was more than
a Form, kept up merely for the advantage of the Priests. The sharp
intellects of the Barbarians, applied so fruitfully to useful arts,
seemed stultified, if I held to their actual belief. I doubted the
honesty of the Priests; I knew the bad character of many of the Bonzes
of our Superstitious Sects. Now, better acquainted with the imperfect
civilization of the people, I am not moved by these ignorant and
bigoted displays. Poverty, vice, and drunkenness; crimes of violence
and fraud, are rife among the Barbarians. The Temples, ordered and
maintained by the _Queen-Pope_, are, for the most part--especially in
great cities--empty. The Sects of the Low-Caste people, despised by
the High-Caste, are far more zealous worshippers, though not better
_Christians_. The funds raised to support the great Temples and the
Priests, are nearly all absorbed by them, and the Temples left ruinous.
The lowest Castes do not worship, but curse the Sovereign Lord. Yet,
our Illustrious Kingdom is called _Pagan_--_Heathen_--words implying
every degradation; and our people fit only to be turned over to the
endless torments of Evil Spirits!

Like our Confutze, the principles of morality and general benevolence
are taught in the sayings ascribed to Christ. Yet fighting in the
most brutal manner is allowed in the Schools, although the teachings
of Christ, commanding Charity and Peace, are conned over in the daily
lessons; and horrible Wars for the subjugation of other Peoples,
incessantly waged! Still, if we may believe these Barbarians, all
true religion and virtue are possessed only by them! The education of
the people has been disregarded; and now, when the wisest of their
great men has, with great difficulty, caused a decree to issue for
the teaching of the neglected masses, at least, in some rudimental
learning, the purpose is likely to fail. The Priests demand that the
_Superstition_ shall be taught, and those of one _Sect_ insist that
they shall lead; denouncing a differing _Sect_. Each _Sect_ denounces
every other: and, so far is the contention carried, that the teaching
of the people is lost sight of; the special _Superstition_ of a Sect
being held by its adherents far more important than merely "Secular"
teaching! It must be understood, that though, commonly, there is but
little real reverence for the Supreme Lord, and less benevolence, yet,
such is the hold which the Bonzes have got of the imagination (by means
of the _devil and hell_, which are greatly feared), that they are a
_power_. Their demands, therefore, as to the education of the people,
will be respected; and the matter be left, largely, in their hands.
This, owing to the bitterness existing among the Bonzes of the Sects,
will cause the whole attempt to fail--to fail, as a general measure.
The Lowest orders, for whom the design was chiefly devised, do not hold
the Bonzes in esteem, and will not be so readily led by them, even were
the Priests themselves in accord. The Sects and the Priests not only
fight upon this subject; they are usually at strife upon any matter
wherein their coöperation is desired. One leading rule of the _Sacred
Writings_ commands, _Peace_. In respect of all who differ from them,
these Sects say that the true meaning is, _War_! Each Sect dislikes
and denounces every other; and the members of all damn to everlasting
torments the whole human race but themselves! This place of eternal
torture in "fire and brimstone" [Zan-tan-li] is called Hell [Tha-dee]!

In the ceaseless conflicts of the _Sects_, the most dreadful crimes
have been committed. The chief events recorded in the annals of the
Western Barbarians for many ages, and even to this time, have been
only bloody wars, massacres, and vile intrigues, springing out of
these conflicts: horrible crimes, again and again repeated, and under
circumstances too dreadful for belief. And when I have looked into the
causes of these shocking events, there seemed to be no more involved
than the manner of interpreting some obscure word or phrase in the
_Sacred Writings_; which to a wise man would be unimportant, however
interpreted, or if never interpreted at all!

At this moment, the best intellects among the English (who boast
that they are superior to all other Barbarians), are hotly disputing
as to the proper mode of wearing vestments, of holding or of not
holding candles, of standing and posturing, and other matters equally
important, when the Priests officiate in the Temples. The most trivial
thing in the _Superstition_ is esteemed of such consequence, that
an error respecting it may be fatal to the "soul" [pan-tzi] in the
future life! Some of the most learned fear the words and "missives"
of the poor old man, who sits in Rome (already referred to), and is
worshipped by most Christians out of England (and by very many in it)
as the only delegate of the _Christ-god_. They fear this Pope--fear
that by his connection with the _Evil One_ he will "_play the devil_"
among them. And though of precisely the same Christ-god _Superstition_,
merely because of a difference of opinion as to the visible "Head" of
that Superstition, really believe that this poor old man (called by
the larger portion of Christians, with profound worship, Pope, _Holy
Father_) may, by his wicked devices, allure into his worship, and bring
under his power, the English Barbarians; to the everlasting destruction
of their souls!

This notion of an _Evil-one_, universal among all the Barbarians, I
never well comprehended. We have in our Flowery Kingdom Sects which
believe in good and bad _Spirits_; although our _Literati_ smile at
such things; that is, in the vulgar forms. But the Christians assert
that the Devil is too strong with men for the Supreme Lord--and the
English _Sect_ say that the Pope is a very child of the Devil! To be
sure, their Sect is the feeblest of all, and merely separated from the
great Pope-sect upon points not touching the superstition itself, and
really on selfish and personal grounds. They know that the Pope justly
claims a direct and regular succession from the _Christ-God_; that he
and his adherents, forming the vast majority of _Christians_ (as all
the sects call themselves) are believers with themselves in all the
main "_dogmas_" [ka-nti] of the Superstition; yet, none the less, they
are the children of the Evil-one, and fit for Hell. And not the vulgar
only, but the learned actually have a horror that the Pope may be again
worshipped in England. A calamity too terrible for contemplation!

The Pope-worshipping Sect repay this hate with an equal abhorrence,
and send the English _heretics_ to the awful Hell, with the same
satisfaction.

All the Western Barbarians worship this new _Christ-God_, but, like our
devoters of _Fo_, divided into many Sects, as I have already intimated.
The benignant _Fo_, teaches his idolatrous devotees how to differ
without hate. But, these _Christians_ are always at strife, bitter and
irreconcilable; not as to essentials, even within the Superstition
itself, (to say nothing of genuine morality), but as to things trivial
and absurd. One will say, "Be baptised or be damned to the eternal
Hell!" But another says, "Baptism is only a symbol, one may be saved
without it." Then, "What is baptism?" Some say "The Priest must immerse
in water;" but another, "No, the Priest must sprinkle the face only."
Yet another, "Water is itself nothing, Priest nothing, unless before
either, the baptism of the 'Holy Spirit' have occurred." To perfect the
"rite," all say that the Priest must offer proper "Incantations," and
generally in the Temples before the Idol. The contestants damn each
other to everlasting torments for not being _truly_ baptised.

All the Sects say, "You must believe in Christ or be damned;" but do
not agree as to what this _Belief_ is, and go on damning each the other
for not having truly believed.

It is impossible, however, to make intelligible the countless vagaries
of the Sects. They all fight under the same _Christ-God_, whom they
all address, among other titles, as the "Prince of Peace" [Tchu-pe].
They all profess to follow His precepts, one of which is to love all
men, even enemies (not _friends_, one of these angry disputants once
said). These revered Precepts are written in the _Sacred Books_, and
all the Sects swear their oaths upon these, and resort to them for
the unchangeable rules of belief and practice. They all declare that
the _Sacred Writings_ are so plain that a man, "though a fool, may
understand," and so clear, "that he who runs may read." Yet, they
curse each other to the eternal torments for interpreting erroneously.
The truth is, that _the Books_ are most obscure, and differences of
interpretation are inseperable from their use; the terrible thing is,
that Superstition has made these differences so important. The _Sacred
Writings_ are contradictory, and teeming with things indifferent,
meaningless, or trivial. Written at widely different periods, by
many hands, long ages ago, in an obscure and barbarous dialect, for
different objects, their true meanings cannot always be rendered. But
few, even of the Priest-class, can read them at all in the original.
They are mainly Records of the Laws, customs and wars of an obscure and
terrible race, here and there interspersed with Invocations to the Gods
of that race, and with their Proverbs, or words of wisdom. This tribe,
called _Jews_, revolted from their masters, the Egyptians, and fled
into a desert region lying west from the Hindoos. The man who led them
in this revolt was learned in the laws and customs of Egypt, and upon
these he founded his own system. He declared himself to be directly
called by Jah (Jehovah) to be their High Priest and Judge--that they
were to obey him who received from Jah immediate instructions--that, in
fact, to disobey him was to disobey Jah. That he was to lead them forth
to found a new State, and that the power to announce the will of Jah
alone resided with him and his successors, in this High Priesthood, and
that they could only be successful over their enemies and prosper, by
an implicit obedience to Jah, by the mouth of the High Priest.

This event took place in our dynasty, _Shang_; and our annals,
referring to the Western Barbarians of the ancient times, make mention
of some things--obscure movements of tribes, and of the great works
performed by the Egyptians; and of a servile race, condemned to toil
on these structures: and, possibly, this revolt of the Jews may have
been contained in these references. However, the whole matter would
have been lost ages ago, nor have left a trace, but for the singular
circumstance that the ancient records of these Jews have in a good
measure escaped destruction. This happened not by any chance; but from
the fact that the High Priest, pretending to be the very mouth of Jah,
made all his utterances _Sacred_; and the Priesthood, inscribing and
preserving the Jewish "Rites," worship and institutes of all kinds,
guarded these writings with extreme care; which the reverence of the
Superstitious people enhanced. Thus these _Institutes_ of the Jews,
declared to be by the Priests the very will of Jah, came to be "_Holy_"
[Kan-ti]--inviolable! Now, the Barbarians regard this preservation
of the Jewish Records as an evidence of their divinity, and a clear
warning to man not to disregard them; and when they assert (as, by
the High Priest, they constantly do), "Thus saith the Lord-God-Jah,"
they accept the declaration, and bow before it, as the very word of
Jehovah! But we know that similar "_Sacred Writings_" are common in the
East, and that these pretensions of the Priests are as universal as
_Superstition_ itself; in fact, form the chief features in it.

The new Christ-God was a Jew; and, though, singularly enough, in the
words ascribed to him, in those parts of the _Sacred Writings_ assigned
to him and his immediate followers, there are bitter denunciations of
the spirit and of the letter of much in the old, Priest-made part;
and he distinctly says that his office is to give new and reformed
rules; none the less, his immediate followers, being Jews, naturally
looked upon him as Great High-Priest, speaking as did their ancient
High-Priest (High-Priest and Christ-God)--the very "mouth-piece"
[Mu-te-pi] of Jehovah! Adding to the High-Priest a _Messiahship_;
for they believed him to be the mysterious _Messiah_ of their Sacred
Writings, foretold by their wise _Seers_ long ages before! The great
High-Priest who should deliver them from all their enemies, and lead
them to a universal dominion! Very few of the Jews themselves, however,
adhered to this opinion: in fact, Christ was put to a shameful death by
them as an _Imposter_ [Kon-ti-fe]. And by the Jews, in general, he was
and is still considered to be a misguided fanatic. The Romans at this
time held the Jewish province, and continued to do so. Meantime, the
followers of the Christ-God, as I have said, spread by degrees, after
his death, into other Roman provinces. New Superstitions were often
greedily received; the Western Barbarians had always readily adopted
new gods, and new Superstitions. This idolatry was, however, held in
contempt by the learned; but it slowly spread among the lower orders,
and penetrated to Rome itself.

The Roman soldiery, in some instances, made it conspicuous; and,
after some generations, a Roman Emperor, thinking he saw some
miraculous evidence of its divine force (in the workings of his own
dark imagination), forced this new Superstition upon his Empire. That
Empire embraced the Western world. The Barbarians who succeeded to them
adopted, largely, their laws; their worship, and their religious rites.
Thus, these Western Barbarians are _Christians_; and, though they
detest the Jews none the less, hold to their "Sacred Writings" as the
very words of Jah--whom they also worship! This they do because they
follow the few Jews who accepted Christ as Jehovah, rather than the
_whole people_ who rejected him!--follow the few who accepted Christ as
the Messiah-God promised in the "Sacred Writings;" and hold with them
that these are the only _Revelation_ of the will of Jehovah to man! By
_Jehovah_ meaning the only Supreme Lord of Heaven!

The remarkable thing is that this enormous pretension is not ascribed
to _Christ_, but is obscurely announced in certain writings of the
early Christian Jews. Thus these Western Barbarians, scoffing the
name of Jew, accept of his ancient and ferocious god, and adopt the
barbarous _rites_ of a blood-thirsty and obscure tribe of the desert,
make the records kept by the Priests of the tribe _Sacred_, and curse
to _Hell_ the whole Jewish race for not accepting the interpretation of
_a few of their number_--the few, and only a few, worshipping Christ as
the true _Christ-God_. That is, these Barbarians better understand the
subject than the people into whose hands the matter was entrusted by
Divine wisdom.

When one considers, then, the foundation of the great worship of the
West, one wonders not at the Sects and strife. Founded in dark and
cruel _institutes_ of ignorant antiquity, the attempt to engraft a
better system failed, because in this attempt the Priests were still
_Jews_, who, adoring Christ, adored him as Jehovah and a Jewish
High-Priest. What follows becomes more intelligible, but not less
astonishing. The new worship has its divine _Revelation_ from Jah,
interpreted by its Priests, who introduce Christ as their great
High-Priest, and the _Christ-Jehovah_ of the new worship. All are
_damned_ to the everlasting Hell who do not believe these Priests,
worship this new god, and accept as the very Divine _Word_ these
_Jewish writings_. This superstition suited the dark imaginations of
the Barbarians, and was, in truth, not unlike their own, and may have
had a common origin.

The intellectual activity of succeeding ages has been mainly devoted
to these _Sacred Writings_; and the disputes, as to the meaning,
never-ending. Every word has been criticised. _Sects_ have been formed
upon a syllable--appearing and disappearing. Now one would madly
starve, another feast. Some fanatics would live in caves, some on
inaccessible mountains; some tortured themselves, and held women to
be unclean unless they married _Christ_. Some would only shout their
invocations, others would only commune with the god _inside_. Some
_would_ kneel, others _would_ stand. Sometimes a sect more wild than
usual would organise vast bands of warriors, all wearing a symbol to
show that they were Christians--usually a _cross_ (because the Jews
put Christ to death by hanging him upon a cross); and, placing Priests
at the head, would rush to distant parts to root out _pagans_. These
dreadful slaughters of distant tribes were called _Crossades_ (from
the symbol referred to). Some Sects destroyed society by another
fanaticism; they forced men to live in caves or in dark stone chambers,
shut off from all cheerful life, and from all intercourse with women;
where they should constantly make invocations, lash themselves with
thongs, and half-starve themselves; having skulls to hold before them,
and awful paintings of Hell and devils to horrify them,--if perchance
they may propitiate the _Christ-God_, Jah. Women also being driven into
similar, horrid imprisonment in stone vaults, where the whole life is
spent in invocations and sufferings, without so much as seeing any man.

These and numberless other things grow out of the interpretations,
ever-changing, of the _Sacred Writings_; which, to the dark imaginings
of Priests and devotees, seem ever to give such utterances as fit to
their feelings. To the Priests they are an unfailing arsenal of power.

For many ages nearly all the Books written--mainly by Priests--were
in respect of the _Sacred Writings_; called commentaries, homilies,
disputations, doctrines, invocations, sermons; endless in name, and
nameless.

This _Literature_ is less in repute than formerly, and immense
collections of huge writings are now rotting away in the dismal alcoves
of _Libraries_ [Buk-sti], as great stone buildings for keeping Books
are called. This _Literature_ is rarely looked at now, excepting by the
Priests and antiquaries [ol-olphoo]; much of it is obsolete in form,
or in the Roman--not now so much in vogue as formerly. A large portion
of the writings, and a larger portion of the "speeches" [phi-lu-tin],
however, are devoted to the same subject; but the style is modern,
and less obscure, though not less deformed by a dark and irrational
superstition.

To my poor mind, were all these innumerable productions of gloomy and
bewildered intellects--misled and crazed by a monstrous Idolatry--swept
for ever away, nothing would be lost--nothing, unless the most
astonishing monument ever builded by man. However, it is doubtful
whether to lose even this is not better than to have _anything_ left of
so monstrous a Pretension.

Whilst thus the Barbarian _brain_ wasted itself in this wretched work,
and piled up its ponderous tomes of useless, and worse than useless,
Literature--holding knowledge in general as vain, and _Science_, when,
in Priestly interpretation, not according to the barbarous _Sacred
Writings_, as a thing to be accursed--activity of body, during the
same ages, did _its_ dreadful work. Directed by the Priests, one
_Sect_ denounced another as _damnable_, and the stronger attempted to
destroy the weaker by "fire and sword." New contentions would arise,
to be crushed out by bloody execution; only to spring up again, to
be again extirpated. Every _Sect_ as it appeared would fight for
supremacy. All worshipped the Christ-God, and sought the same Sacred
Writings; and all invoked His aid, and pointed to those Writings for
their authority--to exterminate a weaker _Sect_; to deliver over
whole provinces to rapine, slaughter, burning, destruction; cities in
conflagration; women, children, as well as men, not merely slain, but
put to death with tortures unspeakable; massacres, by treachery and
surprise, of thousands and tens of thousands! To such work was the
activity of body largely directed by Priests and the savage chiefs.
For ages these atrocities were perpetrated. History has no parallel of
horror; human nature seemed to have become possessed by the _Devil_
of the Superstition, and exceeded its _diabolism_ [pau-di-ki]. In the
name of Christ, fire, slaughter, and rapine, spread over the whole
immense world. Wherever the Priests of this dark superstition became
powerful, everything which opposed them perished. It was a cardinal
principle that men could be saved from the dreadful Hell only by the
aid of the Priests, and by accepting of their interpretation of the
_Sacred Writings_. The system erected by the Priests was called the
_Church_, and none could be saved unless they were in the pale of _Holy
Church_--unless they, in the manner directed by the Priests, performed
all the rites of worship. These not merely were directed to the worship
of the Sacred Writings, the Christ-God and Jah, but to the mother of
God and to the Pope. In England, by and by, the Priests threw off the
Roman Pope, and set up the English Sovereign, for the time being, as
Pope, and put men and women to death by fire and torture for still
preferring the older Idol.

Nor is this madness, this fanatical fury, wholly expended. Education
has not yet raised these Western tribes into the enjoyment of a
rational worship--of a rational morality--of a life, calm, tolerant,
and beneficent. They have never attained the civilisation of our
Central Kingdom, and to the wisdom of our illuminated Confutse.

There is morality to be found among them, and a few worship, purely
and simply, the God of Heaven, and look with untroubled hearts upon
the senseless superstitions. The masses are, however, still held in
them; and the High Castes either hold to the prevailing idolatries,
or pretend to do so. This old Jewish Worship, with its _rites_ and
pretensions, fastened upon tribes by Priests and the Roman power,
is still dominant in the West. In England to-day it is the same
superstition, only the Queen is Pope, instead of the Man at Rome. For
this the English are _damned_, as worthy of Hell-fire, by Roman Pope
worshippers; and the English return the curse. A constant _Bugbear_
[Do-nki] to the English mind is, that the more powerful Roman Pope may
get into England again; then, what horrors! Nor does this frightful
_chimera_ alone alarm the lower people; the most learned Englishmen,
and their wisest, exert their minds in writing and in preaching against
this terrible thing.

To me this seemed strange--incredible. The English Barbarians are, in
general, sharp enough; they are learned in many things; they can see
the absurdity of Eastern superstitions; they denounce the Roman-Pope
worship as worthy of _hell_; but they worship a Queen-pope at home, and
the same Christ-Jah-god and "sacred writings" which the Romans worship.
They believe, as do the Roman-pope worshippers, that all who do not
worship the _sacred writings_ and the _Christ-Jah-god_, and accept of
the Priest-_Church_, will inevitably burn for ever in fires of Hell;
yet, because of the separation as to Pope worship, each regards the
other _sect_ with a hatred only appeased by sending each the other
to the dreadful Hell! How incredible that the human mind--the active
and skilled human mind--should alarm itself and others for fear of the
worship of a Pope--a man: and really think the condition of the human
soul would be hopelessly wretched--if it mistook the right object of
worship--the idol of Rome, or the idol of England! The intellect truly
employed would be directed to the overthrow of _the superstition_ and
its objects of idolatry altogether. The Roman or the English Pope--the
Roman or the English _sect_--what matter? Both alike indifferent and
worthless to an intelligent worshipper of the SUPREME LORD OF HEAVEN
(Hoang-chan-ti). His worship is elevating, supporting a clean morality,
tolerant, benevolent--a morality found wherever man is found; debased,
more or less, as man be debased, or as he may be sunken in vicious or
cruel superstitions.

To restore a pure worship is to help on a better civilisation among the
Barbarians. Nor would a respect for the morality ascribed to Christ do
other than help in the same way. The misfortune is, that that morality
has been overlaid with Jewish and Priestly additions and inventions.
There are some of the English _literati_ who dare to teach a purer
worship, discarding the _superstition_ in its grosser pretensions; but
they are not listened to.

It is difficult to understand what is accepted as _true_ by the
differing _Sects_--but their differences may be disregarded--and I will
refer to what all the Sects of the _Great Superstition_ subscribe to,
aside from the matter of _Pope_.

_One, only God_: in three parts--each part a very God!

  1. _The Judge and destroyer_ of mankind; for all are damned to Hell!
  This is the Jewish Jah.

  2. _The Son_, begotten of Jah upon an immaculate virgin. Sent to
  mediate with Jah and appease His fierce anger, so that some may
  escape Hell--that is, those few who have "_believed in_" _and
  worshipped the Son_, the Father, and other things. For as to what
  is to be believed, form the points of endless contention, as I have
  hinted.

  3. _The Holy Ghost_, or Comforter, whose function I have never
  comprehended. It appears to be a divine _Effluence_, entering into
  the devotee, to warm, exalt, and enlighten him; especially to comfort
  him and to support him in his dire conflicts with "_the flesh,
  hell, and the devil_" (as the Superstition reads). It is an "awful
  mystery" in the _rites_, and has crazed many a worshipper; for those
  who fancy themselves to be in the possession of this _Effluence_
  feel like gods, and conduct themselves as scarcely accountable to
  mortal control; though others feel an absorption, as they say, into
  the divine nature--a notion like that of some of the fanatics of the
  Hindoos and of the East.

As powerful, indeed more powerful over men, is the terrible
Satan--_Devil_, _Evil One_. There are many names and shapes. This
monster was once (according to the superstition) chained down in
hell-fire, for having raised a rebellion against Jah, who, however, let
him loose again, and gave him wings to fly from his fiery prison to
the world, where he should wage war with Jah, in a covert way, by his
craft drawing away mankind from Jah to his worship and to his designs;
that, however, he should never prevail to overthrow Jah, and the only
result would be to increase the number of the countless devils of
low degree already in Hell, by adding to them nearly the whole human
race!--for to that torment all go who do not worship in spirit and in
truth, according to the superstition. This awful strife between Satan
and Jah always proceeds. The Priests say that, for "some wise purpose,"
Jah suffers Satan to succeed in his snares; and his victims continually
fall into the everlasting place of Fire, prepared for the devil and his
victims. The Priests say that this wholesale destruction of mankind
was a thing predetermined by Jah, and that he created the Devil to
accomplish the work; but they do not explain why the torments should
be everlasting; as men are themselves short-lived, one would think a
reasonable superstition might have limited the fire-torture to, say,
twice the length of mortal life!

Our _Literati_ will readily recognise some parts of this horrible
superstition--perhaps the main features, as Oriental--going back to the
dimmest dawn of tradition, and to the early and grotesque forms of the
human imagination, dark and uninstructed. The _Hell_, however, is a
terrific expansion of the horrible, suited to these Strange Barbarians.

Besides these great deities, there are Arch-angels, Angels, Saints
male and female, Spirits good and bad--the latter _Imps_ of Satan
(whatever the word may mean), who enter into human beings, and take
on the human form: in this disguise, called Ghosts, Wizards, Bogies,
Witches. However, good people can tell these devilish _Imps_, and avoid
them (so they be _good_, that is, true worshippers of the Idols of the
Superstition); for the smell of brimstone sticks to them, and the tail
and cleft-hoof--inseparable from devil-imps--will always show somewhere
to _the good_. But, if unawares the Imps catch them, they are only to
say _Christ_, or _Jehovah_, or call on some Saint, and the Imp will at
once vanish like a vapor!

It will be seen that this Superstition is as populous with gods and
spirits as are any in the East, and some of the forms more frightful
and ridiculous.

There are dissentients--some, who, not dissenting to the chief gods,
yet conjecture that the good and bad _spirits_ merely symbolize good
and bad propensities in human nature. But real objectors are few and
timid, afraid of punishment--if not here, then after death. For the
Superstition so long rooted has engrafted its terrors in the very
blood, and men are born with the _Horror_ in them; they can never
free themselves from it. A few, however, do dissent; but, like our
_Literati_, they do not care to oppose vulgar ignorance openly, nor is
it safe; they feel a contempt, but repress its too-marked expression.
"Why render themselves uselessly odious?" they say. The Priests, very
likely, often disbelieve much of what they say; but not unlikely their
emoluments (_livings_) have some effect upon their conduct, though not
upon their private convictions. In our Flowery Land there is a maxim:
"A common man's brain is in his belly."

I have had a High Bonze say to me, when I have suggested some
objections, "Oh, we do not know anything about such things; the
morality is good, and we need a devil for women, children, and the
common people: it is safer to let things alone."

"But," I have rejoined, "_Is_ it quite well, in the long run, to teach
falsely?"

"I do not say it is well to teach _falsely_. I said, I do not know--who
does? Men more learned than I believe strongly, men wiser than I
have "gone to the stake and perished by slow torture of fire," made
_martyrs_ (we have no such word) of themselves, rather than deny these
things. They were probably right. I simply take things as they are."

"But," I replied, "surely misguided fanaticism, of which the world is
full, is proof of nothing whatever, unless of the sincerity of the
madman--not always of that."

"My dear Ah-Chin, you are very quick, and no fool (I beg pardon), but
you do not understand it. The Superstitious parts are mere forms; and
as to the _horrors_, as you call them, I think them indispensable; they
are better than the Police." (The Police are the officers who arrest
offenders in the streets and public places.)

The Bonzes who talk in this way are, usually, what are derisively
termed "hunting and fishing" Bonzes, not remarkable for strictness
of conduct, though quite as likely to stick to the Temples, like our
Bonzes; they are not likely to pull down the roof which shelters them.
The Superstition is less revered than formerly, and its wilder parts
are less obtrusive. Its pretensions are not moderated in terms, but
the practice is more moderate. Sects do not put each other to death, at
present, though so much of the old bitterness remains that no one can
say what horrors might follow upon unexpected changes. Gradually wise
men endeavour to drop out of sight the Jewish and Priestly creations,
and, inculcating morality, take the _Christ-God_ as symbol of Charity,
and his moral precepts as the basis of a moral Philosophy; or (to
be less offensive to the Superstition) _Christian Philosophy_. In
this way they seize hold of what is true in the Great Idolatry, and
endeavour to ignore the grosser parts altogether. They hope to bring
about a rational worship without violence, by a gradual disuse and
forgetfulness of the irrational, and are willing to yield something to
ignorance, if they can by that means, in the end, enlighten it. They
allow to Christ an exalted character, large in the divine faculty,
and divine as man is divine in possessing that faculty--to say, _the
moral_. In this, much as we see in our exalted _Confutze_, who lived
and taught long before the period ascribed to Christ, and from whom the
Western tribes, doubtless, received their moral notions.

The religion of Wise men is the same at all times and everywhere.
Wherever some intellectual culture exists, men will be found who
understand and practise the rules of morality; and wherever this is
general, there is the higher civilisation. This higher civilisation,
resting upon a general morality among a people, has for its base a
rational recognition of the Sovereign Lord and man's dependency and
accountability to Him; _Father of men_; and Himself the source of this
morality. He, _in this faculty, reveals Himself_, and shows to man
_his_ sole claim to a divine relationship.

This higher civilisation does not mistake intellectual achievement
as its title to enlightenment. The sharp and active brain is
quite consistent with the base and low; and may be indifferent to
superstitions and degrading idolatries. But the moral faculty, active
and large, at once refines and exalts the intellect; then men are truly
_wise_, and degrading superstitions die.

The object, then, to which the true worshipper aims, everywhere, is
to bring man out of a debased into an enlightened recognition of the
Supreme Lord and of this simple relationship; to teach that the human
race form one family, united indissolubly to each other, and to the
Supreme Lord, by the divine moral faculty, to which the intellect
is subordinate; that by this they may be all truly enlightened,
and worship simply and truly, with grateful and serene trust, the
Supreme Lord and Father of all. This worship can never be other than
beneficent. It is only the expression of gratitude; the desire for
better wisdom, for still larger charity, a well-doing and serene life,
at peace with itself and all beside.

To a civilisation resting upon this simple and direct worship and
morality, few barbarians have any perception; their pride and gross
superstitions have made it impossible.

The temples are often very grand and beautiful, built of hewn stone,
with lofty domes, towers, bells, and spires. The priests are very
numerous, and divided into many ranks. The lowest are the curates,
who do the "_dirty_" work, as the English phrase it. They are but
little better than beggars, though mentally often superior to those who
half-starve them, whilst the higher ranks (by whom they are hired) live
luxuriously.

The _Sacred Writings_ say that Christ was Himself a mendicant, and
that his first followers were but little better; that he denounced,
in bitter terms, all pride and luxury; that the true object of life
was not to think of oneself, but of others; to give to the poor, help
the distressed, and the like. In truth, this benevolence and the moral
precepts of Christ (as I have already said) are its _salt_ [pho-zi].

I have, in the temples, heard a High-Caste Priest eloquently exalt
this benevolence, and pointing out the divine charity of the _Master_
(as Christ is often called),--heard him say, "My brethren, give to the
poor, help the suffering, do good whenever you can, give your all to
Christ."

I have said, "This is excellent; I will talk with this benevolent
Bonze." On one occasion I did so. The High-Caste had dined; I was
ushered into his presence; the fruits and the wine were still before
him. I approached and bowed low before him, and dared to ask, "Is your
illustrious body well?" He slightly nodded, and waved me to a seat. I
expressed my admiration of his benevolent morality, as shown in his
exalted _invocation_ in the Temple. "Oh, that was of course; we do
not rely upon morality." I begged pardon, but did not understand. He
added: "Morals are well, in their way. Charity is a good thing, if the
purpose be sanctified; but nobody is saved by his goodness." He saw my
bewilderment. "Oh, I deplore your darkness; I grieve over the errors,
too fatal, even in our Christian land." I could only bow. He continued:
"When will the darkness of superstition give way, in the East, to our
glorious religion? When will the worship of Christ spread over the
whole benighted world?" I ventured to hint that I had called to speak
my thought of his noble benevolence. "Oh, yes, we must give. But the
true worship--knowledge of, and belief in, the _Redeemer_--ah! that is
the only means of salvation; those are the vital things." I said, "The
poor are everywhere, and need help." He looked at me suspiciously for a
moment, and then brightened; he saw I had not come to ask for anything.
"Yes; the Scriptures say, 'The poor ye will always have with ye,' and
we cannot alter it." "I am told that your Low-Caste Priests are good
men, and do nearly all the work. I know one of these who is very kind.
Your benevolence is like our _Confutze_, who had a tender regard for
the poor and distressed."

"Ah, our divine _Master_ taught charity; but one must go higher than
that." "Pardon my poor mind, but do you _not_ really give to the poor,
in your temples, as your exalted Wisdom taught?" "Ah-Chin, you mistake;
but one must overlook your darkness of mind--no offence--_Society_
takes all I can spare, and I give to Curates from my revenue."
"Society? I do not comprehend." "Well, no; you know nothing of the
incessant calls. We must visit and receive visits; keep up equipages,
servants; then there are always poor relations, and the poor Curates
(these are the 'poor relations' of our order)." "But the Curates are
poorly paid, I am told, and deserving." "The Curates are well enough;
but more fuss is made than need be. I was a Curate, Ah-Chin, myself."
"Your illustrious did not need aid, perhaps?" "Well, yes; I got
Curate-fare--cold shoulders of mutton, and other colder shoulders." I
saw that there was something which I was not to understand. "Pardon,
but the _Society_ is not to be put before the Christ-God?" "I beg, sir,
you speak not in that way. I pardon much to your darkness. Do not again
profane our blessed and holy religion."

This alarmed me; I did not know what portended. I bowed very low,
and humbly craved permission to take my leave. I really feared
punishment--perhaps of the _Cangue_, or pan-tsee. I afterwards knew, no
more than the reproof of the High-Bonze was imminent; though, had the
common people caught a _pagan Chinee_ who had dared to speak, in their
notion, disrespectfully of their Idols, he would be fortunate to have
no worse treatment than a _ducking in a horse-pond_ [phu-it-mu-dsi-wo].

What but slow progress is to be expected when a people--even the
_Literati_--are so superstitious? for the errors there, make obstacles
everywhere. It is but just now that nearly the whole population of the
province of Ireland (one-third of the kingdom) have been relieved from
maintaining the English Idolatry, though they detested it.

The intolerance of the devotees prevents better men from reforming
abuses, even in the Temples. If a Priest dare to moderate the excessive
absurdities of the Superstition, he at once endangers his _Living_,
and is likely to be degraded and driven forth to neglect and poverty.

I, myself, knew a Wise Priest of rank, who very innocently published
some comments upon the _Sacred Writings_, wherein he showed that
the statements as they stood were simply impossible. Now, as I have
said, the _Sacred Writings_ are worshipped; and to doubt that they
are the words of Jah is horrible--formerly punished by death, now by
degradation, _excommunication_, and loss of revenue. This poor man did
not express any doubt; he merely pointed out an error, which might be
there _somehow_, and which he thought, in his simplicity, should be
removed or explained. But the _Canon_ [ban-gwo] of the Superstition
allowed of no comment of that sort as to the Word of Jehovah! and
cursed out of the Temples, with his Priest-robe torn off, and his money
stript from him, the daring _blasphemer_ [zw-an] must go!

This is an astonishing _Canon_; for if one allows that four thousand
years ago Jehovah spoke words which were _then_ inscribed--if one
allows that the Jewish Priests kept annals and chronicles, and down
through different ages preserved and added to their histories--if
one allows that the followers of Christ after his death recorded
some things concerning his life and his teachings, and that other
followers wrote letters upon these matters--yet, one must also allow
that all these writings were written at different periods, for
different purposes, and in different and scattered records; all in
obscure and unknown tongues; that they have been copied, re-copied,
translated--that there are various versions--that, in respect of their
meaning, and even of their right to be called a part of the Word, the
highest and best cannot agree! Yet, through all the changes of great
periods of time--through darkness, and wars, and every sort of ignorant
credulity--through everything! _every word_ of this huge collection of
Obscure and Ancient Literature, and of an Obscure and Barbarous People,
remains exactly as originally delivered by Jah! "Oh, certainly," says
his devotee, "because _He has preserved them_." "Yes; but when a
statement is absolutely impossible--as where 'the water covered the
whole earth.'" "Oh, the _Word_ does not deal with Science." I think
not; Jah was not a god of science--he was, in fact, just as ignorant as
the Jew-Priests who pretended to speak his _Word_!

Yet this inconceivable _Canon_ goes further, and declares that this
_Word_ is the absolute, and only, and perfect _Revelation_ of the Deity
to man; that it contains the only TRUTH, and is the only way by which
man, _under damnation already_, can have _any_ hope, however small, of
escaping the everlasting fire of hell! Upon this _Canon_ all the Sects
of the Western Barbarians erect their _Idolatries_--they call them
Churches; but, as we have seen, they are for ever fighting as to the
meaning of these very Sacred Writings!

Another _Canon_ is, that Christ is the very God (Jah), and that the
Holy Ghost is also the very God. And to deny this _Canon_ is to go to
Hell! Nor does it at all matter that one has never heard of this, nor
that he could have never heard. The whole race of man before Christ
was born, to this very hour, are either burning, and will surely burn,
in everlasting fires of Hell, unless they have _believed_ in this
Canon! And Jah contrived that all this should be exactly so; though
he did also plan from all time that his Son, Christ, should go down
to the world and get himself put _to death_; and thus the great Jah,
appeased by the sight of his Son _dying on a cross_, should be so far
softened that some would escape Hell! Only a very few; because no one
could escape unless he knew, and believed, and accepted, and _was born_
into the very blood of this son! A mystery so incomprehensible, that
Christians do not pretend to solve it, and are always trembling for
fear that they may not have been _born again_!

How, under these circumstances, as Jah cruelly neglected to let
the _Heathen_ know that they could be saved--(indeed, they suspect
no danger)--the good-hearted devotees of the Barbarians employ
Bonzes to go over the great Seas to the _Heathen_, to carry them
the _glad tidings_! These delegates from the Barbarians are called
_Missionaries_, and the Temples and devotees are full of prayers and
invocations for the Salvation of the Heathen! by which is meant the
worship of the Barbarians duly adopted in our Central Kingdom, and in
other regions of the wide world not under the sway of these Idolaters!

But our Flowery Kingdom, from so long ago as dynasty _Whey-Song_, has
known of these missionaries; and we know of some now amongst us. They
are harmless enough, and quite fully understand how to adapt themselves
to circumstances, and draw the money necessary to their support. The
Bonzes of the Roman Sect are the wisest, and care for nothing very
idolatrous; if a _convert_ will go so far as to be baptised [Wa-shti]
they are quite content. They seek to be useful, and keep the obnoxious
features of the Superstition out of sight.

There are also some Jews in our Central Kingdom. They have been known
in some provinces from a time long before the supposed birth of Christ.

Another _Sect_ of the region of the Western Barbarians (in the Eastern
parts), who worship a god named _Mohammed_--a _Sect_ merely an
offshoot of the Jews, from whom they adopted the most part of their
superstition, and equally fierce and intolerant--penetrated into our
Flowery Land soon after its rise. It was about six hundred years ago
that they established a slight hold amongst us, and are still to be
found--never here in their weakness exhibiting any of the savagery of
strength. In a large portion of the Western regions they were for ages
as cruel and destructive as the Christians, and, in fact, waged wars
with them for absolute mastery, during which all the horrors usual to
those dreadful Barbarians terrified and maddened mankind. Finally,
these two Sects, _Christian and Mohammedan_ (so styled), divided the
whole region of the Western Barbarians among themselves! and from that
time have been less quarrelsome with each other, than have the _Sects_
of the two great divisions in their intestine conflicts.

Thus, it will be acknowledged that the Barbarians are well disposed
sometimes towards us,--or at any rate the devotees of their
Superstition are,--and we must gratefully thank them for their sincere
anxiety for the salvation of our _souls_; for our _bodies_ that is
another matter. They think us ignorant, even of the ordinary rules of
morality. They do not know that before Greece or Rome had appeared
in history, our worship of the Sovereign Lord and our moral precepts
were established, purely, simply, and that our annals show that the
Grecian and Roman culture largely borrowed from ours, though not the
_Superstitions_. These were derived, probably, from some source common
to the Western Barbarians, likely Egyptian, and though modified by
habits of tribes, retained more or less of those original traits which
appear in all.

The Temples are numerous, though often quite deserted except by the
Bonzes and their servants. The same revenues are taken by the Bonze
whether there be any worshippers or not, and sometimes the prayers are
said or sung to empty forms (seats)--not more empty than the prayers.

Next in rank to Curates come Rectors, who enjoy good _Livings_
[mo-tsi], and have fine houses and gardens. The other higher ranks,
are Arch-Bishops, Bishops, called Lords [tchou], who live in stone
_palaces_, and have great revenues; but Society robs them of the larger
portion of this revenue,--a barbarous injustice,--leaving the poor
Lords quite destitute. I was told this; but I never happened to meet
with a starved Bishop.

These _Tchou_-Bonzes intermarry with the High-Castes, perform the
marriage ceremony for them, wait upon the Queen with invocations to
the gods--baptize royal infants; that is, sprinkle them when eight
days old, in the Temples with invocations, with many ceremonies,
after which they are safe from the devil and the dreadful Hell; these
are the chief duties of their exalted office. As great _lay-lords_
(that is Lords not of the soul but of the clay--lay), they sit in the
great Law-making _Council_; where their function is, to see to it that
no law be made which in any way can injure the temples, or their own
revenues and powers. One does not see that they are remarkable for the
practice of the virtues which they teach; nor that they are meek and
lowly followers of the Lamb (Christ-god); or that they very often "wash
the feet of the disciples"--although they are commanded in the _Sacred
Writings_ to do these things; and also to succour the distressed, give
to the poor, and other like acts of charity. I should have been pleased
to see a Bishop kneeling and washing the feet of some devotee! but I
never did. They discharge those duties which they owe to Society with
honourable punctuality: keeping up neat equipages, sleek horses, and
pious servants; and wearing the garb of their order with a scrupulous
exactness, even to the shoe-buckles.

They quote the example of the Christ-god, who, when on the world, made
from common water _good wine_; and are very choice respecting this
article. As to charity, they are so robbed by Society, that, what with
gifts for the _Heathen_, and poor relations (for whom they are also
expected to get good _Livings_ in the Temples), they have but little
to spare. Then, too, "Charity begins at home" (the _Sacred Writings_
declare), and he who does not take care of himself, and those who are
dependent upon him, "is worse than a Heathen" (This is again from the
_Sacred_ words). For those poor and benighted creatures, sunk in
dreadful idolatries, indeed, something must be put into the Missionary
box!

The different _Sects_ quarrel as to particular modes of Worship in the
Temples. Some will have candles lighted, to please the idols; others
say, they do not need candles, and are offended by the smell. Some say,
You should make Invocations kneeling; others say, standing. Some say,
one should face to the East, others say, to the North. Some say, you
should pray aloud; others say, silent prayers are more acceptable. And
very sharp quarrels and _new Sects_ arise upon these matters. None are
allowed to worship in Temples but devotees of the High-Caste Sect. All
others must worship in Temples not dignified by a loftier name than
_Conventicle_, _Chapel_, or the like.

I will state, briefly, what is the ceremony of Idolatry in the great
_Queen-pope_ Sect. She is worshipped in the Invocations, and receives,
with her children, a place in the prayers.

When the great bells sound from the high, stone towers, the High-Castes
go, richly dressed, into the Temples, uncover and bow the heads to the
Idol, in silence--making Invocations, silently. By the command of the
Jewish _Sacred Writings_ the Seventh day (so, continuously, for ever)
is devoted to the grand Worship in the Temples. This is a marked thing
among the Western Barbarians--this devotion of one day in every seven
to the Worship of Jah--as ordered in the Sacred Word. It is declared to
be Jah's day--_Holy_-day. And it is so sacred, that there is danger of
Hell to him who

 "Does any work or play
 Upon the sacred day,"

as the mongrel verse-makers of the _Superstition_ have it! And the
Priests vehemently denounce all who do not worship upon that day.

Some object to so great strictness; and the quarrel, as usual, is
bitter between the strict and the not-so-strict Holy-day worshippers.

Those not-so-strict think that the poor, who work six days, should be
allowed to go to the places of amusement on the seventh, and enjoy
harmless recreations. The strict say they should be punished for
desecrating the day by their neglect of worship; yet the poor cannot
go in dirt and rags to the Temples. The High-Castes go there in rich
attire, and would be incommoded by the poor--indeed, the High and Low
Castes never mingle, not even in their worship. In truth, not many of
any rank attend upon the Priests in worship. The devotees are mostly
old women and older men, a few young people attracted by opposite
attraction of sex, children and servants; a few pauper children may be
huddled into a dark corner for fear of offending the idols.

The Priests face the Idol, and make Incantations, which are repeated,
age after age, without any alteration; no Priest dare to make any the
least change; the wrath of the gods would follow.

One peculiarity is, that the most abject _confessions_ are made, by
Priests and devotees, of heinous offences--making eternal punishment
fitly their due. They beg for pardon and that _salvation_ (meaning
deliverance from the awful Hell) may be granted, not for any good
in them, but wholly for the sake of the Son--the _Christ_. On my
first attendance in a Temple, when I heard these fearful confessions
and looked upon the fine women; the carefully dressed worshippers, I
thought, "How dreadful, these High-Castes such wretches--incredible!"

I afterwards discovered that the _sins_ [ly-ie], the offences
confessed, were merely _ecclesiastical_ (we have no term like it);
nobody ever really confesses any wrong which he may have committed.

The grand act of worship is, however, the _Creed_ (here again in our
Flowery Land we have no term)--an Invocation and Declaration wherein
all swear, under the awful penalty of eternal burnings in Hell and
torments of Satan for ever, that they believe and worship all points of
the _Superstition_ with thankful hearts and undoubting minds. Repeating
after the Priest, all standing, facing the Idol, uncovered, with eyes
downcast and deep abasement.

The Incantations do not differ from the Invocations, only they are
droned out in songs, more dismally, perhaps. The burden of both is
to deliver the _true_ worshippers from "the wiles of the flesh and
the devil"; to overthrow, if possible, this awful demon, and to save
sinners, of whom the worshippers declare themselves, in a hundred
different ways, to be chief, "_miserable offenders_" [ka-nt-lm-mbi].
These, and lofty exaltation of the _Christ-God_ and of the Father Jah,
who, when He had given his word that nothing could save man from Hell,
graciously allowed the Jews to crucify the Son, that in the Son's
sufferings He, Jah, might let off some of the sufferings of mankind.
Possibly some of the present worshippers might be among the lucky
_saved_. For this _salvation_ endless praises are to be Sung in the
Temples below; and for ever and for ever in the great Heavens, through
the infinite eternal worlds without end.

A Hymn of Praise in which all join ends the act of worship. The Priest
_blesses_ the people and invokes the mercy of the gods; and they,
making due obeisance to the idols, retire in silence or to the music of
the great organs.

A special act of worship, or Incantation, is always made to the
_Triune-god_, that is, the _Three-in-one_, called HOLY TRINITY
(_Threenity_). To omit this would, in the opinion of devotees, be so
terrible a thing that no one would dare to stay a moment, fearing that,
like Korah in the _Sacred Writings_, the very world would open itself
and swallow them up. This _three-in-one_ seems like a _Hindoo_ god.

The Bonzes attend upon the sick and the dying, moderating their
fears of damnation by insisting upon the most abject devotion to the
Superstition, and intimating that, if they heartily grieve over their
offences, and with undoubting minds believe in all the points of the
_Creed_, then they may receive the _Sacraments_--that is, _Sacred
Meats_; which having received, the devil and Hell may be set at
defiance. These Sacred Meats are symbols of the very _body and blood_
of Christ--a shocking _rite_, borrowed wholly from the old, savage
Jews, who held that a _Sacrifice_ must be offered up to appease the
wrathful Jah on almost any occasion, and who sometimes even devoted
human victims.

The Bonzes, in general, perform the Marriage Ceremonies, which they
will have to be a Sacred _rite_ in their Superstition, though some
_Sects_ think otherwise. However, the High-Castes do not consider a
Marriage without a Bonze safe; some evil to the children, or other
calamity, might ensue. Thus the Bonzes, for their services in this
matter, obtain consideration and good fees [tin-tin].

After all, however, with the lowest Caste the Superstition is not much
more than a _Fright_; its morality does not touch them, nor those
things which refine. They have only a dim and low idea of the Sovereign
Lord--debased, in so much notion as they do have, by the Jewish
debasement. The devil-and-Hell part is familiar to them, and, in truth,
fits well to the origin of the Barbarous tribes, and to their rude
and savage character. As I have said, the Upper Castes consider this
portion of their Superstition the really valuable part, in practical
use. All evidence in the Courts, and every sanction, touching important
interests or statements, rest upon this hold upon the fears of the
common people. "Oh" (as an Englishman once said to me), "we must keep
the devil and his _hot place_ in our service, I tell you, Ah-Chin; or
we should have 'the devil to pay' in good earnest!"

It is very difficult to change the Superstitions of a people, because
rooted in their fears; and, in a matter wherein the imagination has
chief power, and nothing can be _known_, even honest men of wisdom fear
radical changes; they prefer to bear inconveniences, and dread the
effect of _new doctrines_ upon ignorant masses.

Priests, and the varied interests, and large establishments and
revenues--in fact, a great portion of the whole community--are
concerned in maintaining the Superstition, on selfish grounds, or think
that their own interests are involved. The higher orders regard the
_Established_ condition of things in Worship and in the State as too
_Sacred_ to be touched. They denounce all who endeavour, in any faint
degree, to suggest reforms, as "_infidel_" [un-ti-dsi]--a term of
deepest reproach--agitators, who covertly would overthrow "our Temples,
our Idols, and the Queen-Pope herself."

But they cannot wholly suppress the Thinkers; [kog-ti-te] (as the
_reformers_ are called); and these honestly think that some revision
may be made with safety and advantage. They are sneered at by the
larger part of the _literati_, and by all the priests, as _Tinkers_.
A tinker is one who mends and patches, not a real artisan; and the
majority will have it that nothing in England requires mending or
patching. They are also stigmatised, sarcastically, as members of
a _Mutual Admiration_ Society. A society where the members laud
everything written or said by any other member; and where, as the
members think, all true wisdom alone illuminates the surrounding
darkness. I suspect this society is a _mith_ [pho-gti]; that the true
sense of the sarcasm is, that the Thinkers overrate the value of their
published thoughts, and that wisdom will not die with them. Certainly,
some of the thoughts which I have seen in books, though not so gross
and hateful as the Idolatry, are quite as useless. Only one thing I
do respect them for--they do not subscribe to the pretensions of the
priest; and are really influencing the people by giving them hints of
value. They do act upon the upper classes, at least, with a reforming
effect.

I have not referred to obscure _sects_, of which there are many.
Some of these shout and howl; some keep absolute silence; some lash
themselves into a sort of phrensy, and fall down in fits, fancying that
they are possessed by the _Holy Spirit_. Some will only be _baptised_
by going into a river, and there, under the Incantations of the Priest,
be violently plunged all over in the water, both women and men. Still,
all of these, and many others, hold to the _Sacred Writings_ and the
other Idolatries: the main points are alike in all.

The Roman Pope has many devotees among the English Barbarians; and was,
not long ago, the Great and only Head. But a vile and cruel king, who
wished to enjoy a woman and divorce his wife, with whom he had lived
for many years, and by whom he had children, quarreled with the Roman
Pope, because he would not suffer this bad thing to be done; and the
English Barbarians, who disliked a foreign Pope, and the fierce chiefs
about this king, even some of the priests of English birth, urged
him to proclaim himself to be Pope in England, and to seize upon the
revenues which the Pope had received from the English, and all the
lands and properties of great value, which before-time had been given
to the Temples and to the Priests. This was done; this king seized upon
the wealth, and threw down the worship of the Roman Pope in England,
and declared himself to be the new god in England--the Pope! And the
English Barbarians worshipped, and have continued to worship, this new
Pope accordingly. And some who could not honestly worship the new
idol, and dared to adhere to the Roman, were burnt to death! Indeed
this new idolatry was not introduced into England without terrible
consequences. Massacres, burnings, imprisonments, wars, horrible
crimes--persecutions, destruction of families, robbing, plundering--not
even to this day have all the evil consequences ceased; though this bad
ruler made this change in this particular of the great Superstition
more than 300 years ago.

Thus, our Central Kingdom may see how powerfully Idolatry and
Superstition are entrenched among the English Barbarians. A System
interwoven with the very texture of their civilization; supporting,
and, in turn, supported by the State; mixed up with customs and
traditions, and endeared by its connection with family interests;
rich in its possessions; powerful in all the Halls of Learning, and
in its influence upon the fortunes and dignities of men; boasted of
for its learning, for its history, and for its refining and reforming
teachings; the _English Church_ (as those Barbarians call their grand
Idolatry) seems likely to stand for many generations. Yet agencies are,
slowly, at work, which will remove the dark and horrible, and leave the
simple and true. The Benevolence of the Sovereign Lord of Heaven never
tires; and the pure worship and less corrupted morality will make way.

I hope I may be pardoned for the time which I have given to this
subject; it is one worthy of deep attention. Besides, a little study
of the literature and manners of the Western tribes, fastened upon my
mind the impression that their History was mainly an account of the
rise and progress of the Christ-god Superstition; and that, hereafter,
whoever shall have the pleasing task of writing of their better
civilization, will find it to be his main purpose to show the decline
and extinction of that Superstition.

To wise men who worship the Supreme Lord only, and accept of His simple
and direct Morality, there is, in all the broad and immense world,
but a _single family_, ruled by Him. When this family recognises and
worships Him, in direct and true sincerity, and practises the few
and perfectly simple rules of His benevolent Morality, then it is an
_enlightened_, civilized family.

The Western Barbarians do not understand nor practise this Benevolent
Morality; until they do, their civilization will not be really better
than a Barbarism.

We are not to suppose that a perfect morality will ever obtain,
because man, being two-fold in his nature--divine and bestial--will
now be ruled by the one, and now by the other part. The object of all
education (discipline) is, therefore, to teach man how he may order
these two parts. There is no antagonism [ha-tsi] between them, only it
is indispensable that the _divine_ part should rule.

That this may be, the _intellect_ must be cultivated, not in
difficulties, but in habits of thinking, of looking, or seeking out; of
seeing the beauty, the order, the grandeur of the whole divine world.
Thus employed it delights in itself; it feels the Mind like a bright
thing, flying out to the great seas, and upwards to the everlasting
stars. It loves to hear, to see, to look at and into everything. It can
never cease to employ this delightful mind, thus stimulated in early
youth, to exert itself; but it must be exerted innocently, benevolently.

That the subordination of mind and the animal may be secured, the
Supreme, the Moral Faculty must, from the earliest years, be touched
by wise fingers. Ah, how it responds, this divine part; how it, in the
pure and warm glow of unselfish youth, recognises and worships with
filial love its Father, the Sovereign Lord!--perceives the moral order
and harmony, and loves to be orderly and obedient--early perceives that
the true business of life is to preserve this order, and enjoy this
peace.

Thus Man, a _moral-minded_ animal, is first of all to be taught to
understand his own nature, and to develop his distinguishing faculty.
This done, the bestial part rises not above its office. It, too,
performs its proper and useful end; and man is not a divided, but a
whole and happy being.

All education, therefore, rightly considered, aims to this _Integrity_
[Kom-fu] of a man--this secured, there are no limits to the mere
objects of study or of examination.

Our _Literati_, directed many thousands of moons ago, by our exalted
Confutze and Menzie, who, themselves were imbued with the ancient
Wisdom, are familiar with these simple things. The Western Barbarians,
mainly devoted first of all to the bestial part; to the enjoyment of
the appetites and the passions; sunk in gross Superstitions, only by a
few minds begin dimly to see.




CHAPTER II.

OF THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE ENGLISH.


Before commenting upon the Government, it is useful to speak of the
geography and history of the English Barbarians.

The Kingdom consists of the following: England with Wales and Scotland,
forming one large island; Ireland, separated by a channel of the seas,
lying West; and several small groups of islets, scattered about the
Coasts. It lies Westerly from the great, main Land of the Barbarians,
from which it is separated by a narrow course of the seas. England and
the Main Land form the region designated Europe. The whole Kingdom
surpasses not in area or population some of our Celestial provinces:
the extent being in the English square miles some 110 thousand [Si-re],
and in people some 32 millions [Ken-ty]. In such narrow limits there
are no rivers--only small streams, which, near the sea, owing to the
flux and reflux of the great waters, become broad and deep.

In our Science and in our Annals the whole region and people are known
as one only--but the different petty tribes are distinguished in our
waters by the forms and colours of the _flags_, shown upon the masts
of the Barbarian vessels. The English are less in people and in lands
than many others; but by their fierceness in war, and the multitude of
their big ships, they esteem themselves to be the most powerful of all.

The first account of them is recorded by one of the Romans, who, in
our dynasty, _Han_, crossed the narrow sea from a Roman province,
and entered into the island. It was then a Wilderness, and among the
forests lived a few savages, clothed in skins. Sometime after, the
Romans conquered the country, and established a Roman province--their
dominion lasting four hundred [qua-cet] years--contemporaneous with our
dynasty, _Hewhan_.

During the dynasties, _Han_ and _Hewhan_, the various tribes
surrounding the Roman provinces, grown more populous and better
acquainted with the Military art, crowded, more and more, upon the
Romans; and, gradually, destroyed their power. They were forced to
leave England.

On their departure, and for several ages after, down to our dynasty,
_Song_, the history of the Country is merely a tale of ceaseless
struggles among the different savage tribes from the Main Land, to
plunder and subdue it. The civilization disappeared. Nearly all signs
of the Roman occupancy became obliterated; and the knowledge of letters
would have been lost, but that the Priests who accompanied some of the
savage chiefs had among them some of the Roman learning. These Priests
and chiefs had adopted the worship of the new Christ-god.

At length, one of these invading tribes having fairly mastered the
country, and established a show of regular authority, the germs of
knowledge began to grow. The victorious tribe had lands also on the
main parts; fierce and warlike, it endeavoured to extend its power;
and repeatedly made assaults upon others of the Barbarians of those
chief parts. In these, the remains of the Roman civilization were
considerable, and the knowledge of letters more common.

The position of the English, and their need of communication, made
vessels indispensable; and they learned to build and to sail many
ships. However, but little progress in civilization was made till
our dynasty, _Ming_; when the Sovereign, then a Woman, called by
the Barbarians, _Queen_, sent the first Embassy to our Central
Kingdom--bearing gifts, and humbly approaching our Illustrious, begging
permission to trade at one of our ports on the sea.

From that time to the present, the annals of these Barbarians are
but little more than records of plundering expeditions into distant
regions; of their fierce slaughters; their cunning or bold stratagems
to extend trade, and establish dominion for the sake of trade and
plunder. To obtain trade, by means fair or foul; to get strongholds
abroad and subjugate others--these have been the great objects of the
rulers and the people.

By their ships, manned with the most ignorant and debased, taught only
in the work of sailing and fighting; stimulated by love of plunder, in
which the meanest have a share; the very name of these Barbarians has
become terrible in all the distant seas.

They first appeared within the waters of our Central Kingdom, in the
dynasty _Tsing_, but did not venture then to assault our unoffending
people; and only, by cunning and with low prostrations and humility,
sought to traffic, in such way as should be acceptable to our
Illustrious. Further time was looked to and greater force before
showing their fierceness!

They have since seized nearly all the maritime parts of the Hindoos,
and, penetrating the country with savage bands, have slaughtered the
inoffensive people, and robbed the treasuries of Princes and the
Temples of immense riches. They have, finally, subjugated the chief
provinces of the Hindoos, and yearly bear away from them the ancient
revenues.

Throwing off disguise, in our celestial seas, these Barbarians at
length discovered their true character. To save our people from the
effects of a dreadful poison, to which the lower orders had become
habituated, our Illustrious prohibited the importation of this thing,
called by the English, Opium (Zle-psi). But these disregarded the just
request; wished to pour upon us enormous amounts for the sake of the
gains which the bad traffic yielded, and which was monopolised by them;
and, when nothing else would serve, assaulted our unoffending people,
fell with fire and sword upon our province of Quang-tun, and, rushing
upon other maritime parts with their great ships, armed with prodigious
cannon, threatened to burn and destroy. In our peaceful Kingdom we
had no need of such things; we had no means to meet these destructive
engines, contrived by _Christ-god_ worshippers; and our Illustrious,
to save further dreadful mischiefs to our unprotected people, granted
trade to these selfish and cruel Barbarians! Yet this benevolence
of our Illustrious only served to encourage additional demands; and
we all remember how, coming with more ships, swifter with _steam_,
and greater guns and men, these impious defiers of the Sovereign and
Heavenly Justice have more recently fallen upon the Northern provinces,
and slaughtered and robbed our people, our palaces, and even the
precincts of our Illustrious himself! Who, awaiting and appealing to
the Sovereign Lord of Heaven, doubts not the due chastisement of crime,
which, in due time, shall heavily fall!

Meantime, in all other parts of the great Outer Seas, these English
visited the coasts with their fire-ships, and compelled the natives to
trade, either by fraud or by open war. In the great Sea towards the
sunset, they, in this way, settled upon many Lands; and, in the course
of some generations, their settlements in those regions, wishing to
trade with others beside the English (which these would not allow)
revolted; drove away the armed bands which were sent to subdue them,
and formed a new power.

In this way, about 100 years ago, the Barbarians, called American
[Mel-i-kan], arose. Their ships are known in our Central Kingdom by
a flag, named "Starry," because of the _Stars_ [Zen-ti] which are
painted upon it. These people are ardent for trade, but not so mad
and reckless; and not aggressive in their intercourse with others.
They are not so domineering and haughty--humbly submitting themselves,
in general, to the Son of Heaven, making tribute, and seeking his
Illustrious protection to their trade and to their ships in our Central
Waters.

During these events, the English Barbarians also sent their poor
people and criminals into the Lands of the far South Seas, to make
new places for their poor to toil in, to get rid of them, and to make
safe, distant places, to keep their criminals in; subduing the tribes
in those parts--thus making more trade. And in this way, and with
their many big ships and cannons, they boast that they will bring the
whole immense world, either to be tributaries, or to be completely
subjective. And they please their devotees, because they say that this
subjugation will "_Convert_" all the Pagans to the worship of the gods
of their Superstition--and this great boon will abundantly compensate
for all the wrongs and atrocities committed! In fact, they impiously
pretend that they are commanded to subjugate the Heathen World, that it
may be saved from the dreadful Hell!

The domestic events have not been important; though the Barbarians
themselves think everything to be important which happens amongst
them. They fancy that "Civilization and Progress" (famous words
with them) depend upon the petty disputes arising--sometimes as to
their Superstition, and sometimes as to some trifling thing in their
Customs. One of the main events, is the story of a son of one of their
Sovereigns, who drove his father out of the Kingdom, and rëestablished
the Government in such manner, that, ever after, when the matter is
referred to, one shall say _Glorious_ [Twang-ba]. As well as I can
understand, the things done were, that whereas, before, the Sovereign
had been allowed to worship the Pope, if he wished (but in secret),
afterwards he should not, but _be_ the English Pope, solely. And,
instead of a native dynasty, a foreign, and very base and stupid one,
hateful to the English, was fastened upon them. These events, an
outside observer sees, were followed by long-continued discontents,
and civil war--wherein innocent persons suffered in their persons and
their property; and very many were exiled, and very many were brutally
massacred and put to death--not because of any other offence than
adhering to the ancient Laws, and to the Sovereign whom this base son
had dethroned! Yet, of this event, when one speaks of it, one shall
say, _Glorious!_!

The form of government has not changed; but the power has, during these
periods, past into the hands of the Aristocracy [Fo-hi]. In the time of
the Queen, who sent the humble petition to our Illustrious, the English
Sovereign was Master--being Pope and Ruler; that is, High Priest and
Sovereign. But the people, increasing and growing richer in ships and
merchandize, began to feel the intermeddling of the Ruler. Previously,
the people had been too poor and too few to be accounted anything; and
grew up into an improved condition without notice. They now disliked to
be taxed, and began a struggle with the Sovereign to limit his power in
this thing--for they said, "If he can take a _penny_ (a small coin),
at his own goodwill and pleasure, he can take all." Now this is an
absurdity--yet, it looked sound; and, at any rate, became the ground
of the fight between the well-to-do people (the Middle-Caste), and the
Ruler. _This_ would make his will absolute; the _other_ would make
its will absolute! The Sovereign who first had this opposition seems
to have been a fool, and the next, a knave--but neither had sufficient
sense to arm soldiers enough to compel obedience, as was done on the
Main Land--consequently, after a good deal of wretched fighting between
the Sovereign helped by nearly all the High-Caste, and the _next_
Caste in the Aristocracy and well-to-do people, these last succeeded,
and put the Sovereign to death. As is always the case, during a civil
war, _fanaticism_ arose. It based itself upon two points--the right
of the people to rule, and the right of the gods of the Superstition,
_without any Pope_, to be worshipped. This was a departure from the
original dispute only in part; because some had vehemently denied the
whole notion of Pope-worshipping; and as the Sovereign was English
Pope, this pretension embittered the strife. Now, the Aristocracy
(High-Caste) upheld the Pope; but the Second-Caste and the people,
opposed; and these, at length, for the time, carried all before them;
destroyed the King, overthrew his worship as Pope; and established the
gods of the Superstition, with such severity of worship (especially as
to the _rites_ and as to the _Seventh-day_), that, _Society_ completely
changed. Even the name of the State was changed! The point, of the
_Rule of the people_, was in this vindicated; for the name of the
State was--_Commonwealth_; and of the Ruler--_Protector_. Now, this so
_radical_ change was not real. It was the expression of that extreme
agony into which Civil War hurries. The strong passions sway--the
strongest rule. And the very able military man who organized the troops
into the ways of an invincible army, though of the Aristocratic,
High-Caste connection, happened to have adopted the most severe notions
of the great Superstition; looked upon Christ-god merely as the _Jah_
of the Jews; wished to make the _Sacred Writings_ the law of the
Land; and to get himself proclaimed to be the _High Priest_ and ruler
of this new Jewish State! This remarkable man, with his invincible
troops, could not absolutely do this--but he did completely overawe
and rule the State, causing himself to be declared _Protector of the
Commonwealth_!

With the death of this strong man, there being no successor to his
ability, repression soon relaxed; the Aristocracy came out of their
seclusion; the gloom of fanatical worship brightened in the natural
love of rational life. _Society_ rebounded from the low depression;
ancient feelings, habits, sports, reasserted themselves. Communities do
not radically change, at once--such a thing to be beneficial, must be
cautious. A tree, though misshapen, may not be plucked up by the roots
violently, and forced into uncongenial soil; to improve its beauty and
use, a different method must be sought: only, if the tree be actually
dying, possibly, a complete and radical change may save it--at any rate
it is the sole chance!

The troops, wholly devoted to their late great General, found no one on
whom they could rely; and another portion of the Army in the far North,
was induced actively to assist the Aristocracy. These, joined by the
middle classes, who had wearied of the too gloomy worship and severe
_rites_, hastened to recall a Son of him whom they had not long before
put to death, and place him upon the _Throne_. They declared him to
be Sovereign-pope: they restored the old form and name of government;
and rescinded nearly everything done by the Commonwealth. In this
_Restoration_ (as the English call it) is another event, considered
by them, of great importance. In this Restoration (a natural effect
of the _fanaticism_ largely charged to the greater ignorance of the
lower castes) the High-Castes again became predominant. They again
took influence and power everywhere, and retained the fruits of the
civil struggle in their hands. _They_ had aided the resistance to the
arbitrary will of the Sovereign; and they now grasped and enjoyed the
power wrested from him. They, alone, could impose taxes. No Sovereign
would again dare to tax the people (that is, the High-Castes) without
their consent. But _they_ would levy and raise taxes when they pleased.
Thus holding the _Purse_ of the State they had become supreme.

On the death of this Restored one (who turned out to be so base that
the common people often deplored the loss of the late great General),
a brother reigned. This man, as I have said (wishing to worship the
Rome-pope) was driven out by his son, forming the epoch, _Glorious_.
The present Queen is of the dynasty then established; and during
this period the absorption of power by the High-Caste has gone on.
Taught by the Slaughter of the late King, his successor feared; and
the new dynasty was compelled by the Aristocracy to submit to those
limitations of power, which effectually placed authority in their
hands. To secure this authority, the Sovereign was not allowed any
money to keep troops; and, if, on any pretence, troops were raised,
they were immediately refused pay, and forced to be disbanded upon the
least suspicion that they would be used to strengthen the Sovereign.
The aristocracy had continued to strip him also of all private revenue;
and had, in fact, reduced him to a dependency upon them for his daily
subsistence [Bran-te].

Thus, the High-Caste, acting by the forms of the _Grand Council_,
seized power.

It is proper to explain the substance and form of this Council.

It is divided into two parts--_Upper House, and Lower House_.

The _Upper_ are the Lords [Cheang] of Lands and Lords of the
Temples--(High-State Sect.)

The _Lower_ are lords, brothers, sons, nephews, relations, and devoted
servants of the Upper; and are far more numerous.

No rule can be made, nor law, without both these bodies consent to it.
This they do by asking each one his opinion, and a majority decides.
Everything of importance must originate in the Lower House, and first
be settled there. Then, the will of the Lower House is communicated to
the Upper House, and it is ordered to ratify it. The members do so, and
the Sovereign (or somebody requested thereto by him) approves (as the
English politely phrase it); and the thing, so approved, is a new Law.
Now, no Sovereign dares not _approve_--it might cost him his head. The
last one, many years ago, who thought he might risk it, soon gave up
the attempt, and died in a madhouse.

It will be seen, that the power in the Lower House will necessarily
fall into the hands of any one who can obtain adherents enough to
his opinions to secure a majority of members. The most ready debater
[Qu-iztsi], the coolest and self-possessed, who has made himself master
of the wishes of the majority; or, who, to these things, or with only a
part of them, has great wealth and influence--one, in fine, who knows
and divines what is wanted, and has the ability to lead;--directs and
orders the measures which are to be adopted. This man, who controls the
Lower House, governs the State. He nominates those who shall assist him
in the government, being the same who aid him in managing the House.
Thus, the Lower House governs by its delegates.

All these men, who are really a COMMITTEE [ty-gi-te] of the House
for the ruling of the Kingdom, act in the name of the Sovereign, and
receive the ancient titles of office from him. The ancient forms are
preserved; and these men, obeying the House, profess to obey the
Sovereign--in fact, the Sovereign is pretended to be the source of
honour and of authority; and the very Laws which have been made against
his wish are declared to be his Laws!

Thus, both the Sovereign and the people are amused. The one, by the
respect shown to him, the emoluments and influence of his high office,
and of his Pope-ship; the others, by some semblance of political
[in-tri-gsi] power. This consists in calling together a few of the
people of second and lower caste, to choose a new member for the Lower
House--but this is quite a comedy, [sham-li] for the most part. It
gives the ignorant Barbarians a notion of self-importance, and tickles
them with the fancy that they really have a part in the government of
the State.

Whilst these changes in the ordering of things at home were in
progress, the usual fierce and bloody expeditions of these Barbarians
had not been suspended.

The Americans had succeeded in establishing their independent power,
but not till they had waged a second war with their late masters,
scarcely less important to them than the first. For the English, still
looking upon them with disdain, insisted upon the right to stop any of
the vessels of the Americans upon the high seas, and to seize and carry
away to their own ships any one whom they pleased. They would do this,
and force the victims of their insolent cruelty to fight for them in
their horrible war-ships.

The American Barbarians resisted this outrage; and, forced to fight a
bloody war, vindicated their just cause; so that never since have the
English, or any other Barbarians, dared to board or outrage the ships
or the sailors [mer-tsi] of the Americans.

This stubborn and brutal barbarity, love of plunder and traffic, have
involved the English during the present dynasty in numberless wars
beyond seas. They have internally avoided great commotion, although
the low castes have occasionally perished in surprising numbers by
famine and disease. In Ireland the depopulation has exceeded anything
recorded. The poor people of the Northern parts also, driven away from
their homes, have nearly disappeared, unless in the armed bands sent
over the sea. With these, the poor and despised Irish are in great
numbers also; and, indeed, the strength and ferocity of the armed
bands depend upon these, the most degraded and lowest caste of the
Barbarians. In this way, the most turbulent and ignorant have been
drawn off, trained to use of arms, and used to spread and maintain
the terror and power of the English. Many of the low-castes have been
shipped away in great ships to distant parts to form new settlements,
and to add to those already begun. By these means, and from the
increase of riches from trade, and from plunder of remote regions
giving employment to the low orders, great disorders have been avoided.
The plunder of the vast treasures of the Princes of the Hindoos, and
the trade which has been forced upon them, and upon others, have
contributed to this end. The result of increased wealth has been,
however, mostly to the gain of the High-Castes; who, holding the Lands,
have found in the enormous increase of value in these an additional
strength. The numbers of the rich have increased; and these always look
to the Castes above, and draw away as far as possible from those below.
The poor remained uneducated, and fell more completely under control.
If one of their order benefited himself, he had no ambition higher
than a desire to stand well with those above him. Thus Wealth, always
joining itself to the Higher Castes, made the power of the Aristocracy
[Fo-hi] quite complete, and the obedience of the common people assured.
Of this High-Caste the Sovereign is merely the ornamental top.

The learning of the Romans made but little advance, until very lately.
The great Schools had some of the High-Caste within their walls; the
mass of the people remained ignorant, fierce, and brutal. The laws
continued to be in a most dreadful state; the prisons, foul dens of
disease, cruelty and crime; the administration of Law, and disposal of
offenders, savage and barbarous in the extreme.

The learning took mostly a fantastic [pa-ntsi] form--pedantic, busied
with the mere shells of words, and names of things. It busied itself
chiefly with the old languages of the Romans and the Greeks. A man who
could repeat aloud from memory the _modes_ of a Greek word was a man of
profound learning. Of our Central Kingdom, of the wisdom and knowledge
of the great East, they knew nothing; but nursed an intolerable
conceit in admiration of the trivialities of their own ignorance,
and by disdaining to understand a civilization of which they knew
nothing--branding it as idolatrous, dark, Pagan!

Still, gradually, intercourse and larger acquaintance with the main
parts, revived the love of Roman art; and the Roman civilization once
more revived. Roman architecture, sculpture, learning, laws appeared.
The style of public buildings, houses of the High-Castes, Bridges,
took on the Roman forms. The _Literati_ became more numerous; and,
with the increasing riches, larger numbers became instructed. A long,
bloody and disastrous War, which ended only a few years ago, moderated
the intolerant selfishness of the Barbarians. It left them so crushed
down under the weight of innumerable taxes, that it began to be seen
that these interminable Wars beyond Seas, were not paid for by the
gains of trade, nor by acquisitions of territory. This moderation was
strengthened by the better and increasing knowledge: and Wars are not,
in general, so eagerly waged.

The oldest child of a Ruler succeeds--male first, and failing him, a
female. The direct descent from the _eldest_ always succeeds, to the
exclusion of the younger.

It is justly claimed that this is an element of stability; though it
contains a foolish omission. For there is no recognized authority which
can set aside an heir in the direct Line for however good cause. Thus
the danger of a violent succession is always imminent--and of this the
English history has many examples. In our Flowery Land, this danger is
averted by the wise customs of the great _Calao_.

In my Report, I have explained at length the rules which govern in
transactions with foreign tribes; and shown the maxims needful for
our Illustrious, in all negotiations and dealings with the Western
Barbarians. As trade (particularly by the English) is the grand object,
I have pointed out how to deal in this matter, in such way as to yield
no more than is convenient, nor sooner than is expedient.

The _Committee_ who govern, preserving ancient forms, administer
through them, in the name of the Sovereign. These forms assume _three
great divisions_, one of them being two-fold: _spiritual_, referring
to the great Superstition; and the other _temporal_; this is quite
nominal, for the "temporalities" always touch matters _spiritual_ in
some way.

The _First_ is the Executive.

The _Second_ is the Parliament.

The _Third_ is the Judicial.

The Executive--that is that which executes--has two parts. Spiritual,
(the ghostly, the unknown,) performing all things concerning the
Sovereign-Pope, the Temples, the worship, the Bonzes. Temporal,
ordering the military forces by land and by sea, seeing that the
laws are obeyed, and ruling the Hindoos and other distant peoples
and settlements. Also arranging all matters with other Christ-god
Barbarians, and with all foreign peoples.

The Law-making, called Parliament, or place of talking [Ba-ble]. This
is the Grand Council already referred to, divided into the Upper and
the Lower House, together really forming one, where all Rules and Laws
are made. Here rests the Supreme Authority; and this body is controlled
by the _Committee_, as before explained.

The Upper House is composed of Lords, who sit there in right of
birth, except the _Spiritual_ Lords, who are the great Bonzes (called
Bishops) of the Superstition. Formerly, this Upper was, next after the
Sovereign, most powerful, and often over-ruled, and even dethroned
him. But the greater intelligence has reduced its influence, and made
innoxious its mischievousness. Even its aristocraticalness could
not blind the Lower House to an _Imbecility_ inherent in its very
constitution. Born Law-makers! The proportion of idiots, worn-out
and selfish _roués_ (we have no similar word), narrow caste-bound
egotists, at last, wearied even its congeners, and they left to the
Lords [Tchou] the ancient Forms, but deprived them of all real power.
This might not have happened, but that from the very nature of things
the number of Peers (as a Lord is called, who has the hereditary
law-making right) who are active and young is inconsiderable; and,
for the most part, these prefer out-door sports, pleasures of wealth
and travel, to sitting among the elders to be _snubbed_ for youthful
inexperience. The result is that all warmth, life, and interest, all
generous disinterestedness, are unknown by these venerable egotists.
They are sufficiently amused with hereditary titles, with the respect
shown to their rank, and with the _playing_ at Law-making. They are
too conceited to see that they are "puppets," and too small to despise
the _honours_ which conceal their insignificance. Are they not exalted
above and separated from the "common-herd"? [kou-tong].

They are completely engrossed with the trivialities of their rank
(High-Caste). They wait upon the Sovereign like menials, tricked
out in furs, feathers, and robes, and jewelled chains, stars and
garters, sparkling in gems, silk hose, and the very shoes resplendent
with precious stones! On great occasions they are allowed (and this
permission must come from the Sovereign) to place upon the head a
golden and jewelled "circlet," named _coronet_. With this head-gear
glittering about their brows, they receive the respectful reverence of
the people, and feel a greater exaltation than the gods. "Ah," as the
Barbarians say, "who would not be a Lord!"

A special Superstition attaches itself to this head-ornament. That worn
by the Ruler is called a _Crown_. When he places it on in public, the
trumpets give a mighty sound, all the people bow in humble homage,
and Nature is supposed to arrest the wheels of her majestic course
to join in the rapturous shouts of delight! The act is rooted in the
Superstition, and one of its most cherished things.

The highest ambition of a subject is to be permitted to take _Rank_
and wear this _bauble_. There is no mean service to the Ruler, no
intrigue, no sacrifice which may not be done or suffered to get this
privilege--the right to shine in this coronet. And such an ambition is
so honourable, that success condones every contemptible thing by which
it is secured. Men are blinded by the glare, and overlook the mean
being below: in his Coronet he is unimpeached and unimpeachable!

Nor is this ambition confined to the Lords temporal; the High-Caste
Bonzes will not be remiss in those _duties_ to the Sovereign and to his
family, in those to "Society" and to the exalted Lords, upon whom they
have to attend on all occasions of baptising and marrying and feasting,
to give the _blessings_ [fihu-lsi] of the gods of the Superstition--in
nothing remiss which shall help them to secure the peculiar _head-gear_
given to those of their order whom the Sovereign raises to the lordly
rank called _Bishops_. It is called a _mitre_. Ages ago, in the obscure
days of the Superstition, poor and miserable, the chief Bonzes were
distinguished by a head-covering like two bits of board, united or
_mitred_ together, typical of the two-fold nature of their office.
Thus arose the Mitre, now a resplendent and costly bauble, more lofty
than the coronets, and showing the superiority of spiritual (priestly)
dignity!

In these coveted distinctions, the Sovereign finds the source of nearly
all the power really enjoyed; and by an artful use and distribution
of coronets and mitres, often covertly manages the machinery of
government to his own wishes. An unscrupulous and able man may make
himself respected! I forgot to say that another jewelled symbol of
priestcraft is bestowed with the mitre, so comical that one might
suspect it originated in the love of coarse humour common to the
Barbarians--but its true origin was in the same early and poor days
of the Superstition, when the highest Bonze was only a "Keeper of the
Sheep;" that is, his duty was to keep the poor devotees together and
save them from the idolatrous _pagans_. The Christ was said to have
called his despised followers "Sheep without a shepherd," and to have
requested the chief of his followers "to feed his sheep." Thus it came
about that these chief men took a staff, crooked at one end (similar to
that used by a veritable shepherd), as typical of their duty.

With the mitre is, therefore, handed a costly _Crosier_--crooked and
crossed staff--to enable the Lord Bishop to _pull in_ the wandering
sheep, or to catch hold of any which may have slipt down into
deep holes, or other rough places! "Fancy a Lord Bishop catching
sheep!"--said a jocose Barbarian to me once.

The crowning of a new Ruler is a grand _ceremony_, in which all the
wearers of the little crowns (_coronets_ and _mitres_) attend; and
no Ruler is a RULER unless he be CROWNED, with all the superstitious
_rites_. To this I may refer elsewhere. At present, I may mention that
the history of all the Barbarians, and notably that of the English, is
a story very often of the wars, assassinations, plots, and cruel deeds
done to seize the _Crown_: for whoever could contrive to clap this
thing upon his head was at once King! In the eyes of the superstitious
invested with a sort of divinity! This feeling is well expressed by
their greatest poet: "What a divinity doth _hedge_ a King!" This is,
doth encompass and protect a King.

When the Law-making Houses meet, the custom is for the Sovereign to
attend in all his State, and _open_ the Houses. That is, to swing
open the grand doors of the Upper House for the Lords, and especially
for the Lower members; who, on this occasion, are admitted to enter
in and listen to the GRACIOUS SPEECH. The rush of the Low-members is
frightful, for the _Doors_ are only opened for a very short time.
The speech itself is nothing--merely some polite phrases as to the
health and happiness of "our beloved _Lords and gentlemen_" (as the
form is), and some Incantation to the gods of the Superstition, "on
the prosperity and successful trade of our subjects." The great Lords
sit like gods, effulgent, exalted; whilst the Low-members crowd like
school-boys, and as rudely as school-boys, below. This is another thing
by which the childish Lords are amused with a notion of power.

The present Sovereign rarely opens the Houses, but delegates some great
Lords to do it for her. And the ceremony is far less. The Crown and the
Crown Jewels are, therefore, so rarely seen, that the divinity of the
Ruler is in danger; for the Superstitious reverence and pope-worship
attaches to the _Crown_. These Crown Baubles are, by the present
Ruler, kept imprisoned and guarded in a huge stone castle, so strong
that no force but of nature can throw it down, and are cautiously shown
to the admiring and dazzled few who are allowed by the guards to see
them, at "a penny a-peep" (as an American Barbarian said in my ear,
on the day of my seeing them). In this he referred to the fee [tin]
which is exacted before admission, and which (I was told) went to the
privy-purse of the Queen to buy pins. The Barbarians boast that these
glittering _gewgaws_ cost more than all the Halls of Learning!

The _Judicial_ is the remaining great division of administration. In
this the Laws are explained and applied. No law is, by this department,
ever made. It has no such function. None the less, it really makes new
laws, and unmakes the Statute Law (that is, the Law enacted by the
great Council of Law-makers) just as it pleases. In fact the chief
business of this department is to _unmake_ the Laws, and the chief
business of the Council is to make _them over_ again. And between
the two, of the making of Law there is no end, nor any possible
understanding. Were not the Barbarian body and mind very tough, they
would infallibly perish beneath the weight of this inscrutable and
ponderous contrivance. No one is benefited by it, but the innumerable
officers who manage it, and the Lawyers, who fatten upon the fees
[tin-tin] which it wrings from all the unfortunates who have to attend
upon it. These Lawyers form a special and very exclusive Caste; often
at dispute among themselves upon points of personal concern, and as
to the emoluments and offices which appertain to the Caste, but
always united (and so-called _Brothers_) as to everything outside,
by which they can more effectually conceal and mystify the nature of
their order, and the more adroitly plunder the uninitiated. This is
the Caste which opposes every inquiry into abuses and every attempt
to reform the administration; which shouts the loudest praises to the
Superstition, puts in force all the terrors of the Caste and of the
Law (as by them expounded) to destroy any one who does not adore the
_glorious_ event, and declare the Constitution and the Laws, the Crown
and the Altar (meaning the Superstition), the most perfect of all
human wisdom--indeed, _Divine_. I have explained the Glorious event.
To the Lawyer-Caste glorious in fees and means of plunder; in abuses
which, had the reforms introduced before that event been perfected,
would have been swept away; reforms which that event postponed, and
the subsequent wars and civil dissensions made not only impossible,
but still more difficult in the future. In another place I propose to
refer to this department--the _Judicial_--when speaking of _the Courts
of_ JUSTICE wherein the Laws are expounded and applied: because, as
in these the daily course of the life of a people may be studied, I
wish to look curiously into them. It will be readily seen, however,
that for a stranger to find, beneath the thick and manifold wrappings
and ponderous obscurities of the Lawyer-Caste, where _Justice lies
smothered_, is no easy task.

The present Ruler is of the so-called _glorious_ dynasty, and is
more wise and virtuous than her ancestors, who were remarkable for
obstinacy, meanness, stupidity, and debauchery. If one had a virtue,
it was so misdirected by narrowness of mind as to be worse than vice.
The best man of them was the most mischievous Sovereign, and the wisest
thing done by any of the dynasty was to keep away from England. When
they did nothing they did well; their activity was disastrous.

The Queen now reigning is esteemed by the Aristocracy because she
leaves them to do as they please, and gratifies them by bestowing
upon them and their devoted supporters _coronets_. She only demands
for herself and her numerous children _ample provisions_; if in these
she be gratified, she cares not to vex herself or her Lords by any
disputes. She is very benevolent, filling the great palaces with _poor
relations_, where they are supported--not by her. On the marriage of
one of her royal children her munificence is unequalled; but she asks
her devoted Lords to tax her subjects to pay for it!

Her allowances are, with wise _policy_, made very ample, that a
_splendid Court_ may be kept up, to give places to the aristocracy,
and to gratify the love of display. In this the Lords are generous; it
costs _them_ nothing, the taxes upon the people cover the expenses.
There are murmurs that the crown is never shown; that Royalty is
hidden from view, and that the reverence of the people wanes; that the
allowances designed and heretofore used to maintain a grand _Court of
respect and honour_ are misdirected, and get into the private pocket of
Royalty for merely personal objects. But he who should dare openly to
say this, unless of a very High Caste, would assuredly have his ears
_cropped_ [ku-tof.]

The reign has not been without bloody wars; one of which was to
uphold a sick _Turk_ (an outside Barbarian, who hates the very name of
_Christians_, and calls them _dogs_), and whom the English Barbarians
themselves despise. Yet, they rushed with great ships and armed bands
to attack another _Christ-god_ tribe, who threatened the sick Turkish
chief; because, as they thought, their trade was best secured by
helping the Turk! This foolish war cost thousands of the lives of the
English sailors and armed bands, but what is far more consequential
to the Barbarians, many millions [li-re] of gold. It ended in nothing
at all; for the great tribe which lost in the war some ships and some
forts, taken by the English, have now rebuilt them more strongly than
before, and again threaten the sick Turk more than ever!

When the American Barbarians had a domestic contention--some of them
wishing to deliver a poor people held in slavery, by a custom in some
of their provinces, from the cruel wrong--the English Barbarians sided
with those who wished to keep the slaves. They did this notwithstanding
that always before they had almost quarrelled with the American tribes
for allowing this very thing! Now, however, because they did not like
to have that people great in ships, and because they thought it would
be safer for them and better for their trade, to have the American
tribes broken to pieces, insidiously aided those who fought to hold the
slaves, in every way they could without open war. But the slave-holding
tribes were overpowered, and the slaves set free. Presently, the
American Barbarians demanded that they should be repaid some of the
_monies_ which this treacherous conduct had cost them--the lives
could not be repaid. The English Barbarians, fearing the American
tribes--very valiant, and having many ships--finally submitted to pay a
heavy penalty for their wrong doing!

Lately, also, the English Barbarians have stood silent and seen another
tribe on the Main Land (which aided them just before in the War for the
Turk, and, in fact, saved them from being shamefully beaten) completely
overthrown and mercilessly sacked by another tribe--when a kindly word
would have saved great suffering. But it does not displease the English
Barbarians to see another tribe weakened--and their trade was not
touched in this war--in fact, perhaps they had more to gain by pleasing
the strong tribe which came out victorious.

The English themselves complain that, lately, they have not
distinguished themselves by their usual _glorious_ expeditions; that
their war-ships and their fierce warriors are getting out of use, and
that the late _Committee_ of Government, made the name of England
inglorious. This feeling at length got possession of the Lower House,
and a new Committee appeared. These say that the attempt to carry on
affairs with other tribes, upon the _moral_ rules of the _Christ-god_
worship, although the tribes are devotees, is absurd. That the late
_Committee_, who had some slight notion of correct moral precepts,
and thought possibly one might venture to trust the Sovereign Lord of
Heaven, were _peace-at-any-price_ men, milksops (a term of reproach
equivalent to milkmaids) [kin-e-suk], and that, in their hands, the
English Lion had been _muzzled_--made an object of contempt! (This
blood-thirsty beast is the admired symbol of English power.)

This new Committee are pledged to seize the very first occasion which
may offer to exhibit the _British_. Lion (as he is styled) with his
muzzle off, his claws sharpened, and his frame well fed and strong. The
taxes are raised and the most exact attention is devoted to all needful
things to perfect this beast to the standard of his ancient might. And
the present Government--_Committee_--watch with keen eyes for that
opportunity, when they shall suddenly let spring this monster! It is
supposed that the angry _growl_ [heuien-ro] will sufficiently alarm;
if not, the terrific roar [Zuung-luu] cannot fail! The only drawback
to this ferocious pastime will be found in those members of the Lower
House, who, themselves bearing a good weight of taxes without the
emoluments of office, may oppose the majority and reduce the arrogancy
of its temper. None the less, in the present brutal conceit of the
Lower House and of the lower orders, a war may at any moment break out,
if for no other purpose than to show other Barbarians that the British
Lion is still a _Lion_ in full vigour! The idea of a dull, toothless,
blind old brute, which even a jackass (as one of the Barbarian fables
has it) may kick with impunity, is too intolerable!

The morality of the present Loyal Court is said to be admirable--when
you can once find the Royal residence. But this is quite a _myth_.
There is, in this reign, no Loyal Court, only a domestic circle--a
Royal Family--not kept up with so much splendour as some of the
_homes_ of the High-Caste. It is said that no suitor of an improper
moral colour may approach any Princess, unless he be a cousin of the
Queen, when the blood sanctifies the taint, and all is clean. If a
real cousin be not of these suitors, one as nearly related among the
poverty-stricken princes of the Barbarians from the Main Land as can
be had, is selected. He must profess to worship the great Superstition
of the English _Sect_, and detest the Roman Pope--at least, in public.
His poverty is no objection--that is more than counterbalanced by the
Illustrious obscurity of his race--that is, some family which ages ago
contrived to live by plunder, and by making itself safe within the
walls of stone castles, among steep rocks and hills. A family whose
descendants feel more pride in these, now, old and ruinous wrecks of
former insolence, than in any other possession--and whose alliance is
acceptable to the English Queen! The poverty of these petty chiefs is,
however, removed; nor do they marry a Princess of the English Queen
unless they be paid for it. It is not the Queen who pays; the occasion
is seized upon to obtain that _provision_ to which I have referred.

And the paltry chief, and his new, royal bride, know poverty no more;
they, and their children, and children's children, are provided for by
the Lower House, who tax the people for this privilege, so much valued
by them!--this privilege of succouring and enriching the worn out,
useless and decaying chiefs of foreign Barbarians, who have any, the
remotest, trace of kinship to the Royal House of England!

The more considerable events, therefore, in the present reign, as
the Barbarians think, have reference to these marriages of Royal
Princesses, births, christenings (baptizings), deaths, and the like
among them. The Low-House readily takes these opportunities to profess
its homage and devotion. The Queen follows the _Sacred Writings_
with great exactness, which commands "take care of those of your
own blood"--indeed, her devotion to this precept is, perhaps, more
noticeable than her devotion in general.

Her Illustrious presence is rarely known among the people. When
she does appear, she is hardly more than respectfully and silently
worshipped. She does not attract the _love_ of the people--though
she is (as a sly Barbarian youth of the Low-Castes once said to me,
sarcastically), very _dear_ [chean]. (A _pun_ [phu-nsi] on the word;
which may mean _beloved_, or _very costly_).

When, as rarely happens, to honour some Show wherein the Royal
_presence_ may bring money to a Charity, the Queen appears, surrounded
by Royal guards, and in State, there is always to be seen a gigantic
servant, dressed in the scarlet of the Royal household, seated
immediately behind the _Sacred Person_, to watch over and rescue
her from any danger. His body and mighty strength are always ready
to be interposed! This favourite servant, it is said, assists her
Illustrious, when, among the hills of the Far North, she visits the
great, high rocks, and climbs the sides of mountains--his strength is
so ready, trusty, and invaluable!

To her, and to her subjects, a great loss was inflicted when Death
destroyed the youthful Consort of the Queen, when she was still young.
He was one of ancient family among the petty Barbarian chiefs to whom
I have referred; was near in blood to the Queen, and by her greatly
beloved, it is said. He was never allowed any power in the State, and
was a subject of the Queen, though her husband. It is whispered that he
did not quietly submit to this condition of things--but it would not be
worth the notice of a wise man to attend to this gossip. I could never
learn that he was of any use; but, none the less, the Barbarians exalt
him very highly, and have built lofty monuments to his honour. I said
use--I forgot--he gave a very numerous brood of princes and princesses
to the English Barbarians. Of these they are very proud--not because
they do, or can ever do, anything useful, but because it adds to the
number of the _High-Castes_, and around them very many poor members of
that caste can cluster, and live upon the cast-off clothes and other
second-hand things of these exalted!

On the whole, we may desire the long continuance of Her Illustrious'
reign. If her will were law, distant plunderings would cease; and
her influence is better than may generally be looked for. She cannot
prevent, but she may moderate those expeditions despatched to subjugate
the _Heathen_, extend trade, and bring under the dominion and worship
of the Christ-god distant tribes. Great guns, fire-arms, gunpowder, and
a poisonous liquor called Rum, would, perhaps, under other sovereigns,
even more frequently be sent to prepare the way for the Prince of Peace
(as the Christ-god is often styled).

Some respect for Justice and some regard to the rights of others have
been shown under the influence of this Illustrious; but, as we have
seen, this, the most honourable distinction of the present reign, is
likely to be obliterated. The old predatory instinct of the English
Barbarians again comes uppermost, and though caution and fear of taxes
may make the Committee of Government tardy and unwilling to attack
(unless some weak tribe, where victory would be sure and _its_ glory
conspicuous), yet, such is the prevailing temper, that _blood-letting_
seems needful to cool those fierce and haughty Barbarians.

A ferocious war may be looked for; nor is it by any means incredible
that the war-ships of these Christ-god worshippers and their murdering
bands should again be directed against our peaceful Central Kingdom!




CHAPTER III.

SOME PARTICULARS OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION.


The whole country is divided into districts, in general governed, like
our Provinces, in the Sovereign's name, by viceroys and governors.

The heir to the Crown, if he be the son of the reigning Ruler, is
Prince of Wales--a title bestowed upon his eldest son by an ancient
king; and which, at the time, gave the administration of that Province
to this son. The eldest son of the Queen now enjoys with this title
also that of Duke of Cornwall. These lofty designations confer no
power, although they carry with them high distinction and great
revenues.

The Aristocracy in the case of the heir, as in that of the Sovereign,
watch jealously anything which looks like _intellect_. They do not
stint personal respect and ample revenues, but take care that upon
coming to the Crown, the new Sovereign shall be a "puppet."

He is, whilst heir, not allowed to take any kind of share in
government, but is surrounded by flatterers, flunkeys [pluc-ngi], idle
young people of both sexes, and, from mere want of useful business,
falls into every sort of sport and pleasure. He must, indeed, be strong
in morality and in character, if, upon coming to his high office, he
be not reduced to the selfish _imbecile_ and puppet, desired by the
High-Caste. Lucky if he have not become absolutely contemptible by his
vices!

Ireland is governed by a High Viceroy, whose chief employment is to
amuse the Irish with shows--the real power being in the hands of the
General of the armed bands. Anciently, the Provinces were administered
by Vice-roys, who possessed authority; but the pettiness of the Island
and swiftness of communication have now concentrated all actual
administration at the Capital city. The Provincial governors, however,
keep up some show of the ancient order, and, nominally, command the
Provincial _Militia_. This is a merely nominal force, composed of
butcher-boys, farmer-lads and the like, who do not know how to handle a
_fire-arm_, nor how to fight, unless in the Barbarian pastime of _the
Ring_: a combat wherein the young Barbarians, two being pitted against
each other, try each to hit the other a terrible blow directly in the
eye. This, done with the hand doubled up, nearly destroys that organ.
He is victor who succeeds in hitting both eyes of his antagonist, and
fairly blinding him! This, a common and admired sport, is greatly
esteemed by the English Barbarians, and considered an admirable
training. It develops the ferocity and brutality required to make good
soldiers (plunderers), and the powers of endurance indispensable in
the distant forays. Even in the Halls of Learning, it is thought to be
a manly _science_, fitting the young Aristocracy to match any man in
personal conflict, and enabling him to be self-possessed and ready to
fight his way through the world. As, in general, the lowest orders are
badly fed and reduced in strength, and, though well used to brutal
fights, yet are not trained to the _Science_, the young Aristocrat
is expected "to pummel the brute" upon the slightest occasion of
disrespect.

The provincial Magistracy are mainly employed in keeping the
Lower-Castes in order, and especially in punishing trespasses upon
the lands, or upon the convenience of the Higher-Castes. The most
common form of trespass is that called _Poaching_. The High-Castes
own all the lands, and the Low-Castes, who till the soil, are the
ancient slaves--slaves no longer under any law, but nearly as much
so by custom. Very poor, but little better than beggars, and really
beggars in large numbers, and hungry, the temptation to knock over the
abundant nearly tame creatures (birds, fowls, hares, and the like)
everywhere around them in the fields and copses, is too strong to be
resisted. To do this is to be a _Poacher_--a criminal most detested by
the High-Caste; for he presumes to think, in some cases, that the right
in these free creatures is _not_ absolutely vested in the High-Castes.
Yet this sort of property is most rigidly _preserved_, by the penalties
of severe punishment, to the use of the High-Caste--for his sport in
the shooting of them, rather than for food. The Poacher, who is merely
tempted by hunger, and who abjectly begs pity and promises reformation,
escapes in some instances lightly; but he who presumes to question the
right to this wholesale appropriation feels the full wrath of the Law.

Petty civil and criminal offences may be tried by the Provincial
Magistracy; subject, however, in cases involving any interests of
importance, to revision at the Capital.

There is a sort of Provincial (and yet Metropolitan) Court called
_Convocation_ [Kal-ti-se]. In this, things touching the Christ-god
Superstition are determined. If a Bonze has not worn, or has worn
improperly, his neck-tie, or his _surplice_ [ro-bsi]; if the table
before the Altar (Idol) has been placed out of square; for things of
this sort--or if a Bonze be accused of departing from the ordered
rendering of some word in the _Sacred Writings_, or of having said
something contrary to the orders of Convocation or of the _rites_--for
these and other things respecting the great Idolatry, _Convocation_
sits. It is composed of High Bonzes and a few delegates of High-Caste
devotees, whose duty is merely to ratify the decisions of the High
Bonzes--these regulate everything.

This High and Lofty Court was anciently styled _Star Chamber_, because
exalted above mere mortal interests, and only concerned with the
preservation of the Idolatry. Formerly it worshipped the Sovereign as
Pope of the Superstition more devotedly than is the fashion at present,
and burnt people to death for refusing to do so. Now it refrains from
this severity, and is content (or tries to be) with depriving a Bonze
who doubts, of his _living_, and all honours and emoluments.

It still convenes in the old hall of its former glory. A venerable
moss-covered pile, vast and gloomy, with lofty towers and turrets of
rock, with hewn cells and deep dungeons. Here may be seen, fixed to
the rock, the rings and chains, worn and rusty with age, where the
victims of superstition suffered beneath the decrees of this ancient
Court. Slow and proud, along the dark stone corridors, and beneath
the dusky arches of this great prison-palace, the High Bonzes and the
devotees walk in state. Ushered with pompous ceremonial, and with the
grand incantations to the gods and devils of the Superstition, into the
lofty and obscure hall of the Star-Chamber, the _Convocation_ sits. In
deep alcoves around are stored the ponderous volumes, containing all
the mysteries and terrors of the Superstition. In these are the horrid
imaginings of fanatical Priests and devotees; the _dogmas_ and _canons_
of the Superstition; the dreadful arsenal, whence were drawn those
frightful weapons of superstitious terror, whence issued the chains and
bolts, and scourges, the faggots and the flames. One hears the groans
of the tortured, the steps of the jailers, the clashing of the chains,
when, in these long and resounding aisles and arches, the winds moan,
the distant footsteps fall, or the old casements in the ruinous towers
shake and rattle.

Nor is the arsenal wholly useless now; the weapons are not all rusty;
_anathemas_ may yet be found to terrify, and restraints to punish.
_Heresy_ [pho-phi], as any doubt concerning the Queen-pope and the
_Superstition_ is called, drives the culprit from Society, deprives the
Bonze of all preferment, of his employment, and turns him ignominiously
_adrift_, to live or to starve.

_Convocation_ watches over the _Sacred Writings_, to see that no
change, not so much as of a syllable, be made; not trusting to _Jah_,
who may have himself, perhaps, grown indifferent to the matter. A
curious thing, showing how irrationally men will act in respect of an
irrational system. For the notion is that this Word of Jah (the _Sacred
Writings_), being his _Revelation_ (Word), have always been by Him
exactly preserved through all the ages and the changes of languages,
and of transcription, and of _everything to this hour_. Why is it to be
supposed, then, that He will suddenly lose his power to preserve, or
will be indifferent to preserve?

Punishments in the ordinary Courts are not very remarkable, only there
is one so characteristic of the English, so comically barbarous, that I
will try to describe it.

The offender is stripped naked to the waist, tied up with his hands
widely extended, and with his face to a strong post; then a man takes a
large strong cat, kept hungry and savage for the purpose, and placing
the creature at the back of the neck, draws it forcibly down the naked
back. Of course the cat holds on with teeth and claws. This is repeated
till the culprit faints, when the cat is removed. The back of the man
is washed with vinegar and salt, and he revives, perhaps to undergo
the infliction again. This astonishing mode of correcting offenders is
called _flogging with the cat_.

I may also make a remark upon another feature of criminal punishment.
The crime of _treason_, not only insures the death, but the horrid
mutilation of the culprit; and, not satisfied with this, reaches to
the innocent wife and children. All the estates, titles, honours,
properties of the offender are sequestrated to the State, and his blood
is _attainted_; that is, made incapable of giving honour and employment
to his offspring! Thus the innocent are disgraced, and reduced, not
merely to beggary, but, as far as possible, placed in a condition of
hopeless misery!

The Idolatry and Sacred Writings are, no doubt, responsible for this
impolitic injustice and cruelty. For _Jah_ is constantly made by the
Priests to say, that he visits the sins of the father upon his child
even to the tenth generation! A natural development of the moral sense
would fall short of this vindictiveness; and in this false and horrible
wrath, taught in their _Sacred Writings_, the fierce Barbarians are
encouraged to outdo themselves!

The greatest of all the Courts, and which chiefly controls the others,
is the High and Mighty COURT OF CHANCERY. It has many names--as
Court of Equity, of the King's Conscience, and others--assuming as
many styles and jurisdictions as the ancient _Proteus_ of Egypt;
who, as the Priests said, could take any form, or no form, be fire,
or cloud, or invisible air. So this Court, feared by the Barbarians
with a paralyzing dread, takes on any shape! It stands for the King's
conscience--which, as the conscience of a Pope-king, must be a doubly
divine thing. For, as remarked elsewhere, "_Divinity doth hedge a
King!_" We, I think, should fear that this conscience would be as
uncertain as the man. Its function is, therefore, to decide with
_Equity_; to relieve against the inexorable hardness of the ancient
rules; and give relief in cases of _mistake_, _accident_, and _fraud_.
This looks admirable, but it is all _sham_ (phu-dgi).

Not the least attention is really paid to equity, but only to the
_decrees of the Court as recorded_. A Suitor petitions for redress.
The petition is not examined to be determined upon the matters therein
stated. First--The _Petition_ must be in all respects in due form,
according to the recorded rules. Second--The matter of it must be
such as the Court will consider, and such as may come before the
Court. Third--Are the Parties in the Jurisdiction, and are all the
parties who may be interested, duly notified and present; or, if not
present, accounted for. Fourth--Are the matters for the Court only,
or must it be assisted by some petty judges to ascertain the facts.
Fifth--The petition being at last before the Judge, he may not look
into it, unless the Lawyers look into it with him; and, then, no
opinion (decree) can be given until the Records are fully examined,
to discover if anything of the sort _has been_ relieved. If a similar
case be found, then the petitioner is called upon to prove his case as
stated in his petition; and, if he fail to prove his exact case (though
he may make a stronger show for relief), he is ordered out of Court,
and condemned to heavy costs (tin-tin). If the case be proved, then
the Judge _reserves his judgment_. For he must very carefully compare
all the cases, examine all the voluminous Records, besides examining
the innumerable Papers which have grown up around the Petition during
all the proceedings (often spreading over many years), before he dare
to order the recording of his _decree_. For, this done, he has added
another Case to the King's conscience; that is, to the highest form of
Law and of human Justice!

He dare not do this unless justified by the Records; interminable,
stretching backwards to the first King who pretended to have a
conscience; obscure, contradictory--he dare not unless justified by the
Records--_Precedents_. If he mistake, grossly, he will be certain to be
called to account by the Lawyer-Caste, who make a business of seeking
for discrepancies; in fact, he is bewildered--not by the case; that
is simple, or _was_ originally, simple enough; but, by the arguments
of the Lawyers, the documents overlying and enveloping the case, _and
by the difficulty of deciding according to the Precedents_. Could he
merely announce his _own_ judgment, there is no difficulty--but that is
the last thing to be thought of--in truth, if reduced to _that_, he is
bound to refuse any relief, however clear it is that _equity_ requires
it!

Thus the Judge, old and wearied; a man tottering over his grave,
feeble, irresolute, takes the course which maybe looked for--and
postpones, and postpones; other like cases accumulate on his hands; he
dismisses some, "reserves" others, _refers_ to another judge what he
can decently, decides none! Or only those which are petty, or those
which are really unopposed, or those exciting no interest.

Meantime, the parties to the _Petition_ are dead, or absconded, or
beggared. Years have elapsed; all parties are worn out or impoverished
by the enormous expenses--at length, there is no one to pay Lawyers
and the Court Officers--the thing _lapses_--dies. Term after Term
(as Sessions of the Court are called), the Case is called. Some poor
wretch struggles still to save something of the property _tied up_ in
the Court by the Case--he tries to call up from the mass of dusty and
forgotten Records, a reminiscence of the lost Petition. In vain--the
thing is a wreck, and has wrecked its builders!

The Case lies forgotten amid the interminable processes, affidavits,
answers, pleas, replications, rejoinders, motions, applications,
notices, subpoenas, summonses, commissions, bills of amendments, and of
supplement; documents of all sorts, making up the _Case_, mouldering
away in the stone alcoves of the huge Records; as the poor victims
of it lie mouldering in similar forgetfulness! Not, however, without
profit to the Lawyer-Caste; for some miscreant of this profession,
perchance, discovering the Case, in his searches after means of spoil,
sees how _he_ may gain by it. He knows of an estate remotely touched by
the matter of the old and forgotten Petition, and he knows quite well
that there is really nothing affecting the property; yet, he sees fees
and spoil. It is merely to frighten the possessor of the estate by an
intimation of a _defect of title_, and refer to this old Case, never
decided. The _bandit_ [khe-te] sets in motion the machinery of the High
Court of Chancery. One of its officers summonses the poor man to come
into that Court, and answer to the allegations touching his right to
possess the house in which, perhaps, he has lived for twenty years! and
lived without objection from any source!

Now it does not matter at all that there is no sort of ground for
this attack; the moment it is made, the title of the poor unoffending
man to his own house is ruined--almost as completely as if by the
sentence of the Court he had been deprived of it. The robber who
attacks wishes merely to force the owner of the house to buy him off.
To secure this spoil _he records his summons in the Court_, and from
that moment no one will buy the house, nor will any one lend any money
upon the security of it until that record be removed. If the victim of
this oppression be in debt, or have but little money, or but little
more than his house, or if he have borrowed money upon his house--in
fact, unless he be a man quite rich, he is inevitably ruined! He is
ruined, because the lawyer has, _by the Record_, practically deprived
him of his estate. And this is done by a Petition to the Court, making
allegations artfully and untrue. Yet, as they are not supported by
any sort of evidence, and are merely bare _insinuations_ often of
anybody--it does not the least matter--is it not inconceivable that
such a thing should be allowed? That merely upon the _Record_ of
a Petition, without any evidence, without any character, without
any surety for its truth, without any, the least, inquiry, or any,
the smallest deposit in Court to cover the expenses to which the
summoned party may be put, should it appear he has been wrongfully
summoned--this great injustice may be perpetrated, and perpetrated
without risk of any punishment! "But surely the Court will immediately
dismiss this iniquitous case?" Not at all; the Court cannot be reached;
all the endless proceedings and delays already mentioned intervene. The
fees and expenses are enormous--the decision far off. The victim cannot
get a hearing. He borrows money and employs lawyers--in vain. He can do
no more--he is bankrupt. The lawyer who has ruined him gets nothing
in such a case, because the victim prefers poverty to gratifying the
robber. He gets nothing, because he has no real case, and drops it as
soon as he sees he can make nothing out of it. Should the party be
very rich upon whom the robbery is attempted, he may fight it out and
finally clear his property, and get a _decree_ for some costs (only
a portion) against the other party. But this _decree_ is worthless;
the party has no property and cannot pay. _He_ has fought _for luck_,
having nothing to lose, but all to gain.

Usually, however, as the Lawyer well knows, the party attacked will
hurry to buy off the suit!

In this way, old Causes are Mines, which the Lawyer-Caste work to their
own peculiar advantage. They have every facility, both from their
experience and from the usages of the Caste. The very Judges of the
Courts are of the same Caste, and give every assistance in matters of
forms, continuances, motions, dilatory proceedings, and the countless
processes by which Lawyers make fees and their clients are robbed.

Thus the Court of Equity, with a mocking irony, becomes a Court of
Iniquity! and the very tribunal designed to do more perfect Justice
is perverted to the most scandalous use--made an engine the most
oppressive and destructive ever contrived for the misery of Society,
short of one invented to destroy it wholly!

The Court was originally organised by Priests who had acquired the
Roman learning, or some tincture of it, and endeavoured to strengthen
their own Class, and to soften the barbarous harshness of the common
Law, by erecting this Court. The laws of the Barbarians were savage,
in civil as well as in criminal things; and the Priests, more cultured,
endeavoured to soften and temper this harshness, or, at any rate, to
get more complete control by it. They formed it, and administered
it at first, and for a long time. But the Lawyer-Caste have now its
administration, and they have not so much respect for the opinions
of the general public as had the Priests, and have made the Court a
_bye-word and a shame_ [Kri-mi]!

The expenses and fees are beyond belief. A Lawyer who gets one good
Chancery Case into his hands, lives upon it luxuriously. I was once
shown a _Bill of Costs_, as these items of fees are styled.

I observed that one would be charged for a thing done and for the same
thing not done--in other words, for the doing and for the not-doing.
Thus, if one requests a thing be done, the Lawyer will charge for
"receiving instructions," "for reducing the same to writing," "for
instructing a clerk," and the like--then, having sent away the clerk on
_another_ matter, he will charge for taking new instructions and going
over the same ground again. Thus, actually charging for the delay and
obstruction caused in the affair.

Again, if you ask a Lawyer something, he will presently say, "I must
take counsel," meaning he wishes to ask another Lawyer. When the _Bill_
is examined you will find, say, "for being asked and not knowing, 6s.
8d.; for taking your instructions to counsel, 6s. 8d.; for attending
upon counsel, £1 1s.; for fair copy made for him, £2 2s.;" and so
on. Your simply unanswered _question_ has thus served the following
purposes:--If it had been answered at once the fee would have been,
say, 6s. 8d.; but as it was not, but carried elsewhere, it has given
the first Lawyer five times more of fees, and his _brother_ in the
Caste also a handsome sum! One may judge how ignorant the first Lawyer
will be likely to be, and how often he finds it convenient to help his
higher Caste brother, especially when in helping him he so greatly
helps himself! We have some cunning rogues in our Central Kingdom, but
such astuteness as this is beyond them!

I once visited this tribunal of Chancery to witness the
proceedings--but they are so dull and prolix as to drive one away as
soon as possible. The presiding Judge, and all the High-Caste Lawyers,
wear wigs and gowns. The lower Lawyers, who are called Solicitors, sit
in a sort of well, below and at the feet of the High, and have no badge
of distinction. In fact, they are not respected, and only tolerated by
the _bigwigs_ (as the High Lawyers are often called) as the jackals
who provide them with prey. They immediately act in matters with
the victims of the Court, and do all the dirty work, extracting the
fees, and the like--the High Lawyers taking the most of the plunder,
although, for decency sake, they will not see the victims of their
rapacity if they can help it.

The _wigs_ spoken of are very absurd, and make the wearers seem to be
engaged in masquerading, or fooling. (We have no term corresponding to
the former.) The lappets of thick hair come down over the ears of the
Judge, to enable him (as it occurred to me) to take his _nap_ [qu-iz]
with less danger of being disturbed.

No one can be a Judge, nor a High-Caste Lawyer, who does not wear
the wig. It has a funny appendage behind, like a pig's tail, exactly
fitting to fall upon the small of the neck; and is itself a curiously
curled "frizzle" of horsehair, selected for uniformity of whitish
colour. There is something _cabalistic_ in this thing, which is
carefully hidden from the outside world.

If a Judge take it off, all business immediately stops. A Lawyer
instantly loses his power of speech if his wig fall off. It was
told me in confidence, that the tail (like that of swine) had a
peculiar significance, to say; the utter selfishness of the Caste and
_greed_--another whispered a darker thing, referred to the Devil of
the Superstition: that, anciently, this Caste struck a bargain with
the Demon, and he made it obligatory upon the Lawyers always to wear
this chief sign of _diabolism_! This may be merely the chaff [pti-ni]
of these Barbarians. At any rate, something _occult_ is attached to
the thing; and a curious respect is shown to it, mixed of fear and
contempt, even by outsiders.

The Judge sits so highly exalted, as to be out of the way of hearing
the passages occurring among the Lawyers. He is generally half-blind,
half-deaf; quite worn out with age, and the ceaseless wretchedness of
his Court and the Lawyers, and incapable of vigorously dealing with
anything. In this Court the most imbecile is most fit; for nothing is
expected but imbecility (so far as the public is concerned), and fees
for Officers and Lawyers.

When a Case is _on_, the Lawyers begin to talk, and to read from the
big books, on one side, and then on the other. Neither tries to get at
the truth, but each in turn does his best to mislead the Judge. Both
read from the interminable and conflicting Records, and both find ample
records which fit the precise Case, which each contends for. The poor
old Judge, now and again, takes a note of these quotations from the Big
Books of records--for he is to decide not upon the equity but upon the
records, as we have seen. By the time he has found his _spectacles_
[Qu-iei] he has forgotten the Book, the number, the Recorder's name,
and the many other things, needful to find where the record is, and
when he is again told, lifting up his wig-pallet, he only hears
imperfectly, and _mistakes_. So, when, perhaps a long time after, he
tries to make up a decree to fit the Case, the _record_ to which he
turns refers to nothing in the world like what was intended!

Hour after hour, and sometimes day after day, these speeches of the
Lawyers go on. For the longer the talk the larger the _fees_--nobody
thinks of Justice! The old Judge understands the trick of the _farce_
going on, perfectly well; in his younger days he was famous for his
skill in all the arts of the High-Caste Lawyers, and obtained his
present position on that account, and because others wanted to get
a formidable rival out of the way; he understands how very little
(but fees) is involved in the endless talk and reading, and begins to
nod--even, the gods would nod. The Lawyer observes, stops a bit; the
unexpected silence awakens the wearied old man--he opens his watery,
blinking eyes, fumbles his papers, or takes a pinch of snuff, and says:
"Go on, brother Bounce, I'm with you"--meaning he is attending to him;
and soon falls asleep again.

Perhaps one of the talking Lawyers is of the High Q.C. I am told that
such is the dread of this Lawyer-Caste, that the Sovereign constantly
flatters the tribe, and gives to them the _fattest_ [phig-sti]
offices. All Judges and the Keeper of the Sovereign's Conscience--this
Court--and a great many other most important places, and exaltation
to the Highest Caste of Lords [Tchou], falls to them by established
rule--in truth, the Caste is chief in the Law-making Houses, and,
consequently, in Government itself. The Q.C. is, however, a thing done
to many who cannot, as yet, get fees from the public treasure, that
they may get them from out-siders more amply. The right to attach these
symbols to the name of Lawyer also gives him a _silk gown_ (during
the present reign) worked by the sacred hands of Royalty itself! The
honoured wearer of this is a Q.C.--that is, Queen's Champion--and binds
all its wearers to defend the Sacred Head (Pope) of the Superstition
from the machinations of the Evil One, and those of their own order
who, sold to the Devil, may possibly be put up by him to plot mischief,
not only against the general outside world, but against "Crown and
Altar!"

Perhaps, after days of this weary work, one of the Lawyers suddenly
discovers that somebody, or something required in the intricate and
dubious _processes_, is wanting; or in some document some erasure is
detected; or something _to hang a point_ upon is seized hold of--and at
once a wrangle between the Lawyers ensues. The Judge fairly awakes;
the whole _case breaks down_ [kei-tz-se]; and everybody, but the poor
victims in the case, anticipate more fees. The victims, however, who
have already beggared themselves in it, suddenly despair; perhaps the
case never again comes on, and the property involved in it wastes away
in dark obscurity beneath the gnawing rats, which infest the Court.

Sometimes (as I was told) some poor man, or woman, who had scraped
together the last farthings to pay the Lawyers (for they will in no
wise act unless paid beforehand, feeling that such service as they
render is not likely to be gratefully recompensed, and it being the
severest rule of the order never to show any pity for outsiders), being
in Court when they see all hope destroyed, and themselves and their
children beggared, have fallen down and been carried out of Court with
reason for ever gone; or with such a deadly blow that never more do
they revive, but soon die, and are buried at the public charge!

You will see wretched creatures trying to look decent in well-brushed
rags, darned and patched, with shoes through which the toes protrude,
but over which the blacking [di-yte] is carefully smeared--you will see
these victims of the Court, like ghosts, flitting about the passages,
and watching for the entry of the Judge. One will attempt to address
him--but he is conveniently deaf. He knows the _victim_ is there, and
though a party may speak, has the right to speak for himself, and the
Judge is bound to hear, yet, such a thing is unknown. The mysteries of
the Court deny to any _sane_ man the attempt. These poor creatures are
insane--or, what answers just as well, have been branded by the Lawyers
as _Insane_. So the miserable wretch, trembling, raises his voice, "_My
Lud_" (meaning my Lord), "My Lud;" here the Court-officer cries out
_Silence_; or, if the man be, _for the first time_, attempting to call
attention to his case, by the time he has got so far as to fairly say
"My Lud!" what with the jeering looks of the Lawyers, his own ignorance
of the mysteries, and his wretchedness, he either completely breaks
down--or if the Judge, seeing a _new_ face, asks him to "go on"--almost
at once perceives that the man is only a "poor ruined suitor," and is
entirely out of order, and _cannot_ be heard! He says: "You must sit
down. Case _Hoggs_ v. _Piggs is in order_. Mr. Clerk call _Hoggs and
Piggs_." Thus "My Lud" will be as far as any "poor ruined suitor will
ever get!"

Besides the numerous, worse than useless, idlers (Lawyers) who fatten
upon the industry of others, and the loss inflicted by their voracity
and by the other expenses, this Court devastates upon a scale beyond
belief. I was told by an English Barbarian that he once tried to obtain
one thousand of money from the Court, which the lawyers said there
would be no difficulty in getting, as it was clearly _his_; it would be
only a matter of form, possibly _some_ delay. "Well," said he to me, "I
instructed my lawyer to go to the Court and get the money. He demanded
fifty pounds to cover fees [tin]. To make a short story, he went to the
Court, _but I never got any money_! After I had actually paid in fees
more than half of the one thousand, the obstacles had grown to be so
insurmountable that I merely dropped the matter." "But," I said, "the
thousand--who has that?" "Oh, it is in the Court of Chancery!"

Another honest Barbarian told me that he had spent all his life (he
was sixty) studying and endeavouring to awaken attention to the abuses
of this Court--but in vain. The attempt seemed hopeless. The Court
was entrenched in the very frame of the body politic, and nothing but
_reconstruction_ would answer; and that reconstruction is probably only
possible after first _demolishing_!

This man said that a prodigious sum--sixty millions of English
money--was _directly_ locked up; and that of property of all sorts,
subject to the _clutch_ or injured by the processes of the Court it
was incalculable, and, very likely, would represent a tenth of all the
valuables in the whole Kingdom!

In my walks and in my travels, sometimes in the city, I would notice
many houses, with windows smashed out, the walls tottering, the
doors hanging loosely, or wholly gone, the approaches filthy, the
whole place a _nuisance_, injuring and depopulating all about it, or
filling the ever-spreading mischief with the vilest population. I
have asked an explanation--"Oh, it is in Chancery." In the midst of a
village, suddenly one comes upon a vacant space; it is an abomination;
everything near catches the infection, all that portion of an otherwise
pretty place becomes a _nuisance_. The character of the village at
length suffers; it becomes known as a place ruined by the Court of
Chancery. In fine, whenever one sees a wrecked building, or any
property marked by neglect and verging to total destruction, the
explanation is: "It is in Chancery." And the same thing is often said
of ruined men and women: "Oh, they have lost everything in the Court of
Chancery!"

To such an extent is the destruction of the Court carried, that the
Law-making Houses are forced to interfere, or perhaps the Officers
of Health. These may abate a _nuisance_, and sometimes mere filth
and indecencies are removed. But nobody will improve a property to
which he cannot have a certain and quiet possession. Therefore, when
the evil becomes intolerable, the Law-making Houses make a Law by
which a property of this sort is sold, under their _guarantee_ that
the buyer shall have perfect possession. This is a thing next to an
impossibility; and nothing less than a great public evil too great to
be endured, will ever induce the Lawyers who control the Houses to
interfere with the legitimate work of the Court.

It is wonderful that the English Barbarians submit to this Court; but
one must consider that, after all, it is not so inconsistent with
Barbarian habits as it at first sight looks. Plunder is natural to all
the tribes, and especially to the English. As nearly all plunder, the
thing is normal. Lawyers must live; and the common English Barbarian
makes a business to _keep out_ of their hands. The Higher Castes
enjoy so large a share of the gains, and are, in fact, so largely
interested in preserving the Court, that _they_ do not care to move.
Then, to other causes, must be added the stolid conceit of the English
Barbarians, who really think everything English so much better than
what can be found elsewhere, that, in respect of this very Court,
admitting some abuses, yet, after all, "Where else can you find such
Judges--men who cannot be bribed?"

On the whole, therefore, with that conceited stolidity of character,
more remarkable in the English than in any other Barbarians, they come
to regard even the worst of _their institutions_ as better than the
best of the rest of the world!




CHAPTER IV.

UPON EDUCATION: A FEW REFLECTIONS.


In our Illustrious and Central Kingdom, from times long before the
Barbarians beyond the great Seas existed, or, at any rate, had any name
or place in the earliest records, it has been the established rule that
Learning (Li-te-su) should be the fountain of honour--that there is no
nobility of birth. Under the Illustrious, the Son of Heaven, all were
equal subjects--children--and that which made one more distinguished
than another was _Wisdom_. This Wisdom, a knowledge of men and things;
of the proper maxims [ri-te-es] of morality and government, and their
proper application to human affairs. The _Central idea was to know
oneself_, and thus to know others--to add to this, technical knowledge,
and the knowledge of our Illustrious annals and customs.

The mandarins, great officers of our Illustrious, have no rights of
birth. According to their class in the Schools of Examination, they
are selected to advise, to administer, to govern in the Provinces,
and order the forces for the keeping of due order. They rank in the
degree of the excellency of their registration in the great Schools of
Examination.

But it is very different with the Western Barbarians, where _birth_
gives a right to exalted place in Government! Power, among the
English, is wholly in the hands of this hereditary class--called
_Nobility_--elsewhere called Aristocracy [Fo-hi]. Thus, learning has
been unimportant, unless as a sort of accomplishment; and been mostly
confined to Priests. With them, it was a means of increased influence,
and added to the effect of the Superstitious pretensions. Force and
fraud being the main agents of Government and sources of distinction,
learning was not merely disregarded, but held in contempt by the
High-Caste. What learning there was (chiefly confined to the Priests),
busied itself with the Superstition, and with the ancient tongues;
because with these Superstition had its _literary roots_.

Still, some grew more inquisitive, especially outside the Priestly
order, and learning made some progress. Gradually, there emerged from
the Halls of Learning, rules, which (countenanced by some Sovereigns),
began to influence Society. For Sovereigns, and the High-Caste, had
begun, in some measure, to affect a liking for learning--confined,
however, almost wholly to the narrow range referred to. These _rules_
were in fact DEGREES; which conferred upon the possessor a Literary
distinction.

The _Halls of Learning_, which had been in good measure established
by Sovereigns, out of plunder, upon the orders of Priests (who
would obtain the money through the Ruler's dread of the devil, when
apprehending or near to death); these, alone, could confer the degrees.
No power accompanied them. They, merely, became requisite to any one
who wished to enter upon, what is called, the _Learned professions_.
These are of the _Superstition_, of the _Law_, and of _Medicine_. Soon,
in these employments, the degrees became quite _Cabalistic_; and made
these callings mysteries to the rest of the world.

What was intended to be evidence of fitness, was soon perverted to be a
form of _initiation_ into an exclusive Society; whose members insisted,
not upon fitness, but upon compliance with arbitrary rules. This was
made especially the case with the Law, and with Medicine. The _degree_
was supposed to refer to proper qualifications for the practice of Law,
and knowledge of Medicine, with its proper use in the healing art. It
did nothing of the sort. It gave a _presumption_ (but by no means a
true one) that its holder knew something of the ancient Roman and Greek
languages: not any presumption that, in the case of Medicine, there was
any knowledge of the articles of Medicine, nor of their proper use;
or of the human body to which they were to be administered. Nor any,
that in the Law, there was any knowledge of the Statutes, laws and
customs of the Realm, nor even of its Common annals! Medicine and Law
suffered from this _Sham_; because men naturally used what little they
did know; and, as to the Roman tongue, _some_, and the Greek, _less_,
were in their heads; and the whole practice of Medicine and Law was in
their ignorant hands; what could follow, but to muddle _these_ with the
useless obscurity and jargon of the unknown forms!

The Priests had also thrown around the Superstition the same jargon,
and kept up the requisition for a _degree_--as if any true morality
and worship were necessarily connected with a _literature_, denounced
by themselves as impure and _pagan_! Notwithstanding these ignorant
and selfish abuses, it was impossible to make the acquisition of
even such narrow learning wholly useless. It was narrow, and even
hurtful, by being perverted to selfish ends, and preventing honest and
independent research. Still, it did work upon some minds to better
use; and it gradually evolved a better learning, when the Ancient
Literature really worked in free and broader channels. The High-Castes
are less indifferent to literary attainments; and learning, in a
more comprehensive sense, is becoming more esteemed. It is no longer
limited to verbal knowledge; to ancient, dead forms--though these
are still so paramount that, if a man were to be the wisest and most
learned of mankind, and was deficient in these, he could not receive a
_Degree_--he would be unlearned!

Useful, true and honest knowledge, outside the great Halls of Learning,
is making some advance; though _in them_, the old, pedantic, and
superstitious notions yet prevail. The new _Literati_, founders of
a larger and truer teaching, endeavour with difficulty to get some
respect and honour to attach to the _degrees_ which they timidly
register. The High-Caste, in general, disregard this better knowledge,
and adhere to the old Superstitions and traditions--regarding that
man only as learned who has the ancient badge; though, to any useful
purpose, a fool.

The High-Caste also stupidly support the old preparatory schools; and
will not, if they can help it, suffer any of the Lower-Caste to enter
them.

In these, the barbarous customs continue; if one goes into them, he is
at once carried backwards into the _dark ages_ (as even the Barbarians
call them); ages, when the Priests had all the Learning--wretched as
it was--and when the _Superstition_ coloured and directed everything.
Here, the dead tongues are the chief studies, with something of
the ancient _puzzles_ as to Lines and Points--for the most part
useless--with a style of administration fitted to the savage brutality
of those times. The only part of the training cared for by the youths,
is that which developes the forces of the body. The disgusting _Ring
Fight_, referred to elsewhere, is a common pastime; and the lad is a
milksop [kou-ad] who really avoids the rude crowd, and wishes to study.
To be respected he must fight his way, and be feared. If, by chance,
some lad of the Lower-Caste be entered, by the foolish wish of the
father to bring the son into the _polished_ circle of the High-Caste,
he will be _polished off_ (as these young Barbarians say), in a manner
never dreamed of. The poor lad will be beaten, humiliated, and driven
from the School; unless, indeed, he be strong enough to bully and beat
his tormentors!

Very comically, in one part of these brutal fights, when one has got
his antagonist completely in his power, and can bruise him as he
pleases, the position is called _being in Chancery_! One of the fittest
illustrations possible, of the universality of the judgment which
places that Court among things the most repulsive!

The younger in these schools are the _Slaves_, for the time being, to
the older and stronger; in fact, the whole effect of the training is
really to make these youths selfish, quick of quarrel, hardy of body,
and barbarous; to prepare them for the lives of predatory exploit,
upon which fortune and all the best honours depend--learning being
subordinate, and disregarded, unless it further the main purpose.

Force is still the god of these Barbarians, and _Jah_ is worshipped
because he, in this, fits them. The intellect is improved only that
Force may be developed and disciplined to its most effective use.

One sees this everywhere. To invent the most destructive engines of
war for the wholesale slaughter of the human species, to add to the
swiftness of movement, to the durability and weight of action, to the
means of assault and of defence, to bend the mind to uses based upon
the idea that the normal condition of man is that of _a tiger with
man's intellect_, to make the beast something inexpressibly dreadful!

The greater portion of the people remain sunk in the grossest
ignorance--scarcely knowing (the most of them) much even of the
Superstition, other than crude notions of Hell and the Devil. In
this, probably, they are not much to be pitied; though in losing the
precepts of Christ, and seeing around them the conduct of Christ-god
worshippers, they are to be commiserated. They look with the contempt
of ignorance upon foreigners, and call the people of distant seas
_Heathen_, only fit for the Hell! As I have said, in another place,
some attempts are being made to give this degraded populace, at
least, the rudiments of learning. The task is hard, and made nearly
impracticable by the stolid indifference of the Low-Castes, and their
positive hostility to anything which interferes with their habits.
They are very English, not different from their betters, and resent
any sort of change as an interference with their individual freedom
of action. To make these degraded beings _slaves_, you must not seize
the individual--you must act upon them as a class--and they resent the
attempt to teach them. Compulsion will be resorted to. The English
Barbarians have a proverb [li-tze], "One may lead a horse to the water,
but who can make him drink?" These people may be forced to the springs
of learning, but who shall make them drink--unless _beer_? (This is the
common drink, very muddling; used to an astonishing quantity.)

The women are not admitted to the Halls of Learning, though they are
to be seen everywhere. Men do not wish them to be educated in those
things admired by men--it would, as they think, make brutes of them.
In this they are right; yet there is no consistency of idea in the
general treatment of the sex, as will easily be gathered from these
_observations_.

A learned woman--that is, one who has acquired the sort of education
recognised by the _Literati_--is disliked by her own sex as well as by
the men. The men will not marry her, unless she can buy a husband. This
she may be able to do if she have money in abundance.

The things which may make them attractive and entertaining to the
men, and be likely to secure a desirable husband, are the only things
cared for. Some music, some drawing, a little acquaintance with the
language of the chief tribe on the main parts, reading and writing,
are the intellectual studies. But the engrossing pursuits are those
which are supposed to add to female attractiveness. To DRESS, so as
to enhance the delight of form; to cover, and yet to show with added
suggestion; to move with grace; to carry the head; to use with tender,
or arch, or modest, or haughty expression, the eyes; to turn the feet
and arrange the limbs; to make the shoulders beautiful, and the neck
and bust charming; to torture the hair and ornament the whole body;
the ear-tips, the fingers, the eyebrows and lashes--to do these, and
innumerable other things by which the sex shall be made _irresistible_
[Kou-ket], these are the real cares. _Dancing_ [ma-d-wo] is among the
most admired of all accomplishments, and the game of _Waltzing_ its
most perfect development. In this art of dancing both sexes take part,
and I may merely say to our Flowery Land, that we have nothing like it,
and what little we have in any degree to represent it is confined to
_licensed_ girls, without, even with them, permitting men to take part!
In this dancing the utmost female art (_blandishment_) is permitted,
and it is the one by which, and in the intricacies of which the male is
most surely expected to be ensnared!

Women are, also, particularly among the High-Caste, taught in riding on
horses, in driving them attached to carriages; in running and walking;
and even in swimming. Also in rowing in boats, in the use of bows and
arrows, and many other things, which are very strange to us. But the
sex like passionately the outdoor sports of men; and, in truth, show
the barbarous instinct quite as clearly as do the males. They are
attached to dogs, cats, and other creatures, which they fondle and
_dandle_ in the most disgusting manner.

The women of the Low-Castes, to the best of their ability, follow
the example of their superiors; and make such copy as they can. They
imitate the dress, the gait, the _airs and graces_ of the High-Caste,
often with a ludicrous effect! When they dance, they may not dance with
the elegant _abandon_ [lan-gu-tze] of the lazy and rich, but they can
contrive to be quite as _effective_! The male of the Low-Caste feels
but cannot escape the snare!

_Accomplishments_, directed to the one object of finding a desirable
man, who will take them at the least cost off the hands of their
relatives, are the things which occupy the time of women; the lower
orders, in so far as possible, giving to the poor imitations that time
which ought to go to useful objects. A poor and obscure girl prefers to
be _something like_ a lady (that is, a bad copy in dress and bearing),
than to be really instructed in letters: because she sees herself more
admired by the male, and more likely to dispose of herself to a husband.

The great pursuit among High-Caste families is man--a man who may
be bought, and whom it is desirable to buy, to be a husband for a
daughter, or relative. All domestic art and diplomacy are bent to
this end; and, as men do not like learned women, whom they nick-name
_strong-minded_, women do not wish to be learned. If from exceptional
circumstances a young woman be well educated, and wish to marry, she
carefully conceals her knowledge, and displays her accomplishments,
and all "the power of her charms" (as the English poets have it). An
educated female had better appear to be an _accomplished_ fool, than a
wise and learned woman--if she wish to buy a husband. For she must have
a large sum, indeed, if she be known to be learned!--a _Blue-stocking_
[Zu-re-to].

There are some women who have acquired knowledge, and look with disdain
upon the _arts_, _airs_, and _graces_ of their "weak Sisters." They
appear in public Halls of debate (as talking-places are called); and,
mixing with men, assume an equality of mental force and culture. They
interest themselves like men, in all matters of general concern. They
take in hand, or endeavour to take in hand, _the care of Women_; and
demand an enlarged sphere for her action, and a reformed and proper
recognition of her _rights_. Hence, these women are called, besides
strong-minded, _Women's rights_ women. They are nearly always old,
ugly, and wholly and hopelessly incapacitated from longer pursuing men;
even, in their inordinate vanity, _that_ pursuit is abandoned.

There are some trifling exceptions--of women who like to astonish,
and of others who, in _talking_, find a means of living--to whom all
personal comeliness is not yet a tradition. But for these, the _Women's
rights_ movement would dwindle away; these sometimes commanding an
influence either of money or family, draw into their circle a few
men--remarkable, in general, for eccentricity of some kind, or led very
often completely by a woman of the order.

The whole thing is inexplicable to our social usages; but is not an
excrescence--only a natural outgrowth upon a diseased system. The
position of women in the Barbarian Society is a feature very striking
and very anomalous, and may receive attention in another place.

On the whole, one may see that education in its true and exalted sense
is scarcely comprehended among the Barbarians. The moral function
and the mind subordinate to that, and the body--its passions, its
greed, its brutality, wholly subordinate to the morally trained
mind--education, grounded upon this _central idea_, has but feeble
recognition.




CHAPTER V.

OF THE LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH.


There are innumerable books; and the conceit of these Barbarians
attaches to them as to everything in their _Enlightened World_
(Litz-i-ten). Nothing outside of the Christ-god worshippers is allowed
to be enlightened--all else is darkness. This is true as to their
opinion, strange as it looks; and all the Literature in every part of
it shows this. The attainments and the experience of all to whom this
worship is unknown, receive no other than a curious attention from a
few of the literati. But we know that this conceit is absurd; ignorant
and superstitious Barbarians really think that, without the adoption
of their _Jah-Christ-Jew_ superstition, with all the _Canons_, no true
morality, no real civilisation, exists, nor can exist!

This I must premise; because we may dismiss at once the larger
portion of the Barbarian Literature, inasmuch as it relates to the
great Superstition. It is everywhere, striking into and permeating
everything, to be sure; but I refer to works avowedly devoted to it. It
makes the Books largely unreadable to one having no sympathy with the
author; and it requires patience and a long use to get over the disgust
caused by the offensive pretensions and ignorant references.

The Poetry of a people is generally placed _first_ among the Barbarian
_Literati_; and of this form the Western tribes are very fond. The
English boast that in this they excel all others; though, for that
matter, the same boast is made in everything.

The larger part of the Poetry may be called _trash_ (ru-b-isti).
Iterations and reiterations of the same conceits, the same shallow
sentiments, the same metaphors, mostly of an amatory and indelicate
sort. Poems, often tedious, verbose, strangely mixed with matters
of the Superstition and of the ancient (Roman) myths; laudatory
performances, _beslobbering_ (spr-au-fo) great men with empty
compliments, or giving lying exaltation to the fancied virtues of the
eminently bad; dull and long-winded reflections from minds too obscure
to reflect anything, unless with an added obscurity; an enormous
_Waste_ (Ban-s-he) which the English themselves never traverse.

Poetry with the Barbarians is far more esteemed than with us, although
in our annals are found evidences of its immemorial existence. As with
us, it takes many forms, and is reduced to an art. The two greatest
names are Milton and Shakespeare. The first of these is esteemed as
the most sublime of all poets, ancient or modern--but it is needful to
fix the quality, the essence of the sublime! Of the gloomy grandeur of
the man, and of his power of suggesting the vast and the intangible,
there can be no doubt. Nor is he wanting in a mournful sweetness--the
plaint of a beneficent being who feels an eternal despair! Nor can it
be otherwise, for the grand imagination of Milton is wholly occupied
with the devils of the Barbarian Superstition! With its terrible
images--with the Hell in which they and lost men for ever burn in
eternal fires, and yet are never consumed! He introduces the reader
(in his great Poem) to Paradise [Kar-din], where man once lived in
perfect wisdom and happiness--and here the Poet is full of that sad,
that tender, that inexpressible, sweet despair! From this Paradise (as
said elsewhere) man was enticed by Satan, who had been set free from
Hell for the very purpose; and then follow all the surprising pictures,
vast, terrible, indescribable--only possible to a mind fully possessed
by all the _horrors_ of the Jew Jah-god Idolatry.

Shakespeare, with a healthier mind, one not distorted by the
Superstition, and with a human, natural vigour and feeling, writes in
a manner to interest man. On the whole, the English Barbarians place
him far above all others of any time or place--call him the Divine
Shakespeare! This is very easy with a people who know nothing of the
poetry of the great East, nor of that of our Flowery Kingdom--in truth,
have but a slight acquaintance with the writers of the other Barbarians!

Disregarding this foolish conceit, we may admit that this man shows
a broad and comprehensive intellect--he is one who knows something
of himself, and that self is a manly self. And he simply exhibits
_himself_ in those creations of his fancy, wherein a great variety
of men and women show the passions, follies, and changing interests
of life. He has the power of vividly seeing and of clearly showing
what in his mind he sees, and in language often low and uncouth, but
frequently in fine and lofty tones. His certain knowledge of himself
gives pithy form to his wit; and his expressions are the direct
utterances of one who sees, not of one who does not nor cannot see.
His, on the whole, was a very large and true manhood, which, in spite
of unfavourable influences and some tarnish, manifested itself, and
occasionally in grand and beautiful forms. In very garbage there are
sparkling gems. He often offends decency, but is less indecent than
his time--and when he is simply himself, the natural morality of a
large man becomes conspicuous. Some of his minor things, based on the
affectations of his period, and formed on bad models, which he weakly
copies, are not without marks of his rich fancy, yet are so indecent
that in our Flowery Land they would be suppressed. None the less, you
will find these objectionable verses in the hands of the youth of both
sexes.

This degradation of the moral sense is very common. It finds
form in the versification of those poets whom the English style
_Amatory_--chiefly with them, but more repulsively with the
play-writers. Examples of this indelicacy and coarseness are lying
about anywhere. It seems to us very strange: for to what good? No
doubt, poetry very properly deals with human emotions and interests;
but why should the poet dare to print what he would not dare to utter,
unless among the shameless!

Some of these trivialities are not wanting in sweetness and
tenderness--and some have a very refined feeling. The great blemish is
_falseness_.

The Western Barbarians addict themselves always to a false and affected
mode whenever they address themselves to the female: and the style is
absurd. It is borrowed from the obsolete manners of ages ago, when it
was the fashion [phan-ti-te] to pretend the most exalted reverence
for the sex. They were addressed as goddesses, and there was a whole
armoury of weapons of Love, from which these fantastic poets armed
their divinities, and pretended to be pierced through and through,
wounded, bleeding, at their feet! Dying, transfixed, and rolling their
languishing eyes in death, imploring the goddesses to save them, even
if by one glance of their bright eyes! The amount of this nonsense is
perfectly astonishing!

I give a fair specimen here from a much admired writer of this class:--

 "Sweet Phillis, idol of my heart,
 Oh, turn to me those tender eyes!
 Transfix my breast with Cupid's dart,
 But listen to my dying sighs!

 "I cling, imploring, to your knees;
 Oh, cruel goddess, turn to me!
 One kiss the burning pain will ease--
 Thy lips give Immortality!"

The Elegiac [mo-un-fu] is, perhaps, the most cultured among the refined
poets. The most distinguished of the English living writers of verse
is very elegant in this form. He cannot emancipate himself from the
habits of his people--for the wretched he can find no solace but in the
Superstitions of the Christ-god worship. He demands a _Sacrifice_ quite
inhuman, when he suggests the only remedy for human grief. Possibly,
he finds in this, a meaning of a different kind from what the language
(used in the Superstition) itself implies. He may see a meaning common
to all sorrowful and thoughtful men--_Self-Sacrifice_, demanded by the
highest perception of justice, and, therefore, inevitable. In this
department some of the minor poets sing very sweetly, tenderly--with
a nice refinement. Generally, however, there is a sort of despair
wailing in an under-tone of pathos. It would seem to arise from the
gloomy spirit of the Barbarian nature, intensified by the terrible
Superstition.

The comic poets are coarse, trivial, and not much esteemed. There
is humour, but it is of the barbarous and unclean. It is frequently
strangely fantastic, and delights in laughing at the terrific in the
"_Sacred Writings_," or at the Priests, in a covert manner; often in
_travesties_ of the prayers, _rites_, and other _holy_ things, which no
one would dare openly to ridicule. Poetry is not much read, unless by
young girls and lads, who, in the season of the sentiments, find food
to feed their desires, or to print their tender epistles and speeches,
in the Sentimental Authors.

Very rarely is there anything striking or true; and the mass of Verses,
after receiving the _paid-for_ attention of the daily writers, sleep a
sleep of oblivion.

The Prose writings are innumerable--largely, however, mere _re-hashes_
[mi-pi-stu] of existing works. It is a trade to make these new forms of
old books--cutting down, working over, and revising. History, accounts
of bloody fights, forays, commotions, massacres, and burnings, now by
one Christ-god tribe and now by another; Biography, Travels, Lives of
_Great men_ (never heard of out of some Barbarian tribe); these are
many, and read by the _Literati_. A few books, rarely read, devoted
to _Science_ and to _Art_, are printed, commonly to the ruin of the
printers.

Of romances and novels there are no ends. With these and the newspapers
the English Barbarians almost entirely occupy themselves, when they do
read. The novels pretend to portray _life_, in its usual vicissitudes
and with a natural show of the feelings. But the feeling depicted
is that of Love, and the Life, the life of a Lover. In this curious
creature, unknown in our Central Kingdom, the English young people of
both sexes delight. I cannot describe him; he has no existence outside
of a diseased brain. The great Shakespeare describes him, "Sighing like
a furnace, with a woful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrow!" which
will do as well as a more extended notice.

There are _Metaphysical_ works. We have no term to represent it. It is
a book which dimly suggests _phantoms_--things unseen, and not to be
seen--mere words without bodies. Usually, making the matters of the
common Worship still more inscrutable.

Close to these, and blended often in a confused mixture with them--a
compound defying all reasonable analysis--come the Philosophical. This
term is a grand one with the Barbarians, and embraces all knowledge.
The Philosophical writers pretend to the most exalted insight and
outsight--they measure the whole infinite and finite, mind, matter,
and the very nature of moral and divine things. The Philosopher loves
Wisdom, and Wisdom loves and teaches him!

Each philosopher, however, knowing everything, knows some things better
than others; and usually exhibits to the world that _eccentricity_
by which he is known. He parades this on all public occasions of the
_Literati_; and feels happy and serene mounted on his _Hobby-horse_
(again we have nothing to fit this word)--he appropriates the name of
the ridden Hobby. Thus, some time since, one of these discovered and
taught that man was an Ape--an Ape of high form. This discovery was
not very well received; however, he was afterwards honoured by a title
derived from his ancestor, and styled the _Simian_ philosopher. In the
old Roman, _Simia_ means Ape. He is vulgarly and better known, however,
as the Hobby-horse philosopher, from his own name, _Hobbs_!

Just now, this speculation has revived again, with but slight change.
One Darwin dreams of immortality from the usefulness of _his_ theory.
In this, man no doubt is found in the _Simia_, but he _passes through_
that type; it is well enough to find there the immediate origin, but
the true _germ_ lies further back among the _tadpoles_!

I do not know what tadpoles are, and did not think it worth while to
inquire.

This philosophy, called Darwinian, is greatly admired for its
profundity--especially by the select circle of Mutual Admiring
Thinkers--but is strongly denounced by the Bonzes, and by the Halls of
Learning and Literati of the Superstition. It makes man no immortal
being at all, these say; and dethrones all the gods.

In our Flowery Land we may smile at these speculations and
_eccentricities_--for such and similar vagaries are as old as
Literature; and the special notion of Darwin, as to the _Origin of
Species_, has not even the attraction of novelty. The _speculation of
evolution_, by which all visible forms are developed from a form less
perfect below it, and this from another below that, and so on, down to
the beginning, is a clumsy mode of stating that original forms were
few, and contained wrapped up in them, many--and that possibly there
may have been primarily only _one_, containing all! The Sovereign Lord
Himself! In truth, it is the immemorial _out of nothing_ idea; for when
a creator of worlds, in the shape of man, has got to a single form
containing all, he has yet to account for that _Single Form_.

The few, most advanced of the Barbarian Philosophers, cut adrift
entirely from the _Superstition_. They copy largely from the Greeks,
Romans, and ancient peoples, who said, on such subjects, over and over
again what these modern imitators say--and said it better. In _Physics_
these moderns think themselves wiser. They may be, in the use of some
things, but are not in the nature. Our Sect called _Taos-se_ resemble
these speculative writers in many things: the English may not directly
teach the _Metempsychosis_; but in effect it is the same. Evolution may
hold to an original germ which is fixed and indestructible; yet what
matters if to the observer this germ takes on every possible shape! The
Metempsychosis does not contradict the notion of an original germ--it
is entirely consistent with it. This speculative inquiry into the
nature of things is as old as man, who, even before he knows how to
formulate his thoughts, has the deep shadows of them. The Old Greeks
introduced _the Literature_ of these fancies to the Western Barbarians,
though themselves were no more than bright and beautiful dreamers
of old dreams. The human intellect will always, as it has always,
search into the unsearchable, applying to it whatever of sharpness,
of imagination, of culture, it may have. There will be the inquiry,
but never the answer. The mind itself finds its advantage; nor could
the Sovereign Lord have designed otherwise, else the intellect would
not persist in a vain task. Nevertheless, wise men rest satisfied with
the _intuitions_ of the moral and intellectual nature. The origin and
essence of the Sovereign Lord and of the visible world cannot be known.
The source, the purpose, the end, and the nature of Things are beyond
the scope of man. He may ask, and he may find delight in the asking;
for new ranges and glimpses of the infinite may flash upon him. But
when he thinks he _knows_--that he has _discovered_--he is a fool!

Another department of what is called _Philosophy_ deals with the
mind, as the part just referred to more particularly affects to deal
with matter. And writers upon the mind, when they speak of the moral
function, call _that_ by another name. Thus we have the _Intellectual_
and _Moral_ philosophers, with their many books. Very commonly this
division is not sustained, and moral and merely mental evolutions
run together. Indeed, there are those who deride this division, and
assert that the moral has no real existence; that the mind itself is
but matter _instinct_ of life, and has no existence independent of
material organisms. They say that man is an animal endowed with _Life_,
and that this occult and hidden force is indivisible. That divisions
of the faculties may be convenient to give exactness to mental
movements, but are otherwise fanciful. They deny a "Moral faculty,"
asserting that it is only a peculiar refinement of the life-_instinct_;
that the wish to do honestly is no more than this, and, educated
to enlarged views, expands into all that man conceives of Justice.
That you may just as easily train one to do dishonestly; and then an
honest act gives pain. This proves the very proposition denied--the
faculty may be misinformed--the pain demonstrates the existence of
the faculty. An animal has the Life-Instinct or mind, if you will;
but who imagines that the animal is ever pained by any remorse! To
this, these philosophers reply that the pain does not really exist
only as the remains of a _secondary instinct_, remembering consciously
or unconsciously the penalty awaiting _disobedience_. The animal,
they say, may be so trained that it will feel this pain or shame; and
man, for ages disciplined, transmits to his offspring this _secondary
instinct_ of inherited fear; and, _here_, is the so-called moral
faculty.

I may be pardoned in this tedious attempt to give the Flowery Kingdom
some insight into the thoughts of the Barbarians on abstract matters,
not for their novelty, but as a further illustration of that which is
so well understood by our _Literati_--to say, the ceaseless activity
of the human mind and its tireless inquiry into the things of the
mighty world. A beneficent fact or it would not be. Perverted by
vain thinkers, who do not think, because egotist; yet in humble
men, conscious of ignorance, a solace. These reverence the Sovereign
Lord, never comprehending other than His infinite Wisdom (and this by
delightful flashes), nor His works, nor His methods, nor the use of
Man, nor of any the smallest thing, nor the origin, nor the design!
Enough that He is, and that by some inscrutable, though certain sense,
man, with a grateful joy bounds towards Him, claims to be His, and
feels Immortal!

The Barbarian _Literati_ have often rested upon the Greeks as final in
Metaphysics. Plato, whom they call Divine, was very generally followed
in his notion respecting the eternal and independent existence of
spirit and matter. But the newer men insist upon one substance only,
and remove the Sovereign Lord so far back into the deeps of an Unknown,
that he vanishes, or becomes an unintelligent and unconscious Cause.
Here again reproducing the _Fate_ of remote antiquity.

One school of Philosophers indulges in a curious form of materializing
the mind. Pretending to fix all the mental and moral processes in the
very substance of the brain, they declare that by a careful examination
of the head, the exact qualities of the individual may be discovered!
Some of these pretend to be teachers and _Indicators_--for fees, giving
a precise chart to any one who wishes of the forces of the brain, so
that he may order his affairs accordingly.

They profess to tell parents in what art or business a child should be
placed, and in what manner certain good qualities may be made to grow
and bad ones to shrink! They say that over each thinking part of the
brain rises a corresponding _bump_ [Ko-be], that these _bumps_ contain:
some thoughts of music, some of hate, some of love, some of numbers,
some of place, and so on. They make charts showing these bumps and the
thoughts which lie beneath them! These they sell, marking the bumps
(after examination) to show the person what he is. If, for instance,
his _acquisitiveness_ (thoughts to take things) is a very large bump,
he must develop a counteracting bump or he will assuredly become a
thief! It is not quite clear how this development is to be brought
about. Some carry this absurdity so far as to say that a man with bad
bumps is not responsible--he ought rather to be regarded as an object
to be cared for by the State. Before the bumps of the child be formed
and hardened, _any_ form may be given to them, by applying a gentle and
continuous pressure. Government, therefore, ought to have all children
examined in youth, and apply to the heads the proper moulds! In this
way a perfectly moral society would be assured!

I refer to this nonsense as the only novel speculation among the
Western Barbarians. And any one can readily discover in this, old
notions moulded into a defined and material shape, to give charlatans
[Qu-ak-st] an opportunity to plunder.

There are many books of the _Moral Philosophers_, who make a _Science_
of certain movements of mind, and call it _Ethical_. But these books
are to our habits useless or absurd--sometimes positively hurtful.
The idolatries and superstitions colour and distort--distinctions
are confounded, and a rational morality wanting. A merely Jewish
ordinance from the _Sacred Writings_ is made as important as a plain
moral precept. The human conscience is overloaded with arbitrary and
unreasonable matters taken from the _Superstition_, and, bewildered,
despairs of well-doing. To offend in some priestly _dogma_, is more
terrible than to break an established law of honesty. Disobedience in
the false demoralises the conscience as much as disobedience in the
true, when both are received as true.

In fact most of the _moral_ books are merely books written to uphold
the great Superstition, and the morality is debased by its injurious
connection. By what strange perversion could the cultivated mind ever
be brought to announce a principle like this, to say; "Belief alone
saves man from eternal Hell; morality without it is only a snare of the
Devil." _Belief_ means an undoubting acceptance of all the pretensions
of the _Superstition_ (as explained elsewhere). What must be the effect
of teaching so false and presumptuous an enormity? The Sovereign
Lord will not deign to look with pity. He is a consuming fire! Heart
and hands pure--a life of disinterestedness--worship warm, grateful.
Nothing worse. First, BELIEVE--in the most monstrous thing which the
diseased human imagination ever created--the Jew-Jah theology and
worship!

When a system of morals is based upon such a pretension, it can only be
hurtful; unless, as is largely the fact, the healthy human _instinct_
unconsciously rejects the error. Still, great harm is done--must
be done. And how much of prevailing licentiousness and barbarism
may be placed to account of this false system cannot be defined.
It is the immediate father of _Atheism_. Men reject the tremendous
assumptions and believe nothing. But tender consciences, those in
whom the divine faculty is large and clear, in general, directed by
a true consciousness, simply disregard the horribly false things and
attach themselves to the true. In this, vindicating the nobility
of nature, which rises to its true recognition of the Sovereign
Lord, _in spite_ of surrounding errors. But, others, not so strong,
delicate in conscience and feeble in mind, become the victims of this
dreadful system. Thus it is also the father of _Idolatry_. For these
victims, fearful of eternal destruction, place themselves entirely in
the hands of the Bonzes, and adore all the gods and observe all the
_rites_. They cannot be sure, of themselves, that they do properly
_Believe_; a thing of a very mysterious nature, concerning which (as
I have remarked) the contention is ceaseless. Nor can these victims
of the Superstition, ardent _devotees_ though they be, always obtain
satisfactory _evidence_ that their _Salvation_ is sure. Then follow
the self-imposed penances, and the sacrifices imposed by the Bonzes.
They are _victimised_ by the Bonzes in an endless variety of ways. Some
build Temples; some go about begging, in mean garbs, to get money for
the _poor_ Bonzes; and the like; much as we see among our superstitious
devotees. Superstition merely reproduces its natural effects, varied
according to the circumstances. Still there remain those poor creatures
to whom no escape is possible. They struggle in vain with the dark
doubts which envelop them. They believe in all the horrors of their
worship: that but a few are saved from hell; that goodness, charity,
self-sacrifice, gifts to the Temples, to the poor, even to the
Bonzes--_nothing avails_. Unless they have _believed_ and been duly
accepted and enrolled among the _Elect-few_, they are merely children
of the Devil, awaiting death, when they become his associate in _Fires
of the tormented_, for ever and ever! These poor wretches feel already
all the _horrors_ of the damned. They find no solace in a moral life;
no peace in a grateful heart, turned to a benign, Heavenly Father. To
yield to the natural emotions, to indulge in this peace, is vanity--is
to be ensnared in the wiles of the enemy of Souls!

They catch sometimes feebly at a _hope_ of Salvation, then fall
again into a dreadful despair. At last the feeble mind gives way.
They feel themselves already lost; they fancy they have committed
the Sin which Jah himself will never pardon--(to use the words of
the _Sacred Writings_)--the _sin against the Holy Ghost_, for ever
unpardonable--they writhe, they cry, they beat their breasts, they fall
down in unspeakable agony--"the pains of Hell have got hold of them!"
This is again from the _Sacred books_. The scene closes in death, or
worse, in a _mad-house_; where in chains or under vigilant keepers (to
prevent self-destruction or the destruction of others), these wretches
vanish from human hope and sympathy! The frightful Superstition in
these victims has been a _reality_! And no human mind can bear that and
live!

I will close these remarks upon the _Literature_ of the English
Barbarians, by giving some examples of the different poetic
compositions.

From an Amatory poet, who refers to the conjugal endearments of the
Roman Jupiter and his goddess--Queen Juno, on Mount Ida, where,
according to the old traditions of the Greeks, these gods often
resorted:--

 "When Juno makes the bed for Jove,
 And waits the god with blushing grace--
 Soft music charms the air above,
 And breathing fragrance fills the place.
 Mortals expect the deep repose;
 Ocean is calm, the Winds are still,
 The heavenly rapture overflows,
 And Nature feels th' ecstatic thrill."

I think our poorest poets could have improved upon "makes the bed." In
cold England, however, bed-making is important. And for a wife of the
Upper Castes to make the bed for her Lord, with her own hands, is to
show a great love and devotion. It is laughable to think of the goddess
so domestically employed, though the top of Mount Ida must be cold
enough!

The poetry of the Idolatry has much of an amatory sort, very curiously
mixed with its terrors. I give a rather refined specimen, quite free of
the diabolic:--

 "What grief, what darkness fills my breast,
 That coldly I have strayed from thee!
 Thou art my Love, my Life, my Rest;
 All other love doth fade and die.
 Oh, never may the joys of sense,
 Entice my ardent soul again!
 Thou art my only sweet Defence--
 To love thee not is endless pain!"

From an unknown writer I extract the following, who refers to a great
Sailor of the Western Barbarians. This man, repressing the revolts of
his crew, with undaunted mind, day after day, and night after night,
for weeks and weeks, still kept on, steering _westerly_ across the
infinite, big seas. Possessed with one great and fixed idea--that _Land
lie beyond_. At length, when all hope had nearly died, far away like
a cloud, the great _New World_ was discovered! We know of this in our
Annals, in the dynasty _Ming_.

 "To be--this marks the nobler man--this Force,
 This _visioned_ soul, which sees the shadow cast
 Of a great Object in its every course,
 Urging it onward--common men will rest
 With common things; such spirits are possessed
 By greater somethings, which will not be hushed
 With 'lullabys'--which are within the breast
 _Like inspirations_--sleepless as the rush
 Of world-surrounding waves, and which no earth can crush!"

This is a writer who takes the _Sea_ as the scene of his poem. The
style is affected; but much liked.

I add below an example of _Blank Verse_, a form greatly in use:--

 "The Morn, exultant, on the mountain tops,
 Leads in the Day--and over all the World
 Delightful Joy spreads forth his glorious wings!"

This appears to be a parody of Shakespeare, who says beautifully:--

 "Oh, see where jocund Day stands tip-toe,
 On the distant, misty mountain tops!"

Very much of the poetry is obscured, and spoilt by the influence of
the Superstition; and very much by artificiality and affectations.
And everywhere there are poor or indifferent imitators of the ancient
Greeks and Romans; upon whom the _Literati_ mould their poetic conceits.

Of the Comic and common it is well to read little. Coarseness and
indecency seem inseparable from all vulgar humour.

The Descriptive, tinged with the melancholy of the Superstition and
Barbaric gloom, is often fine and smooth--sometimes tender and elegant.

I give an extract from an author of no repute, but agreeable; and the
more so to me, because inoffensive. It is not defiled by the Idolatry
of the Barbarians:--

 "_Spring-time_ of life, with open-eyed delight,
 Wondering at beautiful earth and sky!
 Budding in sweet expectancy, and bright
 With smiles and charming grace, and blushingly
 Unconscious of a Love, just to be born--
 A trembling Joy, which smiles and tears adorn!"

From the same, written in the open country; which, though obscure
sometimes, flows on finely, eloquently:--

 "Stretched to the brilliant sky, on all sides clear,
 Are hills, and dales, and groves, and golden corn--
 Whilst in the peerless air, all things are near;
 And far or near they each and all adorn!
 Here, let us rest, on this fair, breezy hill,
 Beneath the shade of this high, spreading beech--
 And feel and see that we are Nature's still:
 Her Peace and Beauty ever in our reach.
 Her calm, majestic glory, harvest-crowned,
 Fills heaven and earth, and blends them into _one_.
 How vast and solemn bends the blue profound;
 How sweet and strong th' immortal gods move on!
 Move on, resistless, yet, with tender grace--
 Inflexible, yet soft as summer rain--
 Intangible--as where yon shadows race,
 With nimble Zephyrs, o'er the waving grain!
 Ineffable, though murmurs everywhere,
 Swell into Anthems of delightful tone;
 And smiling hill-tops, and the radiant air,
 Rest in expressive Silence, all their own!
 And there, by Avon's stream, are Warwick's towers;
 And, here, is labour toiling in the fields:
 For Lord [Tchou] or serf alike, the patient hours
 Give back to Nature all which Nature yields.
 Still human hope aspires and will not die;
 _Will_ rear aloft its monumental walls;
 Informed by Instinct builds as builds the bee--
 Mounting secure where stumbling Reason falls!
 So Temples rise _Immortelles_ of the race;
 Where mouldering with the stones tradition clings--
 Touching the landscape with ennobling grace,
 And giving dignity to common things.

        *       *       *       *       *

 The day declines, and so my holiday;
 Care slumbering by my side awakes again;
 Grasps on my hand and leads my steps away--
 So rudely rules the Martha of my brain!"

The _Martha_ is a scolding, busy _house-wife_ [bro-msti], taken from
an incident narrated in the _Sacred Writings_. The writer refers to
Temples in a pleasing way, and to the "mouldering stones," where,
about the dead, innumerable legends survive. Burials are near to
the Temples, and the graves are on _Holy_ ground. His reference is
comprehensive--meaning the universal _Hope of Immortality_, symbolized
by the lofty Fanes.

I give below a few of the absurdities from the _Comic_, taken from a
greatly esteemed author in this Line.

 "Three wise men of Gotham
 Went to sea in a bowl [tou-se];
 If the bowl had been stronger,
 My tale had been longer!"

The meaning of which is, I suppose, that when wise men do foolish
things they no more escape the consequences of folly than others.

 "I bet you a crown to a penny,
   And lay the money down,
 That I have the funniest horse of any
   In this or in any town.
 _His tail is where his head should be_--
 'You bet! Well, come and see.'
 And sure enough, within his stall,
 The horse was _turned_--and that was all!"

Another, very ridiculous:--

 "There was a man of our town
 Who thought himself so wise,
 He jumped into a bramble bush,
 And scratched out both his eyes.
 But when he saw his eyes were out,
 With all his might and main
 He jumped into another bush,
 And scratched them in again!"

This would _seem_ to suggest that a conceited man, having committed
an egregious blunder, rashly undertakes to remedy it by one equally
unwise. The folly of conceited impulsiveness!

Another, and I have done.

 "Little Jack Horner
 Sat in a corner,
 Eating his Christmas pie;
 He put in his thumb,
 And pulled out a plum,
 Oh, what a good boy am I!"

This is to encourage children with an idea that, if they be _good_,
they shall have _plums_. It is very significant of the low culture. As
if one were to imagine that the possession of a big plum (riches, or
the like) demonstrated the moral excellency of the possessor!

Commentaries and parodies of these _Comic_ trivialities have been
written, and, forsooth, their beauties and meanings need exposition!




CHAPTER VI.

OF TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT.


We have ourselves, in our maritime parts, some experience of the
English, as traders [Kie-tee]. Something of their moral character is
known, not as traders only, but as representatives of the general
civilization of their tribe. It will be a long period before the
events of the _opium_ war are forgotten--when these selfish and cruel
Barbarians came with their big fire-ships and great cannons, and
massacred so many of our province, Quantung! Nor will the slaughters
of the people of our Central Kingdom, and the burnings and plunderings
at the Illustrious seat of our Exalted, pass out of mind for many
generations. Trade! yes, Trade is the _Moloch_ [Kan-ni-bli] of the
English; there is nothing (of character) which they will not sacrifice
to this Idol. The god by which they mostly swear, and whose name
they apply to themselves, knew nothing of trade, and his words, as
recorded in the _Sacred Writings_, condemn every practice customary in
it. This inconsistency is always found in the devotees of irrational
worship; where formal observances stand for practical virtues.
Perhaps dishonesty in trade is no more conspicuous, than immorality
everywhere; only traffic touching on all sides, and affecting nearly
every interest, carries with it an almost universal debasement. Blind
and conceited, it is the custom to speak of our _Central Kingdom_
contemptuously, and to brand our people as Heathen _thieves_ [ta-ki].
We have thieves, and punish them. But how strangely to those of our
people who know these Barbarians, this charge sounds! It is notorious
that the vile stuff packed up as _Tea_ by our knaves is for the gain
of English traders; and that the horribly obscene pictures of degraded
artists find a market with the Barbarians! We punish these plunderers
when we detect them; but these Christians who would _convert_ us
encourage this immorality!

The Law-making Houses are continually occupied (and occupied in vain)
to find remedies for the almost universal crime of _Adulteration_
[Kon-ti-fyt] _of Food_. Scarcely an article of food, or of drink,
medicine, what not, escapes this dangerous cheat. To make a larger gain
some cheap admixture, often poisonous and rarely harmless, is added
to nearly every article. It is not easy to understand how general the
moral debasement must be, when a thing of this sort, striking at once
at health, and even life, is so common as to be scarcely contemned! To
be cheated is a kind of _comedy_--one expects to be cheated--cheated
in his clothes, his wine, his horses, his dogs, his meat, his drink,
his beer, his sugar, his tea, _his everything_! To have been honestly
dealt with is a surprise--a thing to be remarked upon. To have been
cheated--a _shrug_ of the shoulder--an exclamation--"Of course!" In
fact, almost always the cause of a hearty laugh, especially if a sharp
trick--or at another's expense! The very laws of trade are based on
dishonesty; and a people will not generally be better than their laws.

The High-Caste affecting to despise trade, do, occasionally, in the
Law-making Houses (as I have said), feebly interfere with the general
rascality. Yet, they are so dependent, indirectly or directly, upon
trade or its gains, that they will not do anything to hamper it; and
any law which touches the utmost freedom of action in _buying and
selling_, in their opinion, has this effect. On the whole, they say,
better a few rogues flourish, and a few people be poisoned to death,
than that _commerce_ (an _euphuism_ for rascally traffic) be injured.

That man has a fine nature which traffic, in its best ways, cannot
tarnish; and laws should take their colour from the best--not the
sordid. The old Romans cultivated the land, and looked with contempt
upon traffic. When riches and its corruptions lowered manliness, and
Commerce spread through the provinces--still, the Roman jurisprudence
based itself upon equity--it did not place trade upon a pedestal above
Justice! They made no such Barbarous mistake as to suppose that any
business of a people could be more important to its prosperity, than
the maintainance of right principle!

The English Barbarians say the interests of the public require a
disregard of right; and their famous legal maxim (in the Roman) is
_Caveat emptor_--the buyer must take care--must sharply watch the
seller. This is to say, "The seller is to be expected to cheat; and,
if the buyer be cheated, let him thank his own stupidity!" The old
Heathen Romans made no such immoral rule; they required the most exact
good faith upon both sides. The seller could not sell a horse blind
of one eye, or incurably, though not always visibly, lame, and to the
complaint of the buyer answer, "Oh! I gave no assurance of soundness."

The High-Caste, despising trade of any useful sort, none the less
delight in traffic of a high-caste colour. They deal in pictures,
equipages, horses, jewels, sculptures, books, dogs, _nick-nacks_ of all
sorts; know how to bargain, and understand the _tricks_, especially
in horses, dogs, paintings, and the like, as well as those whom they
affect to despise.

The English are, doubtless, successful traders and plunderers. They
are rough, and brave, and reckless; and in traffic are as unscrupulous
as in predatory ventures. Their conquests abroad have been incidental
generally, commerce being the immediate object. But they have never
scrupled to use force when it has seemed fittest. The _plunder_ of a
people has been found easier, and the returns quicker and larger, than
the slower gains of traffic.

For this shameful and cruel conduct, the English and other Western
Barbarians find ample justification in their _Superstition_. For they
believe that the peoples beyond the seas are Heathen, and under the ban
of _Jah_. Their _Sacred Writings_ so declare; and that "the Heathen are
given to the Saints as a spoil, and their Lands as an Inheritance."
Now, these Barbarians affirm that they are the Saints; that the people
who do not worship their gods are Heathen; and that consequently they
(these Barbarians) have a right to the possessions and lands of these
distant and unoffending tribes! And not only this, that these tribes,
under the wrath of _Jah_, and subjects of the Devil and hell, ought
to be grateful for the inestimable boon of _the Gospel_ (_the Sacred
Writings_), by which they may learn the way to be saved; may, in fine,
become Christians!

Thus it comes about that the intercourse of the Western Barbarians
with peoples beyond the seas has been aggressive and piratical. From
the earlier part of the dynasty _Ming_, when these Barbarous tribes
first visited the great seas and distant regions in the far West and
mighty East, the Pope (then worshipped by all the tribes) gave to two
of them, very devoted to his worship and powerful in ships, the whole
world of _Heathen_. This meant all the wide world but that small region
in Europe wherein the Pope-worshippers lived. To the one tribe, called
_Portugals_, he gave the whole immense East, and to the other, styled
_Spaniards_, the vast regions in the West. Thus the two were possessed,
by the gift of their god, of the whole _Heathen_ world--India and our
Flowery Kingdom being portions!

In their many ships, these two tribes, sailing East and West, landed
upon the distant shores, and seized upon everything which they could.
They thought it pleasing to _Jah_ to put to death those who had
offended him, and were already under _his wrath_ and condemnation: the
Heathen were justly extirpated, unless they _believed_ and worshipped
_Jah_!

Not very long after this gift to the two tribes, the English and Dutch,
having quarrelled with the Romish Priests, refused to worship the Pope
and denied his authority. The Dutch first, and then the English,
growing more powerful in ships, made distant forays for plunder and
trade; and, following the tracks of the Portugals and Spaniards,
disregarded their pretended _exclusive_ title to the _Heathen_. They
determined to have a portion of this general transfer of the world
to _Christians_; they were in their own judgment the better, the
_Reformed_ Christians, and far better entitled!

Since this enormous Blasphemy [Swa-tze] of the Pope, History, as
known to the Barbarians, has been, to a large extent, an account of
its consequences. Wars between the contending _Christians_ for the
distant possessions, and savage and cruel depopulation, plunder, and
subjugation of the unoffending inhabitants. Whole races of men have
melted away in the presence of these Christ-god worshippers; and the
horrors of the dreadful Superstition, which in the regions of Europe
had made man more like the Devil of his Idolatry than anything human,
spread, with fire and sword, over the wide world! In the far West,
beneath the setting sun, a beautiful and peaceful people, rich and
numerous, suffered cruelties too shocking to tell; and in the civilised
and populous East, the very name of _Christian_ became a synonym of all
that is detestable.

None the less, the English Barbarians, to this day, acting upon these
Christ-god pretensions, will insist that this _Trade and Plunder_ is
the _handmaid_ of Enlightenment, the chief agent in the preparing of
the World for a knowledge of the true gods, and the ultimate salvation
of the Heathen!

Trade is, therefore, a civilising agency and a powerful helper in the
redemption of mankind from the awful Hell. A few poor Missionaries
are sometimes added to the general cargo of _means of conversion_.
The same ship which transports these Bonzes to convert the benighted
_pagans_ will, perhaps, have a few volumes of the _Sacred Writings_,
some bad rum, worse muskets (more dangerous to him who shoots than to
him to whom the shot is directed), gunpowder, flimsy articles too poor
for home trade; to these, add the licentious and degraded sailors; and
one sees how well the English Barbarians work to introduce their true
worship and save the Heathen! But this is feeble: only a trade-ship.
The great fire-ships, with big cannons, full of armed and fierce
barbarians, which devastate the populous coasts, and burn and plunder
the maritime parts--_these_ are illustrious workers in the spread of
the Christ-god _Salvation_ and a lofty Civilization! Thus the very
worship of the Barbarians has helped, by its cruel pretensions, to
_ingrain_ a wrong notion--one making them immoral and cruel. Taking the
_Jah_ of the old, huckstering Jews, as an object of idolatry, the whole
people has, in trade, become _Jewish_, as in much else.

I have referred to petty cheating, and to that wholesale criminality
of adulteration. But _fraud_ is very common, and often on an enormous
scale. Nor is there any remedy. In truth, it is so common, that, as all
hope to have a turn at its advantage, none care to punish heavily him,
who, by chance, has been too bold. The fraud must take the form of open
robbery, or be of such grossness as to be hardly disguised, before the
wrong-doer will be arrested. A man may enjoy unmolested, and even with
respect, a great fortune acquired by notorious _trickery_.

So universal is this toleration of roguery, that the Plays and Pastimes
are often enlivened by comical illustrations of the various arts,
tricks, and deceptions practised. The charlatans, rogues, cheats, and
the like, are shown in the Lawyer, the Doctor, the Bonze (low-caste),
and other professions and occupations. Endless are the villanies of the
Lawyer--the _quack_ pretensions and impositions of the Medical man--the
cant, hypocrisy and meanness of the Bonze.

Among the professions and trades, the teacher is a brutal _ignoramus_,
who beats and starves the wretched children under his care; the nurse
quietly drinks herself drunk and goes to sleep, leaving the sick man to
gasp and die for the drink close at hand, but which he cannot reach;
the milkman stops at the pump, and fills up his milk-cans with water;
the teaman shows and sells you one sort, but delivers a very different;
the grocer says his prayers, hurries to his goods, asks his servant if
"the sugar be sanded," "the rum watered," "the tobacco wet down," "the
teas mixed," "the _small_ bottles filled," and the like; the tailor
sells you more cloth than he knows will be required for your garments,
and _cabbages_ the excess; the cabman who knows you are a stranger
demands quadruple fare; the innkeeper gives you the meanest room, and
charges you the price for the best; and so on through every business of
life.

The learned professions take the lead in this exhibition of roguery
and immorality. The spectators never tire of these displays of the
general rascality. The roguish landlord, the villanous horse-dealer,
the artful, knavish servant, the Priest of Low Caste, and the Doctor,
afford the most common diversion. The Lawyer is generally _diabolic_,
the Bonze a hypocrite and knave, the medical man an impostor and dealer
in medicines of infallible healing power.

Much of this may be referred to the love of coarse humour--but its
real base is to be found in the _degradation of morals_. These
representations are _types_, and would only produce disgust, were not
the rascalities represented familiar. The excesses and exaggerations
are of the Play--but the _types_ are normal and common.

One great trading place is called the _Stock Exchange_--another,
perhaps more important, styled the _Merchants' Exchange_. These places
are established in every large town, and the _business_ done in them
absorbs the attention of traders and people who have any property,
throughout the Kingdom.

The _dealings_ [Keet-sees] of the former relate to _Certificates_
and _Bonds_. These are _Pieces of Printed and Coloured Paper_, which
represent in the words and figures a sum of money invested in a trading
concern, or a sum of money which somebody owes and promises to pay. The
_sum_ may be quite a fiction, and is usually either never to be really
paid, or paid at some very remote day. However, a small sum is promised
to be paid every six moons, or in twelve moons--this is for _not_
paying the big sum.

The business of the latter relates to the buying and selling of every
sort of merchandise, whether on land, or on vessels at sea.

Other great trading places deal in money, or rather in bits of _Printed
Paper_, which promise to pay money to him who has one of these _bits_.
These places get people to sell them these bits at a price, and
then resell at a greater price--or they _borrow_ and _lend_ these
bits, paying less for the use than they obtain. Very little money is
seen--business is in Paper--another of the ingenious _tricks_ of these
trading and gambling Barbarians, perhaps the source of more dishonesty
and cheating than almost any other. As the like has no existence in our
Flowery Land, it will not easily be comprehended.

The chief of these places for dealing in this money-paper is called the
_Bank_. The Government shares in the advantages of this invention. Its
object is to _bank up_, or hoard, all the real money (gold and silver)
which it can get in exchange for the bits of paper. These promise that
the Bank will always return the sum of gold which the bit acknowledges
to have been received. The man hands the Bank his gold-money to be
kept safely till he wishes for it, and the Bank gives him the _bit_ of
Paper (which is numbered and recorded in a book). He can carry this in
his pocket, but the gold-money would be too burdensome and more easily
lost. The Government pledges also that the gold shall always be safely
kept, to be returned whenever the bits of paper are returned. This
Bank-house is immensely strong and large, built of hewn stone, and is
guarded by men armed with swords and fire-arms for fear of the savage
and ignorant Low-Castes.

Ordinarily, only now and again, a few persons go to the Bank and
wish the gold; because if one wishes it, some one of whom he buys,
or to whom he owes, will take the money-paper and hand him the
difference--consequently, the paper goes from hand to hand for a long
time. Everybody takes it because it is convenient, and because he
thinks the gold attached to it is safe in the Government Bank-house.
The confidence in _Paper_ is called CREDIT. To which I shall more fully
refer.

Sometimes, when a great many demand the gold, it is suddenly found
that the Bank-house has it not! The promise of _banking up_ the gold
till wanted in exchange for the Paper _has been broken_. Down goes
_Credit_--every kind of value shrinks at once; for the Bank has _not_
the real money, and values have been measured by the paper!

The traders and everybody connected with them have incurred debts--that
is, made paper promises to pay, like those of the Bank, for property
_valued on_ the Bank-paper. It is found that this Bank-paper is too
much by one-half--the property has been over-valued in proportion.
Still the debtors are required to pay the amount of _their_ paper
promises!

It is impossible--ruin and _Bankruptcy_ ensue--the whole trading world
is convulsed, and tens of thousands are beggared!

The explanation is that the Bank is allowed by the Government (in
consideration of certain advantages to itself) to lend out the gold
for usury--that is, it lends a thousand pounds of gold to be returned
in three moons, for which use the borrower pays twelve or twenty
pounds! It makes its gains by thus using the gold which it has promised
safely to keep. It is permitted to do this, because the risk of having
_much_ gold demanded at once is small, and from experience the Bank has
discovered that if one-third part of its paper-promises of gold is in
hand, it will be in little risk of having more demanded! Backed by the
Government, it deliberately, for the sake of gain, runs the risk of
being a cheat and robber!

Then follows a curious contrivance of these dishonest Barbarians. To
save its own moneys and advantages in the Bank, and to save loss or
ruin to the owners of the establishment, who are very powerful and
numerous, composed of members of the High Castes as well as others--in
fact, to save the general wreck of the _sham_ paper-money (_Credit_)
upon which values are falsely based, the Government issues a Law,
forcing everybody to receive from the Bank its paper precisely as if it
were gold!

Thus, having assisted in one fraud, it resorts to another, to remedy
in some measure the evils of the first--extending and perpetuating the
evil, which a wise man would remove!

Another remarkable thing is the organised _Betting_. The Houses where
this is done are splendid, and the many people supported in them and by
the gains, live luxuriously, and are greatly respected. The gains are,
in small measure, also shared by those who put in money from which bets
may be paid, when the House loses the bet.

The betting may be about anything. But the chief Houses are those
where the bets have reference to length of life or injuries, to loss by
fire, to loss by sea, and losses by fraud. If a man wish to bet that
he will live say seventy moons, he pays down at once a small sum, and
the House accepts the bet--that is, gives him a _writing, promising_
to pay his heirs a very much larger sum if he die before the seventy
moons expire. If a man have goods in a _shop_, he bets, say, one pound
to 100 pounds, that they will not be burned during twelve moons--he
pays down the pound and receives a writing (as before) that if the
goods be burned during the time, he shall be paid the 100 pounds. So
on, as to bets upon goods and upon vessels on the seas, upon buildings
of all kinds, upon duration of life, and upon the life of another,
upon accidents to body, upon honesty of servants--upon almost anything
where the thing bet by the Houses is remote in time. This is the great
point; for these never pay anything down by way of _stakes_, but always
receive in money the _stake_ (bet) of the other party.

One may readily see how corrupting all this is in its nature, and how
falsely conceived. The rascally trader burns the goods, the possessor
of a building burns that, the owner of a ship has her wrecked, to
get the sums promised upon these events; and trade is promoted upon
unsound practices. Even life has been taken by a wretched gambler,
who has staked money upon the life of another. The _tendency_ is to
these crimes. Nor can there be anything but _loss to the public at
large_; for these expensive Houses and their numerous and richly-living
inhabitants are supported by the winnings made, without rendering any
useful service. This must be true, even when all bets made by these
Houses are _paid_. But another great mischief follows: they do not
pay, and are often only _Swindles_ [Kea-ties] on a great scale! There
are those which pay--that is, have so far paid--but as there are bets
for enormous amounts far in _the future_, no one can say that final
payments are certain. The great object of all the Houses is to secure
as large sums in cash as possible upon events a long way off. The
more remote the event upon which the bet is laid, the larger the sum
demanded from the individual who bets. _He_ pays--the House merely
promises to pay, and cannot be called upon to pay for a very long time!
In this way, great sums of money having been got (some bets having
been promptly paid to obtain confidence), the House shuts its doors!
The rogues share the plunder and _decamp_. Decamp is to run away to
distant parts to escape arrest and punishment. This is, however, rarely
necessary; for such are the cunning contrivances of the Lawyers, who
organise these Betting Houses, that very little risk is run--_forms_
of law, slack enough at best, have been so well adhered to, that the
rascals escape, though everybody knows that they have used those forms
as a cover to more effectually defraud, and then as a shield to more
effectually protect! These things are unknown in our _Central_ Kingdom,
and are only possible to a demoralised people.

The _dealing_ at the Stock Exchange is mainly only another form of
betting. It is hard of comprehension, unless by the _Initiated_. It is
a distinct trade. Those who deal constitute a secret and exclusive
_betting Ring_, or community. If by chance, when the doors are open,
a stranger inadvertently enters, he is greeted with caterwaulings,
howlings, "Turn-him-outs," and the like. "_Smash his hat!_" some one
cries; and suddenly the stiff head-covering is violently driven down,
completely over the face and ears, tearing the skin off the nose,
and reducing the thoughtless and astonished stranger to a state of
ridiculous helplessness!

Betting is a passion with the English Barbarians. The women, the
children, the servants--everybody bets about any and every thing. Horse
races, boat races, swimming races, all sorts of games and sports,
attended by both sexes, afford endless occasions for the indulgence of
it. Yet, after all, extensive, ruinous, and debasing as are the evils
of it in these sports and games, the mischief is vastly greater in the
Marts of traffic--in the Stock and Merchants' Exchanges.

In these, the dealings are, as I have said, either as to pieces of
paper representing values, or as to merchandise in hand or at sea; and,
I may add, as to _pieces of paper_, representing this merchandise,
called Warrants and Bills of Lading.

The betting in the Stock Exchange concerns itself with the Paper of the
former class, and the betting of the Merchants' Exchange with the Paper
of the second kind. All this grows directly out of the Bank paper and
the _Credit system_, before mentioned.

All values are founded upon these nominal promises to pay. But the
promises themselves are ever undergoing changes, according to the
varying circumstances. The promise _to-day_ looks well--it is
estimated at so much; _to-morrow_ it does not look so well--and it is
estimated at less worth. Besides, all the gold and silver in the world
could not pay a twentieth part of these promises. Thus the fluctuations
are incessant. The betting at the Stock Exchange has reference to
_these_ fluctuations. One of the _betters_ is interested to have a
rise, another to have a fall, of value. One agrees to deliver at a
future day, at a certain price; all are interested to bring about a
change either one way or another. The man who desires a rise may not
be scrupulous as to any means which may produce the rise; and he who
wishes a fall of price will eagerly second anything which will have
that effect. Consider the consequences upon the honesty and good faith
of those who engage in this betting!

The Merchants' Exchange is not so devoted to absolute betting; yet
its largest business partakes of that vice. One buys a cargo at sea;
another agrees to deliver a cargo three months hence. One sells what
he has not, for a future delivery. Another buys what he never intends
to receive, deliverable to him in the future. No money is paid, nor
received. The buyers and sellers are merely gambling--betting (as
in the Stock Exchange) upon the _rise or fall_ of prices! And are
interested--the one to advance the price, and the other to lower the
price, of the thing dealt in!

Consider the temptation to unfair practices, the inevitable tricks,
false rumours, lies, and deviations from honourable conduct involved
in such transactions! Reflect upon the consequences to the honest
trader, who is, in his very honesty, all the more easily tricked by
the unscrupulous!

The stronghold of these various gambling Establishments, and the grand
feature, in fact, of the English business life, is CREDIT--to which I
will devote some space. We have nothing like it, nor had the ancient
barbarians of the West. It is, perhaps, the most distinguishing thing
in the Barbarian life.

As already hinted, Credit means that a Promise shall stand for
performance.

It had its rise among the Barbarian tribes, not very long since, and
grew out of their incessant wars. Particularly the English, finding
they could not pay the armed bands, contrived to get the gold out of
the hands of the people in exchange for the Bank-paper, and then,
forcing the people to still accept the paper for gold, issued paper
to such an amount as Government needed! From that period the people,
especially the trading classes, making directly or indirectly nearly
the whole, found an advantage in resorting to the same fiction--and the
Government could do no other than give to the trader, who could not pay
_his_ promise, the same relief which it took for itself--for the Bank.
It allowed him to pay what he could, and go on as before! No matter
that he paid only one-third part--unless he had been guilty of some
extreme roguery, he received a discharge from all his promises, and
could begin to make new ones and go on in trade as before!

In this way, the Barbarian community is one wherein a false principle
corrupts all. Boldness, recklessness, cunning, to say nothing of
positive criminality, are encouraged; honour, delicacy, simple
integrity, are driven into obscurity. Let him who would preserve his
conscience smooth and clear, a mirror whence divinity be reflected,
shun all the marts and ways of trade!

The Revenues of the Government are derived largely from the dealers in
the great _Marts_, and it is immediately interested in the upholding
of the _Credit_ of the innumerable paper-promises of all kinds made by
these and by the Betting Houses. It is, in fact, the chief supporter of
the _whole sham_--it cannot be otherwise, for the English State rests
upon it. The promises of the Government to pay gold can never be kept,
and it forces an acceptance of a mere _fraction_, from time to time, as
a _sufficient_ redemption of its promises made generations ago!

Other sums are derived from taxes upon the tea, sugar, and other things
largely consumed by the lower castes; whilst rich silks, laces, and
costly things used by the High-Castes are not taxed. But then the taxes
are levied by the High-Castes!

A great revenue is collected from the _excise_, a tax upon the beer,
drunk in enormous quantities by the lowest Caste. To stimulate the
consumption of this article and increase the revenue, _Beer-shops_ are
to be seen on every hand, and the drinkers everywhere. Drunkenness,
wretchedness, riot, disorder--these flourish as the _Beer-shops_
increase; these are the associates of those places! Yet in vain do
good Englishmen try to remove these _evil dens_. What are the efforts
of these few in the midst of a general debasement--a debasement which
takes, without shame, a share in a traffic so vile!

I have spoken freely of the dishonesty of the Barbarian trade and
business--a dishonesty to be expected when one broadly views the whole
ground of their Society. Still, natural equity and its _instinct_,
especially when the mind is more or less cultured, will always prevent
absolute dissolution--thieving and roguery will be restrained in
tolerable bounds. A man of genuine integrity finds traffic no good
moralist in the best of circumstances. He needs the support of the
State, or he will fight an unequal battle, and be forced by dishonesty
to retire. The Barbarians are not yet sufficiently enlightened to
raise the _measure_ of honesty. The Government and the people are
one in this. They do not perceive that the evils under which their
industry, their peaceful pursuits, and all their interests suffer, are
those inseparable from a bad superstition and false principles--these
extend everywhere and into everything. Misleading in Statesmanship
[Lan-ta-soa], in dealings with distant peoples, in due ordering and
educating the people at home--stimulating wild speculation and extended
confidence (credit) at one time, only to be followed by disastrous
collapse, excessive distrust, and wretchedness, soon after! Giving, in
fine, to Barbarian society that aspect of restlessness, that apparent
but often vicious activity, that indescribable hurry and confusion,
that unhealthy excitement, unknown to an orderly and industrious
people, whose order and industry are grounded upon the simple and
direct rules of reason and truth.




CHAPTER VII.

SOME REMARKS UPON MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND BURIALS. [HI-DY].


In our Flowery Kingdom when a man marries _he_ pays to the parents or
relatives; but with the Barbarians the woman pays to the man. Women are
such costly burdens that men demand some compensation for undertaking
to keep them; and the relatives of women are glad to get them off their
hands at any price.

There are in England four great Castes, which contain the whole
population. The habits of the Castes differ, though you will observe
certain characteristic features common to all. In order to understand
more clearly the remarks which follow, it will be convenient to speak
of the division of Castes.

The _first_--High-Caste. Those who do nothing useful and pass their
time in mere self-indulgence.

The _second_--High-second Caste. Those who do but very little, and come
as nearly as possible to the selfish existence of the _first_.

The _third_--High-low. Those who are obliged to work more or less, but
are ever longing to attain to the idle selfishness of those above them.

The _fourth_--Lowest Caste (Villeins). Labourers, not long since serfs,
and still so in effect.

The _fourth_ Caste is so _low down_ as to be usually disregarded
altogether, in any account of the people, though included in the count
taken of the population by Government. They may amount to nearly a
half of the whole. They are rarely styled _people_ at all. They are
designated by many contemptuous names, of which the more common are _my
man_, _navvy_, _clown_, _clod-hopper_, _parish-poor_; _boor_, _rough_,
_brute_, and _beast_ are frequent, especially when any of the despised
Caste slouch too near, or happen to touch a Higher Caste.

When a man of the higher orders thinks to take a wife, he sees to
it that she will bring him money enough to compensate the cost. He
dislikes to part with his easy freedom and yoke to himself a being as
selfish, frivolous, and useless as himself.

_He_ may be broken in fortune and notorious for immoralities, yet,
connected to the Aristocracy, he knows that he may demand a large sum
if he will take for wife a woman a little lower in family than himself.
She must be of High-Caste, but not of the highest.

The woman's relatives say, "Well, he is _fast_; but marriage will
settle him. His father, you know, is second son to the Earl of Nolands,
and his mother was a sixth cousin to the Duke of Albania, who has royal
blood in his veins. I think we may make a large allowance for such a
desirable match." It does not occur to the speaker, at the moment, that
the royal blood coursed through very impure channels in the case cited.

It is an object eagerly sought by low rich to buy for their daughters a
High-Caste husband; and men of this kind, ruined by gambling, loaded
with debt, often degraded by vice, deliberately calculate upon this
ambition to repair their fortunes, and get comfortable establishments.

The marriage ceremonies do not differ very much from ours, in some
things; but it is very different before the ceremony. With us, the
woman is unknown to the man; but with the English, the man has every
opportunity of seeing her, and knowing her very well indeed. Our
notions could not admit of this, but it has a convenience; it would
prevent the disappointment occasionally arising, when, on opening the
door of the _chair_, our new husband finds a very ugly duck instead
of a fine bird, and hastily slams the door in the poor thing's face,
and hurries her back to her relatives as a bad bargain! However, this
advantage to the English husband is not so great as it seems; for
the woman is too cunning to discover much till she has secured her
game. Unless, therefore, the man be a very cool and practised _lover_
[mu-nse], he is likely to be rather astonished when he sees his
bride--and he cannot slam the door against her!

The Bonzes, generally, perform the ceremony before the Idol in the
Temple. It is deemed to be important to have the marriage _invocations_
pronounced. These are barbarous in the extreme; most indelicately
alluding to those things which decorum hides, and calling the gods to
aid the conjugal embrace--no wonder that the bride wears a veil!

The great bells ring in the lofty towers, the loud music strikes up,
and the marriage procession enters the Temple; and any one may follow
who pleases, so he be well dressed. In the great towns, the beggarly
rabble--chiefly children and half-grown youths of both sexes, with old
women and men--crowd about the Temple gates, but dare not enter. When
the _cortège_ leaves, this rabble clusters round the wheels of the
carriages, turning over and over upon hands and feet, standing on head
and hands, rolling and crying out, in the dust or mud of the street,
begging for _pennies_ (a small English coin). When these are thrown
amongst them, they ridiculously scramble and tumble over each other,
seeking amid the dirt for the coins, like so many carrion-birds upon
garbage.

Arrived at the home of the Bride, a great feast is eaten, with wine
and strong drinks. All make merry; whether because it is so desirable
to be rid of a female, or because of the liking which the Barbarians
have for eating and drink, I know not. The feasting over, all take
leave of the new pair, the bride being addressed by the title of her
husband. The Bride is kissed, the husband shaken [qui-ke] by the right
hand, and good wishes given. On leaving the portal for the carriage,
old shoes [ko-blse] and handfuls of rice are thrown after them; the
rabble roosting about the areas and railings rush _pell-mell_ after
the old shoes, begin their _tumblings_ about the street, and howl
for more pennies. The rice-throwing is no doubt Eastern in origin,
and has an obvious meaning; the old shoes refer to something in the
_Superstition_--probably to appease the _evil imps_, who delight in
mischief and are amused by the absurd squabbles of the beggars.

The _Honey-moon_ begins at the moment when the pair enter the carriage
and the old shoes are thrown after them. The horses start, and the
newly-married are whirled away into the deeps of an Unknown! You may,
perhaps, catch a glimpse of the bride, wistfully stretching her neck
and turning her eyes, dimned with tears, to the door-steps where stand
those with whom she has lived--and whom she now, it may be, suddenly
finds are very dear to her! But the husband has grasped the waist of
his new possession, and is absorbed in _that_. He has before been the
owner of horses, dogs, and the like, which have worn his collar--_this_
is another and very different bit of flesh and blood; none the less,
however, branded as his own exclusive possession, and ever after to
bear _his_ name! He understands so well the mere _fiction_ of this
ownership, that he is by no means sure that after all he have not
made a _bad bargain_--it may prove _too_ costly, and be by no means
either useful or obedient! However, with his arm about his _wife_,
just now he hardly realises these doubts, but feels, or tries to feel,
_ecstatic_--as he ought.

The Honey-moon thus begun, ends exactly with one moon. It is a received
opinion that the Incantations at the _rite_ exorcise the Evil One for
the period absolutely, though he may (as the Barbarians express it)
"play the very Devil" with them afterwards!

I was told that the Honey-moon was so called because, during the
Moon, the new couple fed wholly on honey and drank weak tea! There is
some _mystery_ attached to it, for my questions were always answered
with a doubtful look. I had no opportunity of absolutely solving
it--though my observation led me to judge that the honey diet did not
agree with people--in truth, I wonder at its use. I have seen a bride
after her return, thin, pale, peevish, who had left round and rosy; a
bridegroom before the moon _jolly_ [Qui-ky] and devoted to his bride,
return taciturn, careless, forgetful to pick up a fan, or to place a
chair for his wife, and even (on the sly) kick the very poodle which
he before-time caressed! and when the wife _pouting_ has said, "_Out
again, George_," he has replied, lighting a cigar, "_Yas, I must meet
the fellahs, you know_!"

The best hint on this subject which I ever got was from a married
Englishmen, who to my query said, "Ah-Chin, my dear fellah, call
Honey-moon _Matrimonial Discovery_, and think about it, ha!"

As the honey-eating and tea-drinking are to go on, whilst the new
couple are quite retired by themselves, away from their friends and
all usual pastimes and occupations, necessarily they have only _each
other_ to look at with attention. The honey-eating is trying enough,
and needs, one would think, all the relief of gaiety and occupation
possible! But no, it is only to eat and to closely watch each other!

I wonder no more at the changes which I observed. Nor do I wonder
at the improved appearance of the couple when, after a few weeks
of rational life in usual pursuits, something like the health and
cheerfulness of old returned!

Yet I was informed that very many couples never recover from the
Honey-moon (as my informant had it, Matrimonial Discovery), but from
bad grew worse, soured and sickened entirely, could not, at length,
endure each other, separated by consent, or sought the Divorce Court!

The thing, therefore, seems characteristic of the coarse humour of
the Barbarians, who appear to find a comedy in an absurd, irrational
trial of respect and affection, dangerously near the tragic at best,
and often absolutely so! _Absurd and irrational after marriage_--one
can conjecture its use before! However, it is quite of a piece with
the general disorder, and want of knowledge and practice of sound
principles.

When a child is born, the event is duly announced in the public
_Gazette_, and relatives send _compliments_. When the infant is
about eight days old, it is taken to a Temple to be baptised and
_christened_. It is a singular _rite_, and one of the most astonishing
in the Superstition. The Bonze who officiates before the Idol, takes
the little thing upon his arm and _sprinkles_ some water upon its
face. At the moment he does this, he makes a curious Invocation to
all the _three-gods-in-one_ of the Worship, and pronounces aloud the
_Christian_ name of the babe, by which it shall ever after be known.
This is called _Christening_, that is, making a Christian of the
infant. The ceremony, it is believed, exorcises the Evil One, and makes
it very difficult for him to get hold of the baptised (no matter how
diabolically he may act) in after life--the water, duly made _holy_
by the Priest, is a barrier over which Satan, with all his wiles,
shall find it well-nigh impossible ever to get--some Bonzes say it is
absolutely impossible!

Women, as soon as strong enough to attend the Temples, are _churched_
(we have no term of the kind), a _rite_ much like an ordinary _thanks
offering_, for the happy deliverance and new birth. The Bonze makes
_Invocations_, and refers to the various superstitions and barbarous
pretensions of the Worship, devotion to which is inculcated under
fearful penalties. However, on all occasions in the Temples, these
dreadful intimations of Hell and the Devil are most frequent!

When a death occurs, it is also announced in the public _Gazette_,
with honours and titles; and, if a High-Caste, with a long notice of
the chief events of his life, and loud praises of his valour, as where
he led, in his youth, a hand of fierce Barbarians like himself to
the plunder and burning of some distant tribe! His virtues are also
proclaimed--to the astonishment of all who _knew_ him!

The tombs of the High-Castes are something like those of our
_Literati_--though, instead of being in the country amid the pleasing
scenes of Nature, they are generally in the _holy_ grounds of the
Temples, and even within the Temples themselves--for the superstitious
Barbarians think that, even _after death_, the body is safer from the
Devil _there_ than elsewhere! But the common people lie hideously
huddled together, without distinguishing marks (or with so slight
as to be quickly obliterated), and are soon totally neglected and
forgotten--happy, indeed, if their despised dust may mingle with _holy_
earth within the precincts of Temples.

The Bonzes pray and sing the usual invocations and prayers over the
body of the dead, before it is placed in the tomb--but there is no
real respect for the dead--it is not to be looked for in the rough,
barbaric nature. In our _Flowery Kingdom_ regard for the dead,
respect for their memory, tombs carefully preserved amid the quiet
groves of the country, tablets and busts set up in the _Halls of
Ancestors_--these are ordinary things. With the English, in general,
the dead is a hideous object turned over to the undertaker and his
minions to be buried out of sight, as soon as decency allows! With
us, the poorest will have the coffin ready, prepared, and carefully
honoured and cared for. With the English, the thought of one is
repulsive, and he looks upon it with loathing! No doubt the horrid
superstition has much to do with this feeling.

The undertakers (a hateful crew) drape everything in black. They take
possession of everything, and turn the whole house into a charnel.
They place the _defunct_ (as the Barbarians, with a kind of contempt,
call the dead) in a black vehicle, drawn by black horses, and draped
with black cloth--black feathers and scarfs, hideously flaunted, with
men clothed in black, attend--the dismal Hearse, with its wretched
accompaniments, disappears--but only to disgorge the body. Soon after
these Vultures maybe seen returning, seated upon the Hearse, clustering
there, like carrion birds, who have gorged themselves! When they have
feasted and drunk at the House of Woe (woe, indeed, whilst deified by
them), and generally spent as much money as is possible--they, at last,
disappear--and the family breathe again!

An English Barbarian once told me that these creatures, in tricks of
plunder and cheating, surpass the Lawyers; in truth, the fashion is to
show respect to the dead by a lavish expenditure in _black draperies_,
and is almost wholly confined to that. It is an object to speak of the
_cost_ as a measure of that respect! The whole thing being a _sham_,
though a most disagreeable one, the Undertaker sees well enough that he
might as well pocket a large sum as a small one. A certain sum is to be
spent, _for respect_, not for any tangible thing. The Undertaker takes
care to furnish more _respect_ than anything more tangible--and to
charge for it! In fact, the mode of plunder is reduced to a system; and
it just as well satisfies the real purpose--which is, to do all that is
customary, and to submit to all the customary cheating.

After the family have really got rid of the Undertaker, then comes the
Lawyer, with the Bonze, to read the _Will_ of the deceased. This is a
new departure (as the English call it) in the family voyage of life.
The Barbarian law is so erratic and confused, that no one knows what
the dead man may have ordered to be done with his _money_. His Land
goes probably to the eldest son, or nearest male relative; and, if it
be all the property, younger children may be left quite beggared. The
Will begins with some absurd superstitious _formula_; and, prepared by
a Lawyer, is only intelligible to him. He, therefore, is present to
read and to explain. For no one is supposed to comprehend its jargon
but the _initiated_. The Will is read, therefore, to those who only
imperfectly catch its meaning; and when a _name_ is reached, the party
listens with an eager attention. He may be one who, by nearness of
blood, or by the nature of his relations with the deceased, expects to
receive a handsome gift. When he, at length, from the mass of verbiage,
dimly gathers only a _gold ring_ or a gold-headed _walking-stick_, and
sees some one, scarcely heard of, carry off the goods long waited for,
he scarcely appreciates the _loving token of regard_ ostentatiously
bestowed upon him! Nor is his smothered rage extinguished by the
satisfactory expression of other relatives, who whisper, "Well, _he_
cringed and fawned to little purpose after all!"

From this Reading of the Will begins a new era in the family. Quarrels
there may have been, but a common centre of influence and interest kept
the contestants in order. But now, nobody satisfied (or only those who
expected nothing, and _got it_), all are in a mood to attack any one,
to charge somebody with meanness, with treachery. So bitter animosities
spring up. Lawsuits, hatreds; families are severed; old friendships
sundered; the lawyers stimulate the broils; and, at last, very likely
the Will and all the property covered by it get into Chancery! When
I have said this, I have said quite clearly, even to the Barbarian
mind, that _here_ all are equally wretched and equally impoverished,
excepting the Lawyers!

The power of the dead man, by a _Will_, to cut off a wife or a son with
a _shilling_ (as the Barbarians express it), is monstrous. Then the
unjust law, by which the next of kin takes all the Lands of a deceased,
works endless misery. Think of younger brothers and younger sisters
being forced to depend upon the _cold charity_ of the oldest, who, by
mere accident of birth, takes every thing! And not only this, but
some distant _male_ relative may cut off the very means of subsistence
from females very near, and throw them helpless, and too poor to buy
husbands, upon the world! A disgrace and shame too shocking for belief.

Then, too, the wife's relatives may have paid to her husband the very
money which, by the Will, is coolly handed to a stranger!

Such anomalies are unknown to the customs of any well-ordered and
civilised people.

The new Widow usually remains shut up in her house, inaccessible to all
but her children, her servants, her Bonze, and her Lawyer, for twelve
moons exactly. During this time she devotes herself to the prayers
and invocations of the _rites_; and will not so much as look at a
man, unless the exceptions named. She is wholly draped in black; her
children, her servants, even her horses and dogs, are _in black_. She
entirely quits all the _vanities_ of life; she only allows her maid to
_smooth_ her hair. She suffers her hands and face to be washed, but
never paints her cheeks, nor tints her eyelashes. If she go abroad, it
is to the Temple to pray, or to the tomb (in some cases) of the "dear
departed," covered from head to feet in thick black, followed by a tall
footman, all black, bearing the _Sacred Rites_. If a man come too near,
he is waved, with a solemn gesture of the hand, to remove away: this is
the special duty of the _flunkey_. If, by any chance, the widow in her
march happen to lift her thick veil, and catch the eye of a man,--ah!
how dolorous must her prayers be!

Precisely at the stroke of time, when twelve moons have gone, the
widow drops all the _habiliments of woe_, and is herself again!--that
is, a woman in search of a husband!--_if she_ have not, from clear,
sheer desperation, and want of anything better to do, already pledged
herself to her Priest or to her Lawyer. Now, free and at liberty to
choose, she may wish to look further; but it is probable that "the
inestimable services" of the Lawyer, in her time of misery, hold her to
recompense; or that the Priest, attentive to the precept of the _Sacred
Writings_ (which commands that _Widows shall be comforted_), has so
well obeyed, that the Widow, completely solaced by the _dear, good
man_, gladly rests with him!

The great book of _Rites and Customs_ regulating the conduct of widows,
of widowers--in fact, the observances of _Society_ generally--I have
never been able to see. It is in the care and under the constant
supervision of a High-Caste of exalted state, from whose authority
there is no appeal, styled _Missus Grundy_. I think a stranger can in
no case be allowed to see this Illustrious, nor the Book. Indeed, I was
told that no one, not even Royalty itself, could inspect the Book, nor
challenge this authority. It is hereditary in the mighty Grundy family;
and the head of the House is believed to be infallible in social
observances. Another remarkable thing is, there is never a failure in
the succession--a Grundy is always on hand!

Now, _Missus Grundy_ speaks with more tolerance as to Widowers: they
are not absolutely liable to decapitation if they marry again in less
than twelve moons. Widowers, for reasons I do not know, are favourites
with the Barbarian females; and young women with money will give all
they possess to get a Widower, even when he have many children. It may
be because of the love for the "_pretty dears_," as the young ones are
called; but, whatever the cause, the fact is certain. To gratify these
gushing females, _Missus Grundy_ allows a Widower to marry in a less
time than twelve moons: it is so desirable that the _pretty dears_
should have the tender care of a new (step) mother!

As the Barbarians have no _Halls of Ancestors_, where the family
preserve with dutiful care the records of the virtuous dead--inscribed
on tablets of brass or polished stone--and where, arranged in due
order, stand the marble busts of those more distinguished--they soon
forget the dead.

The High-Castes sometimes set up monuments in public places; in Temples
and the Temple-burial grounds; and inscribe thereon lofty panegyrics,
as false in fact as they are bad in style--and no more thought is given
to them. In truth, these monuments are always considered to be to the
honour of the _living_--who take the occasion to display their own
wealth, characters, titles, or taste.

The Lower-Castes do but little more than hurry to the grave the
dead body, and dismiss the "unpleasant topic" as quickly as
possible--imitating as well as they are able the High-Caste, by setting
up a _Stone-slab_, carved with a ruder but not truer description.
Couplets in verse are often added; and, as giving an idea of the
humorous and coarse conceit of the Barbarian mind, I will insert some
of these _Inscriptions_.

Often the slabs are flat upon the ground, and the tombs ruinous
and neglected; in fact, very generally the burial-places, though
_holy_, are in a wretched condition--tombs fallen, stones and tablets
prostrated, graves quite worn away by the careless feet of passers; the
whole place wearing a sad air of utter neglect and forgetfulness. One
discovers a better culture making some progress, by curiously regarding
these stones, inscribed with memorials of the dead. They have slowly
become less uncouth, less barbarous, and less devoted to the wildest
vagaries of the _Superstition_. However, this observation is to be
taken in a very general sense.

Often, in the country, I have stumbled upon a singularly-built old
stone Temple--standing quite alone, with the tombs and the tablets of
the dead, clustering beneath the shadow of the lofty, square tower of
hewn stone. Upon the hill-side, with a lovely view of hills, and soft
vales, and rich fields of ripening corn, and scattered groves--with
green meadows divided by flowering shrubs, where the flocks and the
cattle fed. Near by, orchards, white and pink in blossoms; and all the
air fragrant with a delicate perfume. At my feet, a few houses nestling
among lofty elms--far away to the West, the sun shining above with
slanting rays across a wide expanse of beauty--sitting upon a stone
bench, beneath the ivy-covered Temple-porch, I have looked upwards to
the serene sky, and outwards upon the tranquil and lovely scene; and
I have known no Barbarian rudeness, felt no Barbarian Idolatry. The
solemn Temple, eloquent in silence, the unbroken rest of the dead,
the calm and delightful presence of Nature, these were here, these
are there; man unites his grateful worship across the wide world--the
Sovereign Lord _is_ worshipped, though darkly, by these Barbarians! And
in this worship (in time to be purified) we are one!

But I must give some specimens of Barbarian Inscriptions--by them
called _Epitaphs_, when written to the dead--taken from tablets in
places of burial.

 "Here lies an old maid, Hannah Myers;
 She was rather cross, and not over pious;
 Who died at the age of threescore and ten,
 And gave to the grave what she denied to the men!"

Another:--

 "Poor Mary Baines has gone away,
 'Er would if 'er could but a couldn't stay!
 'Er 'ad two sore legs, and a baddish cough,
 But 'er legs it were as carried her off!"

Here is one which refers to certain mineral [zi-kli] waters, prized by
the Barbarians for curative properties:--

 "Here I lies with my four darters,
 All from drinking 'em Cheltenham Waters;
 If we 'ad kept to them Epsom Salts,
 We wouldn't a laid in these 'ere waults."

Here seems to be one, not uncommon, which covertly shows its disdain
for the gods of the _Superstition_:--

 "Here lie I, Martin Elginbrod--
 Have mercy on my soul, Lord God!
 As I would on thine, were I Lord God,
 And you were Martin Elginbrod!"

The following is most absurd:--

 "Here lie I, as snug
 As a bug in a rug!"

And some equally _funny_ relative placed near, but not probably pleased
with him, adds:--

 "And here lie I, more snug
 Than that t'other bug!"

A slang term for a low, brutal fellow.

The following turns upon the word lie [pha-li], and the word lie
[pu-si]:--

 "Lie long on him, good Earth--
 For he _lied_ long, God knows, on Thee!"

This is ridiculous in manner of quoting from the _Sacred Writings_; and
adding, without proper pause, the death of another person:--

 "He swallowed up death in victory
 And also Jerusha Jones
 Aged sixty!"

Here follow references to the Superstitious horrors:--

 "Whilst sinners [kri-mi] burn in hell,
 In paradise, with Thee, I dwell!"

Another:--

 "When the last trump doth sound,
 No more shall I be bound
 Within the earth;
 My soul shall soar above,
 To shout redeeming love,
 Which gave me heavenly birth!"

This I fear will be scarcely intelligible. The _last trump_ refers to
a statement in the _Sacred Writings_, where it is said that a great
Trumpet shall awake the dead, and so on. Probably, the remainder may be
guessed by attentive readers of these _Observations_.

The next intimates that the couple had been quarrel-some, but had, at
last, silenced their bickerings in a common grave:

 "Here lies Tom Bobbin,
 And his wife Mary--
 Cheek by jowl,
 And never weary--
 No wonder they so well agree:
 Tim wants no punch,
 And Moll no tea!"

These refer to occupations. By a cook:--

_To Memory of Mary Lettuce_:--

 "If you want to please your pallet,
 Cut down a lettuce to make a salad."

By a sailor [ma-te-lo]:--

 "Here lies Tom Bowline,
 His timbers stove in--
 Will never put to sea ag'in!"

 "Below lies Jonathan Saul,
 Spitalfields weaver--
 That's all!"

Spitalfields is a famous place for silk-weaving [tni-se-ti].

       *       *       *       *       *

I need not make any criticism upon these things. They would be
impossible to our better culture and refinement. Our _Book of Rites_
would not suffer such low conceits to see the light if, by any chance,
any one should indulge in them privately.

It may be said in fairness that these are specimens of the _low_, and
with _these_ there is less indecency than formerly. There are, however,
abundant samples even among the Higher Castes, of things in really as
bad taste, though in neater language--quite as _offensive_, but to the
feelings of right reason rather than to those of literary delicacy.
They refer to the _canons_ of the Idolatry, and seem, to a stranger to
that Presumption, quite incredible.

However, one must reflect upon the effect of superstition, long
ingrained, and "born and bred" till its _enormities_ are as familiar
as the most harmless images; and its blessings appropriated, and its
curses distributed, with an equal equanimity!

I have not referred to the great Pageants when High-Castes are buried
who have been famous as Braves, either in distant forays with armed
bands upon the Heathen, or among _Christian_ tribes of the Main Land.
Or, perhaps, some high chief who has ordered the great _Fire-ships_ in
burning and plundering beyond the Seas. I have not referred to these,
because they _are_ merely shows, and do not in any sense apply any
especial characteristic. One thing I have remarked--there seems to
be no respect for the dead, they are immediately forgotten, and the
very _monuments_ ordered to be set up probably never appear; or after
so long a period, that a new generation wonders who can be meant by
the _figure_ which rises in some public place! And when these _are_
once placed on their pedestals, neglect falls upon them in a mantle
of indescribable filth. Even _royalty_ cannot have the royal robes of
marble so much as washed by the common street hydrant [phi-pi].

It is impossible not to feel that the cold and coarse feelings of the
Barbarians are, in respect of the dead, rendered more repulsive by the
horrid features of the Idolatry. In this there is so much to brutalise
and render callous, that it is only as _it_ is disregarded, that the
natural human feelings come into play, and tenderness and delicacy find
expression.




CHAPTER VIII.

OF ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SOME WORDS ABOUT SCIENCE. [KRI-OTE].


Until recently the Barbarians had no proper style of Architecture,
unless in Temples, Castles, and Ships. The dwellings, even in cities,
were as ugly and inconvenient as it is possible to conceive.

When the great Roman civilisation disappeared, the barbarous tribes for
many ages so slowly improved, that the aspect of common life remained
savage. The Priests of the Superstition, however, saved some tincture
of Roman learning, and brought from Rome some of the older knowledge.
These, however, directed their minds to the erection of Temples, and
edifices designed for the objects of Priestcraft.

Then arose those structures, truly wonderful, in stone, which exhibit
so clearly the character of the gloomy Superstition: at first like
those of Rome, but in time added to and changed, till at length the
vast Temples, truly gigantic, called _Gothic_, arose.

These are like huge _phantasms_ of carved stone, rising into the sky.
Huge walls, buttresses, turrets, immense clusters of columns, vaulted
and lofty arches, long aisles, lighted by strangely-tinted windows,
carved masses of stone in prodigious strength, leaping, flying
upwards, upwards, in grand confusion, and yet upon a strange, wild
plan!--giving expression to an imagination only known to these dark and
strong Barbarians. Externally, on all sides these Temples are monstrous
idols in stone, stuck most curiously upon corners, high up in niches,
on turrets and battlemented [trit-ti-sy] walls, over the sculptured,
grand portals, everywhere--chiefly _diabolic_, exceeding all the dreams
of a mad and dreadful frenzy, yet borrowed from the Superstition and
illustrating it! Others surmounting these dreadful things, _angelic_
and serene--as if, after all, the human instinct spurned all the low
and horrible intimations of things too foul for expression, and yet so
frightfully _attempted_, in ghastly and grinning stone!

The Roman-Greek types knew nothing of such--how clear and beautiful
these stood out, cheerful and _clean_, in the pure sky!

As art found this sort of expression in the structures devoted to the
Superstition, so in the buildings for the chiefs of tribes the same
spirit directed, though modified by the object. In these art found
pleasure, and the barbaric mind delight, to pile up lofty Castles
of huge stone--dark, menacing--where all was for strength and to
symbolise _Force_, and nothing for refinement, nor even comfort. These
great structures are now, for the most part, crumbling away; not
from change of barbaric spirit in the love of _Force_, but from the
uselessness of the Gothic forms in the presence of big cannons. The
Roman Architecture, somewhat altered, is generally revived in buildings
of importance. Yet the Priests build much as before--dropping off,
however, the more hideous of the grinning idols. In this unconsciously
giving a sign of the decay of the Idolatry itself. For when all its
_horrors_ shall have disappeared, the morality and the simple worship
of the Lord of Heaven may remain. The improving condition has improved
dwellings, particularly of the Higher Castes. The poor still grovel in
huts and hovels, often too offensive for the healthy growth of anything
but pigs. Among the Low-Castes, in great towns, the filth and stench
are quite insupportable.

In ships the English Barbarians pride themselves to be foremost. Upon
this subject we may fairly give an opinion. There are others quite
equal, and those of the _Starry Flag_ often superior.

At present the style is changing, and from wood are becoming iron,
with such massive sides of thick steel, that no shot fired from any
cannon shall be able to break through! So these English think to sail
with these huge iron machines into the waters of any people and force
submission. For the mighty cannon, shooting out vast fiery balls of
steel, are expected to knock to pieces any Castles and utterly burn and
destroy any city. And sheltered in these impregnable, swift, floating
fortresses of steel, these Barbarians expect absolutely to dominate
over all the Seas, and to sink everything which dares to oppose. This
supremacy is already vaunted; and all the taxes which can be got from
the people, from the tea and beer which they drink, from the tobacco
which they smoke, from the letters and papers which they write and use
in affairs, and from a share of their daily toil, are devoted (after
handing a certain portion to the Queen and the High-Castes for their
pleasures) to these big, floating machines of war, to the huge cannons,
and to arm and pay the sailors and soldiers, that this domination be
absolutely assured! Still, so far, none of these terrible vessels have
proved of any use, as they can neither float nor fight; or, if they
float, turn bottom upwards at a small breath of wind, and, if moved
to act in concert, are so unmanageable as to be only terrible to each
other! The sailors, therefore, dread them as unfit for the sea, and as
_Iron Coffins_ to poor Jack, who is forced to go into them!

The introduction of _Steam_ has only rendered the Western Barbarians
more conceited and more miserable. On nothing do they pride themselves
so much as upon the tremendous _Force_, which they have acquired in the
various Arts, by the use of steam. They, in this, as in other similar
inventions, mistake the nature of the thing used and its effect. They
think themselves _wiser_ because they move faster--as if the hare be
necessarily wittier than the ox; and more civilised, because more
powerful--as if the rhinoceros were to be preferred to the horse.

At this moment, the Barbarian tribes of the West are devoting all
their energies to this single notion of Supremacy. FORCE is absolutely
the most coveted thing--to be strong, the only desirable thing. And
the acme of that civilisation of which they boast, glitters only with
polished steel, towering high, bristling with terrible weapons of
destruction!

There are canals not much used, and not commonly of good depth and
width. The High-roads are nearly as good, in some parts, as those in
our Flowery Land; but more frequently quite inferior, being either very
dusty or muddy. They have none of the conveniences for the shelter or
rest of travellers, provided everywhere by our Illustrious; nor are
the signal towers and fine shade trees, which give such beauty to our
roads, to be seen, excepting occasionally, and quite by chance, the
latter.

The Bridges are insignificant, as a rule, owing to the littleness of
the rivers; but they are handsome and strong, built of stone, in the
Roman style. They span the rivers, the canals, and form _viaducts_
[pa-se-gyt] for roads of _Iron_. Upon these roads, passing sometimes
over the dwellings and streets of towns, move rapidly the long chain
of carriages, drawn by steam-engines, conveying many people and much
merchandise. These iron roads are numerous, and the works and buildings
connected with them very great and costly. The Barbarians greatly vaunt
the usefulness of these roads; but the rightfulness of their opinion
is by no means apparent. They break up the quiet and the accustomed
industries of the people; excite agitations, produce restlessness and
expense, accumulate too many _here_, and depopulate and render meagre
_there_. They crowd the cities with the poor, and leave the rural
districts empty; the towns are overburdened and the fields untilled.
They foster the extravagances of the rich and add nothing to the
comfort of the common people. It is said that in the saving of time
is a saving of money. But it is to be considered that this ease and
rapidity of movement is not always usefully directed. It may be, and
it is, largely used only to waste and dissipate money and time. It is
said to save material measured in relation to effect. _This_ is not
clear; for, although a _ton_ be moved far quicker to a given point,
who shall say that the ton moved by usual means would not, all things
estimated, be as economically moved, and with as good result to the
common weal?

The real question is not considered, which is--Have Iron-roads added to
the useful means of the people? Consider the cost, and say whether such
vast expense in other mode or modes of outlay would not have produced
means more beneficial.

How much more numerous and better roads, vehicles, buildings for
the poor, improved culture, tools, larger areas of recovered lands,
new fertilisers, new and numerous schools--innumerable details of
improvement--had the intellect, time and money directed to these
roads been directed to the many needs of a people! The good, then, is
rather the good which activity of brain and outlay of money naturally
effect--possibly that activity and expense have not been most usefully
employed in Iron-roads--indeed, very probably _not_ to the good effect
of a more naturally ordered expenditure. But the English, seeing the
_effect_ of a prodigious activity and employment of money spread
over many years, place it to the credit of a _thing_--STEAM; never
considering at all whether the thing has been necessarily the cause,
or only the accident. To what effect, during the same time, might that
same energy and money have been applied! The new power stimulated
energy, and possibly misled it. It may be said that steam did its
service by giving this stimulus. Probably not so. The question is,
Has Steam after all _misled_--fallen short, in fact, of those effects
which the usual and less novel forces would have produced? This is an
unanswered question.

In the industrial arts the English are not remarkable. They are good in
fire-arms and curious in weapons, as may be expected. They are expert
in making barrels and vessels to hold liquors from wood; _need_, which
they call the mother of invention, made this art a necessity; such is
the prodigious quantity of _beer_ which they consume. In dress-fabrics,
in tools, in furniture, in metals, they show no more skill than our
artisans, and in many articles not so much. We have arts, useful and
beautiful, unknown to the Barbarians; they have things of mere show and
luxury for which we have no use. In what is called _Fine Art_--that is
Painting and Sculpture, particularly--we have but little to compare. By
_Fine Art_ is meant what is impossible to us; it is for the most part
intolerable to us.

Think of the Illustrious of our Flowery Kingdom crowding into Halls,
glittering with gilt and showy colours, to see there, arranged upon the
walls and standing upon marble tables, great pictures of women and of
men, often naked or nearly naked--wholly nude figures, mostly of women,
in all attitudes, carved from marble, or made of a fine baked clay!
Not only so; but the illustrious mothers, wives, daughters, and female
friends, accompanying the men to the spectacle! The young man and the
young woman together gazing upon the nude and flesh-tinted voluptuous
female, glowing in the picture! No; we give no such encouragement
to fine Art! Yet our painters compare favourably with those of the
Barbarians, in such proper use of the Art as is allowed by us.

For the same reason, as Sculpture with us is only permitted where
useful or innocent, it does not reach after such effects as with the
Barbarians; where a naked figure of a young woman, done in marble to
the luxurious taste of a wealthy High-Caste, will command a great sum.
None the less, our Artists can execute with fidelity, as our _Ancestral
Halls_ will show.

Copying from the ancient Romans, in their most wanton and luxurious
period, the kind of painting and sculpture referred to is most highly
esteemed by the Christ-god worshippers! Many of the Roman works have
been discovered, and serve as models; thus the _ancients_ are imitated
in their vicious taste, though condemned as very children of the devil!

With the decay of the darker terrors of the Superstition, the mind,
rebounding from _asceticism_, swung to the other extreme. A rational
morality and worship would have preserved a due medium. But with
ancient letters revived a love for ancient art; and the indecencies
from that source were condoned to the excellency of the work--or
pretended to be. The Priests took no care to repress this outburst of
voluptuousness; in truth, moulded its nude forms to the embellishment
of Temples; and, holding the warm fancies of its devotees, strengthened
their influence by a new device. This zeal for the voluptuous in Art
and reproduction of Roman types, began by the Roman Pope, spread
everywhere. Thus the _Superstition_ itself sanctions this taste, which
to us appears so unseemly and immoral.

In Parks and Gardens the English Barbarians are not surpassed. We
have no equals in horticulture; but in gardens the English are fine
artists, and in parks have caught the true _instinct_ of Nature. When
in these, I have felt conscious of a fine civilisation. The lovely
parterres of blooming shrubs; the grand vases, rich in brilliant
colours of delightful flowers; roses, festooned, trailed in arches over
smooth walks; green spaces, where the sunlight lay warm and cheerful;
noble avenues of lofty trees; sweet arbours, embowered in blossoms
and verdant vines; shady walks, meandering among the trees; groves
of evergreens, musical with cascades, gleaming in marble basins; and
fountains, ornamented and sculptured in shining stone. Little lakes,
where the breezes awoke the sleepy waves and chased them to the shore,
and where the aquatic birds of many forms delighted to sport! The whole
place eloquent and still in beauty! _Here_, no force, nor barbaric
rudeness, nor worship of brutal strength, nor of hideous forms, nor of
lighted altars! _Here_, the English Barbarian was a civilised man, and
here I could love him!

Ah, when shall he, so strong, see his _true_ strength, and know how
to use it! Arm no more--teach the other Barbarians the proper use
of Force! Dreaming no harm to others, fearing no harm to himself,
and using the revenues of his great tribe to render it invincible in
virtue--how then invincible in all!

One day one of the High-Caste took me under his Illustrious protection,
and conveyed me to his grand House, built of hewn stone in the ancient
Roman method. It stood among fine trees, a long and glistening
_façade_ [phr-not] of white and ornamental marble. He presented me
to his illustrious wife, who graciously saved me from the too great
embarrassment of her presence; for, as I shall hereafter explain,
the custom of the Barbarians in this respect shocks all our notions.
Hanging upon the gilded walls were the costly works of painters--among
them naked women, coloured and tinted, in most voluptuous forms,
smiling down upon us--upon sculptured pedestals, stood white statues,
in rich marbles, of exquisite maidens, nude, and attractive in every
graceful attitude and personal charm! All this was surprising, if not
pleasing--but when this Lord [Tchou] took me into the gardens and Park,
there, indeed, all was calm--the agitation of my spirit subsided!

Walking with him, he took me by the arm, and said, "Ah, my dear
_Chin-le_, how little we know of each other; you do not understand
_how_ many things can be with us, nor can we understand many of your
customs; but _here_ we are not unlike--in _this_ art we meet on common
ground." I expressed my grateful sense of his goodness, assented to his
happy reference, and then ventured to observe, "Your illustrious treats
me like a relation--a brother." "In what respect--I do not know." "Ah,
you presented me to the exalted, the _lady_ [da-mtsi]--with us that
is to say, _this is a son, or a brother_." He smiled. "Well, perhaps
you are right. I rather think you are, in respect of women, though
her Ladyship would not assent." I delicately hinted my embarrassment.
"The pictures, the ----." He laughed good-humouredly, and replied,
"Doubtless to eyes unused, such things look dazzling, and so on, but
it is really only a matter of habit." But then, I suggested, "Is not
Art misdirected when so employed." "Well, possibly; but an elegant
thing, a beautiful thing--why not give an expression to that beauty
which is the most interesting, the most charming?" "Does not _that_
imply a purity above experience and above nature?" "I see; you lead
into an ethical maze--look there?" I followed his hand, and the noble
Park extended on all sides; yet, I said to myself, in our Flowery
Kingdom, if a point be _doubtful_ in morals we lean against the doubt.
But is there any doubt as to these _nudities_? However, turning with
admiration to the well-trained flowers, the spreading lawns of soft
verdure, the beautiful vases of brilliant shrubs, the fine trees, with
here and there a modest statue, or a marble fountain, I exclaimed, "How
perfectly satisfactory and pleasing are these effects of an elevated
Art, where nothing is suggested but what calms, cheers, refines, and
makes generous!"

"Ah-Chin, my dear fellow, your enthusiasm is admirable; but we need
more than the serene, the cheerful, and the generous!" As he said this
he smiled at my look of bewilderment--for I was puzzled. Since then
I have understood better. Art among the Barbarians must be suited to
the restless eagerness of their nature, which demands excitement. And
the passions which ought to be severely repressed, Art, in a hundred
ways, finds itself best rewarded to covertly gratify. Thus, all the
strong emotions are most coveted, either as shown on the canvas or in
the marble. Male figures, nude, writhing, wrestling, and in attitudes
of force, or expressing hate, or pain, or fierce contention, or,
if in repose, lapsing into the languor of desire. Female figures,
for the most part, so managed as to stimulate those feelings, or to
suggest those incidents which a wise man likes to ignore; or in such
methods as to suggest emotions of shame, of terror, of suffering, or
of crime--often debasing or evil in tendency, and rarely to any good
purpose. Pictures of bloody fights, of burning cities, of great ships
sinking, or _blowing up_ with all on board; of wretches tearing or
cutting at each other, or struggling in blood and fury amid the waves.
Statues distorted by agony, or paralysed by terror--in such, Barbarian
Art greatly delights. In this, as in the sculpture of the Temples,
showing, in another form, its fierceness and love of strong excitement.

In the cities, there are occasionally statues to men who have been
famous; and, in some of the great Temples, Sculptures of High-Castes
are sometimes set up. They are, as a rule, strange exhibitions. Many
of the great pieces consist of a crowd of figures in marble--an
astonishing jumble. There are figures blowing great horns; other
impossible ones representing huge human birds hovering about; chiefly,
however, naked women, with wings awkwardly fastened behind the
shoulders, transporting the dead; and others (again females) with
rings of leaves held in their hands over the head of the dead or dying
man! All this is done, or attempted to be done, in marble; and involved
in it will be a great ship burning, or great guns being fired, and men
and women being killed by hundreds; or other dreadful scenes wherein
the great man took fearful part! Memorials or huge paintings, in honour
of persons famous in fight and plunder, are thus exhibited in the
Temples and public Halls. They are, in general, very astonishing!

In the street corners are sometimes placed, on pedestals of huge
stone, carved effigies of a King, or of a Queen, or of some High-Caste
man. Of some Brave, who has cut off more heads than usual, or who
has seized more plunder, or carried fire and sword over the lands of
distant tribes. He is sometimes on horse-back; sometimes naked, with
shield and sword, and very terrible; sometimes so far aloft, on top
of a high stone column, that nothing can be descried but a _cocked
hat_ and a pigmy figure under it. Rarely there may be a statue to some
High-Caste, who has been distinguished for wringing more taxes from the
common people, and, by this means, keeping large armed bands at work
abroad--to the glory of the English name! more rarely a statue to the
memory of any one renowned for a life useful to mankind.

As works of Art, these things are not to be criticised. They are works
of _money_--that is, paid for by weight; merely meant to compliment a
_party_ or faction in the State, and not to honour, particularly, the
subject of the Work, or to give a noble expression of human genius or
skill. No purpose, perhaps, in the sordid workman other than to pocket
the large sum for the big show! Nothing wherein a grand imagination,
inspired by a fine enthusiasm and full of a noble conception, glows and
breathes in the stone, and makes it imperishable!

Whether an unconscious _disgust_ leave these public statues and
monuments alone in their ugliness, I know not; but they are totally
neglected, begrimed, covered with filth--often made the roosting-places
of the unwashed street _Arabs_ (beggar boys) and _loafers_ [na-sthi].
Even the statues of living Sovereigns are so totally forgotten and
deserted, that the nose of _Majesty_ may be a small pyramid of dirt,
and the ermine robes more defiled and foul than the rags of the street
mendicant!

The Western Barbarians are very fond of _Science_ [kno-tu-ze]--(this is
the nearest word in our language, though quite defective)--and consider
themselves in _this_ to be far superior to the ancients and to all the
peoples beyond the great Seas. I have never been able to comprehend,
nor do I think the Barbarians themselves comprehend very accurately,
the meaning of the word.

They will say of a man who is almost a fool, "Ah! but he is very
scientific." Of another, constantly blundering, and who has been famous
for prodigies of mistake, "His science is astonishing." A builder of
a great ship, or of a great bridge, sees his ship upset or his bridge
fall down; none the less, he demonstrates to his admiring countrymen
that, upon _scientific_ principles, the ship should have stood upright
and the bridge been as stable as rock!

A doctor kills his patient [vi-zton] scientifically; a dentist cracks
the jaw in extracting a tooth; a surgeon breaks the leg which he
cannot set: _Science_ is satisfied--"all was scientifically done!" A
man spends his life in looking at the stars; he is a man of wonderful
science. Another keeps a List of fair and rainy days during twelve
moons; his scientific attainments are respected and his _observations_
recorded, as if the fate of the harvests were involved.

You will hear of a man of marvellous science, before whom ordinary
scientific men stand uncovered in silence; he has discovered a new kind
of _tadpole_, and added another to the already interminable _terms_ of
natural Science.

I have heard one of these learned _professors_ [pho-phe-sti] say
wisely, "He is a benefactor of the race who makes two blades of grass
to grow where one grew before;" "but," he added, "he is a greater who
teaches mankind how to do this." In this way, wishing to show that an
_idiot_ might chance to find a way to double his growth of grass, but
would be incapable of discovering the _cause_; so that, probably, the
accident would die with the finder. A wise man would, at once, look for
the reason, and finding _that_, be able to secure the benefit for all
time. This knowledge of cause is the kind called _Science_.

The explanation is familiar to us. In our Flowery Kingdom, the master
teaches the rules, and the artificer puts them in practice. We call
him an Artisan who has knowledge of an Art: we call him who knows
how things ought to be done, and who examines into things so as to
comprehend the best modes of doing, simply a teacher, or master. We do
not see that his knowledge, without actual performance, makes him a
great man--a man of Science (as the Barbarians have it). Indeed, if a
man do a thing merely mechanically, as a horse turns a mill, no doubt
he is an ignorant artisan. Still, this stupidity does not exalt, in
any degree, the nature of the knowledge of a brighter man: this one is
only an intelligent artisan. On the whole, then, it seemed to me that
the Barbarians, for the most part very ignorant, were easily imposed
upon by those who, having leisure, mastered the multiform _terms_ (or
some of them) used by the teachers of Natural History in its various
departments. These, too, idle and with some ambition to be known,
easily fancied that the dry knowledge of words _was_ knowledge; and
discovering with surprise at first, but soon with great complacency,
how very little one need to know to be ranked with men of _Science_,
at length prided themselves upon the very trivialities which otherwise
would have been unvalued. In fact, finally imposed upon themselves as
they imposed upon others, and really believed those trifles _to be_
important, because confined to those who paraded them as Scientific.
These busy, idle triflers in words become _the men of Science_.

This is very laughable, and shows how mankind, everywhere, constantly
repeat the same follies. In our Illustrious annals men like these
have appeared and disappeared; founded schools, been admired, had
disciples, then passed into oblivion; their works, often voluminous,
never met with; or occasionally dug out of mouldy bins and reproduced
in some parts to show up the pretensions of a _new_ charlatan--to show
how much better the same things were explained, or the same terms used
by an old and forgotten author, 5,000 moons ago!

These men, as with us, constantly overrate the value of their
labours; the world really can get on without them. Getting together
in _Congresses_ [Bed-la-mi], they pay (or affect) great respect to
each other, and put on an _air_ of abstraction; they are supposed to
be pondering upon the care of men and things, and feel the weight of
responsibility. Other men may be trivial; but to those upon whom rests
the due ordering of Nature, Care should be a genius and Dignity a
presence.

In these Meetings, nothing is worthy of debate unless it be
_Scientific_. A plain paper, directed to a simple, useful object,
and stating in ordinary and intelligible language the rules useful
to the end, is not satisfactory. There should be something novel and
obscure, or it is unlikely to come within the desired category. In
truth, high and mighty _principles_ on which man and the gods exist and
move and flourish, or upon a disregard of which decay and dissolution
follow--these are alone the proper objects of philosophers and men of
Science; and involved in the profound investigation of _principles_,
the Congress disappears from the common eye, and is lost even to
itself!

On the whole, the value of these scientific men to the world did not
seem to me to be considerable. I mean as _scientific men_--without
any of the pretension or cant [Bo-zhe] of their class, individuals
may be useful, and would be more useful without the false glamour of
class-vanity. A man of brain and who really thinks and examines, if he
have anything to say will say it, and it will be judged by its merit.
But when men having _time_ and not knowing what to do with themselves,
and having some knowledge of words and but _little brains_, see an
_opening for imbecility_, and are received and praised and dubbed
_Scientific_, because they devote time and waste a large quantity of
paper to give the world _their thoughts_--it is doubtful whether the
more harm or the more good be done. To be sure, the idle and empty
man may be rendered supremely happy in his vanity, and may have been
saved from some personal degradation or vicious inclination--but the
world could have been well spared his _Catalogue of the Parasites_ on
the Lobster, or his _Notes on the Habits of the Barn Swallow_, or his
_Suggestions_ as to the proper use of smoke, or his _Hints_ upon the
hybernation of Eels. No great harm is done, for nobody reads these
things but the men of Science, who are obliged to keep up to the work
of busy idleness, in reading for debate with each other and at the
_Congress_.

This body professes to teach the proper rules for physical improvement,
and its members are natural philosophers. They do not, however, confine
themselves to the investigation of natural phenomena--they range over
the whole broad field of speculation as well, demanding to know the
cause of all things, and the very essence, object, and end. Those who
take upon themselves this wider inquiry, assume a dignity far above the
mere _Scientists_--these deal with mere visible _forms_; but those with
the _laws_ which underlie the forms, and with the source of Law, its
origin, its object, and its end! These are PHILOSOPHERS! and when a man
is a man of Science _and_ a philosopher, then no more is possible to
human exaltation!

I have sufficiently referred to the _works_ of these in another place.
They cannot be wholly useless, if there really be a _brain_, honest
and strong, at work. For to such patiently, humbly, earnestly, full
of grateful recognition and conscious of the limitations of knowledge
and of inquiry; seeking and looking out, with sad eyes, upon the vast
world; to such, some new evidence of the grand order, some new and
brilliant ray of divine illumination may come--_not_ to show _cause_
nor purpose, but to delight and tranquillise, to give new assurance of
the Beneficent and Infinite Wisdom!

The English Barbarians have true men of Science. They are those to
whom the people are indebted for nearly all of the useful discoveries
and inventions. Men, who, engaged in some pursuit, apply a patient
investigation and thoughtful experiments to see if they cannot
_improve_ the existing _means to ends_. In these investigations, they
discover a new source or a new _way_ of power; and, in the experiments,
new applications and uses of it. When these men fall into the hands
of the _Scientists_ and Philosophers, and, leaving their work-shops,
_shine with the gods_, at the Congresses--they usually end in that
_glamour_--their light is no longer an illumination!

Of the musical Art, some things may be said. There is a wonderful
variety of instruments--not many at all like ours.

Some of the stringed are similar to our _Che_. There is one, so
enormous a structure, as to equal a house in size. It is made by a
wonderful combination of hollow, metal pipes, ranging in size from a
flute to a big cannon; and in height from a span to the lower mast of a
ship. Its sounds are many, single in melody, or astonishing in a wild,
clanging harmony (the Barbarians think); but to me, discord. All the
combined noises are terrific; and surpass what the effect would be of
our _Che_, _Yuhnien_, and _Pieu-king_ all sounding at once!

In Singing, the men often roar like bulls, and the women scream, making
hideous contortions. A handsome woman does not like to sing.

There is a Theatre--play--where all the parts, men and women, are sung.
The passions of love, hate, jealousy, and so on, are sung and screamed
at each other by the players in the most absurd manner. The woman will
sing and shriek out the most astonishing _gymnasts_ of voice, the
man shouting and bellowing back, and then both together bellow and
scream; the woman, at last, falls into the arms of the man, or the man
throws himself in a passion at the feet of the woman--both singing and
screaming all the while--and the curtain drops! Then arise the noisy
plaudits of the spectators--demanding a repetition!

The barbaric music is, for the most part, like themselves, rude and
noisy. There are some exceptions--and in simple melody often sweet and
tender. The _flute_ and the _horn_ are pleasing--the former is much
like our _Cheng_.

Occasionally, one or two thousand singers, and as many performers on
instruments come together, and give a grand _Musical Treat_. Judge what
this must be, when you add to this vast combination also the prodigious
_House of Noise_ (called Organ)!

Oratory is an Art much admired among the Western tribes, and the
English think themselves to be prëeminent. I can hardly judge; one
needs to be a perfect master of a tongue to follow a speaker as he
ought to be followed. Barbarous races commonly produce effective
Orators; the imagination is vivid, the passions strong, and there is
enough culture to make the forms of speech at least tolerable.

In the Law-making _Houses_ speeches (orations) are often delivered.
For the most part dull in manner, insignificant in thought, poor in
illustration, very ineffective. The members go to sleep, or withdraw,
or rudely interrupt--sometimes _coughing_ down the speaker. Very rarely
are to be seen any flashes of eloquence, to be felt any thrill of its
power. Unfortunately the same conceit, here as elsewhere, leads many to
believe themselves to be Orators to whom the ability to speak properly
is denied by nature. Yet these insist upon "airing their eloquence"
(as it is styled) on every occasion possible. Generally these men have
some subject, nick-named by the other members as a Hobby, which must
be spoken to whether the House will hear or not. Then occurs one
of those scenes so characteristic. The Hobby-man rises and tries to
speak. He waxes eloquent (at least, he intends to be) on his favourite
topic--perhaps the Pope at Rome; or the _rights of women_; or the
_purification_ of mud-streams; or the poor man's _beer_; no matter
what, when the other members determined to drown the speaker, break
through all the rules of the House, the orders of the Head officer,
and more, all the ordinary decencies, and _caterwaul_, and _cough_ and
_howl_, till, from mere impossibility of hearing his own voice, the
poor, _squelched_ orator sinks into his seat.

Now, the House prides itself upon the _liberty_ of speech and of
debate; it is _one_ of the palladia of English Freedom; and this is
a forcible illustration _of the liberty_. Anything obnoxious to the
majority, or even to a noisy minority, may be silenced--such is the
freedom of debate!

The English Barbarians especially boast that the Great Council
(Law-Houses) is not only the foremost of all national councils, whether
ancient or modern, in character and in wisdom, but also in dignity, and
the extreme care with which is guarded that most inestimable of all
_Institutions_, the Sacred _liberty of Speech_!

There is a kind of oratory, sometimes contemptuously called
Pulpit-oratory by the English, which may be referred to, because it
forms a considerable part of the literary entertainment. Once a week,
on the _Holy_ day, ten thousand speeches or more are uttered by the
Bonzes from a high place (called _Pulpit_) within the Temples. From
the place of delivery the name mentioned is given to this kind of
speech-making. The speech is known by one name--_Sermon_. These sermons
form a part of the _rites_ in the Temples, and are therefore numberless
and never ceasing. As ought to be expected, they are as dull as such
a formal thing must be. Some Bonze, new to his office, may attempt to
give a little life to the performance. But the High-Caste do not like
to be disturbed by any novelties; they prefer comfortably to sleep in
the soft seats with high-backed supports, where their fathers have
slept, Holy-day after Holy-day, for generations before them. They will
not have the Bonze, therefore, thunder the terrors of Jah in _their_
ears, nor affright _their_ wives and children by painting Hell and
the Devil. Eloquence, therefore, in the Temples, if it exist, must be
content to glide softly over "green pastures," murmuring drowsily with
"meandering streams."

The _lower-sects_ are not so disposed to neglect their duty. With these
the Bonze is expected to be "instant, in season and out of season," in
the work of Jah. His _terrors_ and the awful Hell; the wiles of Satan;
the agony of the damned; the danger of neglecting repentance; the need
of Salvation; the glorious Gospel; the blessedness of the redeemed; the
worthlessness of good works; the absolute loss, here and hereafter,
_of failing to Believe_; all these _canons_ are vomited forth from the
pulpit with an energy, and, sometimes, when directed to _unbelievers_,
with a vindictive ferocity, startling and overpowering. The hearers do
not sleep; even the boldest tremble, and the timid and weak sometimes
go into convulsions of fear.

There are itinerant Orators, who go about the country making speeches
(and trying to make money) upon all sorts of subjects. They are
rarely effective, though occasionally, when they happen to seize
upon a popular fancy, or to stir up some popular feeling, they gain
a certain attention from the Lower-Castes. Whenever effective, it
is by blending some of the strong points of the Idolatry with the
prevailing agitation. If there be some matter concerning which the
populace presume to have any opinion, then the itinerant speaker has
his chance; and he is doubly influential if he mix in his discourse
a good proportion of matter taken from the _Sacred Writings_ and
the _Canons_--this he distributes, to damn opposers and to reward
adherents, with a combined Priestly and Lay vivacity and force!

We have, and have always had, ample specimens of these self-elected
teachers and speakers; and they receive with us, in general, about the
same neglectful consideration accorded to them by the Barbarians.

On a review, it must be admitted that the Western tribes are ingenious
in domestic arts, and not wanting in invention. In the fine Arts they
are sometimes effective, though immoral--merely imitating the ancient
Roman-Greeks, whom they call _Masters_. Their architecture, when
worth attention, is Roman. But they have produced one novelty, _the
Gothic_--a wonderful outgrowth of the Barbaric mind, formed by its
great Superstition. In painting, when confined to natural scenery and
objects, they are sometimes very pleasing and correct. But in this
department, where they are not immoral, they are often repulsive,
seeking for startling effects, caught from the strongest passions.
True Art elevates, refines, and pleases. It never lends itself to
_deformity_, to the bad passions, to baseness. And it cannot sully
_itself_ by tampering with impure things. It recognises the twofold
nature of man, and addresses itself to his _moral instinct_ and love of
divine beauty.




CHAPTER IX.

OF AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES.


When the lowest-caste takes a _holiday_, decent people keep away from
the place of resort, as they would from pestilence. The coarseness,
indecency, and uncleanliness are too revolting. Not that they really
differ in the ways of enjoying themselves; but from their personal
brutishness.

The remarks following refer to those above them, and to the great body
of the _people_, when at spectacles and public resorts.

To me, unaccustomed to it, the presence of women everywhere perplexed
and surprised. In days of sports, eating, drinking beer, gin, and
other drinks, romping of the sexes, and an incessant restlessness, are
very noticeable. In the open grounds, all kinds of sports and games
are going on; women and men dance, whirl about upon seats, rush after
and chase each other, swing in swings, all in a wild revelry! There
will be games where the woman is now pursued, and now the man; and now
shouting, screaming, giggling, struggling and kissing, men and women
rush after each other, catch each other; and then, reforming in ranks,
go through the same wild pranks again.

The chief out-door sports are horse-racing, boat-racing, hunting upon
horseback, bats and balls, foot-races, and the like. In-door: the
theatres, the dancing-halls, the circus, and a great variety of shows
and spectacles. Women attend upon all, and take a part in all--or
nearly all. In the theatre, the circus, the dances, and many other
places and things, they take the most conspicuous parts.

Horse-racing is esteemed as the greatest of all spectacles; and
ranks as worthy of a national support. The Highest-Castes--even the
Sovereign--attend. The Law-making Houses, the Great Officers of
Administration, and the High-Bonzes, leave the duties of their exalted
rank, and postpone the making and ordering of the Laws, to attend the
_Races_. The Illustrious wives, daughters, and female relatives--even
royalty--hasten to them, and esteem them as the best of all sports.

Every Caste--thieves, beggars, jugglers, the very _scum_ of the
cities; _loafers_, vagrants--rich, poor; men, women, children--every
description of person, rush or crawl to the _Races_. Every sort of
vehicle, every mode of conveyance is used: on horseback, on foot;
in any way, the enormous multitudes crowd to the _Races_--it is the
English Saturnalia (as an ancient Roman festival, noted for its
licentiousness, was called)--I have heard the word _punned_ [jo-akd]
_Satan-ail'ye_, by jesters--meaning the _Devil is in it_. Not a bad
notion, having reference to the evil effects of the sport.

On both sides of the space where the horses are to run, immense
numbers of carriages of all descriptions, booths, stands and seats,
are arranged, where the vast crowds stand, or sit, pushing, elbowing;
whilst the horses are _trotted_ out, and the _race_ is duly prepared.
At length, a great many horses, ridden by little men, looking like
Apes, rush off at a signal; spurred, whipped, urged by the riders into
madness, with eyes bloodshot, and nostrils distended, and every cord
and muscle starting out and straining--whilst the multitudes of men and
women stand up, shouting, leaping, screaming with excitement--sweep
like a whirlwind along the course, and pass the goal! And thousands
of gold are lost and won! By as little as a head, or a neck, one of
the horses is declared to be winner! The name of the horse is sent
all over the Barbarian world, and the _event_ is watched for by
millions--because bets are made, not only upon the ground, but in every
part.

I can hardly explain to the people of our Central Kingdom, the
excitement and the confusion of this scene. The most illustrious men
and women are present; the great Bonzes are there--all classes, the
lowest and highest, jumbled together, if not in contact, all carried
away by the same wild passion. About the splendid equipages of the
rich, mere human vermin crawl and fight for the crumbs and bones which
fall, or are thrown from the feasting women and men, carousing in the
carriages. In these, beautiful women laugh and bet with the men, drink
the wines, and exchange a hundred smiles and jokes. Betting books are
opened, and the women take bets and plunge into the vortex of the
phrensy. The race is over, and thousands are impoverished, many utterly
ruined.

With us the Theatre is merely a public, out-door spectacle, of no
importance, amusing the ordinary crowd, and free from immorality. Women
take no part in the representations--boys, dressed as females, playing
for women. But with the Barbarians the Theatre is an organisation of
government, and receives the highest support. Women act, and are more
popular with the spectators than the men.

The first in estimation is the _Opera_. In this representation, as I
have said in another place, the action goes on, all in _Singing_. To
me nothing could be more ludicrous, more in defiance of all reason and
nature. The most terrible emotions--fear, hate, envy, as well as the
tender; love, affection, friendship--all sung, and not merely sung, but
bellowed, screamed, shrieked, in every contortion of throat and mouth!

In the Tragic performance the fierceness of the Barbarians delights
in dreadful murders, plots, assassinations; in things which tear and
lacerate human feelings, and bring despair and death!

The Comic is as coarse in loose _buffoonery_ [Kro-sen-to-se] as the
tragic is for an extreme of agony, based upon crime and baseness.

But the most astonishing of all the representations upon the Stage
is the _Ballet_. I should not dare nor desire to refer to this, were
it not to illustrate a point in the Barbarian character, only too
prominent; and to give further cause to the people of our _Flowery
Land_ to be thankful to the Sovereign Lord, that He has not permitted
such mark of degeneracy to stain us.

The Ballet is supervised by a very High-Caste Lord. It is composed of
a band of young women, selected for beauty of form and of limb. They
appear in public nearly naked, or so clothed in tightest hose [ki-i-e]
and draped in thinnest diaphanous fabric, that what is concealed is
half disclosed and more piquant than if left uncovered. Troops of
these appear--dazzling in white or pink--upon the stage-floor. Before
they show themselves to the public, however, they parade, one by one
(as I was truly informed), before the High-Caste Supervisor of the
Ballet, who, with his assistants, duly examines the legs, arms, busts,
and drapery, to see if all be in due order. The drapery is carefully
measured to see if it be of the required length, and, if too short,
must be extended to the knees. Not to cover anything, but to satisfy
a pretence. For these transparent fabrics, aside from _that_ quality,
are so contrived that they float off from the body and limbs with
every movement--and the motions studied are those which produce this
effect--twirling around rapidly being a chief feat. When the High-Caste
is satisfied that there be nothing to offend the most delicate, and
that all the demands of a pure _Christ-god_ morality are satisfied, he
sends the young girls to the stage, and they appear in the _Ballet_.

This is a dance--why should I say more. But consider this dance is
before the highest and best--in an immense and brilliantly lighted,
lofty house. There are vast crowds, seated upon a level with, or just
below the stage--in rows, one row above another, forming a grand
half-circle, from the floor to the dome; so high, that the faces
cannot be distinguished. Then the rich and glittering decorations; the
paintings, the sculptures, the music!

The music of innumerable instruments strikes up. In come the troops
of half-naked girls; their busts, their legs exposed. In they come,
leaping, dancing, twirling, whirling, flying! They twirl around on
the toes like tops. They spin on a single toe, sticking out the other
leg--and, in this attitude, revolve about! They retreat, advance,
stoop, go backward, forward; twisting, twirling, throwing themselves,
their arms, and particularly their legs, into all possible positions;
whirling about on one leg and extending the other, being the most
admired feat! This is (very faint) the _Ballet_!

Mothers, wives, husbands, daughters, sons, lovers, maidens, look upon
this spectacle--and pray for the benighted Heathen!

Englishmen often remarked to me, jocosely, "Ah-Chin--no like the
Ballet--why, the Theatre nowadays _stands_ on Legs!"

It is a fact that, in those times which the Barbarians call _dark_,
when ignorance and brutality marked the whole aspect of common life,
the _instinct_ of decency prevented women from appearing on the Stage
at all. It is quite a modern invention.

The Circus is another favourite show. In this, women appear, ride
the horses, fly in the air, walk upon ropes tightly drawn above the
spectators, and form a main feature. They make the same study of
exposing themselves, and are undressed like the women in the _Ballet_.
They give to the performance the same kind of stimulus, to which is
added the further excitement of danger. For in leaping, flying through
the air, vaulting, and walking upon the tight-rope high above the
spectators; the probability of a broken back, or neck, gives a new
sensation.

In the warm weather, the English Barbarians find great amusement in
crowding to the Sea. Here, little houses placed on wheels are trundled
into the waves. From these, women, men, and children wade, and plash
and dive into the water. The women, and even children, often swim
very well--the men nearly all. The two sexes bathe quite near, or
together, in full sight of the people on the shore. Here, on the
sands, thousands are walking, sitting, and lounging about, amusing
themselves in the idlest sports. The men in the water are, with the
exception of a mere loin-cloth, naked. The women, though tolerably
covered, yet so carelessly that, with the motions of the bath and
waves, they are sufficiently exposed! In these sea-bathing places you
will see Barbarian life in all its rudeness, and love of boisterous
fun and frolic. The men, and women, and children, abandon themselves
to eating, drinking, bathing in the sea-water; to sports and games; to
dancing, sight-seeing, and _match-making_. The last is the pursuit of
husband-catching, which the free-and-easy life at the sea-side greatly
facilitates.

Boat-races--sailing boats, and boats rowed or paddled--take place
at these sea-side places, and are greatly admired. They are
unobjectionable, and natural to a maritime tribe.

A strange feature is to see women go fearlessly into boats, and,
hustled with the men, enjoy the excitement of the wind and wave,
to witness these races, or merely for the frolic--but women are
everywhere!

The Cattle Shows are characteristic. Here, fat cattle, sheep, fat
swine, fine horses, poultry, tools used in tillage, fruit and
vegetables, are shown; and the best receive prizes. Only a few of the
High-Castes attend these, and then merely as a form. The real support
comes from the farmers; and from the _Lower-Castes_. These crowd to
the show, paying at the doors, merely for frolic and fun. Open to late
hours at night, with music, lights, and places for eating and drinking,
the mixed crowd of men and women delight in the hustling, crowding. The
usual beer and other drinks are ready; the usual giggling of women,
surging, and elbowing, and pushing about! One wonders much, whether the
fat animals are not more respectable than the animals which crowd about
them! But I can hardly fairly judge of the real _character_ of the
crowds, for they are too novel and too offensive to the habits of our
Flowery Land. It is certain, however, that the Barbaric element always
perverts the most useful things; and a Cattle Show must be debased and
turned aside from its proper objects. What have the women and men, who
push and surge about the brutes, of interest in the thing? Nothing.
They may know and care for sheep, when _roasted_, or for fat swine,
when in the shape of a _rasher_ [fri-ie-tz].

The most curious, and, perhaps, most important of out-door scenes is
the _Hustings_. When there is a vacant place in the Lower-Law-House (of
the great Council), the Sovereign commands a new member to be chosen
by those who have the right, in the town entitled to send. A sort of
stage is put up in the market-place, and here those meet who are to
be _hustled_ for. Hustings comes from this word, and means _to shake
together in confusion_. There are some who wish to send A., others
who wish to send B. Accordingly, these are seized by their struggling
supporters; each side endeavouring to put upon the stage _its_ man,
and each trying to put off the man of the other side! One may judge
of the _hustling_. Each candidate submits to every sort of indignity.
The _hustlers_ (voters, generally called) are chiefly of the Lower
(not Lowest) Caste, and enjoy this privilege mightily. Beyond the
immediate actors are the associates of the two parties--not having a
right to _hustle_; but, none the less, aiding in the general struggle,
by pelting with rotten eggs, garbage, or other harmless (sometimes not
harmless) nastiness [phu-fo], the man whom they dislike. Finally, one
of the men is got upon the stage; entitled to be the new member for
having had the larger number of _indignities_ put upon him, and come
out a-top! These are--to have the head-covering driven violently down
over the face--to be befouled with stinking eggs and garbage, and all
the time to say, "_Free and independent voters_," accompanied by bows
and grimaces, intended for _smiles_!

If the Lower-House, however, find on examination that some one has
hustled twice--that is, thrown two missiles, then the scene must be
rëenacted! For it is thought to be too dangerous to allow of this
unfairness. If one could do this on the one side, then it would be
done on the other; and in the excitement, things harder than mud would
be thrown, to the danger of life! As to the outside throwers, the
police take care that they do not exceed mud, filth, rotten eggs, and
vegetables!

When the new member is chosen, he is called upon by his supporters
to thank them in a speech. He rises to do this, and, bowing, says,
"I am powerless to express my grateful sense of the honour. _Free
and independent voters_"--at this moment a half-drunken supporter
of the defeated man gives the signal. The rotten egg has fairly hit
the new member in the face; the crowd on the one side and on the
other rush in _pell-mell_; the stage is broken down; stones, sticks,
clubs, brickbats, are used and fly about freely; noses bleed; heads
are cracked; oaths and yells arise! The new member, surrounded by
his supporters, finally conquers; and, placed in a chair, is lifted
by strong arms to the shoulders of sturdy men, who bear him to his
illustrious house, where his exalted wife and noble friends receive him
with delight. The tumultuous crowd are feasted by the Servants; and,
finally, yelling and shouting for _my Lord_--the new member--he appears
at a lofty window above them, thanks them once more, and disappears.
The rabble leave the place, the gates are closed, and my lord and lady
can congratulate themselves and be congratulated that the _farce_ is
over. Power and influence remain with them--_the indignities are all
washed off_--it is merely English humour.

In these Hustings the Illustrious wives and daughters, as well as all
male relatives, take part, and are obliged to take their share of the
_indignities_. The dirty child of a low-caste (who happens to have a
right to _hustle_) will be taken upon the silken lap of _my Lady_, and
feel boldly in my Lady's pocket for pennies; and the daughter of my
Lady sits down upon the stool and feeds the hungry _old hag_ of aged
poverty. The old hag being ill, and mother to the _hustler_. In this
way, and on these rather infrequent occasions, the bold Englishman of
Low-Caste vindicates his manhood and shows his power in the State. But
it is a mere form. The High-Castes understand the Barbaric temper, and
consider this mode of amusing it the cheapest and least inconvenient.
There is a struggle sometimes for the new membership between
individuals, but these are always of the High-Caste connection and
order. Actual power does not exist in the hustling rabble--_that_ is in
the High-Caste. Nevertheless, sometimes the _Hustlers_ can determine
which of two shall be sent; and, therefore, it is necessary, when more
than one desires to go, to submit to the _hustling_. Nearly all the
worst _indignities_ are omitted when only one person is named. In this
case, all the hustlers being of a mind, they do not inflict more than
the _accustomed_ indignities, which are moderate in comparison; though
one would think sufficiently humiliating.

In the civic processions, which occur when a new magistrate is
appointed to a city, one observes how the old barbaric features still
predominate. Like children those things are most esteemed which grown
people disdain or laugh at. Rude force and the emblems of it; men
absurdly accoutred in old, fantastic arms and armour; banners which
once marshalled trained men to war; gilt and golden vehicles, conveying
priests and officials; these carrying glittering baubles in their hand;
loud music and bands of curiously dressed braves; these things delight
the multitude, which comes swarming out from every hole and corner
of the city. Such crowds of both sexes, with children even in arms!
Nowhere out of these Barbaric and populous tribes can such a spectacle
be seen. The vast throngs rush and push about, and woe to that decent
man who gets entangled among them! Often the selfish, reckless hordes,
rushing through some street with a new purpose, overwhelm and crush
every moving thing in the way.

Women, children, strong men, are often thrown down, maimed; even killed
outright! Thieves, beggars, the indescribable _scum_ of degraded
humanity, mixed with the crowd (in its own character but little removed
from lowest debasement), give it an air of unspeakable disgust!

Of these Civic Spectacles, _a Coronation_ is supreme. This only takes
place when a new Sovereign is crowned. No one is admitted to the actual
Ceremony but the highest of the High-Castes. The common people, who
bear nearly all the taxes to pay for the enormous cost, must be content
to get such glimpses of the passing pageant, as is possible to them, at
the risk of limb and of life. The whole thing is so guarded by armed
bands, on horseback and on foot, with fire-arms ready, and swords
drawn, that it is only by rushing close to the horsemen, and pressing
upon the foot-braves, that any glimpse can be got by the common
multitude; and for these mere glances--under the bellies of horses, or
between their legs, or through some iron railings, or the like--the
devoted barbarians will risk their lives. Such is the admiration which
this great show attracts!

It is thus admired, not only because of the awfulness of the CROWN,
but also because the Idolatry plays so large a part in it. The new King
is always crowned by a Highest Bonze, in his costly priestly robes, and
anointed with _holy_ oil; whilst the _Sacred Writings_ and Incantations
are duly read and uttered! The worship of Christ-Jah and the other
gods, are all pledged, together with all the Canons and beliefs,
including the Divine Revelation of the Jewish _Sacred Writings_; in
fact, the ceremony, in the Priestly part, is Jew throughout!

The scene is characteristically barbaric. Force, and glittering
display; all the jewels, the gewgaws, the golden rods, orbs, bowls,
sticks; the spears, swords, steel armour, helmets; the robes, furs,
silks, velvets; jewelled garters for the legs; ornamented chains in
gold, for the neck; coronets, for the hereditary _nobles_ [Hi-fi];
cassocks, gowns, mitres, staffs; scarlet and crimson cloths, cloaks,
and waving plumes of the great braves; men in steel, on horseback--all
these things, and a thousand more! With the grand women, and the High
Lords! all are present. All is show and glitter; and childish! In the
midst, out there rides a man, all covered with steel armour, with a
long and flashing spear, who, sitting proudly on his horse, looks
defiance! A trumpet sounds; another dashes forward, and proclaims
the new Monarch; then the first, with a loud voice, defies to mortal
combat any one who dares to challenge the right of the proclaimed
Sovereign--and, thereupon, throws down a glove [kang]. If any one
should pick up the glove, it would imply an acceptance of the
challenge. No one takes up the glove. The trumpets sound, the music
strikes up in a hundred places; the vast multitude cry and shout,
"_Long live the renowned, the exalted, the Illustrious!_"--and the
new-crowned man is King!

In this barbaric display, the money expended is enormous in amount.
The jewels and mere inanities are so costly that, put to proper use,
poverty would scarcely exist. Nor is this all; the High-Caste get
all the honours and emoluments, though they bear but a small part of
the expense. Many of this Caste hold _hereditary_ offices connected
with this Show, from which they derive revenue and high honour! One
may be hereditary _sword-bearer_, another _cup-bearer_, another
_towel-holder_, another _bottle-washer_. Nor is this sort of sinecure
(_name_ for frivolous, useless Service) confined to males; females
may be hereditary _folders of the Queen's night-cap_, _washers of the
baby-linen_, _keepers of the robes_, _maids of the bed-chamber_, and so
on! Still, such is the ignorance and debasement of the common people,
and even of the better classes, that, although they pay for these
expensive whimsicalities and barbarisms, and never by any chance share
in the personal benefits, _they admire them_; and believe them to be,
in some mysterious way, connected with their _glorious constitution and
privileges_!

I scarcely like to speak of the displays by the _braves_. These are
those on horseback, those on foot, those with horses, and cannons
mounted on wheels; and some who march partly, and partly ride. Our
_Flowery Kingdom_ knows these armed bands, and how rude and disorderly
they are. How they plunder and kill the defenceless, and burn and
destroy! How fierce they are, and how reckless of order, even to their
own chiefs!

But I will refer to the main display of these armed bands. Once or
twice in twelve moons, all the bands being assembled, are divided into
two parts. Each part has a great Chief at the head, with horsemen,
footmen, and those with the wheeled-cannon.

One of these Divisions is sent to a distance, and the other is kept at
hand. Then the one near is commanded to act as if the distant force was
an enemy, who, having landed, was marching into the country to subdue
it. In this way, it is intended to teach the armed bands to march,
countermarch, hide, seek, advance, retreat, get into ambuscade, get
out of it, rush up hills, rush down hills, cross rivers, make bridges,
construct roads; _pretend_ to blow up and to construct earth-forts;
_pretend_ to charge, to fire, to shoot, to rush with horses, to swiftly
move and fire the cannons, each against the other; to skirmish in
small squads [kong], and fight in large bands--in fine, to carry on a
_Military campaign_ (as the Barbarians term this prodigious nonsense).
Some one said to me, "A very _sham pain_." It seemed to me no sham to
the soldiers--so far as _toil_ is concerned.

How, in carrying out this tomfoolery [hen-di-ho-ty], bands of armed
men may be seen scattered over a wide range of country. Smoke of
fire-arms and reports of the cannons may be seen and heard, in
different parts--and a quiet traveller may be surprised to see suddenly
a band of men, armed, rapidly approaching, with the bright steel
glistening in the sun; and, levelling these steel-spears affixed to the
fire-arms, see them rush, _pell-mell_, upon a row of bushes, firing
and shouting--then, suddenly recoiling, rush back and hurry to shelter
behind some _other row_! Then cannon will bang, and smoke will rise
from among trees near the place; and the horses will be seen advancing
rapidly, dragging after them the cannon, which, being planted on a
hill, fire and bang away; then, all at once, some great braves, with
feathers flying, and swords flashing, will rush directly upon the
cannon, even right into the mouths!

Then _pell-mell_ other horsemen, cutting and slashing with long swords,
and firing off little fire-arms, will be seen; and soon long lines of
foot-braves will appear among the trees and bushes, and some will rush
upon the others, and others rush upon them, firing and banging away,
in a manner very surprising; and this is a _sham-fight_. Sometimes
the braves get so excited that they really do fight in good earnest.
As there is nothing but powder in the fire-arms, the danger is in
the swords and spears, which are sometimes so used in the heat and
excitement that many braves are really hurt.

When all is over the head braves of the two forces make Reports of the
doings of their respective divisions, complimenting the braves and the
head men upon their discipline and order.

On one occasion the Royal Prince and his attendants rode directly upon
the mouths of a battery of cannon. Now the whole idea of the _Sham_
is that everybody is to conduct himself precisely _as if_ the doings
were real. Any head-brave who forgets this is disorderly and liable to
punishment. What would have been the fate of the Royal party had the
cannon which they rode directly upon, been charged with balls as well
as powder! It is not to be found, however, that the Great Brave in his
Report referred to this extraordinary exploit of the Royal Prince.

With an enemy, real, deadly, strong, advancing into the country, then
indeed the braves would have work which would stir all their wits and
nerve all their strength. Marches in rain and mud; toilsome nights;
work in the ditches; cold and biting winds; wakeful and wearisome
watchings; all endured manfully, and hardly noticed _because it is
real_. Even a pauper disdains make-believe toil, and takes the pittance
tendered for it as an insult. To the common man all this labour and
exposure is very hard and very real--all the more so, because it is
mere noise and smoke. No wonder that he is careless and indifferent; no
wonder that he curses the nonsense which wearies him without giving him
any satisfaction. Show him true, honest need; where the enemy of his
tribe lurks, and he is alert, active; calls up all his intelligence,
looks to his arms, looks about him, and feels no fatigue. But this--he
loses discipline, and is really demoralised by a _Sham_.

Still the Barbarians greatly admire all this noise and blustering;
and the Head-Braves fancy that the bands are improved in order and
in knowledge of arms; that they would really understand how to meet
a genuine enemy more skilfully, by having _made-believe_ to fight a
friend. All human experience shows the opposite of this to be true;
for the _sham_ is certain to _entail_ some of its mischief and injure
the very qualities which it is supposed to improve. In the nature of
things this affair cannot be good. The object is a sham--everything,
therefore, about it is sham. The fight is a sham, and the fighter is a
sham-brave, and, therefore, worthless. Who doubts that he is injured by
this pitiful work?

When these armed bands march in the displays made on public occasions,
then, knowing that they are doing true work with a true object, they
enter into it with spirit. Every man feels himself to be a part of a
fine whole, and interests himself to do his best. These displays of the
numerous armed men, marching with banners, bright swords and spears,
with cannon, great troops of horses, long columns of glittering steel
flashing in the sun, with brilliant coverings and gay colours, and
the loud clanging music--these attract great multitudes. Whilst the
High-Caste Braves, on grand horses, clothed in bright armour and steel,
prance about and order the bands of braves. All are quiet and orderly,
and preserve due restraint. One would not know that these are the same
turbulent, untrained, reckless, and cruel plunderers and murderers, who
devastate the homes of peaceful people beyond the seas.

I did not see the big fire-ships, for it was not permitted to me. Or
rather it would have been very uncomfortable indeed, for the rude and
insolent Barbarians in the ships know nothing of ordinary politeness
and civility. They jeer my illustrious country and people, and mock at
us with the brutality of conceited and barbaric ignorance. I was told
that the big ships perform a great many movements, firing off the great
cannons, and moving about each other, and pretending to fight--in this
way to teach the head officers and the men how to manage the vessels,
and how to fire the enormous guns, and how to shoot the big balls and
fire-bombs, and other horrible things, in the most destructive way.
Sometimes an old vessel is allowed to float on the waves, and the
fire-ships shoot off the cannon balls against the hull, to see how soon
they can destroy, burn, or sink it. Sometimes they send against it a
curious machine filled with gun-powder, which, sinking under the old
hull, suddenly blows up, raising the great mass entirely out of the
sea, and utterly destroying it! So ingenious are these fierce tribes of
the West in all contrivances for the destruction of mankind!




CHAPTER X.

OF THE EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE, AND ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE.


I have spoken quite at length of the English Barbarians as
_traders_--these form a large portion of the whole. Below these are the
lowest caste, workers, beggars, and thieves. The tillers of the land
make a great part of the workers; then those who toil in the mines,
shops, and great factories; lastly, mere day-labourers of all sorts.

The tillers of land are wretchedly poor. In the years of their strength
they just keep from starvation, living in hovels hardly fit for a
brute, and not so good as the _Master's_ dog-kennel. When strength goes
they become idle, paupers, and die in the poor-house [do-zen-di].

The mine-workers delve in the dark bowels of the earth for coal, iron,
copper, tin, and other minerals. No beast works in more dirt, nor under
more brutal circumstances. Out of the light of day, far below, in
pitchy blackness, illumined only by the faint light of a lamp fastened
to his head, the _serf_ toils--exposed to death from suffocation, by
the falling-in of earth, from great outbursts of water, from accidents
of many kinds, and from the fearful _explosions_! He gets more
money--but in the light of day, when he has cleansed himself from some
of his weight of filth, the gin and beer shop give him the readiest and
only resource! The lives of these toilers and of their families are
scarcely imaginable. An explosion sometimes destroys nearly a whole
village!

The vast numbers, men, women, and children, who labour in shops and
factories of all kinds, present a very uniform appearance of misery
and degradation. They swarm in the great towns, amid the _débris_
[kon] of coal and iron works, and in the _purlieus_ of the places of
labour--dirty, noisome, barbarous. No High-Caste, unless by mistake,
ever goes among them; and even the lower avoid them. Worked by their
task-masters all the day, from early morning till late at night, for
such pittance as may keep them _at work_, what can be expected? Young
girls and lads work together; there is no decency (there hardly can
be), connections are formed, children come; but who is to care _for
them_? What can describe truly the actual state of things?

When work is over, weary, without respect from others, and feeling
none, therefore, for themselves; no decent home, wife and children
draggled and wretched like themselves, where else to go but to the warm
and brilliant-lighted drink-places? Here is warmth, shelter, comforting
drink. Is it surprising that these, _the only homes_, take nearly all
earnings; and that the small remainder gives to the bare rooms, ragged
garments, and squalid wives and children, that aspect of misery and
brutishness? Whole quarters of towns are given up to this degradation.
The portals of Temples, the porticoes of grand edifices, the very steps
of public charities, are crowded with these victims of ignorance
and selfishness--a selfishness peculiar to the cold nature of these
Barbarians, and which receives its finest and most exquisite polish
among the High-Caste. I speak of the steps of Charity Halls, where
relief is supposed to be given to the starving; but on the very steps
misery may find its last, wretched repose.

It seems to be accepted as _inherent in the nature_ of things that this
abounding debasement and wretchedness, wherein _crime_ breeds by an
inexorable law, _must be_. The crime must be watched and kept within
bounds, and guards must carefully repress the disorders of this foul
_shame_, but the thing itself is inherent and ineradicable. It may be
so to the barbaric nature.

The ordinary labourers of all descriptions, in the street, in the
shipping-docks, in waiting upon the artificers, in the digging,
toiling, manual employments, differ not much from their _congeners_
[re-la-tsi] in the factories and mines. Their habits are the same. All
are alike really _serfs_, taking no notice of the refinements and the
enjoyments of the higher-castes, and being everywhere rigidly avoided
by them. On a sunny day, if you walk in a public garden, you will see
some of these miserable beings lying about on the grass, stretched
out in the sun, asleep. By no chance will they occupy any place which
is usually used by the upper castes, nor will any of these, by any
chance (short of dire need), ever speak to or notice one of these low
creatures. Sometimes an open green space will present an appearance
like a battle-field after a combat. These _serfs_ scattered around,
here one or two perfectly still, there some just turning or raised
upon elbow; sometimes an old crone resting upon a recumbent man; most,
perfectly still and flat, give an aspect of dead and dying strewn over
the field. Occasionally men and women will be cuddled close together
for warmth; in truth, this grassy, sunny couch, is to them a luxury.

The aspect of these day-labourers as they lounge, or slouch [gr-utn]
idly about the streets, is repulsive and curious. They seem unable
to stand up. Whether from the nature of their toil, or from mere
shiftlessness, I know not. But they never do stand erect, and slouch
along from one beer-shop corner to another, till they can _lean_ or
_lie down_. They cluster about the corners by beer and gin shops,
rarely molesting any one, but frequently noisy and quarrelsome among
themselves. They carry their strong passions and strong drink to their
wretched haunts where crime and violence are rife. Women and children
of this class are also at these drinking places, and give a feature to
the degradation of unusual repulsiveness. These beer and gin shops, in
low quarters of a town, are prolific of riot and crime, but abounding
everywhere, in parts more decent, the police [ta-pki] are forced to
be more watchful. A striking illustration of the callousness of the
High-Caste is, that they derive their own revenues largely from this
very degradation of the _serfs_--for an immense tax is paid by them
upon the beer and gin which they consume--and this tax enures wholly to
the benefit of the High-Caste. In the Law-making _House_, therefore,
whenever some good man wishes to moderate this excessive evil of drink
and drunkenness; pointing out how _Crime_ takes root and flourishes,
and vice spreads from these drinking-places; how the whole community
suffers; he is laughed at and pointed at, and made odious to these
miserable creatures, as one who would deprive the _poor man_ of his
Beer! In this connection of the serf with the rich man's revenue, it
is convenient to say "_the poor man_;" on ordinary occasions, the
"_drunken beast_," or the "_brute_," would be more likely.

There are parts of great towns where decent people never go unless by
sheer need, and where in the night they would not go unless accompanied
by a policeman. Nothing can describe the aspect of the dark courts and
streets, of the mean and filthy buildings, shops, and dens! Nastiness,
foul smells, dirty shambles and garbage; doors and windows smashed and
stuffed with rags; gutters festering with impurities; and the human
vermin swarming like maggots in rotten flesh! Upon _this_ foundation
the palaces of the rich and the vast stone Temples rest; one wonders
that they do not sink into it.

It is a great boast of the English Barbarians that "a slave cannot
breathe in England." At first, when I heard this, I supposed that it
meant that he would die under the conditions of life awaiting him--he
would not be able to _breathe_--and therefore slaves were unable to
live in the land. But the boast merely means that it is not permitted
to add _black_ slaves from abroad; they cannot live in England; nor
do I think they could. I do not comprehend the boast, unless on the
ground that it would be an expensive as well as useless cruelty to land
even _blacks_, merely to have the trouble and cost of burying their
carcases.

I have called these low-castes _Serfs_, disregarding the barbarian
_fiction_ which calls them _free_. Not long since they were slaves
under precise law; now they are so by universal custom. When they were
legal _slaves_ they had some care and protection; there was _a tie_
existing between master and servant; hearty service and affectionate
concern rendered the relation not merely supportable, but positively
advantageous. The tie is severed; there is neither hearty service nor
affectionate concern. The master possesses everything as before, but he
is no longer _obliged_ to maintain his labourers. These are numerous;
they must work or starve. Whilst they _work_ they get enough perhaps
to live; no longer able to work, mere pauper-life in poorhouses and
the pauper's grave await them. Nor do the masters even pay for these;
they have cunningly contrived to have the expense borne by all who have
anything to be taxed. Thus the severance of the ancient tie has only
enriched the High-Castes and freed them from all obligation to care for
the labourer, and sunk him into a condition of hopeless and debasing
poverty. The freedom is all on the strong side; the _slavery_ more
abject and less softened by humane sentiments.

Now there are a few, who have some dim perceptions of these so obvious
features to a disinterested spectator. They see that it is a poor
compensation to the wretched misery which holds thousands hopelessly in
its grasp, to point out an occasional accident of escape--where some
one, more gifted and more fortunate than his fellows, happens to rise
into comfort and slight esteem! These noble men, the harbingers of
light, who try to see and to act honestly, in spite of early prejudice
and habit, perceive that there is no hope for these _serfs_, unless
they can be moved with a higher interest. They think they discover a
chance to move them by offering them _knowledge_, without, or nearly
without, cost. But it is doubtful if they be not too low, too brutal,
to care for _knowing_ anything. Then, "they must be forced to send the
children, to be taught--_they must be whipped to School_." This is
resented as an outrage on the _freedom_ of the serf--as an invasion of
his family rights--as a positive, additional, tax and burden. For he
gets _something_ from the petty work, or from the begging or thieving
of the children, and now the Master takes _that_! Yet, probably, this
is one needful thing--to take the children into the hands of the State,
in every case where the natural guardian is unfit to properly care for
them. But the State cannot _half_ take them. It cannot take anything
of the present pittance, and claim to have compensated by giving words
instead. It is cruel to say to him who starves in body, "Starve--I feed
the mind!" A poor parent cannot receive even knowledge in exchange for
bread. And it cannot be asked of him, in his low estate, to exchange
the little added support of the child's wage for the, to him, useless
words of knowledge. In the face of want one cares only for bread!
Therefore, the State which teaches must also feed the poor--or see to
it that the honest poor be first fed. If the parent can only feed by
the help of the child, the State must not arbitrarily assume to be
Master and Judge--saying, "Come to school--and starve, if must be."

The High-Caste, secretly, clog and obstruct all attempts to raise
the low. Learning belongs to the master--ignorance to the serf. It
is enough for _him_ to obey and work. There will always be poor, and
vicious poor. It is better to merely watch and guard against an _Evil_,
for which there is no remedy. To give instruction to the low-orders,
is to arm demagogues with a dangerous weapon. "'A little knowledge is
a dangerous thing'--it only enables the multitude to see just what it
suits the purpose of the _Agitator_ to show! There is nothing but evil
in these grand measures. All must be left to individual effort; and to
the Priests. These must work as comes in their way; instructing those
who wish, and encouraging those who dutifully obey, and attend to the
labours imposed upon them by divine Providence" (Meaning, that _Jah_
has ordained, from all time, that some must be "_Hewers of wood and
drawers of water_"--a quotation from the _Sacred Writings_).

In this manner, the High-Caste, when it condescends to the subject at
all, dismisses it. Indeed, this Caste, the Master-Caste, really feels
no other concern in the low orders, but a concern for their peaceful
subjection. To this point they direct so much care, as to have always
trained bands of braves, and strong, picked, well-ordered men, called
_Police, ready at hand_. So, in case the wretched, degraded, and
despised serfs and thieves, should dare to raise any stir, disturbing
the ease and enjoyment of the luxurious High-Caste, they may be shot
down without mercy!

Necessarily, the elevation of the low-classes will be very gradual.
Many of the Priests, wishing to enlarge and maintain the influence of
the _Superstition_, actively exert themselves among the honest and
industrious poor. And some of these Bonzes are as benevolent as the
traditions of their Caste and of their Idolatry will permit.

It is doubtful if the present condition of the masses of the English
Barbarians be so manly and independent as ages ago--when they were
sufficiently intelligent to move in their own cause, and were really of
some importance in the State. Unfortunately, they did remove from their
necks the pressure of immediate, personal service, only to accumulate
upon them, _as a Class_, the whole weight of the landed and trading
interests. As a whole, therefore, they are more servile, more abject,
and more dependent; and the few individuals who may raise themselves
above the level of their class cannot even flatter themselves in this
to have gained. There never was a time when these individuals did not
exist--it is not clear that their numbers have increased.




CHAPTER XI.

OF THE HIGH CASTES: SOME PARTICULARS OF THEIR DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL
CUSTOMS.


In this chapter I shall try to show some of the peculiarities of the
opposite extreme of Barbarian life. From ignorant poverty, verging upon
crime, crime and vice; we are taken to luxury, also verging upon crime,
crime and vice--though under very different forms. The All-wise and
Sovereign Lord knows how to judge each class of offenders!

The High-Caste is very exclusive--it will not, if it can avoid it,
notice one of a lower order; and never will do so unless it has some
selfish end in view. This cold-bloodedness characterizes all Castes.
When the Barbarians, therefore, chance to meet, and being of near
Castes, cannot be distinguished by dress, they never touch or address
each other--but stare rudely up and down the person, to see if it will
be _safe_ to be civil, the one to the other.

In general, however, the two Higher-Castes present so many features in
common, that a spectator may regard them as one. Both look upon all
useful occupation as shameful; and whilst it is hard to call up a blush
for anything mean, detection in any honest work covers with confusion!

The women of this Caste appear everywhere in public, with the same
boldness as men. They dress in laces, silks, satins, velvets; richest
furs, feathers, shawls, and scarfs. Are so addicted to these things,
and to costly jewels, and ornaments of gold, precious stones, and the
like, that a fortune is often carried upon and about a fine Lady.
(_Lady_ is for the female like Lord for a male). In truth, a Lady only
lives for two purposes--_to dress_, and _to marry_. I ought to add
another, but whether it be subordinate or chief I know not; in fact, I
hardly know what it is. We have no very near word. It is a _something_
of which you hear constantly--_to flirt_. To dress, it is necessary _to
shop_ [keat-hi]. This, is to buy the innumerable articles which make
up a fine Lady's wardrobe and personal appointments. Heaven and earth,
and all the lands beyond the great seas, are ransacked to gratify the
insatiate demands of Barbarian High-Caste women. The finest paints for
the cheeks and eyelids, the most precious stones for the ears, the
neck, the wrists, the fingers; the most delicate perfumes, the pure
gold, the richest furs and feathers, spices, oils; the laces, scarfs,
silks, embroideries;--an endless variety. Shopping is, therefore, the
serious occupation (subsidiary to husband-catching and _flirting_) of
ladies. Many ruin themselves, or their fathers, their husbands, or
relatives, in this expensive luxury of idle vanity. High-Caste women
show themselves in public, sometimes on foot, but, more generally,
lolling, with poodles in lap, within open, grand carriages, drawn by
great, high-stepping horses. (Poodles are nasty dogs). They attend the
Temples, waited upon by _solemn_ servants, clothed in showy colours,
and bearing ostentatiously the _Sacred_ books. They are conspicuous,
when at the Temple, for audibly accompanying the Priest in the
Invocations and Confessions: "_miserable offenders_" seeming to be a
phrase rolled like a sweet morsel, and having a savour of repentance
and humility, very edifying!

The men do not appear very numerously with the women--leaving them to
do as they please. The men going off to their own exclusive pleasures:
gambling, betting, racing, boating, hunting, and other things equally
useful and improving.

All through the night, which is the time of High-Caste revelry, the
streets where the great live resound with the noise of the carriages,
constantly busy with the transporting of the High-Castes to and from
the Theatres, the Dances, the places of Amusements, the Dinners,
the Parties, Routs, and visits. To mark the difference of the Upper
from the Lower, time itself is reversed; night is taken for life
and sport, and the day for rest, gossip [Quen], and _shopping_. In
nothing could the difference be more striking. The luxuriousness
of mere self-indulgence, which takes no heed of the usual order of
nature, and does not suspect that day has any better use! When in the
country, there is the same round of busy nothings. Visits, feasting,
drinking--dancing, routs, and parties. Women taking the lead everywhere
and in everything. Here, as in town, the business of life with women is
to flirt, to marry, to dress--the last should be first.

The men add to the follies of women some things more robust, but not
more useful. Betting, horse-racing, riding over country with dogs,
pursuing timid creatures--or gambling, drinking, and feasting.

When I first arrived in England, I was amazed, and supposed all women
were _shameless_ [ba-tsi] that I saw, whenever I went in public. In
our Flowery Land this class [ba-tsi], under the strictest survey and
care of the magistrates, are barely tolerated, and forced to the most
scrupulous decorum of dress and conduct. With us no modest woman of any
rank ever appears in public. Therefore my surprise and astonishment
may be imagined. Afterwards these were moderated, and I could make
allowances for the force of custom. None the less the custom is
remarkable, and will receive attention elsewhere.

The mode of dress is simply wonderful. It is ever changing and ever
indelicate and monstrous--especially for women. When I first saw one
of these with a huge _hunch_ on the top of her back, I thought the
person was afflicted with an enormous _tumour_; but when I observed
the same thing on all hands, I saw my mistake. The great hunch was
no more than a machine placed on top of the seat, under the outer
garments. The effect is something amazing. The women in walking also
wear the robe drawn as tightly as possible back and over the hips, so
as to display the whole form from head to foot in front, and also in
rear, excepting at the back-seat where the protuberance is. Here the
clothes are clustered, and hang down in a trail upon the ground! The
feet are thrust into very high-heeled shoes, or boots; so, in walking,
the woman stoops mincingly forward with short, unsteady steps, as if
pinched at the toes, rattling her heels upon the pavement, and tossing
her back-gear and headdress, and showing off to an astonished observer
(unused to the apparition) something to be remembered! On every little
occasion taking up her _trail_, and discovering legs and ankles.

At home, when receiving male and female friends to dinner, the women
do as they please--also in dances, routs, and the like. I was invited,
soon after my arrival, to dine. I had looked at a _Book of rites_
and ceremonies for the great, and hoped to get on tolerably well. On
arriving, my first mistake was to address the servant as Illustrious,
taking him for the master. In many houses the servant, dressed like
the master (being much more of a man in appearance), may well be
taken for him; but in some houses the servants are made to wear
_badges and colours_ of their station. Women are very choice about
these men-servants, and will not have one unless he have very large,
well-formed _calves_ [fa-tze]. I have heard that the rogues supply this
requirement by adding so much fine hay to the leg as will give due
swell and figure!

Upon being shown up to the room, where I was to address myself first to
the _Lady_--the Illustrious wife--I made my next blunder. The lady was
large, full of flesh, rather red, with bright eyes. Another lady, just
moving away, trailed her long robe suddenly before me--my foot caught
and held her. She turned her white shoulders upon me, frowned--at the
moment I stumbled, and recovered myself awkwardly, with open hands full
upon the ample bosom of the Illustrious! Ah, my confusion! I could not
recover my composure. I could see nothing but necks, shoulders, backs,
bosoms of women, and eyes flashing at me--heads, and feathers and
jewels--lights, noise, confusion! I got away--never knew how.

Women, when undressed in this indelicate way, are said to be in _full
dress_. I think this is a sly sarcasm of the men. The men, however,
dress in a manner not at all better. When in full dress, they put
on a ridiculous close garment, slit up behind, and very scant, with
two tails, which pretend to cover the hinder parts. The _trowsers_
(an "unmentionable" article for the legs), no more than the _under_
garment worn by us, is the only covering for the legs and lower part of
the body! Imagine the indelicacy! In this style of _full dress_, the
women and men of the High-Caste Barbarians meet and mingle together
everywhere, and at all feasts, revelries, and dances.

In the shows within-doors the same mode prevails. At the public
spectacles, in full view of thousands, ladies sit exposed to the gaze
of men, who often level at them the magnifying glasses taken for
the purpose! Critically examining the exhibition before them from a
distance of twenty feet [tu-fai].

The dress of women on horseback is as follows:--The head is covered
with a man's head-gear, round, hard, high, black in colour, with a
narrow rim. The bust and body are just as tightly fitted as possible,
the hips and figure exposed in exact shape (how much _made up_ no one
can more than conjecture), and the legs covered by the dress falling
over them long and full. The woman sits on a side-saddle, one leg
well up over a horn of the saddle near the front top, and the other
supported with the foot in a steel rest. She is lifted by a male
servant, relative, or friend, into her perch. And when she, with the
little whip in hand, takes up the long strips of leather by which she
guides the horse, and starts off, there is a show the most curious!
Up and down, with every motion of the horse, she _bobs_ [Ko-bys],
exposing, to any one looking after her, the most precise model of
herself! but in an attitude and costume so remarkable, that I never saw
even the accustomed Barbarians disregard an opportunity to see _this
show_, however indifferent they may usually be. Nor do I think that the
Barbarian women esteem any exhibition of themselves superior to this.

In the country you will see several apparitions of this kind, urging
their flying horses after men and dogs, all chasing _pell-mell_ some
poor hare, which, running for cover, is pursued by a crowd of men and
women on horseback, with dogs, yelping, barking, men blowing horns and
shouting; the women on the horses leaping over fences, ditches, and
urging their horses as wildly, boldly as the men--and sometimes in
all respects as skilfully and well! This Sport is considered by the
Barbarians to be very manly--nor do they consider a broken back, or
even neck, as any objection to it!

The _Rout_ is a favourite amusement with the High-Castes. So named from
the confusion of armed men when _routed_--put to flight. It is to get
together just as many people of both sexes as possible. With no sort
of regard to the size of the house, but only to show how many of the
High-Caste will respond to the invitation.

In full _undress_ the ladies and _gentlemen_ (Barbarian style for any
High-Caste man) crowd into the house. Every stairway, every hall,
room, chamber is filled. Refreshments are provided, but the flux and
reflux of the people render all eating and drinking very difficult. The
women flash in jewels, pendants in the ears, sparkling brilliants on
arms, busts, ornaments of flowers and gems in the hair, jewelled fans
in hand, perfumed laces and scarfs, tinted, and flushed, and adorned,
exposed to bewilder and intoxicate the men--in fine, in the pursuit of
husbands, or bent upon flirtations! These entertainments are designed
for the very purpose of excitement and match-making. "_Society_ is kept
alive--life is made endurable by these things," the High-Caste women
say. They have no other business but to attend to such matters; and to
them _Society_ looks to save it from dissolution and despair!

In the _Rout_ all is confusion and opportunity. The young people,
the old people, the highest and the lowest (permissible), are thrown
promiscuously together. Women and men mingle, jostle, jamb, crowd,
wriggle, and writhe together as best they can. The young lady suddenly
finds herself quite in the arms of the young man who has saved her from
a fall; and he, in turn, "_begs pardon_" of some woman, into whose lap
he has almost been thrown by a sudden press.

Acquaintances may be made, _flirtations_ begun, ending in something or
nothing. But _Society_ has had its excitement, and its members their
chances for mere idle display, gossip, sensual gratification, or
the more serious business of High-life--_fortune-hunting_ by men and
_husband-catching_ by women! The _Waltz and Dance_ are, however, the
great game (for they are really one) of Barbarian life. Every Caste,
according to its ability, dances--the low imitating, to their best, all
the "_airs and graces_," dress and _flirtations_ of their superiors. In
the Waltz, when the music strikes up, the man takes the woman about the
waist, standing with the other dancers in the middle of the floor, and
she leans upon his shoulder interlocking the fingers of her disengaged
hand in his. In this close position, they begin to wheel around,
around; one couple follows another about the clear space left for
them, till many couples are seen twirling, whirling about, around to
the sound of the music--ever in this wild, whirling sort of a gallop,
following one after another, rapidly! The long trails of the woman are
held up, the embroidered skirts fly out, the silken shoes and hose
flash; she is held close and more closely in the supporting arm, her
cheek almost touches, her bust, neck, and face glow with excitement,
the eyes and jewels sparkle, the man and woman whirl about, till
intoxicated, dazed, and nearly exhausted, she sinks upon his arm and
motions for rest, and he half supports and half leads her to some soft
bench or chair! Such briefly is the Waltz. The dance is the same thing
nearly, only more variety of movement is introduced. The whole object
is to bring the sexes together, and keep _Society_ alive, as before.
_Flirtation_ and match-making being main elements of social life.

The manners of the High-Caste are not really more refined than
elsewhere; only there is a cool tone. Nothing must surprise, nothing
confuse, nothing abash. A blush must be as rare as a laugh. A young
woman seeing a young man gazing at her with bold admiration, must
coolly _look him down_--if she please. His is an action of mere
rudeness, or _should_ be, when directed to a virtuous woman: but
no, "a man may gaze upon what is everywhere exhibited _for_ his
admiration--may he not?" And yet, with strange inconsistency, a
woman has a right to complain if a man, captivated by the very means
designed, too rudely express his pleasure. And one man is required
to chastise another for the rudeness to his relative, though he know
that, in the nature of things, the female should expect what she
encounters--and more, the complexity is further involved, that though
one man must call another to account for this sort of rudeness, yet
every man indulges in it!

Young people, in public, of the two sexes, without shame appear in
close intimacy--and will look upon statues and paintings of naked women
and men, talking and criticizing, examining the works and looking at
them in company, without confusion, or appearance of there being any
indelicacy. As if, in fact, in the bosoms of the High-Caste there did
not exist any of the passions of ordinary mortals!

There are very numerous galleries of Art, where statues, paintings,
pictures, models, and the like, are shown, which are always crowded
by High-Caste women, children, and men. And shop-windows are made
attractive by displays of pictures of nude, or half-nude, women
and men, who act in the Plays, or who are notorious in Spectacles.
This sort of indecency prevails; and strikes one, not used to it,
with an unpleasant surprise. He knows not what to think of its
significance--have all his ideas of decency been indecent?

I am not able to say much of the interior life of the family. I was
told that a happy family was rare--quite an exception. It is only
_where the wife rules_ that any peace is secured. The wife is allowed
to do, generally, in Society and at home, as she will. The husband goes
off to _his_ pastimes and pursuits. Children whilst young are committed
to the care of servants, and when older sent away to be educated and
trained by hirelings.

The daughters, when grown, often move the jealousy of the mother by
attracting more attention from men--they are often _snubbed_ and made
to dress unbecomingly, so that the mother may shine.

Marriage among the High-Caste is an arrangement for an _establishment_;
and to secure the succession of family name and title. To these ends
great care is given to the money question. The man demands money for
taking the wife. Domestic happiness is hardly thought of; unless,
occasionally, by very young people, and they are laughed out of their
ridiculous romance.

In the marriage ceremony, the wife, in the presence of the Idols, and
following the Invocations of the Priest, solemnly promises to obey
the husband. But this is regarded as a mere form. Any husband who
undertakes to enforce obedience, finds himself branded by _Society_,
as a "brute!" Much of the infelicity in marriage rests upon this false
basis. For, with the virile instinct, man naturally expects obedience;
yet has, in his unmarried days, fallen in with the false notion of
woman's superiority in delicacy and moral virtue. This peculiar
affectation colours all Barbarian intercourse with the sex. It has its
root in the _Superstition_, possibly; where an immaculate virgin gives
birth to a _Son_ of god-_Jah_! who is the Christ-god. Thus, woman came
to be mother of God!

From this, very likely, followed all the false worship and gallantry of
the barbarians; who still, keeping up this mode of treating women as
superior in excellency, could scarcely deny to them a superior place
in the family. Assumed to be absolutely chaste and pure, they are
to be implicitly trusted--nor _to them_ is there impropriety! Hence
follows the _fine Art_ exhibitions--the undress dress; the waltz; the
mixed crowds--the _everything_, where women, according to the ordinary
feelings of cultivated men, should not be, or be in a very different
way. But the man before marriage, and afterwards, too, (excepting to
his own wife), pretends to look upon woman as a divinity--as something
far above him in moral goodness! _After_ marriage, it is difficult
to dethrone this divinity--the man has not a divinity at the head of
his family; but all his friends (male friends) pretend to think so;
Society says so; and he is _himself_ compelled to _pretend to the same
thing_. Under these circumstances he will never be likely to get much
obedience. None the less, a struggle commences; the man persistent,
strong; the woman unyielding, crafty; the family divided; the children
demoralized; a false and wretched farce of conjugal _Play_, so badly
acted as to deceive not even _Society!_ and finally ending in the
Divorce Court.

This is the tribunal where _Causes Matrimonial_ are settled; and, if
one may judge from its Reports in the _Gazette_, conjugal contention
is exceedingly common. For the public cases must be few, compared with
those where publicity is avoided by private arrangement.

Doubtless, a fine man and an excellent woman may unite, and live
happily together, in spite of the unfavourable conditions. But, more
commonly, the high-minded man, really believing in the superior purity
of the sex, and her greater moral delicacy, finds his _Ideal_ to be too
high; and without absolute cause to quarrel; in fact, seeing that his
Ideal was _itself_ only an error of the prevailing delusion; ever after
struggles to bring himself into harmony with the existing fact--to
love and respect a woman and only a woman, with a woman's vanity, love
of excitement, frivolity and caprice--a very weary work. The woman,
too, still flattered, and exacting the devotion which her _lover_
(now her husband) gave to her in his days of delusion, thinks herself
treated with coldness; and, gradually, by her unreasonable complaints,
estranges altogether the husband, whom she, too, tries to forget, in
the admiration, flatteries, and excitements of Society!

The affectation and falsity, therefore, respecting woman, tends to a
fundamental error in the relation of the sexes and the ordering of the
family. It is a strange and almost fatal error to give this exaltation
to woman. No doubt, a real trust and respect tend to secure, in some
degree, the virtues accorded; and this true respect of an honest
man, who places his wife, or his relative, before himself in purity,
challenges the best of nature in the female. But man has reversed the
true order, and run counter to the true instinct of the race (quite as
strong in the female as in himself), when he thus puts woman before
him, in anything. What authority is there for this reversal of the
natural order? Why is woman more moral, more chaste? There is nothing
in the nature of things, why the man, here, as in all things, should
not be, as he is, the superior--the master. In morals he should be her
guide, her teacher, her best support. That Society is, indeed, unsound,
wherein the man may be low and sensual, and fancy, or pretend to fancy,
that the woman is better than himself--it is a delusion. Man gives the
real character to any Society--the woman will not be, cannot be better
than the man. The English Barbarians, in spite of the absurd falsity
of their customs, must have some tolerably happy families. The innate
perception of the eternal fitness of things will cause many couples to
arrive at a proper method. The wife, without exactly admitting it, even
to herself, submits to her husband; and the husband, without exactly
commanding (except in rare instances), feels that he is really the head
of the house--and the family gets on pretty smoothly, because living in
the natural order. But, in general, the struggle for mastery destroys
either the existence of the family, or all attempts at affectionate
ways of living. To avoid public scandal, the members do not actually
separate; but all harmony and true domestic life are lost--and life is
a dismal and disorderly rout.

The exaltation of the sex and the complete freedom allowed to them
belong to a state of society, if any such there be, where man is
still _more_ excellent. There, indeed, a bright and beautiful ideal
is made real, and men and women know how to love and to obey; and
love is as true as the respect and the obedience. The Barbarians,
full of immorality, of rudeness, of strong passions, of selfishness,
controlled by a false conception founded in their Idolatry, act, in
respect of their women, as if purity, cultivation, generosity, and the
highest morality, everywhere existed! This, so false, is well-nigh
fatal to them. Yet, it is only an illustration of the uncultivated and
confused state of mind, even in the highest, that so simple a thing
as the natural order governing the relation of sex and family is not
comprehended; and that their Society is saved from absolute wreck only
by the strong and controlling instinct of nature, which, in spite of
obstacles, does bring the female into subjection to the male--at least
to an extent sufficient to make life possible!

None the less the disorder of households is dreadful. Sons and
daughters, as they grow strong, assert themselves [Quan-hang-ho].
They act and speak (and in this follow the wife and mother) as if the
sole business of the father was to give the means of selfish, idle
indulgence. This would not be so unjust among the High-Caste, but it
descends to all grades, and the middle orders are content to see the
father toil at his business till overworked, or ruined altogether, in
his efforts to supply these daily exactions. No doubt he himself is a
victim to the whole vicious falseness--yet the cold-bloodedness of this
conduct on the part of children and wives is remarkable. "Obedience,"
or "gratitude!"--Words sneered at, laughed at!

The daughters, directed by _Mamma_ [na-ni-go], are taught to dress, to
_look_ modest, to practise all those arts by which they may attract the
male and secure husbands, and are exhibited in public places and in
Society accordingly.

The sons are sent off to be taught. In the _Halls of Learning_ they
acquire but little of the knowledge paid for in the _Lists_, but a
great deal of that which does not appear there. A youth may have
entered, at least, honest, moral, and generous--he still leaves
unlearned, but dishonest, corrupt, selfish--he has acquired that
knowledge most sought for (even by his parents), a knowledge of the
_World_ [Quang]! In truth, the youth instinctively feels that it
is better for his success in life to know the World than to know
Letters. He acts upon this feeling, which thrives in the demoralised
atmosphere which he breathes. Father is called _Governor_, and is
regarded as a sort of creature to be made the most of! The money
allowed (perhaps too ample for really useful purposes) is spent in
things foolish and hurtful. Money and time are wasted. The latter is
valueless, to be sure, to these youths anywhere--but the money may be
wrung from relatives, who put themselves on short diet to enable the
son or brother (who is defrauding them) to appear well in _Society_!
To perfect himself in the learning which he feels to be effective,
he devises _new_ methods of wringing more money from the _Governor_,
who begins to protest. To drink, smoke, lounge about with easy and
cool impudence; to stare into the face of women; to bet, gamble; to
get in debt, and curse the creditors who presume to ask for pay;
to make, or pretend to make, love; and generally to lay broad and
deep that moral and cultivated _elegance_, to take on that exquisite
_polish_ [gla-mshi], which shall dazzle society; shall attract the
silly butterflies (women) who have influence or money; shall, in fine,
shine in the Grand Council, or at the head of armed bands, or to the
illumination of the Courts of Law! Noble ambition, based upon manly
principles! With the Barbarians to be a moral and wise man is to be a
_milksop_ [Kou-bab]; to be _a polished man of the World_--admirable!

The English Barbarians who are fathers, generally consider it rather a
_joke_ to have their sons trick them and poke fun at the "_Governor_,"
only it must be marked with some pretence of deference. If the "_young
fellows_" do not positively disgrace the family--that is, marry some
poor creature whom they have first debauched; or actually forge, or
rob, or descend to improper friendships with inferior Castes--the
parents esteem themselves to be fortunate. If he have acquired no
knowledge of letters, nor of anything but vices, yet he is a "_fine,
manly fellow_, who will make his mark in the world." That is, he is a
tall, strong, active _Barbarian_--just fit for the armed bands!

The infelicities and disorders of family life, which only prefigure
the inevitable confusion and evils of the whole Society, are more
intolerable among the Middle Castes. In the _Highest, secured revenues_
enable the wife and the husband each to see as little of each other
as they please; and so long as the husband is not stirred up by _Mrs.
Grundy_ (who is not severe with this Caste) he cares but little what
his wife may do. _He_ goes about his sports and his pleasures as he
pleases; and his wife, not wishing to be looked after, does not look
after him. On this free-and-easy footing, with no want of money (_Mrs.
Grundy's decorum_ being observed), they get on well enough, and may
even form quite a friendship for each other. But it is not possible to
establish this condition in a family of small income--and here it is
that the wretchedness of false principles has full scope. The husband
and father, honest and good, finds himself mated to a woman, weak and
vain, with children moulded by her. He, misled by false notions and
ignorance, took to his heart one whom he fully trusted as simply true
and modest; he took her for herself and without money, and flattered
himself that she would be a helper and solace. She and her children
have made him a miserable _slave_, who finds no quiet unless he satisfy
all their clamorous demands--_to shine in Society_! If a good man, he
tries to obey and live, even under exactions beyond his utmost efforts;
for he has learned to see that his wife, though weak, is no worse than
the Society which she loves, and which he also cannot escape; he is
merely in a false position, and must largely thank himself for having
heedlessly entered upon it!

But this kind of man is not universal, and one may judge what follows,
where there is a man who will not yield, or yields only because he no
longer cares for anything but his personal ease and indulgence--seeking
for pleasure, though unlawful, abroad, as the only recompense
attainable for the loss of happiness at home!

Such a man feels that life is insupportable, where he makes so wretched
an object--to be merely the _mute beast_ of burden for the family,
without receiving so much tenderness and consideration as is accorded
to the dogs lolling in the lazy laps of the females of the house! He
seeks, therefore, abroad for some means of enjoyment, though illicit!

This sort of picture is to be seen everywhere in the Barbarian
_Literature_, and is constantly shown in all its minute and miserable
exhibition at the Courts of Divorce.

Adultery, which in our _Flowery Land_ is punished by death, is not
so much as a crime among the English Barbarians. And, as it is the
chief cause for which the bond of marriage may be wholly severed, one
may judge whether the Court do not encourage the immorality. For when
parties wish to live apart, here is a way to secure it, lying directly
in the path of desire and opportunity. Then, too, the _seduction_ of a
maiden, which with us may be punished even to death, receives no sort
of reprobation in the Court, and scarcely in Society. If the ruined
girl be of low caste, her relatives feel no disgrace if the seducer be
a High-Caste--rather an honour; receive from him some paltry sum (not
so much as he lavishes upon some favourite dogs), and buy with the
money a husband for her from her own Caste!

With us a guilty _intrigue_ is almost unknown; with the Barbarians it
is almost a pursuit.

None the less, there is too much vigour in the organism; too much
moral, intellectual, and physical strength, to suffer total decay. As
is always the case, where the mind is active, even Idolatry itself has
intermixed a pure morality, and the Barbarian nature, still unformed,
untrained; still rude and stirred by passion and by force; wrestles
with the divine _instinct_, and, unconsciously, often moulds to its
light.

Away from the glitter and _sham_ (sometimes _in it_, but not of it),
there are quiet families which live lives of honour. The father works
honestly and cheerfully; the wife, in her house, finds the beginning
and end of her aims, of her love, and her duty. The husband-father is
head; on him rests all responsibility, and to him belong _obedience_.
This is not exacted; it is not questioned. It is founded in love
and respect; love and loving obedience spontaneously arising from
uncorrupted natures. _His_ whole being responds with unmeasured joy.
Whatever is pure, high, tender; all are for these--his wife, his
family; so true, so trusting, so helpful, so delightful. He feels no
hardship; there can be no sacrifice, for these; all that is done is
in harmony with himself. _Everywhere_ he is in accord. The very ills
and misfortunes of life touch him not, for he is living in the _divine
order_.

And from such a man, the inside-life being serene, outer ills fall
away. He is so clear and simple; so _whole_ that nature smiles for
him, even in pain and sorrow; he lives in the presence and calm of the
Sovereign Lord.

These families are the _Salt_ which saves. Among the Barbarians they
are generally obscure, and as wholly unconscious of the service which
they render as are the glittering inanities which ignore them. This
should be reversed, and the _Inanities_ sink into obscurity.

I will now say a word or two as to the personal appearance and
demeanour of the Barbarians. There is no standard of best-looking, and
each tribe will judge from _its_ best type. In general the eyes are
too prominent and open; the nose large and irregular; the teeth bad or
false; the height indifferent; the figure either too lean or too fat.
The hair all colours; red and light most common. The women are so made
up, judging from the articles openly exposed for sale, that one cannot
speak of them with any certainty. The hair, teeth, complexion, bust,
outline of form, are all false or artistically got up. The eyes are too
bold and open. The feet long, and hands large. Too tall, and either
too meagre or too stout. The youth are sometimes pretty. The women are
often brilliant under gaslight (a bright, artificial light). I have
spoken of dress, but I may mention that the women, not content with
every sort of _made-up_ thing to add to their attractions, pile upon
their heads an enormity of false curls, bands of hair, laces, and high
sort of head-ornaments; it is truly amazing. Some of these gewgaws are
hung upon big pig-tails of false hair, and some are stuck high a-top.
Nothing really can be more absurd, unless the false, mincing steps,
and protruding back. Some women are beautiful; but to my unaccustomed
looks, even the brilliant eyes could not blind me to so immodest an
exhibition--or, to _me_, not modest--so instinctively do we demand that
especial quality in the sex, as the crowning grace of true beauty.

One thing of a personal kind in the habits of all, high and low, I
remarked, which would be intolerable to us. A lady or a gentleman,
whilst conversing with you, or at the table of feasting, will suddenly
apply a handkerchief [mün-shi] to nose, and blow that organ in the most
astounding manner; and this may be continued for some minutes, even
accompanied by _hauks and spits_, and closed by many nice attentions
to the orifices not worth while to describe. Surely this strange thing
disconcerted me very greatly at first, nor do I understand how any
people above savages could do it. A fine _lady_ will interrupt herself
in the very midst of speech, or of eating, with spasmodic effort,
to clear her head; emptying into her fine pocket-handkerchief the
obnoxious matter, and then returning the article to her silken pocket.

However, we should not expect refinement in a Society where the women
may boldly mount a horse-back, and follow men and dogs over ditch and
wall, urging her steed with the best, to come in to the death of the
poor hunted creature. And this, a noble sport, fit for a lady! Nor
this only, but will crowd to public spectacles, and be hustled and
crowded promiscuously, forgetful of all delicate reserve. These habits
are only to be criticised because of the boasted prëeminence claimed
in all such matters. But what would be thought of our _Literati_
piling into the mouth huge morsels of flesh, or of guzzling [kun-ki]
(with a gulping noise in the throat), great swallows of a hot, greasy
liquid, besmearing the lips and beard. The Barbarians know nothing of
our delicate mode of eating, where all is silence and decorum whilst
in the act. Another most unaccountable thing to a stranger is the
robbery allowed by the servants of the High-Caste. If you accept of
the hospitality of a great man, you must submit to be plundered by his
servants; and, as a stranger cannot know the limits imposed upon this
rapacity, it goes far to destroy all the pretence of graciousness in
one's reception. When you have eaten at my Lord's table, to think you
are to be _fleeced_ [pe-ekd] by my Lord's _flunki_!

I was once invited by a High-Caste to come to his house in the country
and shoot game. I accepted, and soon went into the copses to hunt for
birds for the table. A servant accompanied me by command of his master,
to show me the grounds and to wait upon me. He was very civil. The next
day, upon my leaving, this man, decked in the livery [bung-shi] of
his Lord, closely eyed and stuck to me, till, at length, I perceived
he wanted something. Only partially aware of the Barbarian custom,
and blushing at the idea of _feeing_ [tin-ti] or giving anything in
return for hospitality, I awkwardly fumbled in my purse and handed to
him a half-crown. He contemptuously looked at the silver piece, then
at me; and remarked that the "_gentlemen_ of my Lord did not receive
gratuities of that colour." Meaning that gold was only fit for such an
exalted minion.




CHAPTER XII.

OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY--AND OTHER THINGS.


The country is so small, that, riding in the swift steam-chariots, it
is traversed in an incredibly short time.

In those parts not disfigured by the smoke vomited out from the huge
fire-chimneys of factories, mines, and the like, nor by the nearness of
great towns, the country presents a green and cultivated look; nearly
as well tilled as our provinces, Quang-tun and Chiang-su. The villages,
Temples with lofty towers, great Houses of the High-Castes, here and
there; trees, gardens, smooth fields of fine verdure, over which cattle
and sheep are feeding; rising hills and sheltered valleys, rich with
copses, orchards, and groves--all seen in moving views--give an aspect
of peace, comfort, and wealth. You do not see the poverty, nor, too
closely, observe the dwellings of the poor.

In winter it is cold, and the whole appearance changes. Far to the
North, the sun gives but little light--and, like the climate of our
provinces by the great Northern Wall, the cold is severe, and the gloom
deeper. Ice is formed upon the streams and canals, and snow frequently
covers the ground.

In approaching great towns, you often catch glimpses of the crowded,
wretched streets, where misery only thrives. In some places, in the
winter cold, smoke and darkness, life becomes intolerable to many.
Out of doors you can hardly find your way, and thieves and beggars
emerge from covert to ply their trades. In the night, at such times,
it is only possible to move by the glare of many torches; and people
are often robbed, or bewildered and lost. At this season of darkness
many go mad. There is a strong vein of _horror_ in the Barbarian
imagination, derived from their ferocious ancestors, from their
old idolatries, and deepened by the new. In the gloom, the misery,
the wretchedness--sometimes in sheer disgust of life--many rush
upon self-destruction--throwing themselves under the wheels of the
steam-chariots, and from the bridges into the canals and rivers. Many
persons are thrown down, maimed or killed in the highways, by horses or
by vehicles moving along. Yet, in the grim humour of these barbarians,
this is the very time when the High-Castes begin their _revelries_, and
the Low-Castes most indulge in drink and riot.

In travelling through the country, you will occasionally notice,
seated upon an eminence, some strong Castle, or Place, of hewn stone,
belonging to a High-Caste. It will be approached through long avenues
of lofty trees, and stand pre-eminent among fine groves, surrounded by
broad lands. These wide Parks contain many thousands of acres [met-si],
left untilled and unproductive; merely with their green slopes and
spaces, interspersed with trees, to give grandeur to the Castle and
its Lord. Still, if you look closely, you will discover near by, the
squalid huts where _huddle_ the _Serfs_, who are starving in the midst
of this rich profusion--Serfs, who never have an _inch_ [toe] of land
of their own, and to whose wornout _carcases_ is begrudged a pauper
grave!

The inequality between Castes is quite as conspicuous in country as
in town. One is born to an abundance, the other to hunger; one to a
life of self-indulgence, the other to one of enforced and hard-worked
self-sacrifice. The one, at last, is covered by a tomb, emblazoned with
Honour; the other is cast into an obscure corner of despised dead, to
rot in forgetfulness--though, often, judged upon a true measure of
merit, the resting-places should be exchanged--and the idle and vicious
_Lord_ [chiang-se] descend into ignominious neglect!

You will see deer, pheasants, partridges, hares, and the like, almost
tame, in the meadows and copses; but the tillers of the soil must
not touch them, though starving--they are carefully _preserved_ for
the Lord [Tchou]. Not that he needs them, or cares for them for
food--_sometimes_ he likes to shoot them for idle diversion!

You will notice sturdy _tramps_ (beggars) resting, or lazily slouching
along by the ways, with heavy staves in their hands; and, if you
suddenly come upon these in a secluded place, very likely you will be
accosted--"Master, I be'se hungry--will ye give me tuppence?" You do
not like the bearing of the man--and would not notice him. But you
observe his face and the clutch of his thick stick--and you hurry to
hand him a sixpence, and get away! These scamps prowl about, idle,
ready for mischief, scornful of honest work--the terror of women and
children who meet them, unexpectedly, without protection.

Sometimes the Iron-roads for Steam-chariots are carried over the
housetops, in entering towns; sometimes, through long tunnels under
the houses, or under hills--and the works in connection with these
roads are surprising. The Barbarians of the Low-Castes are forced
to incessant labours, to prevent starvation. These must be greatly
directed to mines of iron, coal, copper, and tin; and to various things
made from these, and from wool and cotton. For the fruits of the land
cannot feed the population. The amount of food which must be brought
from beyond seas is very great--and to pay for this, the products of
industry must be given. Now, other Barbarian tribes make these things
also, and; having them, do not require the English; in fact, in more
distant parts, undersell them. From this cause, many are unemployed and
turned adrift--they have no land to till; they beg, steal, and starve.
Should this inability of the English Barbarians increase, there would
be no sufficient employment for the Low-Castes--there would not be the
means of paying for the food required--and depopulation must ensue! The
wealth of the High-Caste must shrink--_the English tribe must decline
in strength_!

Many of the High-Caste, already anticipating danger to
themselves--fearing not merely loss of revenue, but the savage ferocity
of starving multitudes--promote schemes by which large numbers of the
poor are shipped off far beyond the great Seas (so that they never
shall return)--to starve, or live, as may chance. "England is well rid
of them!" they say.

In the neighbouring island, Ireland, an actual starvation of the
people in vast numbers happened a short time since. As in England,
the poor _serfs_, tilling the soil and owning none; at _the best_,
toiling for the High-Castes for such pittance as would buy the
cheapest food--_potatoes_; when these failed, could buy nothing--all
else too dear. _These failed, the serfs died_ by thousands and tens
of thousands. Not because Ireland was destitute of food; such was
the abundance that ample stores were actually sold for other and
distant tribes! but because, in the midst of plenty, the starving were
powerless to touch it; it was out of _their_ reach--out of the reach
of paupers! The potatoes were not--and they must die. The annals of
no people record such a depopulation of a fertile land, in the midst
of peace and plenty--there is no parallel! A people dying, not from
idleness, nor unwillingness to work; not from want of food at hand; not
from the ravages of war, nor pestilence; but from sheer poverty! Yet,
the English Barbarians boast that no people are so rich, so generous!
In our own annals are recorded great sufferings from floods, failures
of crops, and natural causes; where our vast populations have been for
a time _deficient_ in _food_; but we have nothing to compare with this
Barbarian horror!

The _Thames_ is the only considerable river. This flows through the
greatest of all the cities of the West--London. It is an insignificant
stream--much less than even the _Quang-tun_, in our chief Southern
province.

As it flows through the great city it is, in some places, confined
by high hewn-stone terraces [kar-tra]. These are truly great works,
and useful, worthy of a strong people. On the river bank is the vast
_Hall_ of the Grand Council; with its lofty towers, turrets, clocks,
and many bells. The architecture is not like anything known to us--it
is the _Gothic_, which I have mentioned elsewhere. Why this style, so
characteristic and fit in the Temples, is used in this grand Hall, I
know not; but probably because this barbarous form was that of the old
Hall, destroyed by fire some time since. And the barbaric stolidity
sticks to its habit, however inconvenient and unfit. Not far away, may
be seen the Dome and Towers of a fine Roman-Grecian Temple, clear and
defined, giving expression to an orderly and trained mind, severe in
dignity and beauty. But the _Gothic_, expressing, or trying to express,
something very different; and, rising in the Temples of a gloomy,
dark Superstition, to a horrible and unformed shape! With _that_ the
disorderly brain burdened _itself_ and the river bank--a pile at once
wonderful and abortive!

London is very large, perhaps equal to some of our greatest cities. For
the most part very dirty and grim, and badly built. The river shows its
great trade--not inland, but from abroad. You can discern, rising above
the buildings, the many tall masts of the ships like forests dried up.
And you will observe the numerous vessels with high chimneys; these
are the vessels moved by _steam_--and the incredible number of small
craft. At one point you will remark the tall white towers and the high
prison walls of stone, erected by the Barbarian chief from the Main
Land who subdued the English tribes in our dynasty _Song_, and made
this huge Castle a stronghold and prison.

Lower down rises, close by the shore, one of the best in style of all
the Barbarian monuments. It is a fine Palace in carved stone, built,
after the Roman forms, to perpetuate the remembrance of _Victories_
gained over distant tribes. Within are great Paintings of these
Victories. Terrible scenes of devastation and cruelty; bloody fights
and dreadful conflagrations, by sea and land; rapine, massacre,
unbridled fury! These are the most admired of all things by the
Barbarians--by the Low-Castes, who are almost entirely the victims,
as much as by the High. The sight of these kindles their passion for
bloody force. They _Hoorah!_ with an indescribable _yell_ [zung]
whenever they wish to show their frantic delight at any exhibition of
brutal ferocity. This _yell_ is greatly gloried in, and vaunted to be
far more terrible than that of _any other_ tribe--that by it _alone_,
when raised upon the air by fierce bands, English Barbarians have
routed armed hosts!

When one is in the narrow seas of the English, very many vessels may
be seen, and near the coasts fleets of fishing craft. The fishermen
live in great poverty, in miserable villages by the seaside. They
use lines and snares, sometimes like ours, but are not so ingenious
in catching the sea-creatures as are our fishermen. They have never
trained birds to the work. Their huts are noisome, and their habits
and dress unclean. They wear a curious cover upon the head, like a
basin, with a long wide flap behind. This is all besmeared with a
thick, black oil--and their clothing is stiff and nasty with the same
unctuous stuff. The oil is to exclude the sea-spray and wet. Their
speech is nearly unintelligible to the _Literati_, though comprehended
by their own _Caste_; they are of the lowest--serfs. Multitudes of
these rude and unlettered Barbarians perish amid the waves in the
storms of winter--being forced to imperil their lives that they may
live _at all_. They are quite a feature in some parts, with their
awkward uncouthness. They are addicted to the grossest superstitions of
_the_ Superstition. They have many legends about the dark _devil-god_,
and swear by _him_ mostly. They seem to think to cheat him--though they
cautiously observe those things which may entrap them, and nothing
would tempt them to put to sea on the _devil's day_--Friday. To do so,
would be to go to the _devil's Locker_ (as they call it) at once! This
class is similar to the sailor [mat-le-si] known in our ports, and the
character may therefore be fairly judged. The fisherman, in fact, often
changes into the ships and goes upon distant voyages.

There are no mountains, only pretty high hills, in the English
provinces. The loftiest are in the far Northern parts, where are also
some small lakes. In the winter these loftier ridges of land are
sometimes white with snow. The inhabitants are savages, having their
legs naked and bodies wrapped about in loose robes and skins, secured
by a belt, into which a knife is stuck, and to which a long leather
pouch is hung. In this pouch they place some dry corn [matze], which,
with strong wine in a bottle suspended from the neck, enables them to
live for days. Thus equipped, they descend to the valleys, and drive
off to their haunts in the rocky hills the cattle of the more civilised
people of the plains.

The English Barbarians have never conquered these fierce tribes of the
Northern hills, but have contrived gradually to destroy and to remove
them. So that, at present, what few remain are quite tamed. A great
many, in times past, were cunningly betrayed to the English and put to
the sword; but, in latter days, the _head-chiefs_ have been bought by
the English, and used to entice their ignorant but devoted serfs to
enter into the armed bands to be sent beyond seas. By these methods,
those distant Northern parts have been, in good degree, depopulated and
made quiet.

The Low-Castes furnish the fierce savages so well known in our
Celestial Waters as those who live in the great fire-ships.

Now, when the English tribe, being in need of many men for these ships
(just about to go away to plunder and to fight), determines to have
them, this follows:--Strong, brutal men, are paid to watch for the poor
of the Low-Caste, and seize them. These cruel wretches are armed with
clubs and swords and small firearms. They are sent into the places
where the poor and friendless abound, to seize any man whom they think
they can carry off without much _fuss_ [pung]. The poor cower and hide
away; but these savage bands hunt them out, and bear off from wife and
children, it may be, or from any chance of succour, some unfriended
man to their dreadful dens. Here they are beaten, or put in irons, or
otherwise maltreated; or they may have been brutally knocked down when
captured. When gangs [twi-sz] are collected, the victims are forced
on board the fire-ships to work in the dark, filthy holes, till,
completely cowed, they are made to fire the great cannons, and to learn
the art of sailing and fighting!

Many of these slaves of selfish, cruel force, never see their own
land again, but are killed in fight, or by accident, or by disease.
Multitudes sometimes perish by a single disaster. These are, however,
fortunate. They have escaped the brutal whipping, the loathsome
diseases, the vile contagions, the inexpressible horrors of a continued
captivity!

By these _press-gangs_ (so-called) the fire-ships are often supplied
with victims snatched from the unprotected Low-Castes; and the Upper
enjoy the idle and luxurious security which they rob from the blood and
limbs of the friendless and obscure.

This unjust custom, frightful in every aspect, receives the approbation
and applause of the Barbarians very generally, who say, "Let the
fellows thank their _stars_ that they can receive the Queen's money
and fight _for_ her! Then look at the chance for _prize_!" By _prize_,
they mean some pitiful fraction of the plunder taken. The _stars_ are
referred to, because the Barbarians fancy that everybody is born under
the influence of some star!

I once noticed a painting, wherein a young man and maiden were
represented as just leaving a Temple, where they had been married. Both
were nicely dressed, young and handsome, with roses and _nosegays_
[bong-no]. They were walking arm-in-arm, happily engrossed in each
other, when, from an alley, out springs a black-whiskered _bully_
[kob-bo] with drawn cutlass, followed by a band of half-drunken, armed
wretches, wearing the sea-garb of the Queen; he grasps the young man
roughly by the collar--the picture attempts to show the indignant
surprise of the man, the clinging tenderness, fear, and horror of the
maid! But more striking to an observing stranger than even these, is
the merely passing curiosity of the people moving about! The scene to
them is not so novel. It is merely a _press-gang_ doing its lawful
work--if, by chance, a wrong sort of man be seized, it is none of the
affair of these indifferent passers.

Probably, the picture means to excite some compassionate interest by
showing how _very hard_ the press-gang system may work!

It would be vain to call the least attention to the matter, if the
victim were merely a common labourer; even the accessories of wife and
children would not raise the scene into one of compassion. Nor does the
representation, for one moment, cause any reflection upon a _system_
wherein _bullies_ [kob-toe] are employed to waylay and carry off
unbefriended and unoffending men, at so much _per head_! For, besides
the regular pay, a reward is given for each victim captured!




CHAPTER XIII.

LONDON.


London is the capital city of the British Empire. This is the style
assumed by the English when they speak of their whole power. It is a
curiously constructed empire--in some respects like that of the old
Romans, who, however, obtained their domination more directly by valour
and wisdom--whereas the English rather by cunning, accident, and fraud.
I say _accident_, because the immense regions possessed by virtue of
discovery come under the term; and the vastest of all their distant
provinces, that of India, was obtained chiefly by fraud, assisted
by force. I say _curiously_ constructed, because these Christians
are content to wring from Heathen subjects their last bit of revenue
utterly indifferent to the idolatries and to the miseries of the
people. If the Taxes come in and the wretched Hindoos starve, the main
thing is to make the money and support 'our magnificent Empire' (as the
English have it). So the wildest excesses may go on, and the native
chiefs, who are mere creatures of their distant masters, may oppress
the poor inhabitants; still, now and ever, the Master demands money;
this secures the yoke upon the neck of the subjugated, and enables the
English to make the vast Hindoo world a field where golden harvests
are to be reaped. Boasting of liberty at home, there, a tyranny most
odious is practised without pity. Then, the distant settlements where
the poor English Barbarians go, to cultivate the lands and to trade
and plunder, are held in subjection chiefly to give places, with
large revenues attached, to members of the Aristocracy, who must be
provided for in some way, as they can do nothing for themselves. So
this arrangement is very satisfactory, because the stupid Englishman
abroad is just as devoted to the Upper-Caste and to the Superstition as
at home, and feels honoured to have a "scion of nobility" foisted upon
him; and is amply repaid all the cost by the privilege of "cooling his
heels" in an ante-room of the great man, when he holds his little Court.

The result is, that back upon London flows all the wealth which the
English Barbarians can contrive to get. Having these distant regions,
and a greater trade across sea, London has become the greatest mart
of all the Western tribes. It is, perhaps, as large and populous as
our Pekin. It is the centre of Authority and of business; not only so,
but is the Metropolis of all the Christ-worshipping Tribes--or, as the
Barbarians phrase it, of _Christendom_.

The population is 3,500,000, or thereabouts. The bulk of this multitude
is poor, and a large fraction paupers. Yet the English boast that "it
is the richest city in the world!"

Most of the streets, courts, and buildings are very mean. In the
winter, nothing can equal the repulsiveness of the place. To the
squalor of beggary, the meanness of abject poverty, add the darkness
and smoke; and the conditions seem unfit for human life. The rich shut
themselves within their houses, drop the heavy draperies over windows,
stir up the fires, light the flaring flames of the curious gas-lights,
eat, drink, and sleep--shutting out from sight and sound that hideous
_outside_. This is the time when the wretched in mind and body find
existence too great a burden, and cast it off with a shriek and a
rush--plunging into the river or canal, or dashing beneath the wheels
of the swift steam-chariots.

At all street-corners one notices the gin and beer shops. These are the
homes of the poor, who find in them the warmth and comfort which are
wanting in their domestic haunts. These shops are closed at mid-night,
when the half or wholly drunken loiterers must straggle off into
those holes and corners which _are_ their homes. Probably there is no
feature in barbaric life so curious and so characteristic as this--this
Gin-house of the poor. The Government licenses these places, and
derives a great income. The Upper-Castes fatten upon this very thing.
What can be said of it--what done with it?

Another remarkable object in the London streets is the _Street Arab_.
This is the name given to it by the Barbarians. But the Arab of Asia
(if my reading be correct) is nothing like this creature. The London
Arab is of the degraded and thieving class--the very sediment--but
not yet fully weighted! In years a youth, but in feeling a ravening,
sharp, adroit animal, quickened by the exercise of every instinct, and
cool and expert from constant habit. He dodges in and out from under
the heads of horses and the wheels of vehicles; mounts a lamp-post, or
anything by which he may get a sight; seizes the bundle which you may
have in hand; touches his uncombed front locks of hair, "Please, Sir,
le' me carry it, Sir;" and trots before you, happy if he get twopence.
Nobody knows where he sleeps, or eats, nor how he lives, at all. I
have suddenly come upon two or more of them, when resting upon an iron
grating. Their naked feet and heads, their thin limbs hung about with
dirty rags, and their teeth chattering with cold--but never a word of
complaint--no seeming thought of anything hard or uncommon. These iron
bars cover, sometimes, an area below, into which the warm, moist air
of kitchens comes, and rises through the gratings, loaded with the
smell of cookery. Upon these bars will huddle together these half-naked
and starved outcasts, happy in the partial warmth, and a hope of
food--for, if only a bone, or a bit of that steaming soup could by any
chance be theirs! Poor girls, of this wretchedness born, shivering
upon the wintry swept corners, timidly offer you matches [kin-fue],
"Please, Sir, buy"--and will run along by your side, if you give them a
half-glance, begging you for pity to buy. Human misery finds no greater
examples, nor any form of degradation deeper depths, than the lowest
class of London--nor of London only, but of all the great towns.

This degradation takes on every shape of misery and shame. Crime of
every kind breeds in it--disease, despair, and death! Is it inseparable
from human existence--must excellence in humanity be only for the few?

London has for Misery its Charities--for Crime its vast Stone prisons.
The latter are more accessible, and, for the offences of mere poverty,
quite as desirable. Pauperism detests the alms-house--it hates
subordination; and will, sometimes, starve before it seeks the bread
of scornful wealth. Extreme indigence hardens--softness is turned to
stone--human instinct feels wronged. "I wish work and pay, not idleness
and pauper-bread." The cruel thing with the poor is, that at _first_,
there is not debasement. Work is sought--but, continued inability to
find work and honest bread, leads in the bad demon--which loves not,
cares not, feels not--renders inhuman.

In walking the streets one feels the cold nature of the English
Barbarians--one sees its exhibition everywhere. It is intensified by
Caste divisions: there is no real sympathy. An Englishman shows in the
streets, and in all public places, the indifference of a brute. Nothing
moves him, nothing makes him laugh, smile, or give any sign of emotion.
In sports, nominally sportive, there is nothing of gaiety--only with
the Low-Castes very coarse and rough brutishness; and with the Upper
a repulsive cynicism. This mood gives to the life of the streets no
pleasing animation--only, at best, mere animal movement, as if each
beast was intent upon his own particular hunger. At the Play there is
no show of genuine enjoyment--and the dance (somebody said to me once)
might be a dance of Death, so far as any lively pleasure appears.

The _Hansom Cab_--of which there are thousands--is a singular and
characteristic thing. It is a vehicle of two wheels, drawn by one
horse, and carries two passengers. The Barbarians, intent upon gain,
allow the driver to urge his horse at speed through the crowded
streets, giving no other warning than _hi-hi_! Everybody must look out
_at his own peril_; for life and limb are unimportant compared with
speed in business. One would not credit this--but as I have been nearly
run over by these drivers more than once, not hearing the _hi-hi_! I
can vouch for the existence of these privileged vehicles. The use of
them is based upon the same rule, which allows of so many other things,
to us inhuman or unjust--to say--that 'the convenience of trade' is
paramount to trifling risks of life, limb, or soundness of abstract
morality.

Another public chariot for passengers is the _Omnibus_. These are very
numerous on the great thoroughfares. It is drawn by two horses, and
will hold twelve or more inside and fourteen outside, upon the top.
These are licensed by the law, and convey people a long distance for
a small sum. The name is from the Roman, and means a bus (kiss) for
all--a ridiculous term for which I can give no explanation, unless,
as women and men ride in them promiscuously, some of the sly and
coarse humour of the Barbarians may be meant. I refer, however, to the
carriage, to give an illustration of street life, and of the English
bearishness [che-liftze]. I have seen women and children waiting at a
corner in the mud and rain, for the _'Bus_, and when it has stopped, I
have seen men rudely elbow themselves to the front and enter upon the
unoccupied seats, leaving the women to the inclemency of winter, or to
the rain and sleet. And these not the _Roughs_, but gentlemen. This,
too, one would scarcely believe, if one did not see.

The _police_ [ki-ti] of London is noted for its stupidity; its
members are the perpetual _butt_ [la-phe] of farces and plays in the
Theatres. Yet the liberty and the good name of the citizens are at
their mercy. If a stranger be hustled and mobbed, it will be well for
him to get out of the affair without any call for the police, for if
one of these should come up, he will be as likely to pounce upon the
innocent and injured as upon the wrong-doer. And he likes to make his
_arrest_ appear guilty before the magistrate--_he_ is not mistaken.
In selecting policemen, rather strength of body than any moral or
mental qualification is looked for. And the theory seems to be that
one cannot afford to pay for intelligent men, where merely the liberty
and good name of the individual is concerned. Here again, "better that
the particular person should suffer than that too much money should be
paid;" especially as the Police are not likely to be _hard_ upon the
upper-Castes. To these they can be conveniently deaf, dumb, and blind.

One wonders, looking along the interminable extent of mean streets,
to see the endless shops. It looks as if everybody had something to
sell; and where the buyers can be who knows? You may watch some of
these places for hours, and you will not see a soul enter or depart.
Look in, and very likely some old man or woman is drowsing away, if in
summer time, behind a paltry litter of old stuffs, the whole not worth
a year's living; or, if in winter, half-perishing with cold, waiting
for customers who never come. And these waifs [dri-tze] of a forgotten
trade linger on, in old age, eating hungrily the husks of former
traffic, which new ways have destroyed. London is an enormous shop with
a West End of dwellings; these, however, not by any means shopless. It
is a marvel. Thousands and thousands of mean shops, yet supporting the
tens of thousands which live by them. One asks how any fair profit can
do this. You will see a display of rusty goods, of tawdry ornaments, of
dirty books, of mere rubbish; and if you venture inside you will hurry
out again. The creatures inside are as unattractive as the wares. Do
you believe these are places of honest dealing?

But in what are called respectable tradesmen's houses, profits must
be little short of plunder--the business is so small. Yet the English
Barbarians, of certain classes, seem to take to this mode of living
upon the community with a hawk-like keenness. The difference between
the price of an article of food, whether bought first hands, or after
it has passed through these intermediaries, is a difference as of
one-half to the whole--that is, the price is doubled!

These petty tradesmen glean their livings from the poor, who cannot
help themselves; but, in truth, the common feeling is on all hands,
"Let us plunder, and be plundered." It is merely a question of securing
a good share.

London, therefore, not wanting in a certain air of greatness in
some parts, really expresses very clearly the traits of the English
Barbarians. It is gloomy, morose, huckstering, repulsive. Huge it is,
like the English barbaric power; but incoherent, uninformed, unlovely,
without the beauty of refinement.

Still, in the purpose of the Sovereign Lord, one may guess the use of
this great centre of barbaric influence--it is to beat down the distant
and worse tribes beyond the great seas. As one sort of predatory
creature devours another, so these Barbarians destroy worse types
of men than themselves, and prepare the way for human advancement.
Whether, however, they shall themselves ever emerge into a noble life,
is a curious inquiry.

The _West End_ is that part where the High-Castes reside when in the
Metropolis. It is the seat of Palaces, of Courts, of better built
streets, and of the best Parks and ornamental grounds. Here the
Theatres and revelries are; the great dinners, the Routs, the Dances,
and the stir of High life. Here, in the Parks, the grand dames air
themselves, their poodles, and servants. Here, on horseback, they
astonish onlookers by the display of figure, and, on foot, by a show
of head-dress and draperies, and bright eyes and fashionable forms.
Luxury, idleness, show, frivolity, mock the wretchedness which despairs
and dies, or robs and cheats in not distant back slums [gna-zti].
Still, along these costly rows of equipages and richly-attired women
and men, on whose persons may be single gems which would give bread to
thousands, one looks in vain for what would give a human and pleasing
touch. If you see a lovely face, it might as well be at a funeral. The
whole spectacle is cold and lifeless; the horses only have animation,
and they are kept down to the tamest possible step. The world cannot
show finer animals, nor wealthier owners, nor more luxurious idlers,
nor more unattractive human beings. Joy is unknown, and any touch
of natural sentiment, along the long line of devotees of wearisome
Time-killers, may be looked for in vain.

When I first walked about the streets, I found myself the victim of
Barbarian insolence. My dress attracted rude notice, and I soon adopted
the common garb. This, however, only partially removed observation--for
my features were different. However, a longer use accustomed me to
rudeness, and enabled me to let it pass unnoticed. One part of the
town, particularly, appeared to be infested with women, who accosted
me and insisted upon walking with me. I could not for some time
understand this; but since, I have been informed. The neighbourhood
of the Theatres--in fact, many parts of the West End--are the haunts
of these poor creatures, many of whom seem to be but little more than
children. On one occasion a well-dressed young girl, as I was leaving
the Play, smilingly spoke to me, and asked the time! I took out my
watch, which was worn in my fob, and holding it up to the gaslight to
see the hour, it was snatched from my hand. I merely caught sight of
a person vanishing round a corner. The girl exclaimed, "What a pity,"
and put her hand gently on my arm. I, however, moved away quickly; but
all trace of watch and robber was gone, and the young woman too! This
would not happen to me now. I did not then know of the state of things
in the _centre of Christendom_! Of course I was robbed on several
occasions, and in many ways, and shortly found that I must look upon
everybody as a rascal, as the English do.

But perhaps there is nothing in London so exasperating as the
_Lodging-house keeper_. This is a creature not unknown to other
regions, but reserved for its most perfect and exquisite finish for the
Metropolis of the World (as the English like to call London).

This being starves you, freezes you, cheats you, waits upon you, steals
from you, lies to you, flatters you, and backbites you; reads your
private papers, has keys for all your boxes and drawers, and a complete
inventory of all your effects. She chooses from your handkerchiefs,
smoothes her hair with your brushes, scents it with your perfumes,
"makes herself beautiful" at your toilet. She examines your boots, and
finds a pair which you "will never miss," for her _James_. She brushes
your trowsers, and takes care of any loose change. She waits at your
table, counts the oranges, and thinks she will try one.

When you ask for that _pie_, she has given it to the dog--"I thought
you were done with it, Sir." She cracks a window pane, and charges it
to you in the bill. She eats your bread, drinks your beer, _tastes_
your wine; and charges you a shilling for a pinch of salt. She demands
pay for coals you have not burned, and for gas you have not used. She
gives you sheets that are worn out, and makes you pay the price of new
when you stick your toes through them. She demands the _wash_ for
coverings which you have not soiled, and for _tidys_ that were never
tidy. She has a lot of cracked cheap glasses and crockery, which she
makes you pay "for cracking, Sir"--as she has already made others many
times before. In truth, these are invaluable to her--"she get new ones,
not she"! (as she says to her drudge of all work).

You pay for clean table-linen and towels weekly (and weakly)--but if
you ask for a fresh table-cloth, "I have a friend to dine"--you get it,
and a charge for it _extra_. If you intimate that you _could_ not have
had "so much butter"--you are reminded that you are speaking to a lady,
who has been accustomed to have _gentlemen_ in her rooms!

You sleep on "hobbles," and are blotched in a curious manner. You hint
to the servant that you have seen _something_ as well as felt; but
"nothing of that sort was ever in my house." At last, when you find it
quite impossible to satisfy the ever-increasing rapacity, you "think
you will leave." You are very forcibly reminded that you are bound to
"a month's notice, Sir." And, happy to get off any way, this you waive
and pay for. Nor do you flinch when, on exhibiting the final account,
"my lady" has recorded a list of casualties, very startling:--

                                                    (Mental notes:--)
 Towel-horse broken                                  always broken.
 Chair-back ditto                                    ditto.
 Door-plate cracked                                  ditto.
 Table-cover stained                                 old.
 Carpet ditto                                        old, worthless.
 Walls injured by boxes                              old knocks.
 Candlestick broken                                  servant.
 Postages, and servant for letters                  (paid).
 Blacking, salt, and pepper                         (omitted and always
                                                     charged).
 Wash of coverings, toilets, and counterpanes.

You glance at the foot, pay it. You think all is done. But "my lady"
expects a "slight gratuity, Sir; not for myself, of course, but for
Nancy!" I should add that this harpy is a devotee, and is as punctual
at prayers as at prey!

One, however, soon finds a change of place is no change of fate. The
pickings and stealings may take a little different form, but the result
is the same. The only thing is, to get for your money cleanliness and
comfort; estimate the whole cost, and consider the plunder a part of
it--for you will not escape. The _Lodging House_ is only typical. All
are preyed upon and prey upon. It is the rule of barbaric life, and
_Caste_ makes it inevitable. The low think it no robbery to get a share
of the plunder enjoyed by the rich. There is, in the general state of
things, a rough instinct of justice in it--only innocent people also
suffer.

If you live in one of the huge buildings called Hotels, you are no
better off. Here, every mouthful is counted; you cannot breathe (so to
say) without paying for it. If a waiter look at you, he will expect a
_gratuity_ [_ti-tin_].

After you have paid everything which an experienced and greedy
ingenuity can think of, as you are about to leave, the servants will
obsequiously open and stand at doors, hold and brush your hat (already
_brushed_ bare), catch up some trifle, and generally get in your way,
to force gratuities out of your good-nature. If you, at length, reach
the vehicle called for you, before you can open the door of it, up
will start, as from the ground, a miserable creature, who intercepts
your motion, adroitly opening the door for you, and then, when you are
seated, stands staring directly into your face, with his hand still on
the door-handle, awaiting a gratuity. You have buttoned up your coat,
your gloves are on, it is cold; but you cannot refuse the demand.

You are finally off; you arrive at your new quarters. Before you can
wink, up starts a first cousin [tw-in-ti] of him who has just stared
at you, who, in his turn, seizes hold of the door-handle, and shows
in every motion that he has seized you too, at least to the extent of
_sixpence_. You step out; he touches his hair (he has no hat); you try
not to see him; but impossible--the pennies must come.

But why attempt to delineate these endless methods of prey. The poor
wretches who live by these miserable shifts are innumerable and
everywhere. One does not begrudge the _pennies_, but detests the
nuisance, and the debasement which it demonstrates.

London is an undesirable place of residence, unless for the rich, and
to them only for a few months in the year. But it is full of objects of
study to him who cares to know anything of barbaric life, or who wishes
to investigate the records and literature of the Western tribes.

All great cities are much alike; it is the different aspect of human
life which is the noticeable thing. Unless, on the whole, a great city
exhibits humanity in a pleasing condition, it is a failure, however
rich it may be. London, which was described one hundred and fifty
years ago as a "Province of Houses," certainly contains an immense
population bare of attractive features. No doubt much must be put down
to climate and fuel. The former is foggy, cold, dark, and disheartening
for the larger part of the year; and the latter, by its foul gas
[ptrut] and smoke, makes the fog and cloudy air so obscure as to give
an unearthly gloom. The poor feel not only the gnawing of hunger but
the nipping frost, unrelieved by any smiles in earth or sky. The mud of
the streets is like a nasty grease, and one walks or crosses the ways
in terror of befoulment. The clothes and the face are exposed not only
to this, but also to the defiling smoke which drops a steady drizzle
[kri-tze] of black atoms upon everything.

Poor shivering creatures--men, women, and children--are at street
crossings and other places, incessantly sweeping away so much of the
mud as may enable pedestrians to pass with less weight of nastiness
to boots or skirts. These, often very old, or lame, or half-starved
and ragged, piteously expect a penny. I have often watched the little
girl or boy, or old tottering man, and seen the hurrying passers, on
and on, the stream ceaseless, yet have rarely seen a single penny
given. I have sometimes put in my outside pocket some copper coins
to have at hand; and when I have given to one of these sweepers, the
thanking look was well worth the petty trouble; it also showed clearly
that the gift was not too common. How these victims of poverty live,
where they cover their misery from the wintry cold, I cannot guess. I
used to notice one very old and almost imbecile who swept at a place
where I crossed frequently. He would stand motionless under a thick,
scrubby tree which stood just at the corner of the streets, clinging
to its shelter, slight as it was, for protection from wind and rain,
and barely touching his head with his finger with a bow when people
passed. Occasionally, slowly, and with limbs stiff and back hardly bent
to toil, grubbing across the way with his muddy broom, but never giving
other sign of vitality. I missed his silent figure one day; another
wretch had stepped into his heritage, [qua-ti] and stood beneath the
scrubby tree--the old, silent, patient sufferer had found a pauper's
grave at last.

Akin to these (indeed cousins-german) are the old creatures who sit
at street corners, or by the way-sides, selling trifles, which nobody
buys. Through the long, cold days, huddled into a heap, and looking
like a pile of rags with a red face a-top, motionless, will one of
these sit, bleering and winking with rheumy eyes at the juiceless
fruit, or handful of nuts, or ancient cakes, or nasty sweets, displayed
upon her little board. If by chance you happen to curiously turn your
eyes upon this strange object, some start of vitality appears, but
vanishes as you pass on. Who buys, who eats; what can possibly come of
this strange traffic? Yet you will see these human things, day after
day, sitting, one would think, despairingly, awaiting the buyers who
never come. How fine a thing it would be for the idle rich, who like a
new sensation, to go about the streets, accompanied by a servant, and
buy of these patient crones [ko-tse] a good part of their daily store!

When I first walked about the great places of the city, I was surprised
to see very many miserable men punished (as I supposed) by the
_Cangue_. They had suspended to their necks two boards, one in front
and one behind. Upon these were curious devices. Horses, women, great
fires burning, ships blowing up, and the like. Perpetually walking
to and fro, just to the measured distance, and never once sitting
down, never once speaking, nor being spoken to, these creatures, thus
accoutred, walked dismally right in the garbage of the gutters. No one,
by any chance, ever noticed them, nor by any chance did they ever do
other than, with slow and limping gait, keep up the march of doleful
dismalness! For long I puzzled over these ragged apparitions; after
many moons I found that they were merely stalking advertisements!
[muun-shi].

I might give many other illustrations of life in London, differing
from what is known to us. The human dregs are truly dreadful. Their
haunts are indescribable. Many settle upon the oozy and slimy river
bank, when the tide is out, seeking anything which perchance may
have been washed up. Wading in a filth which covers the feet and
befouls the whole tattered creature, this being, nicknamed _mud-lark_
[pho-ul-sti], becomes an outcast to all decency. Others prowl about
the ash-heaps, and sift and pick over any heaps of rubbish, carefully
gathering from garbage, bones, rags, anything which can give the merest
pittance. It must be certain that human degradation can go no deeper
when to debasing and starving poverty is added drunkenness, loathsome
brutality, violence, and crime.

Possibly the greatest city of the Barbarians is not worse than the
worst of some portions of a great city with us; nor should I refer
emphatically to the wretchedness of London were it not for the boastful
ignorance manifested by Barbarian writers and literati. These always
speak of the prëeminence of English civilization--of the grand and
humanizing influence of their true religion--of the wealth, the
liberty, and the happiness of the people! No other tribe is so humane,
so just, so brave, so wise, so free, so prosperous, so contented and
happy!

In the face of these declarations, which are to be met with on all
sides, London is a marvel! Nor London only, other cities are more
marvellous; one wonders what the standard must be, by which is tested
this boasted prëeminence. If by _other_ Western Barbarian life, and
compared to that, truly superior, then what must be the condition at
large of the Western tribes?

There is a nuisance common enough with us about the streets; and in
London it takes every shape. I mean street music. Besides the troops,
which infest public places, startling you with a crashing outburst
of noise from many brass instruments, there are mendicants, of all
ages and both sexes. The halt, the blind, come singing in the most
doleful manner, unaccompanied; and others making the night hideous with
squeaking wind-pipes, or noisy things of some sort. After annoying you
for a long time, one of these will perhaps boldly knock at your door,
and demand a gratuity. Some of these creatures blacken themselves, and
appear in the courts and squares singing and playing not too decently.
Some poor woman, with babes in a kind of basket pushed along on wheels,
will try to gain sympathy and pennies by screaming out some woful
strain which nobody comprehends, and which grates upon the ear like
rasping iron. Sometimes a miserable wretch, shivering with cold, will
stand before the bright, warm doors of a drinking place, and sing his
feeble note of woe. The most dreadful objects will be those horribly
deformed, who, crooked and distorted out of human shape contrive to get
along in some strange device of wagon, pushed by their own stumps of
hands or feet. Generally these affect to play upon something, no matter
what, and drag on an existence too wretched to think of.

But why dwell upon these lowest strata of human existence. It shows
out on all hands. Among the gilded idlers of the West End, on the
very porticoes of grand Temples. Luxury and pride drive, with mien
unconscious of human want and woe; unconscious of "the common lot"
awaiting all; almost over the very bodies of these to whom life is so
deep a darkness.

London in its sparkling splendours laughs and makes merry. Within
its great Parks, in the summer months, musical birds make the air
melodious, and flowering shrubs, and fine trees and verdure, give
beauty and rest to thousands of the poor--but not to the lowest. These
slink away into the fouler haunts, or spread themselves over the
green country, seeking new sources of pitiful gain! In the mid-summer
the best of London looks almost cheerful; and a sky more pure, and a
sun-light which, though not brilliant, _is_ soft and warm, render life
tolerable to the poor. For the rich and idle, they go out of the City
and leave it, as they say, _empty_--for those who remain are _nobodies_
[cham-tsi]. Yes, the millions left to toil are nothing. Still, the
magnificence of the High-Caste flowers immediately upon that toiling
mass--from _it_ grows all the spreading splendour which regards it not.
The glowing flame cares nothing for the black coal; nor is the money
soiled which passes through the hands of despised indigence. London gay
and brilliant, glows and glitters upon its dung-heap--as a luminous
vapour flashes and flits over a putrescent carcass.

Perhaps one should not be too critical, nor expect other than these
inconsistencies in humanity. Misery will be largely its _own_ cause.
Great populations do not herd together without shocking inequalities
of condition; yet, the reflection will arise, Is not the _boast_ of
refinement and civilization too much for patience--would not humility
be better? The boast means self-content--humility would mean a steady
work for improvement. One sees not, nor really cares to see; the other
sees and feels, and wishes to remove what gives a sense of humiliation
and of pain.

Splendid London may disregard the blackness of the East End (as the
poorest quarter is called), and think itself a good _Christian_ to
shun it as a place of horror; but, to my _pagan_ wisdom, it seems
indispensable to devote that money and energy to the civilization of
the English Barbarians, which is now sent to "_the benighted heathen_."
These, no doubt, have the poor and the degraded, the black spots of
moral imbecility; nor would one object to any really benevolent
enterprise, though not too rational. But the missionary [kan-te]
spirit rises so distinctly from an ignorant self-sufficiency and
blindness, a merely superstitious notion of a thing to be done as any
rite or ceremony is to be done--_for the good of the doer_--that it
is impossible to have much respect for it. Then, too, the whole thing
shapes into a machine, by the working of which men are to live and get
honours and places. If a truly grand benevolence moved the people, it
would be impossible to overlook _the Heathen at home_.




CHAPTER XIV.

SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.


It is the business of a wise man (as our illustrious _Confutzi_
and _Menzi_ say) to seek the _conditions_ of the visible forms of
things--whether the things be those which we see, or only those which
take form in the mind. The conditions are what the Barbarians call
_laws_. We see that the use of a certain earth will enrich some soils,
and impoverish others; we examine into the cause; we try to discover
the conditions which make this difference. We know that, generally and
broadly, the elements are the same, but they are differently combined.
The Western Barbarians are of the same race with ourselves--inherently
the general nature is the same. What difference of combination of
similar elements has produced results so dissimilar?

In the mighty East, where civilization goes back into the most distant
and dim antiquity, _the laws_ which underlie organized governments
and customs, and which give form and life to communities, are very
different, and sometimes antagonistic. It is certain, therefore, that
man, really the same everywhere, has, in the course of ages, evolved
from his own and surrounding nature very different forms of social
life in the East and in the West. Man and nature radically the same,
have, in different conditions, grown and put forth very dissimilar
shapes of growth. The tree and the fruit are rooted in similar soil,
have grown in similar air, sun, and rain. Even the trees are not wholly
unlike, nor the fruit; yet, most unlike, when duly considered; and,
when regarded with a view to usefulness and to perpetuation, _one_ may
demand the axe, and the _other_ only the nice pruning-knife [quin-tse].
But a difference so great implies a different seed-germ--not
necessarily; for, from the same germ, one may have a bitter, even a
poisonous fruit, which finer culture can make sweet and healthful.

If we assume, then, the same germ, whence so great diversity? In my
poor mind, when, among the Barbarians, sad and bewildered by the
disorder, confusion, and complexity, this question tediously presented
itself--"Is man a creature of chance--is there no perfect rule?" I
would say, "Is his _growth_ fortuitous like plants, beginning with
similar germs and yet dissimilar--so, growing according to the hidden
differences and the differing circumstances? Is there no common
standard--no fixed measure--no absolute truth?" But, in my poor
thought, I also said, "The Sovereign Lord lives in his children, and
moral truth (_divine illumination_) must be. _It is simply true_,
and can be no other. Human _forms_ of social being must be measured
by it; and, however complexed and confused, _are so measured_, and
will not long exist if radically inconsistent. Yet these forms may be
bad without being wholly rootless, and grow _deformed_, strange, and
noxious."

In looking upon the disorderly and complex features of Barbarian
life, two things prominently strike my poor mind. One is, _a restless
activity_, accompanied with love of personal distinction and admiration
of strength. The other, is the singular _position of women_. To the
former, may be charged the selfish greed, the callous indifference, the
delight in forays and plunder.

To the latter, that aspect of dissolute disorder, that curious
complexity of ideas and principles, which render the whole Barbarian
Society a marvel--I liked to have said _a disgust_--to one unaccustomed
to it.

The position of women, as it affects _the family_, no doubt has an
all-pervading influence--if that position be wrong, we have, at once, a
grand source of evil.

How far the _great Superstition_, super-imposed upon the _olden_
Idolatry (dark and cruel) may have deepened the shades of Barbaric
nature, and strengthened its old admiration of force and rapine, may be
only surmised. Certain it is that the Jewish _Jah_ is not unlike the
_Odin_ of these tribes; and (as I have said) the gentle Christ-god,
himself a Jew worshipper of Jah, has been received only as subordinate;
in fact, a _Sacrifice_ by _Jah_ made to himself to appease himself! A
character, in fine, not _strong enough_ for these fierce tribes.

We have the _government and the family_ resting upon a different
basis in the West from what they rest upon in the East. In the West,
it is difficult to say if there be _any rule_ upon which either
securely reposes. In the East, the _rule_ is as clear, and as clearly
recognized, and as undoubtedly _obeyed_, as _any_ rule can be. The
existence of the Sovereign Lord is not more certainly admitted, and
his authority not more implicitly submitted to. This is the rule of
OBEDIENCE.

But aside from principles which control comprehensive forms, like the
Family and Government, there are secondary growths, usages (perhaps not
referable to any marked rule), which have had powerful influence. For
instance, the mode of trying persons suspected of Crime, appears to my
poor mind to be very fantastic and irrational. The Barbarians, however,
boast of the superiority of their way over all other tribes, ancient or
modern.

When a crime has been committed, and some one, suspected, has been
arrested, he is brought before a Judge, whose duty it is to see if
there be good reasons for the arrest. The very first thing, we should
think, would be to ask the accused to give any explanation he may
wish. Not at all; he is told to say _nothing_; for if he do it will be
recorded and may go to _his hurt_. How to his hurt unless he be guilty?
How it may be that the accused could, at once, explain everything--but
no--the officers who have made the arrest wish to work out a _theory_
of their own; and the Judge, listening to these officers, who are
uneducated, rude, and often at work for a large prize, commits the
accused to prison to be tried over again, really, at a future day,
by some other Judge. Meantime everybody who, upon the theory of the
officers, is imagined to know anything, is ordered to give security
that they will appear at the next trial, and say what they know. And
if a witness cannot give this security (frequently the case with the
poor), he is also thrust into prison. In this manner persons, who have
been so unfortunate as to be fixed upon by these ignorant officers, are
treated like the accused, and put to great inconvenience and sometimes
suffering, either in themselves, or their families, or affairs. This
goes on--the next trial is postponed, delay after delay, whilst the
officers are working out _their theory_; and finally the accused is
discharged and the witnesses also, the whole disgraceful proceeding
being a _blunder_, in which innocent people have been punished as
_criminal_, and the _Criminal_ has _escaped_! A natural and simple
examination of the accused, when first brought before the Judge, would
have saved all this loss, suffering, and shame! Such an absurdity can
only be to the advantage of the guilty!

A man may be caught under circumstances of guilt so certain that there
is no _rational_ hypothesis of innocence. Yet, with the very blood and
property of the murdered perhaps upon him, surprised, red-handed in
the very act, he will be treated as if he were merely _suspect_; _will
be cautioned to say nothing_; will have every chance and opportunity
to escape by reason of the unaccountable mode of procedure. For he is
still innocent. Such is the hypothesis; and disregarding the obvious
and simple way of asking for an explanation consistent with innocence
(when guilt would be doubly manifest), the other ridiculous hypothesis
is maintained, if possible, and the whole community and many innocent
people are afflicted and tortured with the most minute and painful
investigations (having perhaps no sort of relation to the matter), to
see if some doubt may not arise _somehow_, not as to the guilt, but as
to some parts of the case as _imagined_ to be!

Thus, _theories_ of guilt are to be established when the fact is
_patent_, if one will simply look at the proofs immediately at hand!

In this case just supposed, too, there is no trial at all of the _man_
so clearly seen to be guilty. Twelve men are convened by a sort of
inferior Judge, first to see how the dead man came to be dead--it is
certain as anything can well be! Yet this kind of Court must go through
the long, tedious, and painful inquiry, _how_ the man died. Witnesses
are dragged from home, from their pursuits, ruined may be; the whole
community horrified, and the twelve men kept from home and business,
and shocked by the most disgusting examinations of the dead! This whole
process seems rather designed to give fees and business to the petty
Judge and officers who compose this singular tribunal.

But when this _sham_ Court has got through, the accused meantime, and
the witnesses, are still awaiting the real inquiry, which may be put
off for many weeks.

When, after tedious delays, _twenty-four_ petty judges, assisted by
an officer, having made up their minds to formally charge the accused
with the crime, he is brought before a Judge, who is now for the first
time to really try the man, another curious thing occurs. The Judge
is not trusted alone to proceed--he must have twelve little Judges,
and several Lawyers, to assist him. The little judges are the JURY,
not selected for knowledge nor excellency, but any twelve men who can
be readily got. Generally they are very poor represervatives of even
the average wisdom and morality. They know nothing of law, nor of the
Court, nor are they in the least competent to undergo the complex,
tedious, and artificial _trial_ to which they are about to be put, as
well as the accused. However, the business of these twelve is _not_ to
look directly at the man and at the clear evidence against him--which
might be within even their competency--but they are sworn upon the
_Sacred Writings and by Jah_ (under severe penalties) to try the
accused according _to the Law and the evidence_. Now, the Lawyers and
the Judge determine as to the law, and the twelve men must obey them as
to _that_--the twelve, however, are to determine as to the evidence.
This means--they are to see and hear the witnesses, examine the
objects of proof (which may take many days); keep all the statements,
conflicting, confused, or other; hear all that the Lawyers may say;
watch the demeanour of the witnesses, and of the accused--and they
must take the _Case_ as presented and offered to them, however absurd
much of it may be--and, finally, after all, they are not to take _this
Evidence_ (as it is called) to judge it for _themselves_--no, they must
take it _under the direction of the Judge_. They are sworn _to try_
according to the Law and the evidence; but _evidence_ means _legal_
evidence! and the Judge (aided by the Lawyers) directs the twelve men
as to what is _evidence_. Under these conditions, one may judge as to
the usefulness of this Jury--unless as a contrivance for the torturing
of the innocent and the clearing of the guilty!

I was present and examined this matter--for from the common boast of
this excellent Jury-mode of _trial_, I wished to see with my own mind.

At length, the twelve men being confined, so that _they_ cannot escape,
in a sort of box; the Judge and the Lawyers being in their places,
attired in the absurd wigs and black gowns [phe-ty-kos] (somebody once
whispered in my ear, black-guards) [kon-di-to-ri]; the accused is
ordered to stand up. The charge of murder is read;--confused by so much
barbarous jargon, that no one but the Judge and the Lawyers understand
it--in fact, oftentimes do not understand it--and the criminal often
escapes trial because the _proper_ jargon has not been used. This
_mixed tongue_ is the only one allowed in these trials, and must be
taken from the fountain of Wisdom (as the Law book is called containing
it). The speech is uncertain, only known to the Lawyers; and a mistake
spoils the whole charge. Well, after more or less wrangling among the
Lawyers, the charge finally stands. I must explain; there are _two
sides_ of Lawyers--one (hired to do so), by _every means_ in its power
tries to get the accused discharged, and is helped to do this by all
the machinery of the trial--the other merely watches the proceedings,
and sees that they are not too absolutely controlled by the other
side. The latter, also, open and state the matter, and conduct it;
but neither side works simply to obtain the truth. On the side of
the accused, if guilty, the truth is _not_ wanted; and, on the other
side, there is no interest in the matter which greatly moves. But the
interest for the accused may be not merely to gratify, in some cases,
powerful relatives, but to obtain as large _a sum_ of money as the
Lawyers can get--which, where life is at stake, may be all the accused
has now, or may, if discharged, acquire. In fact, in cases of robbery,
the Lawyers for the accused may have received their compensation from
the very plunder!

The accused says to the charge either _Guilty_ or _Not Guilty_! This
is a mere form. Then the names of the twelve men are called over,
to see that none have got away--for it is a hateful and disgusting
business often, wherein they _instinctively_ feel they really have no
function--and yet enforced upon them, often to their actual great loss
and suffering.

How the scene fairly opens. The twelve little judges in their box;
the big one sitting aloft, with pig-tail-ear-flapper wig; the Lawyers
in pig-tail wigs and gowns; the officers of the Court; the witnesses,
cowering and afraid; the accused in his high, strong cage (or box); and
the spectators, friends, relatives, associates of the witnesses and of
the accused--women and men--crowding in the dark corners of the Hall of
trial.

The Lawyers call and examine the witnesses. These are not permitted
to tell the truth in their own way at all. They are sworn upon
the _Sacred Writings_, upon pain of penalties of the Law, and the
dreadful fear of the awful Jah and Hell, _to speak the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth_! Now, the truth which they
are to speak must be that _sort_ of truth which the Lawyers and the
Judge determine upon to hear--not by any means _that_ truth which the
witness, in his simplicity, is about to utter! Here, then, an honest
and conscientious witness is likely to be at once bewildered; but a
callous, self-possessed one, who does not intend to say one word more
than he can help, finds himself doing exactly what the Lawyers and the
Court understand by the oath--that is, to speak _for_ the one side or
the other; _not for truth_!

Consider the position of a witness, perhaps a timid woman, or an
inexperienced person, never before called upon to take the _awful
oath_, never before in such a place! Confronted, made to stand
up, _thrust_ without respect, sometimes rudely and with positive
disrespect; treated, in fact, as if a party to the crime, though
perfectly ignorant of anything excepting of some chance _link_ required
in the _theory_ of the charge--thrust forward into the gaze of the
Judge, of the whole assembly. Every eye is fastened upon the trembling
witness. She is ordered in a rough tone to hold up her hand, to take
the _oath_, _to kiss the Sacred Writings_! What with the crowd, the
novel and painful position, by this time the poor woman, when asked a
question, can scarcely speak. The old, half-deaf Judge, turns his awful
be-wigged head to her, raises his ear-flapper and says, "Speak louder,
witness; I can't hear you." An officer bawls out, "Silence!" and, not
unlikely, the poor witness fairly collapses, faints, and she is allowed
to be seated.

The Lawyers examine the witnesses, and if one begins to say something
very damaging, if possible, will interrupt him; or, by and by, will
insinuate some vile charge against him, to destroy his character with
the hearers--not that there be any truth in the insinuation, but merely
to effect the purpose of a vile _minion_ paid to defend, perhaps, a
notorious offender!

Thus the _trial_ proceeds; every effort is made on the side of the
accused (which is the active side) to mislead, to confuse, to bewilder.
The Law, read from big books, is constantly referred to, now to stop a
witness in what he is about to say; now to get something _already_ said
scratched off from the minds of the twelve men; and now to take the
opinion of the Judges as to whether this or that should, or should not,
be heard by the Jury.

All these things go on day after day, not at all because there is any
doubt as to the guilt of the accused, but because by these confused
and interminable proceedings, the Lawyers who act for him expect to
get him discharged--and discharged, declared by the twelve men to be
_not guilty_! This is the great point; for, if this occur, it does not
matter at all that the accused himself confess to the crime, _on no
account_ can he ever be arrested again for the offence! "But how, when
the proofs of guilt are present and so certain, can the Lawyers expect
to get the twelve men to go against their very senses?" To answer this
is to show the nature of the Jury system very plainly.

When all the wranglings and speeches and Law-readings of the Lawyers
have at last ended; when the Judge--who has in the course of the
trial already loaded the twelve with all sorts of instructions as
to what they are to keep in mind as _legal_ evidence, and what
they are to leave out of mind--has made a long and confused speech
(often interrupted by the Lawyers) recapitulating those parts of the
conflicting mass of evidence which, and _only_ which, _is_ evidence,
and has told them the manner in which this evidence must be applied
to the charge; has finally told them that the crime charged must be
the precise _crime_ laid down in the Law-books by that _name_, and
none other; and that having found beyond all doubt that that crime,
upon the _legal_ evidence, has been committed, then has _the accused
committed the crime_ so defined, and so proved? To be certain of this,
the accused must not only be found to have done it, but he must have
known that he was doing it--that is, he must have been sound in mind.
And if in any of these particulars there be any doubt, the accused must
be acquitted; and further, every one of the twelve must agree--if any
_one_ withhold his assent, then the prisoner cannot be declared to be
guilty!

With all these clear and simple directions (!) as to how they are
to use their minds, an officer leads the twelve into a strong-room,
and fastens them in! to consider their _verdict_ (as it is called).
Not to consider simply and directly upon the plain evidence of their
senses, and according to reason ordinarily used, but to consider _their
Verdict_--a technical, artificial affair, made by the Lawyers, and only
fit for _their_ minds--if even _they_ could do anything satisfactory to
an honest man with it!

The twelve are locked in and guarded by an officer; deprived of
food, of rest, of any recreation; perhaps already exhausted from the
hair-splitting [di-do-tzi] and intricate directions and proceedings.
They are _Sworn_ to give their verdict according to the _Law_ (first)
and the _Evidence_ (second). The evidence, however, being _all law_.
Then, too, they are to say either _Guilty_, or _not guilty_; and no
more.

Now, the Lawyer's expectation may become verified. There is no sort of
doubt in any of the twelve that the accused is a horrid wretch, and
that he is guilty. But one man has got hold of an idea, based upon
something said by the Judge, or perhaps only the suggestion of his own
mind; and think of the vanity, the stupidity, the dishonesty, the mere
indifference, the obstinacy, the excessive timidity, the weakness,
which is likely to be in each of the twelve; one man has got _his_
opinion--it is a matter of conscience. The one man is sufficient.
Nothing can move him. Hour after hour passes. Night comes on--hunger
knocks at the stomach; home is wanted; business is exacting; illness
oppresses some, lassitude and sheer exhaustion overpower others--the
one persists, only more obstinate by opposition--"The man no doubt is
guilty, but I doubt if he be guilty according to law!"

They cannot agree upon a verdict. The Judge and everybody else long
since have gone to _their_ homes and pleasures. _They_ (the twelve)
cannot escape unless they agree. To be sure, they may report to the
Judge late on the next day that they cannot agree--only, however, to
receive new directions (!), and be sent back again and kept till they
shall agree!

Human nature gives way. The one, strong and resolute, overpowers the
eleven--or, rather, there have been only a part who would not have
given over long ago. The fine maxim of English law--"_It is better that
a thousand guilty escape than that one innocent suffer_"--turns the
scale. There is a _doubt_--or something which looks like it--"let the
accused have the benefit of it!"

Now, in this scene, I am taking it for granted that the twelve are
really not dishonest--not one of them. But suppose _one_ is, in secret,
the determined friend of the accused!

Thus, the Verdict of the Jury (not the direct and honest opinion of
twelve men in a rational and ordinary use of their minds) is recorded
in the Court--_Not guilty_. And a murderer is at once discharged;
perhaps escorted with applause from the place by associates of his
evil courses. Restored to the community which doubts not his guilt,
and which has been horrified, agitated, and oppressed by its frightful
details! It will be noticed how admirably everything, in this system,
works to procure the escape of the guilty; but it must not be
overlooked that it falls with crushing weight upon the _innocent_.
Simple and direct inquiry would generally clear him at once. But
no--the _theory_ in the minds of the officers is, that this _innocency_
is a fraud; and the whole machinery works just as irrationally as
before; because, the clear evidences of innocency are disregarded--the
prisoner's guilt is unreasonably assumed (contrary to the reverse
legal maxim) _by the officers_; and the whole crushing blow of this
assumed guilt falls upon the innocent. He is thrust into prison; torn
from family, friends, human sympathy; his actual trial is put off
week after week, aye, month after month, whilst the officers hunt
for what does not exist outside of their imaginations; and, finally,
from sheer shame, the poor victim is discharged before an _actual
trial_--discharged, it may be ruined and for ever tainted with the
foul and unjust suspicion. Or, perhaps, finally _tried_, escapes after
a long, tedious and confused scene; where the officers, anxious to
convict one whom _they_ have so long assumed to be guilty, contrive
to throw just enough of suspicion upon the victim to render his life
ever after insupportable! However, he finally goes at large--ruined
by enormous expenses, health shattered by confinement in prison,
and _tainted_ in character. The victim of an absurd system--for the
verdict is, for him, irrational and cruel. If, in the other case, _not
guilty_ did not mean what the words imply--so, in this, the Jury give
a no more meaning _Verdict_. No expression of any actual opinion. No
sympathy, no regret; nothing to reinstate the unfortunate victim of
official stolidity and conceit. _Nothing_ whatever; not so much as any
compensation for loss of time and money. Meantime, during this pursuit
of the innocent, the real criminal has got safely away.

Now, this strange _Jury system_, boasted of as the _Palladium_ of
Liberty by the English Barbarians, strikes my poor mind as something
very cumbersome, irrational, and hurtful. The criminal class may
well esteem it, for it seems exactly contrived to set the criminal
at liberty, and to vex, terrify, annoy, and confuse everybody else.
Witnesses themselves often fare more hardly than the actual criminal!
and Society is shocked by needless and reiterated exposures of every
particular of dreadful things to no rational purpose--unless to give
fees to Lawyers and a host of busy officials, who live and fatten in
these horrors.

One might suspect that the whole machinery was contrived by the Lawyers
(called _criminal_) to effect their purpose--that is, to protect their
friends and supporters; the numerous men, women, and half-grown youths
swarming everywhere, and known as the _criminal class_.

Another unjust custom is when a man offends a Judge, he is not at once
brought before him for reproof and proper correction. No; for his
disrespect he is compelled to pay a _fine_ [tsig] in money which may
beggar his innocent family, or prevent his creditors from obtaining
their dues; or, _unable_ to pay, must lie in prison till it _be paid_,
or until released by the angry Judge. Thus making the innocent to
suffer! How much better in our _Flowery Land_, where disrespectful
conduct is at once reprimanded and, if the disrespect be marked,
punished on the spot, in the presence of the magistrate, and under his
paternal direction.

These may serve to illustrate usages not readily referable to any
principle. They are rooted in old customs, when general ignorance and
universal poverty made the mass one, and when simplicity and directness
were natural. They are retained now in an artificial and totally
different state of society, for no better reason than the English
Barbarians have for other abuses and enormities--_they support the
fungi which cling to them_! And the upper classes find their interests
concerned in maintaining things as they are. The lower classes, too
ignorant to see, are made to believe that nothing in human Wisdom
and experience excels these very Laws and customs! The Barbarian
stolidity, too, in the well-to-do classes, supports these singular
views as to the perfection of the Laws and system of administration.
These classes constantly mistake this _stolidity_ for solidity of
character. When an evil is unmistakable, none the less, instead of
removing it, they say, "Better bear those ills we have than fly to
others we know not of!" (Quoting from their great Shakespeare.) But
they do not stop to consider if it must necessarily follow that when
one quits one ill he flies to _another_. As if one with a sore finger
should refuse to apply any remedy to the _finger_ for fear he might
thereupon find a sore upon his leg!

Perplexed with these anomalous conditions, and by the stupid conceit
and selfish indifference--the callousness and greed of the English
Barbarians--I have wondered if, after all, these men were not of a
different kind [sty-pho]. Possibly, the Sovereign Lord and Father
of men, for wise purposes, may have created different sorts of
men. Animals of the same type differ in swiftness, in strength, in
intelligence. The Western Barbarians, though of the same type, may be
inferior to our Illustrious people in the moral and mental functions.
For some purpose in Eternal Wisdom, the Almighty Lord has given them
strength of body, energy, and an _intellect_ sharp in matters of the
_instinct_--which refers to the needs and passions of the body--thus,
calculating, ingenious in contrivance, and inordinately selfish; but
has not given them a large moral faculty, nor a broad and comprehensive
mind. _They are, therefore, incapable of improvement beyond a limited
range._

The Idolatry, and its horrible grotesqueness--the inefficacy of the
good in the character of the Christ-god, to influence the least
abatement in the passion for Force; the cold-blooded abuses, and the
confusion of error and truth, may be thus accounted for.

This, however, suggests a continuance of the evils which have fallen
upon _others_. The _All-wise_ sees where chastisement is due--and
allows the Western Barbarians their time. The offences of the East need
chastisement. The quickness, strength, and greed of the Barbarians,
unchecked by moral considerations, make them the scourge of other
distant peoples not possessing these qualities. The scourge is needed,
otherwise it would not be permitted. There is a sufficiency of morality
to prevent dissolution; and the Western tribes will no doubt fulfil
their appointed task.

Still, in their present forms, rooted in a _lower_ type of man, they
must disappear; not lost, but absorbed and blended in a better and
nobler race. In the East, I suspect this _highest_ type has always
existed. Here, from immemorial ages and ages [tang-se-yan-se] the
simple worship of the Sovereign Lord, and the divine faculty in man,
have found their best expression, and taken a fixed and steadfast root
in Government and in Society!

I may be mistaken, and it is possible that the Western tribes may be
capable of attaining to this settled order--but it must be after very
long moons and thousands of moons [lir-re-ty-sin], during which they
shall have overturned and reformed existing laws and customs.

I may refer shortly to some of the more striking of these, so curiously
and radically different from our notions in the _Central_ Kingdom, and
so erroneously conceived in respect of the DIVINE ORDER. _First._--As
to the character and worship of the Sovereign Lord of Heaven, and
Father of men. Concerning the errors in regard to the true character
and proper recognition of the Heavenly Lord, I need scarcely say more.
There are wise barbarians who do not differ from my poor thought as
to the need of an entire reformation upon this whole matter, which
underlies nearly all genuine improvement in morals, in government, and
in "Society."

_Second._--As to Government. This must be seen to exist in the
eternal order and nature of things, and not at all in any _Contract_
[Kong-phu], "social" or other. Therefore whatever name be given to its
Head, _the Function_ is as inviolable as is the Divinity from which it
comes. If this Head, however, be incapable of properly representing
the divine function, it does not therefore fail, but the nearest
_fit_, in the established order acts. The Book of Rites and the great
Council of the Illustrious, with us, see to this proper and orderly
succession. No one is born to be absolutely Head--the Book of Rites and
the Illustrious _Calao_, in our system, may see to it that the Head be
fit for the due and divine order. Therefore, no one is born by _right
of birth_ to govern, nor to make, nor to administer, laws. Wisdom and
knowledge only, may entitle their possessors to take rank among those
to whom government and administration shall be committed; and these may
be changed, degraded, exalted, and removed as they conduct themselves,
and not according to any family, nor hereditary distinction. Nor are
_Places_ created for the aggrandisement of any, continued for the
benefit of families, nor, in any case, made hereditary. Places are for
the whole, and those who fill them are placed there, in trust, for the
good of the whole, and must properly discharge the trust. They are
never for the individual--always for the State.

_Third._--As to the family. The Family being the _Prototype_ [mo-dsi]
of Government, should show the Divine order. It must be one; not a
divided, unintelligent _accident_ [phatsi]. It must have a clear
faculty, and understand its true and vital significance--for the
community is but an aggregation of families, and as these are so is the
State. Then, to have disorder there is to have disorder throughout!
There _must_, therefore, be in the Family, obedience to its head,
order, and good conduct. If there be insubordination, disorder,
immorality, disrespect, and disobedience to the natural head, then that
is a disorderly family, and those who are guilty of the disobedience,
disrespect, and disorder are _criminals_, to be corrected, restrained,
and reformed.

Woman, upon this right conception of the family, finds her proper and
her honoured place. She is subordinate, but not in any humiliating
sense; she is subordinate, because, in the very nature of her function
as woman in the economy of nature, she cannot be otherwise--she _is_
timid, defenceless, dependent. She has a right to the tender care and
protection of her male relatives; and she, on her part, is bound to be
obedient, submissive, orderly; and, upon these, affection follows.
Her children are bound to respect and to obey her, and she is bound
to have a care for them, and to respect and obey her husband as the
unquestioned centre of regard and authority. The father (and husband)
_is_ the Head of the family; there is no divided nor disputed power.
Upon _him_ rests the responsibility of due order and proper position.

From her nature and duties, the woman lives retired within her house.
If she go abroad, it will be only from necessity, and then in the most
quiet, modest, and unobstrusive way. She lives for her relatives, her
family; not to attract the admiration of others, nor with the faintest
idea that she may shine _abroad_--to be so charged would be to be
charged as _shameless_. Only by this degraded _class_, who are barely
tolerated without the city, and under the rigid supervision of the
officers of order and decorum--could such a purpose be supposed to be
thought of? She dresses with neatness, according to the established
order, but always with such modesty that nothing is offensive to the
chastest eye. She understands the range of her activity and of her
affections. It is within the circle of family and relatives. All her
accomplishments are to make her home pleasing. Duties and places are
settled. She lives for those to whom she belongs, and who also belong
to her. Her smiles are for her husband, and for her children, and her
relations. She has no thought of going abroad to shine, nor to waste
the time and money which belong to her family upon strangers. She never
dreams that she has any _mission_ which calls her away from her home.
She has no _call_ to "clothe the ragged," wash other people's dirty
children, reform evil-doers, "convert the _heathen_," nor support
"Society!" (These are some of the phrases which you will hear among the
Barbarian women).

Where women have not husbands, none the less they have relatives, and
their home is with them. They have a right to this home, and are bound
to do their duty in it, submissively, usefully, and quietly.

If the Western Barbarians would see to it that all women, married or
unmarried, were duly cared for in homes of relatives, _as of right_,
and that they also made themselves welcome there by their usefulness
and obedience, they would find an end of that agitation as _to Women's
Rights_ existing among them. Rights would be as indisputable as
duties--and the first of these would be a quiet, modest, and rational
obedience to their natural protectors, who, in turn, would be bound
to respect and protect them. And if by any strange chance a woman was
absolutely without relatives (a thing nearly impossible in our _Flowery
Land_), then the State should see to it that she had a suitable home.

The education of woman, in a well-ordered Society, is also fixed and
clear. It has immediate relation to her position and her duties.

She is from the first never disturbed in the natural order. She sees
her relatives always quiet, modest, _obedient_. She never thinks this
state of things to be wrong. She perceives the manner of female life;
its seclusion, its devotion to the family, its purpose, and end. There
is no complexity about it, no _outside_ glitter, no field for show, no
seeking for excitement and display. All her duties are at home--_her_
happiness is _there_; _there_ she is to be attractive, and there she
is to attract--the love and respect of her husband, the regard of her
relatives, the affection and obedience of her children!

So, her education needs no straining after effect. It looks directly
to her duties, to her natural function and place; and to those
accomplishments, of mind and of person, which shall enable her to
be happy with books, with music, and the like; and shall add to the
pleasures of her home.

All these things are common-place with us--so simple as to appear
trivial. Our Illustrious wives and mothers could not _understand_ the
reasons for their elaboration--they have never seen the women of the
Western Barbarians!

The position of women in the _Social_ system of the West, on the whole,
is the most remarkable thing in it.

I have made sufficiently suggestive remarks in the progress of these
_Observations_; and only now have to add a word or two upon the
_general_ effect.

It gives a wonderful life, restlessness, and colour to the whole aspect
of Barbarian life. Think of all the women in our Illustrious Land, at
once leaving their homes, the seclusion of their orderly houses and
lives, and rushing everywhere with the men, over the Land! And, not
only so, dressed in splendid gaiety of colour, and adorned with gems
and feathers, crowding into all places of amusement and of travel!

Nor this only, but showing themselves, in public places, with men,
where paintings and sculpture, and things here only seen by men alone,
are exhibited! And, often, so dressed as to cause even the man to
blush!

Why, the face of social life is completely altered. Instead of gravity,
dignity, and an undivided attention to the duties of daily life,
everything is rendered restless, confused; there seems to be no natural
order, nor scarcely natural (cultured) decorum.

But we must not be misled. Nature is too strong to be pushed aside--and
with cultivation, even though imperfect, the moral instinct lives
and saves. Habit, too, "is a second nature;" (as our divine Confutzi
says); and what would be so overwhelming, if at once done, being usual,
necessarily _has been_ subordinated to some rule--and made, at least,
tolerable.

And now, in drawing these _Observations_ to an end, perhaps, I may
add, in respect of my poor and unworthy thoughts, that if I have
said amiss, and which offends, I beg our Illustrious will pardon.
To our _Literati_, exalted in wisdom, there is but little to which
they may curiously look--but to _our people_, if any there be with
whom some discontent may have been caused by too close intimacy with
_Missionaries_ in our ports; by these let my poor _Observations_ be
studiously pondered--that they may praise the Sovereign Lord of Heaven,
who has given them to live in the _Central and Illustrious Kingdom_;
where a true morality and a true worship are known; and where due ORDER
AND PEACE, resting upon the unchangeable Heavenly order and peace, are
established!

Here, are no brutal worship of Force, and admiration of bloody
plunders. Content to the due ordering of affairs, and with peace
within, our Illustrious Realm seeks no aggrandisement, dreams of no
conquests; and _wishes to do nothing but good_. It has no fears for its
own position, nor jealousy of others. It is simply calm, strong, wise,
and self-poised. It demands no more from others abroad than that it may
peacefully live; and _be treated with that respect which it accords to
those who practise moderation and virtue_.


FINIS.


Barrett, Sons & Co., Printers, 21, Seething Lane, London, E.C.






        
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