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 CORNELL 
 UNIVERSITY 
 ' LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION ON CHINA 
 
 AND THE CHINESE 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DA 625.S97 
 
 Some observations upon the civilization 
 
 3 1924 023 010 832 
 
a Cornell University 
 y Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92402301 0832 
 
SOME OBSRKYA'TIONS 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 CIVILIZATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 WESTERN BARBARIANS, 
 
 PARTICTILARLY Ot THE ENGLISH; 
 made duking a residence of some teaes in those parts, 
 
 By AH-CHIN-LE, 
 
 MANDARIN OF THE FIRST GLASS, MEMBER OF THE 
 ENLIGHTENED AND EXALTED OALAO. 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINJESE INTO ENGLISH, 
 
 By JOHN YESTER SMTTHE, Esq., 
 
 AHD 
 
 NOW FIRST PUBLISHED OUT OF CHINA AND IN OTHER THAN CHINESE. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM, 
 
 678 BROADWAY. 
 
 1876. 
 
OOPTBIGHT. 
 
 J. B. SWASBT. 
 
 1876. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 This Translation of the "Work of Ah-Chin-le is trust- 
 worthy 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 — think- 
 ing 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 intel- 
 ligent Chinese opinion, concerning the " Civilization of 
 the Western Barbarians, and particidarly of the English." 
 
 The Author's own Preface explains the Origin of the 
 Work, and its claims to consideration. 
 
 The Retkbat, 
 
 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 HaU 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 Bar- 
 barians 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 apper- 
 taining 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 con- 
 sidered : these, my poor words, in so far as to your 
 Illustrious Wisdom it has been thought pi'oper 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, re- 
 
vi author's pkeface. 
 
 specting wliom 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 Illus- 
 trious 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 Eeport, 
 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. 
 
 CHAPTXK PiBK 
 
 I. — OP THE RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS OP THE 
 
 ENGLISH 1 
 
 n. — OF THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OP THE ENGLISH 45 
 III. — SOME PARTICULARS OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRA- 
 TION .• 70 
 
 IV. — UPON EDUCATION : A FEW REFLECTIONS 98 
 
 V. — OP THE LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH .. ... 109 
 
 VI. — OP THEIR TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT 131 
 VII. — SOME REMARKS UPON MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND 
 
 BURIAXS [HI-DI] 150 
 
 VIJI. — OP ART, ARCHITECTUEE, AND SOME WORDS ABOUT 
 
 SCIENCE [kNO-TB] '. 170 
 
 IS. — OP AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES 195 
 
 X. — OF EMPLOYMENTS OP THE PEOPLE, AND ASPECTS OP 
 
 DAILY LIFE 314 
 
 XI. — OF THE HIGH-CASTES : SOME PARTICULARS OP THEIR 
 
 .. DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS 223 
 
 XII.^OP THE APPEARANCE OP THE COUNTRY, THE CLIMATE, 
 
 AND OTHER THINGS 246 
 
 XIII. — LONDON 257 
 
 XIV. — SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ... ... 278 
 
OBSEEVATIONS. . 
 
 CHAPTER I. . • 
 
 OF THE.EELIGIOX AND SUPEUSTITIOXS OF THE- EKGLISH.. 
 
 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 Eomans, 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 Chinst ; 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 Emper^s of the West adopted the new god,» 
 and enforced the wbrship of him upon the subjects of 
 the Empire. 
 
 All the Western Barbarians derive iheir knowledge' 
 from the Eomans ; whose power, indeed, they over- 
 turned, but whose civilization they imitated. Particu- 
 larly, the Bonzes- (Priests) of the new Swperstition, 
 joined to the Chiefs of new powers (which arose upon 
 the ruins of the Ecftnan Empire), preserved some re- 
 mains of the ancient Learning, and enforced the new 
 
 B 
 
2 RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 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 Kingdoni of the worsliip of the Hindoo god, Fo; 
 and, curiously, these events happened at about the same 
 tima. 
 
 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 sub- 
 ordinate 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 cre- 
 dulity of the people, directed by the Bonzes, it was 
 believed that the Devil (Chief of the Evil Demons) would 
 enter into an individual — genetally some old, ugly, and 
 friendless woman — and, ly 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 wUd 
 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 Laud 
 The great, central figure of idolatry is the Pope, who 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 •sits enthroned in Eome; and is, generally, a very old 
 man, not always remarkable for v/isdoni nor virtue. He 
 claims to be the sole vicegerent of the Christ-god, and 
 only 'visible divine Head — aU 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 Eoman — had long ago followers in our Flowery 
 Kingdom; and our annals show was tolerated : not, how- 
 ever, 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 scat- 
 tered 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 de- 
 votees in the temples. 
 
 One day, I begged of a good-natured, large-beUied, 
 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 — ^Hke some of the mum- 
 meries [phin-zi] of our Superstitious Sects. He looked 
 surprised ; but when he saw that he was thus accosted 
 by a " ffeathen Chinee " (as these Barbarians always 
 contemptuously call the inhabitants of our Central 
 I^and), he merely said : " Why, you have in China our 
 IVIissionaries to enlighten your darkness; have you never 
 met them ?" " No ; I have heard of them at Shanghai ;. 
 
EELIGIOX AND SITEUSTITIONS 
 
 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 con- 
 sider them as unworthy of notice as any other Super- 
 stition." "How so? our Eeligion is no Superstition;, 
 it is the true and only true Eeligion, 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 imme- 
 morial, just such pretensions; they are as old as liistory." 
 " 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 no- 
 thing peculiar to your Sect in them. They have beeu 
 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 illus- 
 tration of ignorant and superstitious conceit ! Vice, 
 thousands of miles beyond sea, so dreadful ; the vice at 
 hand, defiling every corner, unseen ! The only true 
 Eeligion of this Priest wiU 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 
 
OF THE EXCiLISH. 5 
 
 ■doubted the lionesty of the Priests; I knew the bad 
 character of many of the Bonzes of our Superstitious 
 Sects. N"ow, better acquainted with the imperfect civi- 
 lization 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 Bar- 
 barians. The Temples, ordered and maintaiued 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 wor- 
 shippers, 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 Sove- ' 
 leign Lord. Yet, our Illustrious Kingdom is called 
 Pagan — Heathen — words implying every degradation; 
 find 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 be- 
 lieve 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, tlie purpose is likely to 
 
6 ebLigion and supehstxtioxs 
 
 fail. The Priests demand that the Suiierstitimi shall 'be 
 taught, and those of one Sect insist that they shall lead ;. 
 denouncing a differing Sect. :^ach Sect denounces every 
 other: and, so far is the contention carried, that the 
 teaching of the people is lost sight of; the special Super- 
 stition 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 bene- 
 volence, 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 
 a,moug the Bonzes of the Sects, wiU 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 
 ill accord. The Sects and the Priests not only fight 
 upon this subject ; they are usually at strife upon any 
 matter wherein their cooperation 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 de- 
 nounces every other ; and the members of all damn to- 
 everlasting torments the whole human race but them- 
 selves ! This place of eternal torture in " fire and brim- 
 stone " [Zan-tan-H] is called Hell [Tha-dee] ! 
 
 In the ceaseless conflicts of the Sects, the most dread- 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 7 
 
 ful crimes have been committed. The chief events re.- 
 corded 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 re- 
 peated, 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 intei-preted, or if never 
 interpreted at all ! 
 
 At this moment, the best intellects among the English 
 (who boast that they are superior to aU other Bar- 
 barians), 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 (ah-eady 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 con- 
 nection 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, reaUy 
 Relieve that this poor old man (called by the larger por- 
 
8 EELIGION AND SUPEESTITIONS 
 
 tion of Christians, with profound worship, Pope, Holy 
 Fatlier) may, by his wicked devices, allure into his 
 worship, and bring under his power, the English Bar- 
 barians ; 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 ova 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 
 I'eeblest 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 ad- 
 herents, forming the vast majority of Cliristians (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 th« 
 learned actually have a horror that the Pope may be 
 again worshipped in England. A calamity too terrible 
 for contemplation ! v 
 
 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, 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 9 
 
 teaches his idolatrous devotees how to differ withgut 
 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 HeU. ! " 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 
 <)cc^^rred." 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 
 <lamned ; " but do not agi'ee 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 foUow 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 un- 
 changeable rules of belief and practice. They all 
 
10 EELIGION AXD SUPEKSTITIONS w 
 
 declare that the Sacred Writings are so plain that a 
 j'.ian, " though a fool,' may understand," and so clear, 
 " that he Avho runs may read." Yet, they curse each 
 other to the eternsil torments' for interpreting errone- 
 ously. The truth is, that the Books are most obscure, 
 and differences of interpretation are inseperable 
 fi'ora their use ; the terrible thing is, that Superstition 
 has made these differences so important. The Sacred 
 Writings are contradictory, and teeming with things 
 indifferent, mBaningless, 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 Eecords of the Laws, cus- 
 toms and wars of an obscure and terrible race, here and 
 there interspersed with Invocations to the Grods 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 — thatthey were toobey him who received 
 from Jah immediate instructions — that, in fact, to dis- 
 obey him was to disobey Jah. That he was to lead thein 
 forth to found a new State, and that the power to 
 announce the will of Jah alone resided with him and 
 Ms successors, in this High Priesthood, and that they 
 could only be successful over iheir enemies and prosper, 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 11 
 
 by an implicit obedience to Jali, by the mouth of the 
 High Priest. 
 
 This event took place in our dynasty, Sliang; and our 
 annals, referring to the Western Barbarians of the an- 
 cient times, make mention of some tilings — obscure 
 movements of tribes, and of the gi'eat ■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 Avould have been lost ages, 
 ago, nor have left a trace, but for the singular circum- 
 stance 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 Higli- Priest, 
 pretending to be the very mouth of Jah, made all his 
 utterances Sacral; and the Priesthood, inscribing and 
 iweserving the Jewish " Eites," worship and institutes 
 of all kinds, guarded these writings with extreme care ; 
 which the reverence of the Superstitious people en- 
 hanced. 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 re- 
 gard this preservation of the Jewish Eecords 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. 
 
12 RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 The new Christ-God was a Jew; and, though, sin- 
 gularly enough, in the words ascribed to him, in those 
 parts of the Sacred Writinf/s>assigaedi 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 ofSce is to 
 give new and reformed rules; none the less, his imme- 
 diate 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 Messia/iship ; 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, 
 lie was and is still considered to be a misguided fanatic. 
 The Eomans 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 hi? 
 death, into other Eoman provinces. New Superstitions 
 were often greedily received ; the Western Barbarians 
 had always readily adopted new gods, and new Super- 
 stitions. This idolatry was, however, held in contempt 
 by the learned ; but it slowly spread among the lower 
 orders, and penetrated to Eome itself. 
 
 The Eoman soldiery, in some instances, made it con- 
 .spicuous; and, after some generations, a Eoman Emperor, 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 1,^ 
 
 thinking lie 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. Thiis, these 
 Western Barbarians are (Jlirisiians ; 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 
 lohole 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 Bevelation 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 nuwiber 
 — the few, and only afevA', worshipping Christ as the 
 true Christ-God. That is, these Barbarians better under- 
 stand 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 
 
14 KELIGIOX AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 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 HeH 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 com- 
 mon origin. 
 
 The intellectual activity of succeeding ages has been 
 mainly devoted to these Sacred Writings ; and the dis- 
 putes, 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 tor- 
 tured themselves, and held women to be unclean unless 
 they married Christ. Some would only shout their in- 
 vocations, others would only commune with the god 
 inside. Some loould kneel, others luoidd stand. Some- 
 times a sect more wild than usual would organise vast 
 iDands 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 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 15 
 
 i-oot 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 cham- 
 bers, shut off from all cheerful life, and from all inter- 
 ■course 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 per- 
 chance they may propitiate the Christ-God, Jah. Women 
 also being driven into similar, horrid imprisonment in 
 stone vaTilts, where the whole life is spent in invoca- 
 tions 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 
 byPriests^ — were in respect of the Sacred Writings; called 
 •commentaries, honulies, disputations, doctrines, invoca- 
 tions, sermons ; endless in name, and nameless. 
 
 This Literature is less in repute than formerly, and 
 immense collections of huge writings are now rotting 
 iiway in the dismal alcoves of Libraries [Buk-sti]. as 
 great stone buildings for keeping Books are called. 
 This lAterature is rarely looked at now, excepting by the 
 Priests and antiquaries [ol-olphoo] ; much of it is obso- 
 lete in form, or in the Eoman — not now so much in 
 vogue as formerly. A large portion of the writings, and 
 
16 EELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 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 pro- 
 ductions 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 hrain wasted itself in this 
 wretched work, and piled up its ponderous tomes of use- 
 less, and worse,than useless. Literature — holding know- 
 ledge 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." ITew 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 /Seci; to deliver over 
 whole provinces to rapine, slaughter, burning, destruc- 
 tion ; cities in conilagration ; women, children, as well 
 as men, not merely slain, but put to death with tortures 
 unspeakable ; massacres, by treachery and surprise, of 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. ' 17 
 
 thousands and tens of thousands ! To such work was 
 the activity of body largely directed hy Priests and the 
 savage chiefs. For ages these atrocities were perpe- 
 trated. 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, every- 
 thing 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 Sam-ed Writings. The system 
 erected by the Priests was called the Church, and none 
 could be saved unless they were in the pale of Soly 
 Church — unless they, in the manner directed by the 
 Priests, performed aU 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 Eoman Pope, and set up the Eng- 
 lish Sovereign, for the time being, as Pope, and put men 
 and women to death by fire and torture for still prefer- 
 ring the older Idol. 
 
 Nor is this madness, this fanatical fury, wholly ex- 
 pended. 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 benefi- 
 cent. They have never attained the civilisation of our 
 Central Kingdom, and to the wisdom of our iUuininated 
 Confutse. 
 
 c 
 
18 RELIGION AND SUPEESTITIONS 
 
 There is moraKty to te found among t]iem, and a few 
 worship, purely and simply, the God of Heaven, and 
 look with untroubled hearts upon the senseless super- 
 stitions. The masses are, however, still held in them ; 
 and the High Castes either hold to the prevailing idola- 
 tries, or pretend to do so. This old Jewish Worship, 
 with its rites and pretensions, fastened upon tribes by 
 Priests and the Eoman power, is stOl dominant iii the 
 West. In England to-day it is the same superstition, 
 only the Queen is Pope, instead of the Man at Eome. 
 Por this the English are damned, as worthy of Hell-fire, 
 by Eoman Pope worshippers ; and -the English retiim 
 the curse. A constant Bugbear [Do-nki] to the English 
 mind is, that the more powerful Eoman Pope may get 
 into England again ; then, what horrors ! Nor does this 
 frightful cliiviera 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 Eoman- 
 Pope worship as worthy of liell; but they worship a 
 Queen-pope at home, .and the same Christ-Jah-god and 
 "sacred writings" which the Eomans worship.. They 
 believe, as do the Eoman-pope worshippers, that all 
 who do not worship the sacred writings and the Christ- 
 Jah-god, and accept of the Priest-C%««rc^, will inevitably 
 burn for ever in fires of Hell; yet, because of the 
 separation as tn Pope worship, each regards the other 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 19' 
 
 ,^ect witli a hatred only appeased by sending each the 
 other to the dreadful HeU! How incredible that the 
 human mind — the, active and skDled 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 mis- 
 took the right object of worship — the idol of Kome, 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 Eoman or 
 the English Pope — ^the Eoman or the English sect — 
 what matter ? ' Both alike indifferent and worthless to 
 an intelligent worshipper of the Supebme Lord of 
 Heavex (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 misfortvine is, that that morality 
 has been overlaid with Jewish and Priestly additions 
 and inventions. There are some of the English Ziferafe' 
 who dare to teach a piu-er worship, discarding the 
 superstition in its grosser pretensions ; but they are not 
 listened to. 
 
 It is difficult to understand what is accepted as time 
 by the differing Sects — ^but their differences may be dis- 
 regarded — and I will refer to what all the Sects of the 
 ^•eat Superstition subscribe to, aside from the matter 
 of Pojpe. 
 
20 EELIGION AXD SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 Om, only God : in three parts— eacli part a very. 
 
 God ! 
 
 1. Tlie 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 
 vir<nn. 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 wor- 
 shipped the Son, the Father, and other things. Por. 
 as to what is to be believed, form the points of. 
 endless contention, as I have hinted. 
 
 3. TJie Holy. Ghost, or Comforter, whose function. 
 I have never comprehended. It appears to be a 
 divine JEffiuence, entering into the devotee, to warm, 
 exalt, and enlighten him; especially to comfort 
 bim 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 
 Affluence 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 Eas^. . 
 
 As powerful, indeed more powerful over men, is the 
 terrible Satan — Devil, Evil One. There are many names 
 and shapes. This monster was once (accorcling to the 
 superstition) chained down in heU-fire, for. having raised 
 a rebellion against Jah, who, however, let him loose 
 again, and gave him -wings to fly from liis flery prison to 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 21 
 
 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 
 ^o who do not worship in spirit and in truth, according 
 to the superstition. This awful strife between Satan 
 ;ind Jail always proceeds. The Priests say that, for 
 " some wise purpose," Jah suffers Satan to succeed in 
 his snares ; and his victims contiuually fall into the 
 ■everlasting place of Fire, prepared for the devil and his 
 victims. The Priests say that this wholesale destruc- 
 tion 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 superstitition might huve 
 limited the fire-torture to, say, twice the length of 
 mortal Me ! 
 
 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- gaod and bad 
 — the latter Itnps of Satan (whatever the word may 
 
22 EELIGION AND SUPEKSTITIONS 
 
 mean), who enter into Imman beings, and take on the 
 human form : in this disguise, called Ghosts, Wizards, 
 Bogies, Witches. However, gqod 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 tlie good. But, if unawares the Imps catch 
 them, they are only to say Christ, or Jehovah, or caU 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 propeiisities in 
 human nature. But real objectors are few and timid, 
 afraid of pimishment — if not here, then after death. 
 For the Superstition so long rooted has engrafted its 
 terrors in . the very blood, and men are bom 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)ha,Ye 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." 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 23 
 
 I have had a High Bonze say to me, when I have 
 suggested some objections, " Oh, we do not know any- 
 thing 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 tench, 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 iire," 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 prtof 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 
 
24 KELIGION AND SUPEESTITIONS 
 
 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 hittemess ^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) Chrisiian Fhilosophy. 
 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, en- 
 lighten 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 aU times 
 and everywhere. Wherever some intellectual culture 
 exists, men wiU be found who understand and practise 
 the rules of morality; and wherever this is general, 
 there is the higher civilisation. This higher civihsation, 
 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, 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 25 
 
 in this faaiUy, 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 de- 
 grading idolatries. But the moral faculty, active and 
 large, at once teiines 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 stOl 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 percep- 
 tion ; 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, beUs, and 
 spires. The priests are very numerous, and divided 
 into many ranks. The lowest are the curates, who do 
 
26 EELIOION AXD SUPEKSTITIONS 
 
 the "dirty" work, as the English phrase it. They are 
 but little tetter thaji beggars, ^ though mentally often 
 superior to those who half-starve them, whUst 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 elo- 
 quently exalt this benevolence, and pointing out the 
 diviae 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 aU 
 to Christ." 
 
 I have said, " This is excellent ; I wiU 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 ap- 
 proached 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 weU, in their 
 way. Charity is a good thing, if the purpose be sancti- 
 fied ; but nobody is saved by his goodness." He saw 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 27 
 
 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. Tour benevolence is like our Cmi- 
 futze, who had a tender regard for the poor and dis- 
 tressed." 
 
 " Ah, our divine Master taught charity; but one muSt 
 go higher than that." " Pardon my poor mind, but do 
 you not reaUy 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 aU I can spare, and I give to 
 Curates |rom my revenue." " Society ? I do not com- 
 prehend." " WeU, no ; you know nothing of the inces- 
 sant, calls. We must visit and receive visits ; keep up 
 ecjuipages, servants; then there are always poor rela- 
 tions, and the poor Curates (these are the 'poor relations' 
 
28 RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 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 shoul- " 
 ders of mutton, and other colder shoulders." I saw that 
 there was something which I was not to understand. 
 " Pardon, but the Socid^j is not to be put before the 
 Christ-God f " 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 
 Gangue, 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- 
 ctsi-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 re- 
 lieved 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 
 
OF THE ENCtLISH. 29 
 
 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, excommuni- 
 cation, and loss of revenue. This poor man did not 
 express any doubt; he merely poiated out an error, 
 which might be there somelww, and which he thought, 
 in his simplicity, should be removed or explaiaed. 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 llaspliemer 
 [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 aU, 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 
 
30 RELIGION- AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 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 Ob- 
 scure and Ancient Literature, and of an Obscure and 
 Barbarous People, remains exactly as originally delivered 
 by Jah ! " " Oh, certainly," says his devotee, " because 
 H.e IwLS 'presened 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 iiot ; 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, a«cPde- 
 clares that this Wm-d is the absolute, and (My, and 
 perfect Revelation of the Deity to man ; that i^ contains 
 the only TRUTH, and is the only way by w^ich man, 
 under damnation already, can have any hbpe, however 
 small, of escaping the everlasting fire ot IieU! 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 Camn 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 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 3JL 
 
 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 aU this should be exactly so ; though he did also 
 plan from aU 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 en 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 
 lorn into the very blood of this son ! A mystery so 
 incomprehensible, that Christians do not pretend to 
 solve' it, and are alwayg trembling for fear that they 
 may not have been lorn again! 
 
 Kow, uiider these circumstances, as Jah cruelly ne- 
 glected to let the Heathen know that they could be 
 saved — (indeed, they suspect no danger) — tlie good- 
 hearted devotees of the Barbarians employ Bonzes to 
 go over the great Seas to the Heathen, to carry thein 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 Bar- 
 barians 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 dy- 
 nasty Whey-Scmg, has known of these missionaries ; and 
 we know of some now amongst us. They are harmless 
 enough, and quite fully understand how to adapt them- 
 selves to circumstances, and draw the money necessary 
 
32 EELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 to their support. The Bonzes of the Eoman Sect are 
 the- wisest, and care for nothing very idolatrous ; if a 
 convert will go so far as to he baptised [Wa-shti] thej 
 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 Mo- 
 Jiammed — 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 
 iloweiy 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 quarrel- 
 some with each other, than have the Sects of the two 
 great divisions in their intestine conflicts. 
 
 Thus, it wiU 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 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 33 
 
 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 Eome had appeared ia history, our worship of the 
 . Sovereign Lord and our moral precepts were established, 
 purely, simply, and that our annals show that the 
 Grecian and Eoman culture largely borrowed from ours, 
 though not the Superstitions. These were derived, pro- 
 bably, from some -source common to the "Western Bar- 
 barians, likely Egyptian, and though modified by habits 
 of tribes, retained more or less of those origiual traits 
 which appear in all. 
 
 The Temples are numerous, though often quite de- 
 serted 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 Eectors, 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 i^cAow-Bonzes intermarry with the High-Castes, 
 perform the marriage ceremony for them, wait upon the 
 Queen with invocations to the gods— baptize royal in- 
 fants; that is, sprinkle them when eight days old, in 
 the Temples with invocations, with many ceremonies, 
 
 D 
 
34 EBLIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 after which they are safe from the devil and the dread- 
 ful Hell ; these are the chief duties of their exalted of&ce. 
 , As great lay-lords (that is Lords' not of the soul but of 
 the clay— lay), they sit in the great Law-making Cmncil; 
 where their function is, to see to it that no law he 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 : keep- 
 ing 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 worldl 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 ffeathen, 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'tlie 
 Sacred words). For those poor and benighted creatures, 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. ^5 
 
 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 dp 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 quar- 
 rels 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 digni- 
 fied by a loftier name than Conventicle, Chapel, or the like. 
 
 I will state, briefly, what is* the ceiemony 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 beUs sound from the high, stone 
 towers, the High-Castes go, richly dressed, into the 
 Temples, uncover and bow the heads to the Idol, in 
 sUence — making Invocations, silently. By the com- 
 mand of the Jewish Sacred Writings the Seventh day 
 (so, continuously, for ever) is devoted .to the gra,nd Wor- 
 ship 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 — Roly-d&j. And 
 it is so sacred, that there is danger of Hell to him who 
 
 " Does any work or play 
 Upon the sacred day," 
 
36 EELIGION AND SUI'EESTITIONS 
 
 as the mongrel verse-makers of the Superstition have 
 it ! And the Priests vehemently denounce all who (Jo 
 not worship upon that day. 
 
 Some object to so great strictness ; and the quarrel, ,j 
 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 amuse- 
 ment 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 can- 
 not go in dirt and rags to the Temples. The High- 
 Castes go there in rich attire, and would be incommoded 
 by, the poor-f-indeed, the High and Low Castes never 
 mingle, not even in their wqrship. 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 altera- ■ 
 tion ; jno Priest dare to make any the least change ; the 
 wrath of the gods would foUow. 
 
 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 whoUy for the sake of the Son— the Christ. 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 37 
 
 On my first attendance in a Temple, wlien 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 In- 
 vocation 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. Eepeating after the Priest, all 
 standing, facing the Idol, \incovered, with eyes down- 
 cast 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 trtic 
 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, " miserahle 
 cfenders " [ka-nt-hu-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 tlie Jews to crucify the Soii, 
 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. 
 
38 EELIGION AND SUPEESTITIONS 
 
 Por 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 llesscs 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 inti- 
 mating that, if they heartily grieve over their offences, 
 and with imdoubting minds believe in all the points-of 
 the Greed, then they may receive the Sacraments— \hsA 
 is, Sacred Meats ; which having received, the devil and 
 HeU may be set at defiance. These Sacred Meats are 
 symbols of the very hody and Uood of Christ-^a shock- 
 ing 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 Cere- 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 39 
 
 monies, whicli tliey ■will have to be a Sacred rite in their 
 Superstition, though some Sects think otherwise. How- 
 ever, 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 Super- 
 stition 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 rudcvand savage cha- 
 racter. 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 ser- 
 vice, I teU you, Ah-Chin; or we should have 'the 
 devil to pay' in good earnest !" 
 
 It is very diificult 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 Icnown, 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 establish- 
 ments and revenues — in fact, a great portion of the 
 
40 EKLIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 whole community— are concerned in maintaining the 
 Superstition, on selfish grounds, or think that their own 
 interests are involved. The higher orders regard the 
 Establislud condition of things in Worship and in the 
 State as too Sacre,d to he touched. They denounce all 
 who endeavour, in any faint degree, to suggest reforms, 
 as " infiM " [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 stigma- 
 tised, 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 thiak, all true wisdom alone iUumiaates 
 the surrounding darkness. I suspect this society is 
 a, ,mitli [pho-gti]; that the true sense of the sarcasm 
 is, that the Thinkers overrate the value of their pub- 
 lished thoughts, and that wisdom will not die with 
 them. Certaialy, 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 pre- 
 tensions of the priest; and are really influenciag the 
 people by giving them hints of value. They do act 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 41 
 
 upon tlie 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 ffoly Spirit. Some will only be hap- 
 tised by going into a river, and there, under the Incan- 
 tations 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 maia points are alike in all. 
 
 The Eoman 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, 
 <Xuarreled with the Eoman 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 beforetime 
 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 Eoman 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. 
 
42 UELIGION AND SUPEKSTITION S 
 
 And some who could not honestly worship the new- 
 idol, and dared to adhere to the Eoman, were burnt, to 
 death ! Indeed this new idolatry was not introduced 
 into England without terrible consequences! Massacres, 
 burnings, imprisonments, wars, horrible crimes— ^perse- 
 cutions, 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, oiir 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 aU 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 Englisli Glmrcli (as those Barbarians call their grand 
 Idolatry) seems likely to stand for many generations. 
 -Yet agencies are, slowly, at work, Avhich wiU. remove 
 the dark and horrible, and leave the simple and true. 
 The Benevolence of the Sovereign. Lord of Heaven never 
 tires ; and the j)ure worship and less corrupted morahty 
 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 impres- 
 sion that their History was mainly an account of the 
 
OF THE EXGLISH. 43 
 
 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 wor- 
 ships 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 prac- 
 tise this Benevolent Morality ; until they do, their civili- 
 zation 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 till education 
 (discipline) is, therefore, to teach man how he may order 
 these two parts. There is no antagonism [ha-tsi] be- 
 tween them, only it is indispensable that the divine part 
 should rule. 
 
 That this may be, the intellect must be cultivated, not 
 in difi&culties, but in habits of thinkiug, of looking, or 
 seeking out ; of seeing the beauty, the order, the gran- 
 deur 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 ever- 
 lasting stars. It loves to hear, to see, to look at and 
 into everything. It can never cease to employ this 
 
44 RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 delightful mind, thus stimulated in early youth, to exert 
 itself; but it must be exerted innocently, benevolently. 
 
 That the subordination of mind a&d the animal may 
 be secured, the Supreme, the Moral Faculty muBt, 
 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 beihg. 
 
 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 ex- 
 amination. 
 
 Our Literati, directed many thousands of moons ago, 
 by our exalted Gonfutze and Menzie,Avho, themselves were 
 imbued with the ancient Wisdom, ai-e familiar with these 
 simple things. The "Western Barbarians, mainly devoted 
 first of aU to the bestial part ; to the enjoyment of the 
 .ipj)etites and the passions ; sunk in gross Superstitions, 
 only, by a few minds begin dimly to see. 
 
HISTOEY AND GEOGKAPHY. 45 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 OF THE HISTOEY AND GEOGEAPHY OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 Befoee commenting upon tlie Government, it is useful 
 to speak of the geography and Mstory 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 Bar- 
 barians, 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 sur- 
 passes not in area or population some of our Celestial 
 provinces : the extent being in the English square mUes 
 some 110 thousand [Si-re], and in people some 32 mil- 
 lions [Ken-ty]. In such narrow Umits 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 Jlags, shown upon the masts of the 
 
46 HISTOEY AND GEOGEAPHY 
 
 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 
 Eomans, who, in our dynasty, Han, crossed the narrow 
 sea from a Eoman 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 
 Eomans conquered the country, and established a Eoman 
 province — their dominion lasting four hundred [qua- 
 cet] years — contemporaneous with our dynasty, Hew- 
 han. 
 
 During the dynasties, Ran and Hewhan, the various 
 tribes surrounding the Eoman provinces, grown more 
 populous and better acquainted with the Military art, 
 crowded, more and more, upon the Eomans ; and, gra- 
 dually, 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 sub- 
 due it. The civUization disappeared. Nearly all signs 
 of the Eoman 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 Eoman learning. These 
 Priests and chiefs had adopted the worship of the new 
 Christ-god. 
 
 At length, one of these invading tribes having fairly 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 47 '■ 
 
 I 
 
 melstered 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 Bar- 
 barians of those chief parts. In these, the remains of 
 the Eomau givilization were considerable, and the know- 
 ledge of letters more common. 
 
 The position of the English; and their need of commu- 
 nication, 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 Bar- 
 barians, Queen, sent the first Embassy to our Central 
 Kingdom — bearing gifts, and humbly approaching our 
 Illustrious, begging permission to trade at ons 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 strong- 
 holds 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 
 
48 HISTORY AND GEOGEAPHY 
 
 Kingdom, in tlie dynasty Tdng, 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 dis- 
 regarded the just 'rec[uest; 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, feU with fire and sword upon 
 our province of Quang-tun, and, rtishing upon other 
 maritime parts with their great ships, armed with pro- 
 digious 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 Illus- 
 trious, to save further dreadful mischiefs to our un- 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 49 
 
 protected 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, comijig with more ships, swifter 
 with steavi, 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 simset, 
 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 Barbarianr, 
 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 domi- 
 neering and haughty — humbly submitting themselves, 
 in general, to the Son of Heaven, making tribute, and 
 
50 HISTOKY AND GEOGKAPIIY 
 
 seeking his Illustrious protection to their trade and to 
 their ships in our Central Waters. 
 
 During these events, the English Barharians 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 
 toast 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 wiU abundantly compensate for all the wrongs 
 and atrocities committed ! In fact, they impiously pre- 
 tend that they are commanded to subjugate the Heathen 
 World, that it may be saved from the dreadful HeU ! 
 
 The domestic events have not been important ; thougli 
 the Barbarians themselves think everything to be im- 
 portant 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 reestablished 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 wor- 
 
OF THE EXCrLISir. 51 
 
 sliip the Pope, if he wished (but in secret), afterwards 
 he should not, but he tlie 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 fol- 
 lowed 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 
 ^^lethroned ' Yet, of this event, when one speaks of it, 
 ■one shall say, Gtorious ! 
 
 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 
 4Sovereigii was Master — ^being Pope and Euler ; that is. 
 High Priest and Sovereign. But the people, increasing 
 •and growing richer in ships and merchandize, began to 
 feel the intermeddling of the Euler. Previously, the 
 people had been too poor and too few to be accounted 
 iinything; and grew up into an improved condition 
 without notice. They now dislUied to be taxed, and 
 began a straggle with the Sovereign to limit hia power 
 in this thing — for they said, " If he can take a jpenny (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 Euler. This would make his will absolute ; the 
 
52 HISTORY AND GEOGKAPIIY 
 
 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 M?iin 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 civU 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 
 Fope, to be worshipped. This was a departure from the 
 original dispute only in part ; because some had vehe- 
 mently 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 Bute of the people,\\as in 
 this vindicated; for the name of the State was—Cowi- 
 monioealth ; and of the Euler — 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 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 53 
 
 ■ways of au invincible army, thougli of tlie Ai-istocratic, 
 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 Eigk 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 Protectm' 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 depres- 
 sion; ancient feelings, habits, sports, reasserted them- 
 selves. 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 im- 
 prove its be%uty 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 ia 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 
 
54 HISTORY A^'D geogeaphy 
 
 place him uiDon 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 Bestoration (as the 
 English call it) is another event, considered by them, 
 of great importance. In this Eestoration (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. Tlicy had aided the resistance 
 to the arbitrary Avill 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 tlmj would levy ■ and raise taxes 
 when they pleased. Thus holding the Purse of the 
 State they had become supreme. 
 
 On the death of this Eestored 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 Avorship the Eome- 
 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 autho- 
 rity, the Sovereign was not allowed any money to keep 
 
or THE EKGLISII. 55 
 
 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 
 nsed to strengthen the Sovereign. The aristocracy had 
 continued to strip him also of aU 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, rela- 
 tions, 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 onei 
 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 Sove- 
 reign (or somebody reqiiested thereto by him) approves 
 (as the English politely phrase it) ; and the thing, so 
 approved, is a new Law. K"ow, 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. 
 
56 HISTORY AKD GEOGRAPHY 
 
 It ■will he seen, that the power in the Lower House 
 will necessarily fall into the hands of any one who ean 
 obtain adherents enough to his opmions to secure a 
 majority of memhers. The most ready dehater [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 — on^, 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 hm 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 
 ofi&ce 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 mem- 
 ber for the Lower House — ^but this is quite a comedy. 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 57 
 
 [sham-li] for the most part. It gives the ignorant Bar- 
 barians 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 ex- 
 peditions of these Barbarians had not been suspended. 
 
 The Americans had succeeded in establishing their 
 independent power, but not tUl they had waged a second 
 war with their late masters, scarcely less important to 
 them than the first. Por 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 Bar- 
 barians, 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 pre- 
 sent 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 de- 
 population has exceeded anything recorded. The poor 
 people of the Northern parts also, driven away from 
 their homes, have nearly disappeared, unless in the 
 
58 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 
 
 arrned 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 'wtiy, the most tiirbulent 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 ntimbers 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 comjplete, and the obedience of the com- 
 mon people assured. Of this High-Caste the Sovereign 
 is merely the ornamental top. 
 
 The learning of the Eomans made but little advance, 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 59 
 
 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 con- 
 tinued to be in a most dreadful state ; the prisons, foul 
 dens of disease, cruelty and crime ; the administration 
 of Law, and disposal of offenders, saA'age and barbarous 
 in the extreme. 
 
 The leaAing 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 Eomans and the Greeks. A man who 
 could repeat aloud from memory the modes of a Greek 
 word was a man of profoiind learning. Of our Central 
 Kingdom, of the wisdom and knowledge of the great 
 East, they knew nothing ; but nursed an intolerable con- 
 ceit in admiration of the trivialities of their own igno- 
 rance, and by disdaining to understand a civilization of 
 which they knew nothing — Jbranding it as idolatrous, 
 dark. Pagan ! 
 
 Still, gradually, intercourse and larger acquaintance 
 with the main parts, 'revived the love of Eoman art ; 
 and the Eoman civilization, once more revived. Eoman 
 architecture, sculpture, learning, laws appeared. The 
 style of public buildings, houses of the High-Castes, 
 Bridges, took on the Eoman forms. The Literati be- 
 came more niimerotis ; 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 innu- 
 merable taxes, that it began to be seen that these inter- 
 
60 mSTOUY AND GEOGKAPHY 
 
 minable "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 in- 
 creasing knowledge : and Wars are not, in general, so 
 eagerly waged. 
 
 The oldest child of a Euler succeeds — male first, and 
 failing him, a female. The direct descent from the 
 eldRst always succeeds, to the exclusion of the younger. 
 
 It is justly claimed that this is an element of sta- 
 bility; 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 examjjles. In our 
 Flowery Land, this danger is averted by the wise cus- 
 toms of the great Calao. 
 
 In my Eeport, 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 ob- 
 ject, 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 : spiritiial, referring to the great Super- 
 stition ; and the other temporal ; this is quite nominal, 
 for the " temporalities " always touch matters spiritual 
 in some way. 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 61 
 
 The First is the Execvitive. 
 
 The Second is the Parliament. 
 
 The Tliircl is the Judicial. 
 
 The Executive — that is that which executes— has 
 two parts. Spiritual, (the ghostly, the unknown,) per- 
 forming all things concerning the Sovereign-Pope, the 
 Temples, j;he 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 talk- 
 ing [Ba-ble]. This is the Grand Council already re- 
 ferred to, divided into the Upper and the Lower House, 
 together really forming one, M'here all Eules 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. For- 
 merly, 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 Iwhecility inherent in its very constitution. Born 
 Law-makers ! The proportion of idiots, worn-out and 
 selfish roiUs (we have no similar word), narrow caste- 
 bound egotists, at last, wearied even its congeners, and 
 they left to the Lords [Tchou] the tincient Forms, but 
 
62 IIISTOKY AXD GEOraiAPIIY 
 
 deprived them of all real power. This might not have 
 happened, but that from the very n^tme of things the 
 number of Peers (as a Lord is called, who has the here- 
 ditary 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 snulhedioi youthful inexperience. 
 The result is that all warmth, life, and interest, all 
 generous disinterestedness, are unknown by these 
 A'-enerable 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). Th^ wait upon the Sovereign 
 like menials, tricked out in furs, feathers, aiid 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 tlian 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 Euler is called a Crmcn. 
 When he places it on in public, the trumpets give a 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 63 
 
 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 de- 
 light ! 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 Hank and wear this hauhlc. There is no mean 
 service to the Euler, 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 tliis ambition confined to the Lords temjporal ; 
 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 aU occasions of baptising and marrying and 
 feasting, to give the hlessitigs [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, typi- 
 cal 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 ! 
 
64 HISTOKY AND GEOGEAPHY 
 
 In these coveted distinctions, the Sovereign finds the 
 source of nearly all the power really enjoyed ; and hy 
 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 Euler is a grand ceremony, in 
 which all the wearers of the little crowns {coronets and 
 mitres) attend ; and no Euler is a Euler unless he be 
 CEOWNED, 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 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 65 
 
 the English, is a story very oftea of the wars, assassina- 
 tions, plots, and cruel deeds done to seize the Crovm : 
 for -whoever could contrive to clap this, thing, upon his 
 head was at once King ! In the eyes of the supersti- 
 tious invested with a sort of divinity ! This feeling is 
 well expressed hy their greatest poet: " "What a divinity 
 doth hedffe 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 
 Xower memhers; who, on this occasion, are admitted 
 to enter in and listen to the Geacious 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 Zords 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, eifulgent, 
 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 
 lluler is in danger ; for the Superstitious reverence and 
 pope-worship attaches to the Crown. These Crown 
 
66 HISTORY AND GEOGEAPHY 
 
 Baubles are, by the present Euler, 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 a'dmiring 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 gewgaios 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 reaUy 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 depart- 
 ment 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 in- 
 numerable 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 apper- 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 67 
 
 tain to the Caste, but always united (and so-called 
 JBrothers) 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 wliich, 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 J%idicial—'wh.QTi speaking of the Courts of JUSTICK 
 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 pon- 
 derous obscurities of the Lawyer-Caste, where Justice 
 lies snwiJiered, is no easy task. 
 
 The present Euler is of the so-caUed glorious dynasty, 
 and is more wise and virtuous than her ancestors, who 
 were remarkable for obstinacy, meanness, stupidity, and 
 
6B HISTORY AND GEOGEAPHY 
 
 debauchery. If one had a virtue, it was so misdirected 
 by narrowness of mind as to be worse tlian 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 Aris- 
 tocracy 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 her- 
 self 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 gTeat 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 I 
 
 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 Eoyalty 
 is hidden from view, and that the reverence of the 
 people wanes ; that the allowances designed and hereto- 
 fore used to maintain a grand Court of respect and honour 
 are misdirected, and get into the iDrivate pocket of 
 Eoyalty for merely personal objects. But he who should 
 dare openly to say this, unless of a very High Caste, 
 would assuredly have his ears crowed [ku-tof.] 
 
 The reign has not been without bloody wars; one of 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 69 
 
 which was to uphold a sick Turk (an outside Barba- 
 rian, who hates the very name of Christians, and calls 
 them dogs), and whom the English Ba,rbarians them- 
 selves despise. Yet, they rushed with great ships and 
 armed bands to attack another Christ-god tribe, who 
 threatened the sick Turkish cliief ; 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 
 
70 HISTOEY AND GEOGRAPHY 
 
 this treacherous conduct liad 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' war- 
 riors 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 Com- 
 mittee, who had some slight notion of correct moral 
 precepts, and thpught possibly one might venture to 
 trust the Sovereign Lord of Heaven, were peace-at-any- 
 pricB men, milksops (a term of reproach equivalent ' to 
 milkmaids) [kin-e-suk], and that, in their hands, the 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 71 
 
 English Lion had heen muzzled — made an object of con- 
 tempt ! (This bloodthirsty beast is the admired symbol 
 of English power.) 
 
 Tills 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 groivl [heuien-ro] will suffi- 
 ciently 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 tax:es 
 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 luck with impunity, is too 
 intolerable ! 
 
 The morality of the present Eoyal Court is said to be 
 admirable — when you can once find the Eoyal resi- 
 dence. But this is quite a myth. There is, in this 
 reign, no Eoyal Court, only a domestic circle — a Eoyal 
 
72 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 
 
 Family — ^nofc kept up with so much splendour as some 
 of the Jwmes 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 Eoman Pope — at least, in 
 public. His poverty is no objection — that is more than 
 coimterbalanced 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 steej) 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 maiTy 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 chil- 
 dren'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 Bar- 
 barians, who have any, the remotest, trace of kinship to 
 the Ptoyal House of England ! 
 
OF THE ENGLISH. 73 
 
 The more considerable events, therefore, in the present 
 reign, as the Barbarians think, have reference to these 
 marriages of Eoyal Princesses, births, christenings (bap- 
 tizings), 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. Wlien she does appear, .she is hardly more than 
 respectfully and silently worshipped. She does not at- 
 tract 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 heloved, or very costly). 
 
 When, as rarely happens, to honour some Show 
 wherein the Eoyal presence may bring money to a 
 Charity, the Queen appears, suiTounded by Eoyal guards, 
 and in State, there is always to be seen a gigantic ser- 
 vant, dressed in the scarlet of the Eoyal 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 
 
74 HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 
 
 Qjaeen, when she was still young. He was one of 
 ancient family among the petty Barbarian chiefs to 
 whom I have referred; was near in hlood to the 
 Queen, and hy her greatly heloved, it is said; He was 
 never allowed any power in the State, and was a su.bject 
 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 j)roud — not because 
 they do, or can ever do, anything useful, but because it 
 adds to the number of the Higli-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, dis- 
 tant 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 Heatlien, 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 Eum, 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). 
 
OF THE ENGLISH 75 
 
 Some respect for Justice and some regard to the rights 
 of others have heen shown under the influence of this 
 Illustrious ; hut, as we have seen, this, the most honourable 
 distinction of the present reign, is likely to be oblite- 
 rated. The old predatory instinct of the English Bar- 
 barians again comes uppermost, and though caution and 
 fear of taxes may make the Committee of Grovernment 
 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 llood-letting 
 seems needful to cool those fierce and haughty Bar- 
 barians. 
 
 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 ban^s should again be 
 directed against our peaceful Central Kingdom ! 
 
76 SOME PARTICULARS OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOME PARTICULARS OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The whole country is divided into districts, in general 
 governed, like our Provinces, in tlie Sovereign's name, 
 by viceroys and governors. 
 
 The heir to the Crown, if he be the son of the reign- 
 ing Euler, 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 de- 
 signations 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, 
 unkeys [pluc-ngi], idle young people of both sexes, and, 
 from mere want of useful business, falls into every sort 
 of sport and pleasiu'e. He must, indeed, be strong in 
 morality and in character, if, upon coming to his high 
 of&ce, he be not reduced to the selfish imbecile and 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 77 
 
 puppet, desired by the Higli-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 a^ 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 Si 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 iu liitting 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 HaUs of Learning, 
 it is thought to be a manly science, fitting the young 
 Aristocracy to match any man in personal conflict, and 
 enabling hiTn 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. 
 
78 SOME PAETICULAES OF THE 
 
 tliough well used to brutal iights, yet are not trained 
 to the Science, the young Aristocrat is expected "to 
 pummel the brute" upon the slightest occasion of dis- 
 respect. 
 
 The provincial Magistracy are mainly employed in 
 keeping the Lower-Castes in order, and especially iu 
 punishing trespasses upon the lands, or upon the con- 
 venience 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 tiU 
 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 PoacJier — a criminal most detested by 
 the High-Caste ; for he presumes to think, in some 
 cases, that the right in these free creatures is «o< 
 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 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION". 79 
 
 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 surpHce [ro-hsi] ; 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 dele- 
 gates 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 
 C/iamber, because exalted above mere mortal interests, 
 and only concerned with the preservation of the Idolatrj-. 
 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 
 
80 SOME PAUTICULAES OF THE 
 
 the victims of superstition suffered beneath the decrees 
 of this ancient Court. Slow and proud, along the dark 
 stone corridors, and beneath the d\isky 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 ialcoves 
 around are stored the ponderous volumes, contain- 
 ing 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, Avhen, in these long and re- 
 sounding 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 aU 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 igno- 
 miniously 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 thincr, 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 81'> 
 
 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 re- 
 markable, only there is one so characteristic of the 
 English, so comically barbarous, that I will try to de- 
 scribe 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 caRed 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, 
 hdnours, 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 off- 
 
 G 
 
82 SOME PAETICXJLAES OF THE 
 
 spring! Thus the innocent are disgraced, and reduced^ 
 not merely to beggary, but, as far as possible, placed in 
 a condition of hopeless misery ! 
 
 ihe 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 ia 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 Froteus 
 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 else- 
 where, "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 
 EqvMy ; 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 thei least attention is really paid to equity, but 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTEATIOX. 83 
 
 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 aU, 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 aU 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 Egcords are fully 
 examined, to discover if anything of the sort has heen 
 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 
 ^e 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 
 Jiidgment. For he must very carefully compare all 
 the cases, examine all the voluminous Kecords, 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 Eecords ; 
 
84 SOME PAKTICULAES OF THE 
 
 interminable, stretching backwards to the first King 
 who pretended to have a conscience; obscure, contra- 
 dictory — he dare not unless justified by the Eecords — 
 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 hy the difficulty of deciding according to the 
 Precedents. Could he merely announce his own judg- 
 ment, 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 equitif 
 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 
 ike 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 ; aU 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 wp in the Court by the Case — he tries 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTEATION. 85 
 
 to call up from the mass of dusty and forgotten Hecords, 
 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 pro- 
 cesses, affidavits, answers, pleas, replications, rejoinders, 
 motions, applications, notices, subpoenas, summonses, 
 commissions, bills of amendments, and of supplement ; 
 documents oT all sorts, making up the Case, mouldering 
 away in the stone alcoves of the huge Eecords ; 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 
 
86 -SOME PAETICUIAKS OF THK 
 
 attacks wishes merely to force the owner of the house 
 to buy him off. To secure this spoil lie records his sum- 
 mons 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, bi/ tlie Becord, practically 
 deprived him of his estate. And this is done by a 
 li'etition 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 any- 
 body — it does not the least matter — is it not incon- 
 ceivable that such a thing should be allowed ? That 
 merely upon the Becord 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 ap- 
 pear he has been wrongfully summoned — this great 
 injustice may be perpetrated, and perpetrated without 
 Tisk of any punishment ! " But surely the Court wiU 
 immediately dismiss this iniquitous case 1" 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 vic- 
 tim cannot get a hearing. He borrows money and em- 
 ploys lawyers — ^in vain. He can do no more — he is 
 bankrupt. The lawyer who has ruined him gets 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 87 
 
 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 parjty 
 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 pro- 
 ceedings, 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 oppres- 
 sive and destructive ever contrived for the misery of 
 Society, short of one invented to destroy it whoUy ! 
 
 The Court was originally organised by Priests who 
 had acquired the Eoman 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 
 
■88 SOME PAETICULAES OF THE 
 
 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 com- 
 plete 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 lye-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 wiU 
 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 pre- 
 sently say, " I must take counsel," meaning he wishes 
 to ask another Lawyer. When the Mil is examined 
 you will find, say, " for being asked and not Imowing, 
 6s; 8d. ; for taking your instructions to counsel, 6s. 8d.; 
 for attending upon counsel, £1 Is.; for fair copy made 
 
 • for him, £2 2s. ;" and so on. Your simply unanswered 
 
 • question has thus served the following purposes : — If it 
 
I$fTEENAL ADMINISTEATION. 89 
 
 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 duU 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 pro- 
 vide 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 mgs 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. 
 
90 SOME tARTICULAKS OF THE 
 
 No one can be a Judge, nor a Higli-Caste Lawyer, who 
 does not wear the wig. It has a funny appendage he- 
 hind, like a pig's tail, exactly fitting to faU 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, aU 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 I 
 This may be merely the chaff [pti-ni] of these Bar- 
 barians. 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 Law- 
 yers. 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 im- 
 becile is most fit ; for nothing is expected but imbe- 
 cUity (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 
 
Internal administeation. 91 
 
 read from the big books, on one side, and then on this 
 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 Eecords, and both 
 iind 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 Eecorder'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. Tor the longer the talk 
 the larger the fees — nobody thinks of Justice ! The old 
 Judge understands the trick of the farce going on, per- 
 fectly well ; in his younger days he was famous for his 
 skUl in all the arts of the High-Caste Lawyers, and 
 obtained his present position on that account, and be- 
 cause others wanted to get a formidable rival out of the 
 way; he understands how very little (but fees) is in- 
 volved 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, 
 
92 SOME PAKTICULAES OF THE 
 
 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. AU 
 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, conse- 
 quently, 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 sjrmbols 
 to the name of Lawyer also gives him a silk gown 
 (during the present reign) worked by the sacred hands 
 of Eoyalty 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 Super- 
 stition 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 some- 
 thing required in the intricate and dubious processes, is 
 wanting ; or in some document some erasure is de- 
 tected ; or something to hang a point upon is seized 
 .hold of — and at once a wrangle between the Lawyers 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION. 93 
 
 ensues. The Judge fairly awakes ; the whole case 
 Ireaks down [kel-tz-se] ; and everyhody, but the poor 
 victims in the case, anticipate more fees. The victims, 
 however, who have already heggared 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 con- 
 veniently 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 
 
94 SOME PAETICULAKS OF THE 
 
 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-of&cer cries out 
 Silence ; or, if the man be, for tJie first time, attemptiag 
 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 igaorance of the mys- 
 teries, 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 siiitor," 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 
 Hogs and Piggs." Thus " My Lud " wiU be as far as 
 any " poor ruined suitor wiU 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 diffi- 
 culty in getting, as it was clearly his; it would be only 
 & 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, hut I never got any money ! After I had actually 
 paid in fees more than half of the one thousand, the 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTEATION. 95 
 
 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 re- 
 construction , is probably only possible after first 
 demolishing ! 
 
 This man said that a prodigious sum — sixty mil- 
 lions 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 incal- 
 culable, aud, veiy. 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 fill- 
 ing the ever-spreadiug mischief with the vilest popula- 
 tion. 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 
 
96 SOME PAETICDLAES OF THE 
 
 fine, whenever one sees a wrecked building, or any 
 property marked by neglect and verging to total destruc-' 
 tion, 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 in- 
 terfere, or perhaps the Officers of Health. These may 
 abate a nuisance, and sometimes mere filth and inde- 
 cencies are removed. But nobody will improve a pro- ■ 
 perty to which he cannot have a certain and quiet pos- 
 session. Therefore, when the evil becomes intolerable, 
 the Law-making Houses make a Law by which a pro- 
 perty 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, wiU 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 es- 
 pecially to the English. As nearly aU 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 pre- 
 serving the Court, that they do not care to move. Then, 
 to other causes, must be added the stolid conceit of the 
 
INTERNAL ADMINISTKATION. 97' 
 
 English Barbarians, who really think everything 
 English so much better than what can be fonnd else- 
 where, 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 instihctions as better than the best of the 
 rest of the world ! 
 
 II 
 
98 UPON EDUCATION : 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 UPON EDUCATION : A FEW EEFLECTIONS. 
 
 In our Illustrious and Central Eingdom, 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 Illus- 
 trious, 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 affairsi 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 Examiuation, 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. 
 
A FEW KEFLECTIONS. 99 
 
 But it is very different with the Western Barbarians, 
 where hirth gives a right to exalted place in Govern- 
 ment! Power, among the English, is wholly in the 
 ■hands of this hereditary class — called Nobility — else- 
 where 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 dis- 
 tinction, 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. 
 
 Stni, some grew more inc[uisitive, especially outside 
 the Priestly order, and learning made some progress. 
 Oradually, 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 whoUy to the 
 narrow range referred to. These rules were in fact 
 DEGEEES ; 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 Euler's dread of the devil, when appre- 
 hending or near to death) ; these, alone, could confer the 
 degrees. No power accompanied them. They, merely. 
 
100 UPON EDUCATION: 
 
 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 Medieine. 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 exclu- 
 sive Society ; whose members insisted, not upon fitness, 
 but upon compliance with arbitrary rules. This was 
 made especially the case with the Law, and with Medi- 
 cine. 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 jpresumptimi (but by 
 no means a true one) that its holder knew something of 
 the ancient Eoman and Greek languages : not any pre- 
 sumption 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. IN'or any, that in the Law, there 
 was any knowledge of the Statutes, laws and customs of 
 the Eealm, nor even of its Common annals ' Medicine 
 and Law suffered from this Sham ; because men natu- 
 rally used what little they did know; and, as to the 
 Eoman 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 
 
A FEW REFLECTIONS. 101 
 
 the same jargon, and kept up the requisition for a 
 degrRe, — as if any true morality and worship were neces- 
 sarily connected with a literature, denounced by them- 
 selves 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. StiU, it did work upon some 
 minds to better use ; and it gradually evolved a better 
 learning, when the Ancient Literature reaUy 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 
 HaUs 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 pre- 
 
102 UPON EDUCATION : 
 
 paratoiy schools ; and will not, if they can help it, suffer 
 any of the tower-Caste to enter them. 
 
 In these, the barbarous customs cbntinue.; if one goes 
 into them, he is at once carried backwards into the dark 
 ages (as even the Barbarians caU them) ; ages, when the 
 Priests had aU the Learning — wretched as it was — and 
 when the Superstition coloxx^^di and directed everything. 
 Here, the dead tongues are the chief studies, with some- 
 thing of the ancient puzdes 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. 
 Bing 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 heiTig in Chancery! One of the fittest illus- 
 trations possible, of the universality of the judgment 
 which places that Court among things the most re- 
 pulsive ! 
 
A FEW EEFLECTIONS. 103 
 
 The younger in these schools axe 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 hody, and barbarous ; 
 to prepare them for the lives of predatory exploit, 
 upon which fortune and all the best honours depend — 
 learning beijig subordinate, and disregarded, unless it 
 further the main purpose. 
 
 Force is stUl 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 dis- 
 ciplined to its most effective use. 
 
 One sees this everywhere. To invent the most de- 
 structive engines of war for the wholesale slaughter of 
 the human species, to add to the swiftness of move- 
 ment, 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 toith man's intellect, to make the 
 beast something inexpressibly dreadfuj ! 
 
 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 HeU and the DevU. 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 popu- 
 
104 UPON education: 
 
 lace, at least, the rudiments of learning. The task is 
 hard, and made nearly impracticable by the stolid indif- 
 ference 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 indivi- 
 dual 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 [U-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 ieer ? (This 
 is the common drink, very muddling ; used to an 
 astonishing quantity.) 
 
 The women are not admitted to the HaUs of Learn- 
 ing, 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 thiok, 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 educatioji recognised by the Literati — is disKked 
 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 desir- 
 able husband, are the only things cared for. Some 
 
A FEW EEFLECTIONS. 105 
 
 music, some di-awing, a little acquaintance with the 
 language of the chief tribe on the main parts, reading 
 And writing, are the intellectual studies. But the en- 
 grossing 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. Banciny [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, per- 
 mitting 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 swim- 
 ming. 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 
 
106 UPON EDUCATION: 
 
 of men ; and, in truth, show the barbarous instinct quit© 
 as clearly as dp the males. They are attached to dogs, 
 cats, and other creatures, which they fondle and da-ndh 
 in the most disgusting maimer. 
 
 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 dbaTidon [lan-gu-tze] of the lazy 
 and rich, but they cap 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 pos- 
 sible, 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. AH 
 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 
 weU educated, and wish to marry, she carefully conceals 
 
A.FEW EEFLECTIONS. 107 
 
 her knowledge, and displays Ker accomplislinients, and 
 all " the power of her charms " (as the EngUsh poets 
 have it). An educated female had hetter appear to be 
 an accomplisJied 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, tlic care of Women; and- demand an en- 
 larged 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 hope- 
 lessly 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 com- 
 manding 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 ; 
 
108 UPON EDUCATION. 
 
 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 sub- 
 ordinate 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. 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 109 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 OF THE LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH, 
 
 There are innumerable books; and the conceit of 
 these Barbarians attache^ to them as to everything in 
 their Enlightened World (litz-i-ten). Nothing outside 
 of the Christ-god worshippers is allowed to be en- 
 lightened — ^aU 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-Uhrist-Jew super- 
 stition, 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 syxp-pathy with the author; and it requires p9.tience 
 and a loiig use to get over the. disgust caused by the 
 offensive pretensions and ignorant references. 
 
110 LITERATUEB OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 I 
 
 The Poetry of a people is generally placed /rsi among 
 the Barbarian Literati ; and of thi6 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 con- 
 ceits, 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, heslobbering (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 them^ 
 selves 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. !N"or is he want- 
 ing 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 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. Ill 
 
 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 inex- 
 pressible, sweet despair I 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 aU 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 
 aU others of any time or place — caU him the Divine 
 Shakespeare ! This is very easy with a people -W^ho 
 know nothing of the poetry of the great East, nor of 
 that of our Flowery Kingdom — in truth, have but a 
 slight acq[uaintance with the writers of the other Bar- 
 barians ! 
 
 Disregarding this foolish conceit, we may admit that 
 this man shows a bipoad and comprehensive intellect — 
 he is one who knows something of himself, and that 
 self is a manly self. And he simply exhibits hvfnself in 
 those creations of his fancy, wherein a great variety of 
 men and women show the passions, foUies, and chailg- 
 ing interests of life. He has the power df vividly see- 
 ing and of clearly showing what in his mind he sees, 
 
112 LITEKATUBE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 and in language often low and uucoutli, 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 un- 
 favourable influences and some tarnish, manifested 
 itself, and occasionally in grand and beautiful forms. 
 In very garbage there are sparkling gems. He ofteni 
 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 wiU. 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 any- 
 where. 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 sweet- 
 ness and tenderness — and some have a very refined ■ 
 feeling. The great blemish is falseness. 
 
LITBEATUEE OF THE ENGLISH. 113 
 
 The Western Barbariang addict themselves always to 
 a false and affected mode whenever they address them- 
 selves 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 non- 
 sense 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 wiU ease — 
 Thy lips give Immortality ! " 
 
 The Elegiac [mo-un-fu] is, perhaps, the most cultured 
 among the reiined 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 wor- 
 ship. He demands a Sacrifice quite inhumiaii, when he 
 
114 LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 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 im- 
 plies. 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 Sentiaiental Authors. 
 
 Very rarely is there anything striking or true ; and 
 the mass of Verses, after recei~ving the paid-for attention 
 of the daily writers, sleep a sleep of oblivion. 
 
 The Prose writings are innumerable — largely, how- 
 ever, mere ?'e-AasAes-[mi-pi-stu] of existing works. It is 
 a trade to make tbese new forms of old books — cutting 
 down, working over, and revising. History, accounts 
 of bloody fights, forays, commotions, massacres, and 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH, 115 
 
 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 A7't, 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 feel- 
 ing 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 ex- 
 istence outside of a diseased brain. The great Shake- 
 speare describes him, " Sighing like a furnace, with a 
 woful ballad made to his mistress' eyebrow ' " whicli 
 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 jahan- 
 toms — 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 mix- 
 ture 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 
 
116 LITEEATUEE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 and divine things. The Philosopher loves Wisdom, and 
 Wisdom loves and teaches him ! 
 
 Each philosopher, however, knowing everything, 
 knows some things hettex than others ; and usually ex- 
 hibits to the world that eccentricity by which he is 
 known. He parades this on all public occasions of the 
 Idtcrati; 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 Eoman, 
 Simia means Ape. He is vulgarly and better known, 
 however, as the Hobby-horse philosopher, from his own 
 name, Holhs! 
 
 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 iind there the immediate origin, 
 but the true germ lies further back among the tadpoles ! 
 
 I do not knowwhat tadpoles are, and did not think it 
 worth while to inquire. 
 
 This philosophy, called Darwinian, is gre,atly admired 
 for its profundity — especially by the select circle of 
 Mutuial Admiring Thinkers— but is strongly denounced 
 by the Bonzes, and by the HaUs of Learning and Lite- 
 rati of the Superstition. It makes man no immortal 
 being at all, these say ; and dethrones all the gods. 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 117 
 
 In our Flowery Land we may smile at these specu- 
 lations 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 aU 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, Eomans, 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 specu- 
 lative 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 
 
118 LITEKATUKE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 as man, who, even before lie 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 sharp- 
 ness, 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 ifitellect 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 hfi 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 'v^th matter. And writers 
 upon the mind, when they speak of the moral fimction, 
 call that by another name. Thus we have the Intel- 
 lectUal 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 
 
•LITEEATUKE OF THE ENGLISH. 119 
 
 existence independent pf 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 he convenient to give exactness to 
 mental movements, but are otherwise fanciful. They 
 deny a " Moral faculty," asserting that it is only a 
 peculiar refiijement of the Yvi^-inslind ; tliat 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 tlie Life-Instinct or mind, 
 if you will ; but who iniagines that tlie 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 iTistinct, 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, Iiere, 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 cease- 
 less 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 
 
.120 LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 ■do not think, because egotist ; yet in humble men, con- 
 scious 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 antiqxdty. 
 
 One school of Philosophers indulges in a curious 
 form of materializing the mind^Pretending to fix all 
 the mental and moral proces^^^ the very substance 
 of the brain, they declare tl^mmy a careful examina- 
 tion of the head, the exact quafces 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 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 121 
 
 brain, rises a corresponding St^mp [Ko-be], that these 
 Jmimps contain : some, thoughts of music, some of hate, 
 some of love, some of niimbers, 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 wiU as- 
 suredly 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, ani/ form 
 may be given to them, by applying a gentle and con- 
 tinuous pressure. Government, therefore, ought to have 
 aU. 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 jBarbarians. 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 — distinc- 
 tions are confounded, and a rational morality wanting. 
 
122 LITERATUKE OF THE ENGLISH. , 
 
 A merely Jewish ordinance from the Sacred Writings 
 is made as important as a plain ;noral 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 wiU not deign to look 
 with pity. He is a consuming fire ! Heart and hands 
 pure — a life of disinterestedness — worship warm, grate- 
 ful. 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 pre- 
 tension, 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 barba- 
 rism may be placed to accoimt of this false system can- 
 
LITEEATUKE OF THE ENGLISH. 123 
 
 not be defined. It is the immediate father of Atlmsm. 
 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 sur- 
 rounding 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. Por these victims, fearful of eternal destruc- 
 tion, place themselves entirely in the hands of the 
 Bonzes, and adore aU the gods and observe all the rites. 
 They cargnot be siire, of themselves, that they do pro- 
 perly Believe; a thing of a very mysterious nature, con- 
 cerning which (as I have remarked) the contention is 
 ceaseless. Nor can these victims of the Superstition, 
 ardent devotees though they be, always obtain satisfac- 
 tory 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 
 jaoor Bonzes; and the like ; much as we see among our 
 superstitious devotees. Superstition merely reproduces 
 its natural effects, varied according to the circumstances. 
 Stni 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 aU the 
 horrors of their worship; that but a few are saved 
 
124 LITEEATUKE-OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 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 ac- 
 cepted 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 Soly 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 hooks. The scene closes in death, 
 or worse, in a mad-lwuse; where in chains or under 
 vigilant keepers (to prevent self-destruction or the de- 
 struction of others), these wretches vanish from human 
 hope and sympathy ! The frightful Superstition in these 
 victims has be^n 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. 
 
LITERATUEE OF THE ENGLISH. 125 
 
 From an Amatory poet, who refers to the conjugal 
 endearments of the Eoman 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 em- 
 ployed, 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 reftied specimen, quite free of the diabolie : — 
 
 " What grief, what darkness fills my breast, 
 That coldly I have strayed from thee ! 
 Thou art my Love, my Life, my Eest ; 
 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 ! " 
 
126 LITEEATUEE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 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 un- 
 daunted mind, day after day, and night after night, for 
 weeks and weeks, stiU 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 
 JVew World was discovered ! We know of this in our 
 Annals, in the dynasty Ming. 
 
 " To be — this marks tlie 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 !" 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 127 
 
 Very much of tlie poetry is otscured, and spoilt by the 
 influence of the Superstition ; and very much by arti- 
 ficiality and affectations. And everywhere there are 
 poor or indifferent imitators of the ancient Greeks and 
 Eomans; upon whom the Literati mould their poetic 
 conceits. 
 
 Of the Comic and common it is well to read little. 
 Coarseness an& 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 aij 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 sv,reet expectancy, and bright 
 With smiles and charming grace, and blushingly 
 Unconscious of a Love, just to be bom — 
 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 hUls, and dales, and groves, and golden com — 
 Whilst in the peerless air, all things are near ; 
 And far or near they each and all adorn I 
 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. 
 
128 LITEEATUEE OF THE ENGLISH, 
 
 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, 
 
 Eest 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 wiU not die ; 
 
 Will rear aloft its monumental walls ; 
 
 Informed by Instinct builds as builds the bee — 
 
 Mounting secure where stumbling Eeason 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, tusy 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 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 1^9 
 
 reference is comprehensive — meaning the universal 
 Sope of ImTnortality, symbolized by the lofty Fanes. 
 
 I give below a few of the absurdities from the Oomic, 
 taken from a greatly esteemed author in this Line. 
 
 " Three wise men of Gotham. 
 "Went to sea in a bowl [tou-se] ; 
 If the howl had been stronger, 
 fiy tale had been longer ! " 
 
 The meaning of which is, I suppose, that when wise 
 men do foolish things they no more escape the con- 
 sequences of folly than others. 
 
 " I bet you a crown to a penny, 
 
 And lay the money down, 
 That I have the funniest hoise of any 
 
 In this or in any town. 
 His tail is lohere his head, should he — 
 ' You bet ! Well, come and see.' 
 And sure enough, within his stall. 
 The horse was turned— 3,ud. that was all ! " 
 
 Aaother, 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 under- 
 takes to remedy it by one equally unwise. The folly 
 of conceited impulsiveness ! 
 
130 LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 Another, and I have done. 
 
 "Little Jack Homer 
 Sat in a comer, 
 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 he good, they shall have plums. It is very sig- 
 nificant 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! 
 
TRADE, AUD REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 131 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 OF TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 
 
 We have ourselves, in our maritime parts, some ex- 
 perience of the English, as traders [Kie-tee]. Some- 
 thing of their moral character is known, not as traders 
 only, but as representatives of the general civilization 
 of their tribe. It wUl 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-bK] of the English ; there is no- 
 thing (of character) which they will not sacrifice to this 
 Idol. The god by which tiiey mostly swear, and whose 
 name they apply to themselves, knew nothing of trade, 
 and his words, as recorded in the Sacred Writings, con- 
 demn 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 trafiic touching ou 
 all sides, and affecting nearly every interest, carries with 
 
132 TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 
 
 it ai) almost universal debasement. Blind and con- 
 ceited, 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 Bar- 
 barians ! We punish these plunderers when we detect 
 them; but these Christians who would convert us en- 
 courage 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 con- 
 temned ! 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, Ms 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 dis- 
 
TRADE, AND EEVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 133 
 
 honesty ; and a people will not generally he tetter than 
 their laws. 
 
 The High-Caste affecting to despise trade, do, occa- 
 sionally, 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, thal^they will not do anything to hamper it ; 
 ^nd any law which touches the utmost freedom of action 
 in buying arid 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 traf&c) be injured. 
 
 That man has a fine nature which traf&c, in its best 
 ways, cannot tarnish; and laws should take their coloxir 
 from the best — not the sordid. The old Eomans cul- 
 tivated the land, and looked with contempt upon traffic^ 
 When riches and its corruptions lowered manliness, 
 and Commerce spread through the provinces — still, the 
 Eomah 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 Eoman) 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 Eomans made no such immoral- rule ; 
 they required the most exact good faith upon both 
 
134 TRADE, AND EEVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 
 
 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, sculp- 
 tures, 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 ven- 
 tures. Their conquests abroad have been incidental 
 generally, commerce being th§ 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 th& 
 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 con- 
 sequently they (these Barbarians) have a right to the 
 possessions and lands of these distant and unoffending 
 
TKADE, AND EEVENtTB DERIVED FEOM IT. 135 
 
 tribes ! And not' only this, that these trihes, under the 
 wrath of Jah, and subjects of the Devil and hell, ought 
 to be grateful for the inestimable boon of tlie 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 
 aU the tribes) gave to two of them, very devoted to 
 his worship and powerful in ships, the whole world 
 of Heathen. This meant aU the wide world but that 
 small region in Europe whereiu 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 con- 
 demnation : 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 Eomish 
 Priests, refused to worship the Pope and denied his 
 authority. The Dutch first, and then the English, 
 
136 TEADE, AND EEVENUE DERIVED FltOM IT. 
 
 growing more powerful iu sliips, 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 
 tetter, 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 pos- 
 sessions, 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 
 vide world ! Iu 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 En- 
 lightenment, 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 
 
TRADE, AND REVENUE DEEIVED FKOM IT. 137 
 
 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, ilimsy articles 
 too poor for home trade; to these, add the licentious 
 and degraded sailors; and one sees hot^ 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 theni 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 whole- 
 sale 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 un- 
 
138 TRADE, AND EETENUE DEKIVED FROM IT. 
 
 Inolested, 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 qiMck 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 iffTwramus, who beats and starves the wretched 
 children under his care ; the nurse quietly drinks her- 
 self 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 mQkman 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 cdbiages 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 exhibi- 
 tion of roguery and immorality. The spectators never 
 tire of these displays of the general rascality. The 
 
TKADE, AND EEVENUE DERIVED ITBOM IT. 139 
 
 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 degrada- 
 tion 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 hisiness done in them absorbs the atten- 
 tion 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. 
 
140 TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 
 
 Other great trading places deal in money, or rather 
 in hits of Printed Paper, which promise to pay money 
 to him who has one of these hits. 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 Bar- 
 barians, 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 Banh. The Government shares in 
 the advantages of this invention. Its object is to hank 
 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 
 lit 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 
 
TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 141 
 
 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 Goyernment 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 hanking up the gold till wanted in exchange 
 for the Paper lias been broJcen. 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, Kke 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 
 
142 TEADE, AND EEVENUB DERIVED FROM IT. 
 
 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 de- 
 manded 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 wiU 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 woiild 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 gaius, 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 
 
TRADE, AND EEVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 143 
 
 Houses are those wiiere 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 
 ■win live say seventy moons, he pays down at once a 
 small sum, and the House accepts the bet — that is, 
 ^ives him a writing, promising to pay his heirs a very 
 much larger sum if he die before the seventy moons 
 «xpire. If a man have goods in a shop, he bets, say, 
 one pound to 100 pounds, that they wiU not be burned 
 during twelve moons — he pays down the pound and re- 
 ceives 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 aU kinds, upon duration of life, 
 and upon the life of another, iipon accidents to body, 
 upon honesty of servants — ^upon almost anytiiing 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 
 bums 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. N"or 
 can there be anything but loss to the piiblic at larg^ ; for 
 these expensive Houses and their numerous and richly- 
 living inhabitants are supported by the winnings made. 
 
144 TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 
 
 without rendering any useful service. This must be 
 trae, 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 
 gi-eat 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 oif. 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 c6niidenee), the House shuts its doors ! The 
 rogues share the plunder .and decamp. Decamp is to 
 run away to distant parts to escape arrest and punish- 
 ment. 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 effec- 
 tually 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 
 
TEADE, AND KEVENUE DERIVED EROM IT. 145 
 
 who deal constitute a ^cret and exclusive hetiing Ring, 
 or community. IS 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 ofi" 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 traf&c — 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 under- 
 going changes, according to the varying circumstances. 
 
 L 
 
146 TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 
 
 The promise to-day looks well — it is estimated at so 
 much; to-mm-row it does not look so well — and it is 
 estimated at less worth. Besides, aU 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 
 tliese 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 tliat effect. Consider 
 the consec[uences 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 I And are interested — 
 the one to advance the price, and the other to lower the 
 IDrioe, of the thing dealt in ! 
 
 Consider the temptation to unfair practices, tha in- 
 evitable tricks, false rumours, lies, and deviations from 
 honourable conduct involved in such transactions ! 
 Reflect upon the consequences to the honest trader, 
 
TEADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 147 
 
 •who is, in liis very honesty, all the mora easily tricked 
 ij the unscrupulous ' 
 
 The stronghold of these various gambling Establish- 
 ments, 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 dis- 
 tinguishing 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. Par- 
 ticularly 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 
 ^old, 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 itseK — 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 dis- 
 charge 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 en- 
 
148 TRADE, AND EEVENUE DEEIVBD FROM IT. 
 
 couraged; honour, delicacy, simple integrity, are driven 
 into obscurity. Let him who would preserve his con- 
 science smooth and clear, a mirjor whence divinity he 
 reflected, shun aU the marts and ways of trade ! 
 
 The Eevenues of the Government are derived largely 
 from the dealers in the great Marts, and it is imme- 
 diately interested in the upholding of the Credit of the 
 innumerahle paper-promises of all kinds made hy 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 suMdent 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 frpm the excise, a tax 
 upon the beer, drank 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, •ttT'etchedness,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 iu the midst of a general debasement— a debasement 
 which takes, without shame, a share in a trafiic so vile ! 
 
TRADE, AND KEVENUE DERIVED FROM IT. 149 
 
 I have spoken freely of the dishonesty of the Bar- 
 barian 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, wiU always 
 prevent absolute dissolution — thieving and roguery will 
 be restrained in, tolerable bounds. A man of genuine 
 integrity finds trafl&c no good moralist in the best of 
 circumstances. He needs the support of the State, , or 
 he wOl fight an unequal battle, and be forced by dis- 
 honesty to retire. The Barbarians are not yet suffi- 
 ciently 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 in- 
 dustry, their peaceful pursuits, and aU 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 specu- 
 lation 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, uiiknown 
 to an orderly and industrious people, whose order and 
 industry are grounded upon the simple and direct rules 
 of reason and truth. 
 
150 EEMAEKS UPON MAEEIAGES, 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 some remaeks upon maeriages, bieths, and bueials. 
 [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 con- 
 tain 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 wiU. 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 tldrd — High-low. Those who are obliged to- 
 work more or less, but are ever longing to attain to- 
 theidle s elfishness of those above them. 
 
 The fowdk — Lowest Caste (ViUeins). Labourers, not 
 long since serfs, and still so in effect. 
 
BIRTHS, AND BUEIALS. 151 
 
 The fourth Caste is so loio 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 v/hich the 
 more common are my onan, navvy, clown, cloci-Jwpper, 
 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. 
 
 JTe may be broken in fortune and notorious for im- 
 moralities, 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 wiU 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 ricli to buy for 
 their daughters a High-Caste husband: and men of 
 
152 EEMAEKS UPON MAEEIAGES, 
 
 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 disappoint- 
 ment occasionally arising, when, on opening the door 
 of the cliair, 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 
 
BIRTHS, AND BURIALS. 153 
 
 the Temple ; and any one may follow wlio 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 corUge 
 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, beggiag 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 
 «at;en, 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 did 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 some- 
 thing in the Superstition — probably to appease the evil 
 imps, who delight in mischief and are amused by the 
 absurd squabbles of the beggars. 
 
154 EEMAKKS UPON MAEEIAGES, 
 
 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 hride, wistfiiUy 
 stretching her neck and turning her eyes, dimned with 
 tears, to the door-steps where staijd those with whom 
 she has lived — and whom she now, it may he, suddenly 
 finds are very dear to her ! But the husband has 
 grasped the waist of his new possession, and is absorbed 
 in thM. He has before been the owner of horses, dogs,, 
 and the like, which have worn his collar — tMs 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 
 mfe, 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 abso- 
 lutely, though he may (as the Barbarians express it) 
 " play the very DevU. " 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 abso- 
 
BIRTHS, AKD BUEULS. 155 
 
 lutely solving it — ^thougli 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 IxLs bride, return taciturn, careless, for- 
 getful 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 poutiTig has 
 said, " Out again, George," he has replied, lighting a 
 cigar, " Yas, I must meet the fellahs, you know I. " 
 
 The best hint on this subject which I ever got was 
 from a married Englishmen, who to my query said, 
 "Ah-Ghin, my dear fellah, call Honey-moon Matri- 
 monial 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 oc- 
 cupations, necessarily they have only each other to look 
 at with attention. The honey-eating is trying enough, 
 and needs, one would think, aU 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. 
 
156 EEMAEKS UPON MAKKlAGES, 
 
 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 Barbadians, 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 sin- 
 gular rite, and one of the most astonishing in the Super- 
 stition. 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 aU 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 difi&cult 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 wUes, shall find 
 it weU^nigh impossible ever to get — some Bonzes say 
 it is absolutely impossible! 
 
 Women, as soon as strong enough to attend the 
 
BIRTHS, AND BUEIALS. 157 
 
 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 Invoca- 
 tions, and refers to the various superstitions and har- 
 barous 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 band 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 iavocations and 
 prayers over the body of the dead, before it is placed 
 in the tomb — but there is no real respect for the dead — 
 
158 EEMAEKS UPON MAEEIAGES, 
 
 it is not to be looked for in the rough, barbaric nature. 
 In our Flowery JCingdom 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 
 Ralls 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 cofi&n ready, prepared, and 
 carefully honoured and cared for. With the English, 
 the thought of one is repulsive, and he looks upon it 
 with loathing ! ISTo 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 
 defunet (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 accom- 
 paniments, disappears — but only to disgorge the body. 
 Soon after these Vultures may -be 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 
 defiled 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 
 
BIRTHS, AND BUEIALS. 159 
 
 Lawyers ; in truth, the fashion is to show respect to 
 the dead by a lavish expenditure in black draperies, and 
 is almost whoUy confined to that. It is an object to 
 speak of the cost as a measure of that respect! The 
 whole thing being a sliam, 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 Under- 
 taker, 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 /ormwia; 
 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 
 
160 REMAKES UPON MAREIAGES, 
 
 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 ririg or a 
 CTold-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 osten- 
 tatiously bestowed upon him ! Nor is his smothered 
 rage extinguished by the satisfactory expression of 
 other relatives, who whisper, " WeU, he cringed and 
 fawned to little purpose after all!" 
 
 Tram this Eeading 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 con- 
 testants 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 
 laind, that here all are equally wretched and equally 
 impoverished, excepting the Lawyers ! 
 
 The power of the de^d 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 clvarity o'f 
 the oldest, who, by mere accident of birth, takes every 
 
BIRTHS, AND BURIALS. 161 
 
 thing! And not only this, but some distant mah 
 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 ^^^ry 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 Hack. 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 tail footman, all black, bearing the Sacred Bites. 
 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 fivmkey. 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 
 
 M 
 
162 KEMAEKS UPON MARRIAGES, 
 
 have gone, the widow drops all the Jiabiliments of 
 woe, and is herself again ! — that is, a woman in search 
 of a husband! — if sJie 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 ser- 
 vices" 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 Bites and Ctostoms regulating the 
 conduct of widows, of widowers — in fact, the ob- 
 servances of Society generally — I have never been able 
 to see. It is in the care and under the constant super- 
 vision 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 Eoyalty 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 mm-e tolerance as 
 ito Widowers : they are not absolutely liable to decapi- 
 tation if they marry again in less than twelve moons. 
 Widowers, for reasons I do not know, are favourites 
 
BIRTHS, AND BURIALS. 163 
 
 ■with the Barbarian females; and young women witli 
 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 Gru-ndy 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 Ancestws, 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 al- 
 ways considered to be to the honour of the livirig — 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 Stori^-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. 
 
164 EEMAEKS UPON MAEEIAGES, 
 
 Often the slabs are flat upon the ground, and the 
 tombs ruinous and neglected; in fact, very generally 
 the burial-places, though Iwly, are in a wretched con- 
 dition — 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, in- 
 scribed with memorials of the dead. They have slowly 
 become less uncouth, less barbarous, and less devoted t» 
 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 singu- 
 larly-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 hiUs, 
 and soft vales, and rich fields of ripening corn, and 
 scattered groves — with green meadows divided by flow- 
 ering 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 Bar- 
 barian 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 
 
BIRTHS, AND BURIALS. 165 
 
 ■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 Inscrip- 
 tions — by them called Epitaplis, when written to the 
 dead — taken fiu>m tablets in places of burial. 
 
 " Here lies an old maid, Hannah. Myers ; 
 Slie 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 ! " 
 
 I Here is one which refers to certain mineral [zi-kli] 
 waters, prized by the Barbarians for curative pro- 
 perties : — 
 
 " 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 !" 
 
166 EEMAEKS UPON MAEKIAGES, 
 
 The following is most absurd : — 
 
 " Here lie I, as snug 
 As a bug in a rug ! " 
 
 And some equally /wran?/ 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. Sod knows, on Thee !" 
 
 This is ridiculous in manner of qliotihg 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 foUow 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 wiU be scarcely intelligible. Th^'last trump- 
 
BIETHS, AND BURIALS. 167 
 
 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 atten- 
 tive 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 aU!" 
 
 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 
 
168 EEMAKKS UPON MAEKIAGE6, 
 
 refinement. Our Booh 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 iliese there is less indecency than 
 formerly. There are, however, abundant samples even 
 among the Higher Castes, of tilings in really as bad 
 taste, though in neater language — qvate. 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 super- 
 stition, 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 cha- 
 racteristic. 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 
 
BIKTHS, AND BURIALS. 169 
 
 wlien 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 tender- 
 ness and delicacy find expression. . 
 
170 AKT, AKCHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 of art, akchitectuee, and some words about science, 
 [kei-ote]. 
 
 Until recently tlie Barbarians had no proper style 
 of Ar'chitecture, unless in Temples, Castles, and Ships. 
 The dwellings, even in cities, were as ugly and incon- 
 venient as it is possible to conceive. 
 
 When the great Eoman 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 tinc- 
 ture of Eoman learning, and brought from Eome 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 Eome, 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 
 
AKT, ARCHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 171 
 
 upwards, upwards, in grand confusion, and yet upon a 
 strange, wild plan ! — giving expression to an imagina- 
 tion only known to these dark and strong Barbarians. 
 Externally^ on all sides these Temples are monstrous 
 idols in stone, stuck most curiously, upon comers, high 
 up in niches, on turrets and battlemented [tnt-ti-sy] 
 walls, over thp 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 homble intimations of 
 things too foul for expression, and yet so frightfully 
 attempted, in ghastly and grinning stone ! 
 
 The Eoman-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 modi- 
 fied by the object. In these art found pleasure, and 
 the barbaric mind delight, to pile up lofty Castles of 
 huge stone — dark, menacing — wherQ 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 bar- 
 baric spirit in the love of Force, but from the useless- 
 ness of the Gothic forms in the presence of big cannons. 
 The Eoman Architecture, somewhat altered, is gene- 
 rally revived in buildings of importance. Yet the 
 Priests build much as before — dropping off, however, 
 
172 ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 the more hideous of the grinning idols. In this uncon- 
 sciously giving a sign of the decay of the Idolatry 
 itself. For when all its Jiorrors shall have disappeared, 
 the morality and the simple worship of the Lord of 
 Heaven may remain. The improving condition has im- 
 proved dwellings, particularly of the Higher Castes. 
 The poor still grovel in huts and hovels, often too 
 offensive for the healthy growth of anything hut 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 aU 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 
 
AET, AECHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 173 
 
 of tlieir 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, a§ 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 unmanage- 
 able 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 iviser 
 because they move faster — as if the hare be necessarily 
 wittier than the ox ; and more civilised, because more 
 powerfvfl — 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. Poece 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 
 
174 AKT, ARCHITEOTUKE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 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 Eoman style. They span 
 the rivers, the canals, and form viaducts [pa-se-gyt] for 
 roads oi 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 Bar- 
 barians 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 rest- 
 lessness and expense, accumulate too many here, and 
 depopulate and render meagre tJiere. 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 
 
AKT, AKCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 1V5 
 
 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, wMch 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, 
 biuldings for the poor, improved culture, tools, larger 
 areas of recovered lands, new fertilisers, new and nume- 
 rous 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 tiling — Steam ; never consider- 
 ing 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 
 
176 AET, AECHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 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 &S1 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, a^ 
 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 heer 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, use- 
 ful 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 com- 
 pare. 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 nud& 
 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. 
 
ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 177 
 
 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. 
 
 Por the same reason, as Sculpture with us is only 
 permitted where useful or innocent, it does not reach 
 after such effe'cts 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 Eomans, 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 Eoman 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 Super- 
 stition, 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 in- 
 decencies from that source were condoned to the excel- 
 lency 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 
 
 N 
 
178 ART, AECHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 of Roman types, began by the Eoman Pope, spread 
 everywhere. Thus the Superstition itself sanctions this 
 taste, which to us appears so unseemly and immoral. 
 
 In Parks and G-ardens 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 bar- 
 baric rudefiess, 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 invin- 
 cible in virtue — how then invincible in all ! 
 
ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 179 
 
 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 Eoman 
 method. It stood among fine trees, a long and glisten- 
 ing facade [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 pre- 
 sence ; 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 sub- 
 sided ! 
 
 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 Irother." He smiled. " Well, perhaps you are 
 
180 AET, AECHITECTUKE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 light. 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 
 tiling — 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, T said to 
 myself, in our Flowety Kingdom, if a point be doultful 
 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 spread- 
 ing lawns of soft verdure, the beautiful vases of brilliaut 
 shrubs, the fine trees, with here and there a modest 
 statue, or a marble fountain, I exclaimed, " How per- 
 fectly 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 ad- 
 mirable; 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 
 
AST, AECHI'l"£CTUIlE, AND SCIENCE. 181 
 
 passious 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 vp 
 with aU 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. lu 
 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 
 
182 AIIT, ARCHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 females) with rings of leaves held in their hands over 
 the head of the dead or dying man ! AU 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 efBgies.of a King, or 
 of a Queen, or of some High-Caste man. Of some 
 Brave, who has cut ofi' 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. Earely 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 
 
ART, AEOHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 183 
 
 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, in- 
 spired by a fine enthusiasm and full of a noble con- 
 ception, 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 un- 
 washed 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, 
 
184 ART, AKGHITBOTURE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 the ship should have stood upright and the bridge heen 
 as stable as rock ! ^ 
 
 A doctor kOls his patient [vi-zton] scientiiically ; 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 tind 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 sUeuce ; 
 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 discover- 
 ing the cause ; so that, probably, the accident would die 
 with the finder. A wise man would, at once, look for 
 the reaison, and finding that, be able to secure the benefit 
 for aU time. This knowledge of cause is the kind called 
 Science. 
 
 The explanation is familiar to us. In our Flowery 
 Kingd&m, the master teaches the rules, and the artificer 
 puts them in practice. We call him an Artisan \\ho 
 
ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 185 
 
 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 know- 
 ledge, 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 miU, 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 pare 
 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 
 1 ambition to be known, easily fancied that the dry 
 j 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 un- 
 valued. 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 Tiien of Science. 
 
 This is very laughable, and shows how mankind, 
 everywhere, constantly repeat the same follies. Mn our^ 
 Illustrious annals men like these have appearea and 
 disappeared}\ founded schools, been admired, had dis- 
 
186 ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 ciples J then passed into oblivion^ their works, often 
 voliminous, never met with ; or oc«asionally 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 ponder- 
 ing 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 intel- 
 ligible 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 philo- 
 sophers and men of Science; and involved in the 
 profound investigation oi principles, the Congress dis- 
 appears from the common eye, and is lost even to 
 itself! 
 
ART, AKCHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 187 
 
 On the whole, the value of these scientific men to the 
 ■world did not seem to me to be considerable. I mean 
 as scientifie 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 examineSj.if he have anything to say will say it, 
 and it wiU be judged by its merit. But when men 
 having time and not knowing what to do with them- 
 selves, 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 per- 
 sonal degradation or vicious inclination — ^but the world 
 could have been well spared his Catalogue of the Parasites 
 on the Lobster, or his JV^otes 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, de- 
 
188 AKT, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 manding to know the cause of all things, and the very 
 essence, object, and end. Those who take upon them- 
 selves this wider inquiry, assume a dignity far above 
 the mere Scientists — these deal with mere visible form* ; 
 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 theseTn 
 another place. They cannot be wholly useless, if there 
 really be a hrain, honest and strong, at work. For to 
 such patiently, Ijumbly, earnestly, full of grateful re- 
 cognition 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 
 
ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 189 
 
 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 oars. 
 
 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 combin§ji noises are terrific ; and 
 surpass what the effect would be of our Che, Yuhnien, 
 and Pieu-king all sounding at once ■ 
 
 In Singing, tlie men often roar like bulls, and the 
 women scream, making hideous contortions, i^ hand- 
 some 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 wUl sing and shriek out the most astonishing 
 (jymnasts 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 cur- 
 tain drops ! Then arise the noisy plaudits of the spec- 
 tators — demanding a repetition ! 
 
 The barbaric music is, for the niost part, like them- 
 
190 AET, AKCHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 selves, 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 Hke 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 pro- 
 digious House of Noise (called Organ) ! 
 
 Oratory is an Art much admired among the Western 
 tribes, and the English think themselves to be preemi- 
 nent. 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 
 Oratora ; 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 in- 
 effective. 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 them- 
 selves 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 occa- 
 sion possible. Grenerally 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. 
 
A.'RT, AECHITECTURE, AND SCIENCE. 191 
 
 Then occurs one of those scenes so characteristic. The- 
 Hobhy-man rises and tries to speak. He waxes elo- 
 quent (at least, he intends to he) on his favourite topic 
 — perhaps the Pope_^ Eome ; or the rights of women ; 
 or the purification of mud-streams ; or the poor man's 
 beer; no matter what, when the other members deter- 
 mined 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 iUustration of the liberty. 
 Anything obnoxious to the majority, or even to a noisy 
 minority, may be silenced — such isy 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 Koly 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 men- 
 
192 ART, AECHITECTL'EE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 tioued is given to this kind of spe.ech-making. The 
 speech is known by one name — Sermon. These sermons 
 form a part of the rites in the ■ Temples, and are there- 
 fore, numberless and never ceasing. As ought to he 
 expected, they are as dull as such a formal thing must 
 be. Some Bonze, new to his ofi&ce, 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 DevU. Eloquence, 
 therefore, in the Temples, if it exist, must be content to 
 glide softly over " green pastures," murmuring drowsily 
 with " meandering streams." 
 
 The lotver-sects are not so disposed to neglect their 
 duty. With these the Bonze is expected to be "in- 
 stant, 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 repen- 
 tance ; the need of Salvation ; the glorious Gospel ; the 
 blessedness of the redeemed ; the worthlessness of good 
 works ; the absolute loss, here and hereafber, 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. 
 
ART, AKCHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 193 
 
 There are itinerant Orators, who go ahout 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 
 15e 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 com- 
 bined' 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 
 Eoman-Greeks, whom they call Masters. Their archi- 
 tecture, when worth attentioUj is Eoman. But they 
 have produced one novelty, tlie 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 
 
 
 
194 AET, AKCHITECTUEE, AND SCIENCE. 
 
 startling effects, caught from the strongest passions. 
 True Art elevates, refines, and pleases. It never lends 
 itself to deformity, to the had 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. 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 195 
 
 CHAPTEE 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 unclean- 
 liness 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 notice- 
 able. 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. 
 
196 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTASLES. 
 
 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 con- 
 spicuous parts. 
 
 Horse-racing is esteemed as the greatest of all spec- 
 ■tacles; and ranks as worthy of a national support. 
 The Highest-Castes — even the Sovereign — attend. The 
 Law-making Houses, the Great Officers of Adminis- 
 tration, 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 con- 
 veyance is used: on horseback, on foot; in any way, 
 the enormous multitudes crowd to the Races — it is the 
 English Saturnalia (as an ancient Eoman 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 aU descriptions, 
 booths, stands and seats, are arranged, where the vast 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 197 
 
 crowds stand, or sit, pusMng, 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 pre- 
 sent ; 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, a,nd 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 impo- 
 verished, many utterly ruined. 
 
 With us the Theatre is merely a public, qut-door 
 
198 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 spectacle, of no importance, amusing the ordinary crowd, 
 and free from immorality. Women take no part in the 
 representations— hoys, dressed 'as females, playing for 
 women. But with the Barharians 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 Of&ra. In this repre- 
 sentation, as I have said in another place, the action 
 goes on, aU in Singing. To me nothing could he 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 Bar- 
 barians delights in dreadful murders, plots, assassina- 
 tions ; in things which tear and lacerate human feelings, 
 and bring despair and death ! 
 
 The Comic is as coarse in loose hiffoonery [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 bftnd of. young women, selected for 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 199 
 
 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 con- 
 cealed is half disclosed and more piquant than if left 
 uncovered. Troops of these appear — dazzliag in white 
 or pink — upon the stage-floor. Before they show them- 
 selves to the public, however, they parade, one by one 
 (as I was truly informed), before the High-Caste Super- 
 visor 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 aU 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 con- 
 sider 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' glit- 
 tering decorations; the paintings, the sculptures, the 
 music ! 
 
200 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 The music of immmeratle 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 ahout ! 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 tlie 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 them- 
 selves, and are undressed like the women in the Ballets 
 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 
 waUcing upon the tight-rope high above the spectators ; 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AXD SPECTACLES. 201 
 
 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 them- 
 selves in the idlest sports. The men in the water are, 
 with the exception of a mfere loin-cloth,- naked. The 
 women, though tolerably covered, yet so carelessly that, 
 with the motions of the bath and waves, they are suf- 
 ficiently exposed ! In these sea-bathing places you wiU 
 see Barbarian life in all its rudeness, and love of bois- 
 terous fun and frolic. The men, and women, and chil- 
 dren, abandon themselves to eating, drinking, bathing 
 in the sea-water; to sports and games; to dancing, 
 sight-seeing, and matcJi-maJdng. 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 ad- 
 mired. 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 ! 
 
202 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 The Cattle Shows are characteristic. Here, fat cattle, 
 sheep, fat swine, fine horses, poultry, tools used in til- 
 lage, fruit and vegetahles, 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 
 pusliing 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 Plowery 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 ob- 
 jects. What have the women and men, who push and 
 surge about the brutes, of interest in the thing ? Nothingj 
 They may know and care for sheep, when roasted, or for 
 fat suine, 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 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 203 
 
 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 hy 
 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 in- 
 dignity. 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 c^nd independent voters," accompanied by bows and 
 grimaces, intended for smiles ! 
 
 If liie Lower-House, however, find on examination 
 that some one has hustled twice — that is, thrown two 
 missiles, then the scene must be reenacted! Por 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 ! 
 
204 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 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, sur- 
 rounded 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 tuniultuous 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 in- 
 fluence 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 KusU^ 
 wiU 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 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 205 
 
 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 neces- 
 sary, 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 inilict more than 
 the accustomed indignities, which are moderate in com- 
 parison; though one would think sufficiently humi- 
 liating. 
 
 In the civic processions, which occur when a new 
 magistrate is appointed to a city, one observes hov/ the 
 old barbaric features still predominate. Like children 
 those things are most esteemed which grown people 
 disdain or laugh at. Eude 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 swarm- 
 
206 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 ing out from every liole and comer of the city. Such 
 crowds of both sexes, with childreii 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 dis- 
 gust ! 
 
 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-arins 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 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 207 
 
 of the Ceown, but also because tbe 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 aU pledged, to- 
 gether with all the Canons and beliefs, including the 
 Divine Eevelation of the Jewish Sacred Writings; in 
 fact, the ceremony, in the Priestly part, is Jew through- 
 out ! 
 
 The scene is characteristically barbaric. Force, and 
 glittering display ; aU 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 noUes [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 pro- 
 claims the new Monarch; then the first, with a loud 
 voice, defies to mortal combat any one who dares to 
 challenge th& right of the proclaimed Sovereign — and, 
 thereupon, throws down a glove [kang]. If any one 
 should pick up the glove, it would imply an acce"ptance 
 of the challenge. No one takes up the glove. The 
 
208 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 trumpets sound, the music strikes up in. a hundred 
 places; the vast multitude cry and shout, "Long live 
 the renovmed, the exalted, tJie IllvMrious !" — 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 <]laste hold 
 Jiereditary of&ces connected with this Show, from which 
 they derive revenue and high honour! One may be 
 hereditary sword-hearer, another cup-hearer, another 
 towel-holder, another bottle-washer. Nor is tMs sort of 
 sinecure {name for frivolous, useless Service) confined 
 to males ; females may be hereditary folders of the 
 Queen's night-cap, loashers of the hahy-linen, keepers of 
 the robes, maids of the bed-chamber, and so on ! Stillj 
 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 bar- 
 barisms, and never by any chance share in the personal 
 benefits, tliey admire them ; and believe' them to be, in 
 some mysterious way, connected with their glorious con- 
 stitution 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, 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 209 
 
 and biirn 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 hands 
 being assembled, are divided into two parts. Each part 
 has a great Chief at the head, with horsemen, footmen, 
 and those with th§ wheeled-cannon. 
 
 One of these Divisions is sent to a distance, and the 
 other is kept at hand. Then the one near is com- 
 manded to act as if the distant force was an enemy, 
 who, having landed, was marching into the coimtry to 
 subdue it. In this way, it is intended to teach the 
 armed bands to march, countermarch, hide, seek, ad- 
 vance, retreat, get into ambuscade, get out of it, rush up 
 hills, rush down hills, cross rivers, make bridges, con- 
 struct 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. 
 
 Kow, 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- 
 
 p 
 
210 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 mill, upon a row of' bushes, firing and shouting — then, 
 suddenly recoiling, rush back and hurry to shelter he- 
 hind som& other row! Then cannon will bang, and 
 smoke wiU 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 ! 
 
 Th&ia. 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 bang- 
 ing away, in a manner very surprising ; and this is a 
 shMm-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 Eeports of the doings of their respective divisions, 
 complimenting the braves and the head men upon their 
 discipline and order. 
 
 On one occasion the Eoyal Prince and liis 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 
 Eoyal party had the cannon which they rode directly 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 211 
 
 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 ; aU endured manfully, and 
 hardly noticed hecaiise it is real. Even a pauper dis- 
 dains maie-beUeve 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 
 sjitisfaction. 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 reaUy understand how to meet a genuine 
 enemy more skiKully, by having made-helieve 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 
 
212 AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 
 
 affair cannot be good. The object is a sham — every- 
 thing, therefore, about it is sham. The fight is a sham, 
 and the fighter is a sham-brav6, and, therefore, worth- 
 less. 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 gKttering steel flashing 
 in the sun, with brilliant coverings and gay colours, 
 and the loud clanging music — these attract great multi- 
 tudes. 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 per- 
 nutted to me. Or rather it would have been very un- 
 comfortable indeed, for the rude and insolent Bar- 
 barians in the ships know nothing of ordinary polite- 
 ness and civility. They jeer my illustrious country 
 and people, and mock at us with the brutality of con- 
 ceited 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 
 
AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES. 213 
 
 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 hig 
 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 fiUed with gun- 
 powder, which, sinking under the old huU, 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 ! 
 
214 EMPLOYMENTS OF ,THE PEOPLE, 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 OK THE EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE, AND ASPECTS OF 
 DAILY LIFE. ■ 
 
 I HAve spoken quite at length, of the English Bar- 
 barians 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, 
 livii^g 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 circum- 
 stances. 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 out- 
 bursts of water, from accidents of many kinds, and from 
 the fearful eayplosions! He gets more money — but in the 
 
AND ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE. 215 
 
 light of day, when he has cleansed himself from some of 
 his weight of filth, the gin and heer 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 cUhris [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 porti- 
 coes of grand edifices, the very steps of public charities, 
 
216 EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE, 
 
 are crowded with these victims of ignorance and selfish- 
 ness — a selfishness peculiar to the cold nature of these 
 Barharians, 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 wretched- 
 ness, wherein crime breeds by an inexorable law, mtist 
 be. The crime must be watched and kept within 
 bounds, and guai-ds 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 arti- 
 ficers, in the digging, toiling, manual employments, 
 differ not much from their congeners [re-la-tsi] in the 
 factories and mines. Their habitus are the same. All are 
 alike really serfs, taking no notice of the refinements and 
 the enjoyments of the higher-castes, and being every- 
 where 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 appeax- 
 auce like a battle-field after a combat. These serfs 
 scattered around, here one or two perfectly still, there 
 
AND ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE. 217 
 
 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 comer to another, tUl they 
 can lean or lie down. They cluster about the comers 
 by beer and gin shops, rarely molesting any one, but 
 frequently noisy and quarrelsome among themselves. 
 They cany 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 degra- 
 dation 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 whoUy to the benefit of 
 the High-Caste. In the Law-making House, therefore, 
 whenever some good man wishes to moderate this ex- 
 cessive evil of drink and drankenness; pointing out 
 
218 EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE, 
 
 how Grirm takes root and flourislies, and vice spreads 
 from these drinking-places ; how the whole community- 
 suffers; he is laughed at and pflinted 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 wovdd 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 grefit boast of the English Baibarians 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. 
 
AND ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE. 219 
 
 I have called these low-castes Serfs, disregarding the 
 barbarian ^cfeji which calls them/ree. 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 exist- 
 ing 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 aU who have anything to be taxed. 
 Thus the severance of the ancient tie has only enriched 
 the High-Castes and freed them from aU 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 spec- 
 tator. 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 
 
.120 LITEEATUKE OF THE ENGLISH. 
 
 do not think, because egotist ; yet in humble men, con- 
 scious 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 tha 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 antiq[uity. 
 
 One school of Philosophers indulges in a curious 
 form of materializing the mindjg|JPretending to fix all 
 the mental and moral procesdS^ the very substance 
 of the brain, they declare thl^py a careful examina- 
 tion 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 
 
LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH. 121 
 
 brain rises a corresponding bump [Ko-be], that tbese 
 humps 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 
 mu5t develop a counteracting bump or he will as- 
 suredly 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 con- 
 tinuous pressure. Government, therefore, ought to have 
 aU 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 
 caU it Ethical. But these books are to our habits 
 useless or absurd — sometimes positively hurtiful. The 
 idolatries and superstitions colour and distort — distinc- 
 tions are confounded, and a rational morality wanting. 
 
222 ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE. 
 
 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 im- 
 portance 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 servUe, 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. 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 223 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 t 
 
 OF THE HIGH CASTES: SOME PARTICULARS OF THEIR 
 DOMESTIC ASD SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 
 
 In this chapter I shaU try to show some of the pecu- 
 liarities of the opposite extreme of Barharian Hfe. From 
 ignorant poverty, verging upon crime, crime and vice ; 
 we are taken to luxury, also verging upon crime, crime 
 and vice — though imder 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 aU Castes. When the Bar- 
 barians, 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 re- 
 gard them as one. Both look upon aU useful occu- 
 pation as shameful ; and whilst it is hard to call up ^ 
 blush for anything mean, detection in any honest work 
 covers with confusion ! 
 
224 HIGH CASTES : 
 
 The women of this Caste appear everywhere in public, 
 with the same boldness as men. They dress in laces, 
 silks, satius, 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. {LaAy 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 aU 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 Tem- 
 ples, waited upon by solemn servants, clothed in showy 
 
DOMESTIC ANn SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 225 
 
 colourSj and bearing ostentatiously the Sacred books. 
 They are conspieuous, when at the Temple, for audibly 
 accompanying the Priest in the Invocations and Con- 
 fessions : " miserable offenders " seeming to be a phrase 
 rolled like a sweet morsel, and having a savour of re- 
 pentance 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, Eouts, 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 luxurious- 
 ness 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- 
 
 Q 
 
226 HIGH CASTES: 
 
 racing, riding over country with dogs, pursuing timid 
 creatures — or gambling, drinking, and feasting. 
 
 Wlien I first arrived in Engknd, 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 wiU 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 Imnch on the top of her back, I thought the 
 person was afflicted with an enormous twmour ; 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-s6at 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 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 227 
 
 if pinched at the toes, rattling her heels upon the pave- 
 ment, 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 Booh 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 hadges 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 
 win 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 T 
 stumbled, and recovered myself awkwardly, with open 
 hands fuU upon the ample bosom of the Illustrious ! 
 
228 HIGH CASTES: 
 
 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 — flights, 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 ridicu- 
 lous close garment, slit up behind, and very scant, 
 with two taUs, 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 fuU 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 foUows : — 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 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 229 
 
 ■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 whch she guides the horse, 
 and starts off, there is a show the most curious ! Up 
 and down, with every motion of the horse, she hobs 
 [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 ac- 
 eustomed 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 aH respects as 
 skdlfufly and weU ! 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 Bout 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 
 
230 HIGH CASTES : 
 
 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. 
 Eefreshments 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, ex- 
 posed 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 ex- 
 citement 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 j and he, in turn, 
 " legs pardon " of some woman, into whose lap he has 
 almost been thrown by a sudden press. 
 
 Acquaintances may be made, flirtatiom begun, ending 
 in something or. nothing. But Society has had its ex- 
 citement, and its members their chances for mere idle 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 231 
 
 display, gossip, sensual gratification, or the more serious 
 business of High-life — -fortune-hunting by men and 
 husband-caiching by women ! The Waltz and Dance 
 are, however, the great game (for they are really one) of 
 Barbarian Ufe. Every Caste, according to its ability, 
 dances — the low imitating, to their best, all the " air's 
 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 wUd, whirling sort of a gallop, fol- 
 lowing one after another, rapidly! The long traUs 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 intro- 
 duced. 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 
 
232 HIGH CASTES : 
 
 refined than elsewhere; only there is a cool tone. 
 Nothing miist 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 ife 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 in- 
 volved, 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, talk- 
 ing 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 pas- 
 sions 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- 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 233 
 
 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 famQy was rare — 
 quite an exception. It is only where the wife rules that 
 any peace is secured. The wife is allowed to do, gene- 
 rally, 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 hire- 
 lings. 
 
 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 under- 
 takes to enforce obedience, finds himself branded by 
 
234 HIGH-CASTES : 
 
 Society, as a "brute !" Much bf the infelicity in mar- 
 riage 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, pos- 
 sibly; where an immaculate virgin gives birth to a 
 Son of goA.- Jah ! who is the Christ-god. Thus, woman 
 came to be mother of God ! 
 
 From this, very likely, followed aU 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_/?Me Art exhibitions — 
 the imdress 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 ; 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 235 
 
 the family divided ; the children demoralized ; a false 
 and wretched farce of conjugal Play, so hadly acted as 
 to deceive not even Society ! and fibaally ending in the 
 Divorce Court. 
 
 This is the trihunal where Causes Matrimonial are 
 settled ; and, if one may judge from its Eeports in the 
 Gazette, conjugal contention is exceedingly common. 
 For the public cases must he 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 unfa- 
 vourable conditions. But, more commonly, the high- 
 minded man, really believing in the superior purity of the 
 sex, and her greater moral delicacy, finds his Ideai 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 him- 
 seK 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 exact- 
 ing 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 
 
236 HIGH-CASTES : 
 
 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 aU things, should not be, as he is, the supe- 
 rior — 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, can- 
 not 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 per- 
 ception of the eternal fitness of things wUl cause many 
 couples to arrive at a proper method. The wife, with- 
 out exactly admitting it, even to herself, submits to her 
 husband ; and the husband, without exactly command- 
 ing (except in rare instances), feels that he is reaUy 
 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 o'f the family, or aU attempts at affectionate 
 ways of living. To ayoid public scandal, the members 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 237 
 
 do not actually separate ; but all harmony and true 
 domestic life are lost — and life is a dismal and disor- 
 derly 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 tnorz 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 Hfe possible ! 
 
 None the less the disorder of households is dreadful. 
 Sons and daughters, as they grow strong, assert them- 
 selves [Quan-hang-ho]. They act and speak (and in 
 this foUow 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 aU grades, and the 
 middle orders are content to see the father toil at his 
 
238 HIGH CASTES: 
 
 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 hus- 
 bands, and are exhibited in public places and in Society 
 accordingly. 
 
 The sons are sent off to be taught. In the Kails 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, coiTupt, 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 
 Gov&rnor, 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 weU in 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 239 
 
 Society ! To perfect Wmself in the learning which he 
 feels to be effective, he devises new methods of wring- 
 ing more money from the Governor, who begins to pro- 
 test. 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 shaU 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 de- 
 bauched ; or actually forge, or rob, or descend to im- 
 proper friendships with inferior Castes — the parents 
 esteem themselves to be fortunate. If he have ac- 
 quired no knowledge of letters, nor of anything but 
 vices, yet he is a "fine, manly fellovj, 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 
 
240 HIGH CASTES : 
 
 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. Grumdifs decorum, being observed), they 
 get on well enough, and may even form quite a friend- 
 ship 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 igno- 
 rance, took to his heart one whom he fuUy trusted as 
 simply true and modest ; he took her for herself and 
 without money, and flattered himself that she would he 
 a helper and solace. She and her children have made 
 him a miserable slaw, 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 worsevthan 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 ! 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 241 
 
 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 any- 
 thing hut his personal ease and indulgence- — seeking 
 for pleasure, though unlawful, abroad, as the only re- 
 compense 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 aU its 
 minute and miserable exhibition at the Courts of 
 Divorce. 
 
 Adultery, which in our Flowery Zand 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 immo- 
 rality. 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 rela- 
 tives 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), 
 
 E 
 
242 HIGH CASTES : 
 
 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 inter- 
 mixed a pure morality, and the Barbarian nature, still 
 unformed, untrained ; stOl 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 qxiiet famOies 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 loviug obedience spontaneously arising from nn- 
 corrupted natures. Mis 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 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 243 
 
 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 promi- 
 nent 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 aU 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 Hght). 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, 
 
244 HIGH CASTES: 
 
 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, wUl suddenly apply a 
 handkerchief [miin-sM] to nose, and blow that organ in 
 the most astounding manner; and this may be con- 
 tinued 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 wUl interrupt herself ia 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 creatiire. And this, a noble sport, 
 ' fit for a lady ! ISTor 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 preeminence 
 
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 245 
 
 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, be- 
 smearing 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 
 unaccounfeble 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 fieeced [pe-ekd] by my Lord's fliinki ! 
 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 Bar- 
 barian custom, and blushing at the idea oifeeiTig [tin-ti] 
 or giving anything in return for hospitality, I awkwardly 
 fumbled in my purse and handed to him a haK-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. 
 
246 OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE COtmTEY, 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 
 OF THE APPEAEANCE OF THE COtTNTEY — AND OTHEE 
 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 gTeen and cultivated look; nearly as well 
 tilled as our provinces, Quang-tim 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 dwell- 
 ings 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. 
 
AND OTHER THINGS. 247 
 
 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 hecomes 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 wiH occasion- 
 ally 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 untiUed and 
 ' unproductive ; merely with their green slopes and 
 spaces, interspersed with trees,, to give grandeur to the 
 
248 OF THE APPEAEANCE OF THE COUNTRY, 
 
 Castle and its Lord. Still, if you look closely, you will 
 discover near by, the squalid huts where hvddle the 
 Serfs, who are starving in the midst of this rich pro- 
 fusion — 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 conspi- 
 cuous 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, embazoned with Honour ; the other is cast into 
 an obscure corner of despised dead, to rot in forgetful- 
 ness — 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 igno- 
 minious 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 wlE 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 wUl 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 
 
AND OTHER THINGS. 249 
 
 clutch of his thick stick — and you hurry to hand him 
 a sixpence, and get away ! These scamps prowl ahout, 
 idle, ready for mischief, scornful of honest work — the 
 terror of women and children who meet them, unex- 
 pectedly, without protection. 
 
 Sometimes the Iron-roads for Steam-chariots are car- 
 ried over the housetops, in entering towns ; sometimes, 
 through loflg tunnels under the houses, or under Tiills — 
 and the works in connection with these roads are sur- 
 prising. 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. 'Sow, 
 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 
 
250 OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE COUWTEy, 
 
 schemes by which large numbers of the poor are shipped 
 ofif 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 star- 
 vation 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 lest, toiling for the High- 
 Castes for such pittance as would buy the cheapest 
 food — potatoes; when these failed, could buy nothing — 
 aU else too dear. These failed, the serfs died by thou- 
 sands 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 de- 
 population of a fertile land, in the midst of peace and 
 plenty — there is no parallel ! A people dying, not from 
 idleness, nor unwilliagness to work ; not from want of 
 food at hand ; not from the ravages of war, nor pesti- 
 lence ; but from sheer poverty ! Yet, the English Bar- 
 barians 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 
 
AND OTHER THINGS. 251 
 
 —London. It is an insignificant stream^ — mirch less 
 than even the Quang-tun, in our chief Southern pro- 
 vince. 
 
 As it flows through the great city it is, in some 
 places, confined hy 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 incon- 
 venient and unfit. Not far away, may be seen the 
 Dome and Towers of a fine Eoman-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 pUe at once wonderfxil 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 wiU observe the numerous 
 vessels with high chimneys; these are the vessels moved 
 
252 OF THE APPEABANCE OF THE COUNTRY, 
 
 by steam — and the incredible number of small craft. 
 At one point you wiU. remark the tall white towers 
 and the high prison walls of stone, erected by the Bar- 
 barian 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 Eoman 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 Soorah ! with an in- 
 describable 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 
 
AND OTHER THINGS. 253 
 
 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 unintel- 
 ligible 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 Mm 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. 
 
254 OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY, 
 
 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 civOised people 
 of the plains. 
 
 The English Barbarians have never conquered these 
 fierce tribes of the ISTorthern hills, but have con- 
 trived gradually to destroy and to remove them. So 
 that, at present, what few remain are quite tamed. A 
 great many, in times past, were cimningly 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 tofight), 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 friend- 
 less 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 
 
AND OTHER THINGS. 255' 
 
 them out, and tear 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 holest 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 acci- 
 dent, or by disease. Multitudes sometimes perish by 
 a single disaster. These are, however, fortunate. They 
 have escaped the brutal whipping, the loathsome 
 diseases, the vUe 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 unpro- 
 tected Low-Castes ; and the Upper enjoy the idle and 
 luxurious security which they rob from the blood and 
 Hmbs 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 ^me .'" '&j 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 ! 
 
256 OF THE AFPEAKANCE OF THE OOUNTEY. 
 
 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 lully [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 tender- 
 ness, 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 compas- 
 sionate 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] aire employed 
 to waylay and carry off unbefriended and unoffending 
 men, at so much per head ! Por, besides the regular 
 pay, a reward is given for each victim captuxed ! 
 
LONDON. 257 
 
 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 con- 
 structed empire — ^in some respects like that of the old 
 Eomans, 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 con- 
 structed, 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 ; stiU, 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 wprld a field where golden 
 
 s 
 
258 LONDON. 
 
 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 Aris- 
 tocracy, 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 Super- 
 stition 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 aU 
 the Western tribes. It is, perhaps, as large and popu- 
 lous 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 populaition 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 repulsive- 
 ness of the place. To the squalor of beggary, the 
 
LONDOK. 259 
 
 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 a:nd a riish — 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, quick- 
 ened by the exercise of every instinct, and cool and 
 
260 LONDON. 
 
 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 hy 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 be- 
 fore 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 \^ith 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 wiU 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 haJf-gknce, 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. Grime of every kind breeds in it — disease, 
 despair, and death ! Is it inseparable from human ex- 
 
LONDON. 261 
 
 istence — must excellence in humanity he 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 subordina- 
 tion; and win, 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 
 ai, 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 every- 
 where. 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. 
 
262 LONDON. 
 
 The Hansom Cah — of which there are thousands — is 
 a siugular and characteristic thing. It is a vehicle of 
 two wheels, drawn by one horse,» and carries two pas- 
 sengers. The Barbarians, intent upon gain, allow the 
 driver to urge his horse at speed through the crowded 
 streets, giving no other warning than M-hi ! Every- 
 body 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 heen 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 Eoman, 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, how- 
 ever, 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 
 
LONDON. 263 
 
 and enter upou the unoccupied seats, leaving tlie women 
 to the inclemency of winter, or to the rain and sleet. 
 And these not the Boughs, 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 lutt [la-phe] of farces 
 and plays in the Theatres. Yet the liberty and the 
 good name t)f 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 
 bUnd. 
 
 One wonders, looking along the interminable extent 
 of mean streets, to see the endless shops. It look3 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 
 
264 LONDON. 
 
 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, ^nd these waifs [dri- 
 tze] of a forgotten trade linger on, ia 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 thou- 
 sands of mean shops, yet supporting the tens of thou- 
 sands 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 respeqtable tradesmen's 
 houses, profits must be littlp short of plunder — the busi- 
 ness 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 difiference 
 between the price of an article of food, whether bought 
 first hands, or after it has passed through these inter- 
 mediaries, 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 
 
LONDON. 265 
 
 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 ia to beat down the distant and worse tribes beyond 
 the great seas. As one sort of predatory creature de- 
 vours 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 Eouts, the 
 Dances, and the stir of High life. Here, in the Parks, 
 the grand dames air themselves, their poodles, and ser- 
 vants. 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 
 
266 , LONDON. 
 
 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 animaJs, 
 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 myseK 
 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 in- 
 formed. 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, smUingly 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 
 
LONDON. 267 
 
 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 Chrisfendom ! 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 exaspera- 
 ting 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 
 "wiU 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 
 
268 LONDON. 
 
 toes through them. She demands the wash for cover- 
 ings which you have not soiled, and for tidys that were 
 never tidy. She has a lot of cra»ked cheap glasses and 
 crockery, which she makes yoai 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 
 eodra. If you intimate that you coidd 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 start- 
 ling : — (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. 
 
LONDON. 269 
 
 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 
 tliis 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 &- 
 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 wUl not escape. The 
 Lodging House is only typical. AIJ 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-tinj. 
 
 After you have paid everything which an experienced 
 and greedy ingenuity can think of, as you are about to 
 leave, the servants will obseC[uiously open and stand at 
 doors, hold and brush your hat (already brushed bare), 
 catch up some trifle, and generally get in your way, to 
 
270 LONDON. 
 
 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 tjirn, 
 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. 
 
 Lpndon 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 investi- 
 gate the records and literature of the Western tribes. 
 
 AU 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 
 
LONDON. 271 
 
 be. London, which was described one hundred and 
 fifty years ago as a " Province of Houses," certainly 
 contains an immense population bare of attractive fea- 
 tures. 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 ; ^t 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 
 
272 LONDON. 
 
 old and almost imbecile who swept at a place where I 
 crossed frequently. . He would stand motionless under 
 a thick, scrubby tree which stoodjust at the comer 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 sUent 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, wiU 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 ! 
 
LONDON. 273 
 
 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 crea- 
 tures, 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-lctrk [pho-ul-sti], bcomes an out- 
 cast to aU 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. 
 
 T 
 
274 LONDON. 
 
 Possibly the greatest city of the Barbarians ig not 
 worse than the worst of some portions of a great city 
 with us ; nor should I refer emphatically to the wretch- 
 edness of London were it not for the boastful ignorance 
 manifested by Barbarian writers and literati. These 
 always speak of the preeminence 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! s 
 
 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 preeminence. If by other Western Barbarian 
 life, ajid 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 mendi- 
 cants, of all ages and both sexes. The halt, the blind, 
 come singing in the most doleful manner, unaccom- 
 panied; 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 gra- 
 tuity. Some of these creatures blacken themselves, and 
 appear in the courts and squares singing and playinw 
 
LONDON. . 275 
 
 not too decently. Some poor woman, with bates 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 
 Avretch, shivering with cold, wiU stand before the bright, 
 warm doors pi 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 ia some strange 
 device of wagon, pushed by their own stumps of hands 
 or feet. Generally these affect to play upon some- 
 thing, 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 
 imconscious of human want and woe ; unconscious of 
 "the common lot" awaiting aU; 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 source's of pitiful 
 "ain ! 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 
 
276 ■ LONDON. 
 
 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 gi-ows 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 con- 
 dition ; 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 humi- 
 liation 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 
 
LONDON. 277 
 
 otject to any really iDenevoleiit enterprise, though not 
 too rational. But the missionary [kan-te] spirit rises 
 so distinctly from an ignorant self-rsufficiency and blind- 
 ness, 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 overloot the Heathen 
 at home. 
 
278 SOME GENKKAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 CHAPTEE 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 Imow that, generally aud 
 broadly, the elements are the same, but they are dif- 
 ferently 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 inta 
 the most distant and dim antiquity, tlie laws which 
 imderlie 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 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSEKVATIONS. 279 
 
 West. Man and nature radically the same, have, in 
 different conditions, grown and piit forth very dissi- 
 milar 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 perpe- 
 tuation, one, mliy 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 Bar- 
 barians, 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 grmuth 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 illumina- 
 tion) must be. It is simply true, and can be no other. 
 Human /orMis of social being must be measured by it ; 
 and, however complexed and confused, are so measitred, 
 and wiU not long exist if radically inconsistent. Yet 
 these forms may be bad without being whoUy rootless, 
 and grow defoi-med, strange, and noxious. 
 
280 SOME GENERAL OBSEEVATIONS. 
 
 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 smgalax 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 au 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 ha,ve 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 
 Jab, 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 o5e?/eii, as any rule can be. The exist- 
 ence of the Sovereign Lord is not more certainly 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 281 
 
 •admitted, and his authority not more implicitly suh- 
 mitted to. This is the. rule of Obedience, 
 
 But aside from principles which control comprehen- 
 sive 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 irra- 
 tional. The Barbarians, however, boast of the supe- 
 riority of their way over all other tribes, ancient or 
 modern. 
 
 When a crime has been committed, and some one, sus- 
 pected, 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 thingj 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 ? ITow 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 
 
282 SOME GEN'ERAL OBSEUVATIONS. 
 
 this manner persons, who have been so unfortunate as 
 to he fixed upon by these ignorant officers, are treated 
 lilce the accused, arid put to gre&,t 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 tTit.ir theory ; and finally the accused is 
 (Escharged and the witnesses also, the whole disgraceful 
 proceeding being a blunder, in which innocent people 
 have been punished as criminal, and the Crirainal 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; vjill 
 he cautioned to sa,y nothing; will have every chance and 
 opportunity to escape by reason of the unaccountable 
 mode of procedure. For he is stiU 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 rela- 
 tion to the matter), to see if some doubt may not arise 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 283 
 
 somehoia, 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 wiU 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, Jioiu 
 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 busi- 
 ness, 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 siagular tribunal. 
 
 But when this sham Court has got through, the ac- 
 cused 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 — lie 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 re- 
 
284 SOME GENEEAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 presentatives of even the average wisdom and morality. 
 They know nothing of law, nor o'f 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. HowevBr, the business 
 of these twelve is Twt 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 iy Jah (under severe 
 penalties) to try the accused according to the Law and 
 the evidence. Ifow, the Lawyers and the Judge deter- 
 mine as to the law, and the twelve men must obey 
 them as to tlmt — ^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, con- 
 flicting, 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 Evi- 
 dence (as it is called) to judge it for themselves — ^no, they 
 must take it under the direction of tJie 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 
 evidencej. 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 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 285 
 
 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 
 (hey 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 whis- 
 pered in my ear,' black-guards) [kon-di-to-ri] ; the ac- 
 cused 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 p)'oper 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 tivo 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 
 
286 SOME GENEEAL OBSEUA'ATIOXS. 
 
 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. 
 
 Now the scene fairly opens. The twelve little judges 
 in their box ; the big one sitting aloft, with pig-taU-ear- 
 flapper wig ; the Lawyers in pig-tail wigs and gowns ; 
 the of&cers 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 — crowd- 
 ing in the dark corners of the HaU of trial. 
 
 The Lawyers caU 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 iihe dreadful fear of 
 the awful Jah and Hell, to speak the truth, the whole 
 truth, and nothing hut 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 sim- 
 plicity, is about to utter ! Here, then, an honest and 
 conscientious witness is likely to be at once bewildered • 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 287 
 
 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 under- 
 stand 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 in stand up, thrust without 
 respect, sometimes rudely and with positive disrespect ; 
 treated, in fact, as if a party to the criine, though per- 
 fectly ignorant of anjdihing excepting of some chance 
 link required in the tlieory 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 hiss 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- 
 ■ttigged 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 inter- 
 rupt him; or, by and by, wiU insinuate some vile 
 charge against him, to destroy his character with the 
 hearers — not that there be any truth in the insinua- 
 tion, but merely to effect the purpose of a vile minion 
 paid to defend, perhaps, a notorious offender ! 
 
288 SOME GENEEJii OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 Thus the trial proceeds ; every effort is made on the 
 side of the aecused (which is the active side) to mis- 
 lead, 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 ac- 
 cused, 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 gtiilty ! 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 th& 
 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 aU 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 aU 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) re- 
 capitulating those parts of the conflicting mass of 
 evidence which, and only which, is evidence, and ha& 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSEKVATIONS. 289 
 
 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 
 acc^ised 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 acq[uitted ; and further, 
 every one of the twelve must agree — if any one with- 
 hold 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 ofiScef leads the 
 twelve into a strong-room, and fastens them in ! to con- 
 sider 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 
 tJiey 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. JEi>idence (second). The evidence, however, being 
 
 u 
 
290 SOME GEXEKAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 all law. Tlien, too, they are to say either Gioilty, or 
 not guilty ; and no more. 
 
 ISTow, the Lawyer's expectation may become verified. 
 There is no sort of doiibt 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 weakhess, which is likely 
 to be in each of the twelve ; one man has got Ms opinion 
 — it is a matter of conscience. The one man is sufii- 
 cient. 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 overpoV^ 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 
 agi'ee. To be sure, they may report to the Judge late 
 on the next day that they cannot agree — only, how- 
 ever, 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''^ — 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 291 
 
 turns the scale. There is a doiiiit — 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, iu 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. Eestored to the community which 
 doubts not his guilt, and which has been horrified, agi- 
 tated, 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 Aveiglit 
 upon the innocent. Simple and direct inquiry would 
 generally clear him at once. But no — the theory in the 
 minds of the ofiicers is, that this innoccncy 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 as- 
 sumed (contrary to the reverse legal maxim) by the 
 officers; and the whole crushing blow of this assumed 
 guUt 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 — 
 
292 SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 discharged, it may be ruined and for ever tainted with 
 the foul and unjust suspicion. Or, perhaps, finally 
 tried, escapes after a long, tedioils 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, hedlth 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 \mfortunate 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, irra- 
 tional, and hurtful. The crimiaal class may well 
 esteem it, for it seems exactly contrived to set the 
 criminal at liberty, and to vex, terrify, annoy, and con- 
 fuse 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 offi- 
 cials, who live and fatten in these horrors. 
 
SOME GENEEAL OBSERVATIONS. 293 
 
 One might suspect that the whole machinery was 
 contrived hy the Lawyers (called criminal) to effect 
 their purpose ^that is, to protect their friends and sup- 
 porters ; the numerous men, women, and half-grown 
 youths swarming every where, 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 Floivery Zand, where dis- 
 respectful conduct is at once reprimanded and, if the 
 disrespect be marked, punished on the spot, in the pre- 
 sence 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 cus- 
 toms, when general ignorance and imiversal poverty 
 made the mass one, and when simplicity and direct- 
 ness were natural They are retained now in an artifi- 
 cial 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 con- 
 cerned 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 
 
294 SOME GENERAL OBSEEVATIONS. 
 
 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 adminis- 
 tration. These classes constantly mistake this stolidity 
 for solidity of character. When an evil is unmistak- 
 able, 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 callous- 
 ness and greed of the English Barbarians — I have won- 
 dered 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 Illus- 
 trious 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 intel- 
 lect sharp in matters of the instinct — which refers to the 
 needs and passions of the body — thus, calculating, inge- 
 nious in contrivance, and inordinately selfish ; but has 
 not given them a large moral faculty, nor a broad and 
 comprehensive mind. Tliey are, therefore, incapable of 
 improvement heyond a limited range. 
 
SOME GEXEKAL OBSERVATIONS. 295 
 
 The Idolatry, and its horrible grotesqiieness — the ia- 
 ■efiicacy 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-ivisc sees where 
 chastisement is due — and allows the Western Bar- 
 barians their time. The offences of the East need chas- 
 tisement. Th-e quicliness, 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 Imo&r type of 
 man, they must disappear ; not lost, but absorbed and 
 blended in a better and nobler race. In the East, I sus- 
 pect this highest type has always existed. Here, from 
 immemorial ages and ages [tang-se-yan-se] the simple 
 worship of the Sovereign Lord, a,nd 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 
 
296 SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 our notions in the Central Kingdom, and so erroneously 
 conceived in respect of the Divine Okdee. First. 
 — ^As to the character and worehip 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 G-overnment. 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 pro- 
 perly representing the divine function, it does not 
 therefore fail, but the nearest fit, in the established 
 order acts. The Book of Eites and the -great Council 
 of the Hlustrious, with us, see to this proper and 
 orderly succession. No one is born to be absolutely 
 Head — the Book of Kites 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 govern- 
 ment and administration shaU. be committed ; and these 
 may be changed, degraded, exalted, and removed as 
 they conduct themselves, and not according to any 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 297 
 
 family, nor hereditary distinction. Nor are Places 
 created for the aggrandisement of any, continued for 
 the benefit of families, nor, in any case, made heredi- 
 tary. 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 fanuly. The Family being the 
 Prototype [mo-dsi] of Government, should show the 
 Divine order. It must be one ; not a divided, unin- 
 telligent 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 dis- 
 order there is to have disorder throughout! There 
 miost, 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 dis- 
 order 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 sub- 
 ordinate, but not in any humiliating sense ; she is sub- 
 ordinate, because, in the very nature of hex function as 
 woman in the economy of nature, she cannot be other- 
 ynsQ — she is timid, defenceless, dependent. She has a 
 right to the tender care and protection of her male rela- 
 tives ; and she, on her part, is bound to be obedient, 
 submissive, orderly ; and, upon these, affection follows. 
 
298 SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 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. 
 
 I From her nature and duties, the woman lives retired 
 Mthin her house. If she go abroad, it will be only 
 from necessity, and then in the most quiet, modest, and 
 i:nobstrusive way. She lives for her relatives, her 
 family ; not to attract the admiration of others, nor with 
 llie faintest' idea that she may shine abroad — to be so 
 charged would be to be charged as shameless. Only by 
 this degraded class, who ate' barely tolerated without 
 the city, and under the rigid supervision of the officers 
 of order and decorum — could such a purpose be supposed 
 to bethought of ? She dresses with neatness, according 
 to the established order, but always with such modesty 
 that nothing is offensive to the chastest eye. She under- 
 stands 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 re- 
 lations. She has no thought of goiiig 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 
 lias no call to " clothe the ragged,"* wash other people's 
 
SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 299 
 
 dirty children, reform evil-doers, " convert tlie hecuthen" 
 nor support " Society ! " (These are some of the phrases 
 vhich 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 tliat they also made 
 themselves welcome there by their usefulness and obe- 
 dience, they woidd find an end of that agitation as to 
 Women's RigMs existing among them. Eights would be 
 as indisputable as duties — and the first of these would 
 be a quiet, modest, and itetional obedience to their 
 natural protectors, who, in turn, would be bound to 
 respect and protect them. And if by any strange 
 chance a wonmn was absolutely without relatives (a' 
 thing nearly impossible in our Flowery LanS), then the 
 State should see to it that she had a sidtable 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 ia the natural 
 order. She sees her relatives always quiet, modest, 
 obedient. She never thiolcs 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 dis- , 
 play. All her duties are at home — licr happiness is 
 
300 SOMIi GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 tliere ; there she is to be attractive, and there she is to 
 attract — the love and respect of her hushand, the regard 
 of her relatives, the affection and obedience of her 
 children 'I 
 
 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 tmderstand the reasons for their elaboration — 
 they have never seen the women of the Western Bar- 
 barians ! 
 
 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 Ohservations ; and only now have to 
 add a word or two upon the general effect. 
 ■ It gives a wonderful Hfe, restlessness, and colour to 
 the whole aspect of Barbarian Hfe. Think of all the 
 women in our Illustrious Land, at once leaving theii' 
 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 aU 
 places of amusement and of travel ! 
 
 ITor this only, but showing themselves, in public 
 places, with men, where paintings and sculpture, ^d 
 things here only seen by men alone, are exhibited! 
 
SOME GENEEAL OBSERVATIONS. 301 
 
 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 he 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 im- 
 perfect, 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 teen 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, ex- 
 alted 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 Illus- 
 
 -trious Kingdom; where a true morality and a true 
 worship are known ; and where due oedeb and peace, 
 resting upon the unchangeable Heavenly ,order and 
 peace, are established ! 
 
 Here, are no brutal worship of Force, Sid admiration 
 
 -of bloody plunders. Content to the due ordering of 
 
302 SOME GENERAL OBSEEVATIOXS. 
 
 affairs, and with peace within, our Illustrious Eealm 
 seeks no aggrandisement, dreams of no conquests ; and 
 wishes to do nofliing hut good. It has no fears for its 
 own position, nor jealousy of others. It is simpjy calm,, 
 strong, wise, and self-poised. It demands no more from- 
 others abroad than that it may peacefully live; and 
 be treated with tliat respect which it accords to those who- 
 practise moderation and virtue. 
 
 FI N ip. 
 
 Baehett, Sons & Co., Printers, 21, Seethmg Laac. London, E.G.