WILLIAMS'S MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Mr. S. WELLS WIT rams is an American, who resided for twelve years at Macao and Canton as a printer under the patronage of the American Mission; a station which may argue a somewhat higher social rank than the same occupation in England. Some knowledge of Chinese was, we suppose, necessary for his avocation, as well as a disposition to exert him- self in spreading the gospel among the people. An active zealous mind appears to have carried him beyond the mere requirements of duty : he mastered the language sufficiently to write elementary works on Chi- nese, and studied the entire subject of the empire and its people in books, as well as by such means of observation as he possessed. On the return of Mr. Williams to America, he seems to have been much questioned by persons curious to learn all about the Chinese, with a view to commerce, religion, or "general knowledge." As a short way of answering such questions, our author gave a series of lectures in various towns, from New York to Cleaveland; "the inquiries made by intelligent persons " guiding Mr. Williams in the topics chosen for lec- turing; which lectures he subsequently fashioned into the two stout volumes before us. The topics chosen are various and exhaustive enough, conveying a high idea of the inquisitive nature of the American mind. Mr. Williams opens with a geographical survey of the general features of the empire, and then enters upon a faller description of its Eastern and Western divisions ; to which is added what the author calls the Chinese "Colonies,"—though several of them are rather tributary states. Population and statistics naturally follow the physical features of the empire; the natural history of China closing this division,—although Mr. Williams, it should be said, has no other division than chapters.
The persons whose queries prompted this course of lectures had evi- denily a physical turn. The next class of inquirers looked more to the results of mind : the laws and their administration, the educational sys- tem and the examination for different degrees, the Chinese language and literature, are the topics expounded for them. The more utilitarian individuals would seem next to have tackled Mr. Williams, as he enters upon architecture, dress, and diet. These are followed by the still more interesting subjects of social life, industrial arts, and the science of the Chinese. History, religion, the efforts of the various Christian missions to convert the people, and the commerce of the country, come next. Foreign intercourse with China, including a full and tolerably fair ac- count of the late war, closes the work.
The book is of course a compilation ; for what single mortal could master all these subjects, even if he had the means of original inquiry and observation, which no writer on China has yet had, unless a stray Jesuit, who was liable to be biassed in various ways ? Mr. Williams, how- ever, has had the advantage of testing what he read by comparison with the actual things ; that is, so far as Macao, Canton, and their immediate environs, may serve as specimens of China ; being, we suppose, about as fair a sample as Plymouth, Portsmouth, or Wapping, would be of Eng- land. He has also been surrounded by a Chinese atmosphere, as it were ; has read his books upon the spot, and has read a good many ; so that his knowledge was at hand, and not got up as a piece of job-work. These circumstances give a species of life and movement to many parts of the book ; but Mr. Williams rather mars the effect by a tendency to disquisition and sermonizing. There are marks of the ency- clopedist mingled with the tract-writer or missionary reporter, in many parts of the book. The Middle Kingdom, may perhaps be more necessary to the American than the British public; since, independently of the Jesuits, we have had a great number of works upon the subject within the last fifty years, whose general information has been popularized in periodical publications, when the books themselves were not of a popular character. The work of Mr. Williams, however, contains a large quantity of information relating to China; much of it drawn from books, but some from actual observation, and coming down to the latest date. That which is derived from Chinese works—as laws and literature —is of course to be depended on to the same extent as any atmilar in- formation : what relates to the fashion and form—as buildings and dress —is equally reliable : as regards more living topics, we have less faith in anything relating to China. The actual sketch, the individual story or anecdote, may be received as true ; but when the writer from one or a few such observations proceeds to paint the whole of the hundreds of millions of Chinese, some degree of caution is necessary in adopting his conclusions. How little do our writers really know of Italian life and opinion among the people, or of those of Germany, or even of France ? How much less must be known of a people to whom we have as yet scarcely got access, and of whose language the majority of such travellers as go there are profoundly ignorant.
Mr. Williams is not much given to this manner of reaching conclusions. When he derives his views from other writers, he must perforce take them as he finds them; but he corrects them whenever he has the means, and in matters more within his own knowledge he qualifies the harsh conclu- sion, by suggesting the perhaps exceptional character of the instance. A philosophic or a very comprehensive mind he has not ; but he seems fair, and disposed to do justice. His experience renders him less nar- rowly national than many American writers ; he has something cosmopo- litan, unless when missionary ideas intervene.
We do not know that Mr. Williams adds anything to the actual know- ledge of China and the Chinese, or furnishes any fresh traits by which we can form a fuller estimate of the people. They look much as they have hitherto looked in their shrewdness, selfishness, worldly knowledge, good-nature, and a high though peculiar civilization. The following picture of their prisons is a hard one, but they are not much worse than our own prisons a century or two ago; in fact, the evils and abuses are very like ours.
" Probably the number of persons who suffer by the sword of the executioner is not one half of those who die from the effects of torture and privations in prison. Not much is known of the internal arrangement of the hells, as prisons are called; they seem to be managed with a degree of kindness and attention to the comfort of the_prisoners so far as the inteotions of Government are concerned; but the cruelties of the turnkeys and older prisoners to exact money from the new-comers are terrible. In Canton, there are gaols in the city, under the control of fonr dif- ferent officers, the largest covering about an acre, and capable of holding upwards of five hundred prisoners. Sinee it is the practice of distant magistrates to send their worst prisoners up to the capital, these are not large enough, and gaol dis- tempers arise from overcrowding: two hundred deaths were reported in 1826 from this and other causes, and one hundred and seventeen cases in 1831. Private gaols were hired to accommodate the number-' and one lieutenant-governor re- ports having found twenty-two such places in Canton, where every kind of cruelty was practised. • • • • " The prisons are arranged somewhat on the plan of a large stable, having an open central court occupying nearly one-fourth of the area, and small cribs or stalls covered by a roof extending nearly around it, so contrived that each com- pany. of prisoners shall be separated from each other night and day, though, more by night than by day. The prisoners cook for themselves in the court, and are secured by manacles and gyves, and a chain joining the hands to the neck; one hand is liberated in the daytime in order to allow them to take care of themselves. Heinous criminals are more heavily ironed, and those in the prison attached to the judge's office are worse treated than the others. Each criminal should re- ceive a daily ration of two pounds of rice and shoat two cents to buy fuel, but the gaoler starves them on half this allowance if they are unable to fee him; clothing is also scantily provided; but those who have money can procure almost every convenience. Each crib full of criminals is under the control of a turnkey, who with a few old offenders spend much time torturing newly-arrived persons to force money from them; by which many lose their lives, and all suffer far more than they do from the Officers of government. Well may the people call their prisons hells, and say, when a man falls into the clutches of the gaolers or police, The flesh is under the cleaver.' "
We have more than once remarked on the equality of the Chinese to the Europeans in refinement : in official matters they probably exceed them. We cannot show such a Red Book as theirs.
" The names and standing of all officers are published quarterly by permission of Government in the Red Book, (which by a usual coincidence is bound in red,) called the Complete Bookof the Girdle-Wearers, (Tsin Shin Tsiuen Shu,) com- prised in four volumes 12mo.; to which are occasionally added two others of army and navy lists. In this book the native province of each person is mentioned, whether he is a Chinese, Manchu, Mongol, or naturalized Manchu,—that is, a descendent of those Chinese who aided the reigning family in the conquest; and moreover describes the title of the office, its salary, and considerable other general information. The publishers of the book expect that officers will inform them of the changes which take place in their standing, and usually omit to mention those who do not thus report themselves."
Another custom is to require public officers to make a confession of their misdeeds ; and from these and other sources the Emperor reviews their conduct and character, advancing, degrading, or retaining them in their position. We fear China is not the only place where some such an- nual rescript as this from the supreme powers would produce a good effect ; although power or favour might escape easily, as is probably the case in China.
" Bweisan, Subordinate Minister of the Cabinet, is hasty, and deficient both in precision and capacity; he is incapable of moving and acting for himself: let him take an inferior station, and receive an appointment in the second class of the guards. Yihtsih, Vice-President of the Board of Works for Moukden, possesses but ordinary talents, and is incompetent to the duties of his present office: let him also take an inferior station, and be appointed to a place in the first class of guards. Narking& the Governor of Hukwang, though having under him the whole civil and military bodies of two provinces, has yet been unable, these many days, to seize a few beggarly impish vagabonds; after having in the first instance failed in prevention, he has followed up that failure by idleness and remissness, and has fully proved himself inefficient: let him take the lower station of Lieutenant-Governor in Hunan, and within one year let him, by the apprehension of Lan Cbingtsun, show that he is aroused to greater exertions."
The following is a pitch of gambling or philosophy we have not yet reached. Mr. Williams has been speaking of a certain system of village clanship, and the robberies and other evils to which it gives rise.
" When complaint is made to the prefect or governor, and investigation becomes inevitable, the villagers have a provision to meet the exigencies of the case, which puts the burden of the charges as equally as possible upon the whole clan. A band of ' devoted men' are found,—persons who volunteer to assume such crimes and run their chance for life,—whose names are kept on a list, and they come forward and surrender themlves to Government as the guilty persons. On the trial, their friends employ witnesses to prove it a justifiable homicide, and magnify the provo- cation; and if there are several brought on the stand at once, they try to get some of them clear by proving an alibi. It not =frequently happens that the accused are acquitted, and not very often that they are executed; transportation or fine is the usual result. The inducement for persons to run this risk of their lives is security from the clan of a maintenance for their families in case of death, and a reward sometimes as high as 800 dollars in land or money when they return. This sum is raised by taxing the clan or village, and the imposition falls heavily on the poorer portion of it, who can neither avoid nor easily pay it. This system of substitution pervades all parts of society, and for all misdemeanours. A person was strangled in Macao in 1838 for having been engaged in the opium trade, who had been hired by the real criminal to answer to his name: it is not known what sum was paid him. Another mode.of escape, sometimes tried in such cases when the person has been condemned, is to bribe the gaolers to report him dead, and carry out his body in a coffin: but this device probably does not often answer the end, as the turnkeys require a larger bribe than can be raised. There can be little doubt of the prevalence of the practice in all parts of China, and for crimes of even minor penalty."
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