THE CHINESE—AN ACCOUNT OF CHINA.
OF the two works whose publication has been stimulated by the interest at present felt respecting China, the Historical and De- scriptive Account, in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, is the fullest, but the heaviest. The compilers seem to have consulted every available source of information, and to have put together the mate-
rials hey collected in a careful and orderly manner ; but the exe- .cution wants buoyancy—the reader is too frequently reminded of task-work.
As a general view of the subject, we are inclined to consider Mr. DAVIS'S Chinese as one of the best books that has appeared
upon the Empire of China and its Inhabitants. In planning his work, be has drawn a proper distinction between the dull and the interesting points,—passing rapidly over the early fabulous history
of China, for instance, but dilating upon the character and man- ners of the people. He has also the great advantage of drawing his knowledge from original sources, and bringing- to his under- taking a properly-cultivated mind. A residence of twenty years
in China has made him familiar with the Chinese of Canton : having accompanied the last embassy to Pekin, he had the oppor- tunity of seeing the people of the interior and becoming well acquainted with the official classes : his official position, if not the necessity of (Ace, induced him to master the Chinese language,
and to consult their history and literature. Ilence, Mr. DAVIS brings not only a good deal of a new knowledge to his task, but also a mind which is capable of thoroughly understanding- and testing the information of others. These qualifications, however, only serve him with respect to matters purely Chinese : when his materials are drawn from European sources, his book is dis- tinguished by no peculiarity of character.
Premising that The Chinese is a complete work, and that only a part of the Account is before us, three points of comparison
chiefly suggest themselves between the publications. The section
on Language and Literature is ampler in the Account, but
Mr. Mavis conveys more knowledge at less expense of read-
ing: the first gives us many fragments, the second a whole dish. As, however, the Account presents fac-similes of some of the leading Chinese characters, its view will be found more satisfying. In the history of the British intercourse with China, Mr. DAVIS is more amusing, as he draws more largely from the manuscript records of the Company, giving the narratives of the earlier ad- venturers in their own words. He is also more distinct in the later accounts, until the abolition of the Company, when the de- licacy of his position as successor to Lord NAPIER induces him entirely to pass over the unfortunate occurrences which termi- nated in his Lordship's death. In the view of the character, manners, and customs of the people, Mr. Davis has the advan- tage both in the fulness and spirit of his account. And upon those points he differs from many previous writers, and takes, we conceive, a more moderate and sensible view ; attributing many of the failings charged upon the Chinese to our different principles of judging things, and to our acquaintance with the inhabitants of Canton only,—which is much the same as if a foreigner were to farm his opinion of the English from the speci- mens he met with at a sea-port. Upon subjects of immediate con- cern to English mercantile interests, Mr. DAVIS speaks slightly and cautiously. But we can gather that he thinks the Chinese Go- vernment more stable and powerful than it is the fashion to rate it, and that it possesses the means of embarrassing if not of stopping trade on the part of its own subjects, even if we succeeded in forcing it to allow English ships to frequent other ports besides Canton. He attributes the jealousy of foreigners to the Tartar conquerors, not to the Chinese, or the principles of their government ; at the same time, he shows clearly enough, that most of the inconveniences and all the unfair exactions to which our trade is subject, are traceable to the corruption of the local officers, and are unknown to the Court of Pekin ; the " present," for instance, of more than 5001. per vessel, having been remitted by an imperial edict in 1736, though the full amount was exacted until 1829, when a trifling re- duction was made. From a naval war he does not expect very great advantage as regards the ultimate objects tin- which it would be waged; and he conceives the success of a land expedition by no means certain. Ile nevertheless concludes, with Mr. MATHESON, that, somehow or other, we have a right to go to war whenever we please. Or rather, he goes beyond that gentleman,—maintaining that our treatment in China affords " real subjects of complaint ; an-I whenever the accumulation of wrong shall have proved by exact calculation that it is more profitable according to merely commer- cial principles to remonstrate than to submit, these will form a righteous and equitable ground of quarrel." Yet surely this is somewhat Machiavellian. If the Chinese ill-treat us, the right course is to demand satisfaction immediately. If, by internal re- gulations, they throw obstacles in the way of trade, the proper way is to withdraw. But it can never be " righteous and equitable "
to submit to dishonour and ill-usage until it ceases to be profitable, and then turn round with our duly posted ledger of ancient and
modern wrongs, and go to war about regulations which the Chinese may fairly conceive from our submission they have acquired a prescriptive right to enforce. In BURKE'S time the age of chivalry had gone. We have wit- nessed a greater marvel, in the departure of the age of belief, and with it all the romance of learning, or, or if you please, its lies. The antiquity of the sons of Fohi was one of the wonders of the world, but a wonder that exists no longer. Yet, although we give up the Chinese as pre-Adawites, and must agree with Mr. DAVIS and oilier modern sceptics, that their authentic records, so far from going to the Flood, reach but a few centuries be) ond the Christian mra, still we may stand up far their extraordinary civilization ; fir when they were in zenith, what were our an- cestors but painted barbarians, and even in their decline they surpass Europe upon many points which are the distinguishing characteristics of politeness. Their sedan-chairs are still the first in the world; they keep dishes hot by spirit-lamps under theta ; they cook vegetables by steam; they drink toasts at table; they have a " Red-bunk;" hold public meetings; carry complimentary ad- dresses, and publish anonymous lampoons : they are in a certain sense phrenologists: they have passports, pawnbrokers, and bankers : our visiting-cards are no more to be compared to theirs than cal thenware can vie with porcelain : they have bibliogm- pliers who form collections which they never read; collectors of taste find virtu, who purchase spurious antiques, that are manu- factured with as 'wick skill and industry as at Rome herself: and (a triumph of civilization we have not quite reached) against the masts of the public packet-boats is generally painted an emphatic notice—Kin shin hopaou !—" mind your purses." Nay, in sonic things they are even in advance of our boasted selves, and that in matters of government : there is no privileged class; the qua- lified are the aristocracy of the country; the poorest man not only may, but the poorest men do rise to the highest offices in the state,—the principle, and to a considerable extent the practice, being to consider fitness only in appointing to otlice,—a machinery being established to ascertain qualifications, and extensive means existing to acquire them. The necessity of learning is impressed upon the people by Government; education is extensively dif- fused ; the Mandarins themselves arc compelled to read the book of duties to the assembled people at stated intervals; " the arrangement of the penal code is extremely methodical and lucid; the enactments are clear, concise, and distinct ;" and of this code a cheap edition is published expressly for the masses. All which things, be it remembered, have existed for many hundreds of years, as the Chinese mind has been stagnant for ages. To close our notice as we began, with a comparison, it may be said that the illustrations of Mr. llsv is's Chinese are superior both in number and execution to those of the Account, but we miss the map which is attached to the first volume of that com- pilation. This is a very serious drawback : how came the Useful Knowledge Committee to overlook such a necessary accompaniment to an historical and geographical publication?
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