It is a fanatic but unholy crusade that now enlists the sympathies of the Slavonic millions; but it is peace and wisdom that elsewhere foster the spirit and guide the course of emigration. It is the effort of individuals to better themselves. The units of society are learning to think for themselves; and the spread of peace and tolerance, and the triumphs of mechanical invention, are laying “the world all before them where to choose.” It is a great thing to see this power of reflection and self-reliance spreading among mankind; for assuredly, wherever it is met with, it argues a stage of national development which only long centuries of civilisation suffice to produce. Such a faculty it is, fostered by the external circumstances which we have named above, which is now drawing those hermits of the world, the Chinese, from their long seclusion, and bringing them into yearly and fast-increasing contact with Europeans. Alike in California and Australia, in our West India colonies and in the islands of the Pacific, the Chinaman may be seen side by side with the European, the Negro, and the Malay; and as he immeasurably transcends the other coloured races in industry and intelligence, so not unfrequently he may compare with the European even in point of that business-like cast of intellect which we self-managing Anglo-Saxons so highly prize.
The Chinese are coming out into foreign lands to meet us, and we in turn are posting ourselves on their shores to become better acquainted with them. In fact, of late, China has been such a centre of interest, that almost every Power that has a navy, has a detachment of war-vessels cruising off its shores. Great Britain, America, France, Russia (not to speak of stray vessels from other Powers), are regularly represented by naval squadrons in its waters; so that China, the oldest and not least notable of existing empires, is actually revolutionising and reforming herself under the eyes of the leading representatives of the world’s civilisation. It is high time, then, we repeat, that Europe should know as much as possible of this vast Power that is now for the first time being linked into the community of nations. Every information respecting their character and customs has now a practical and more than ordinary value; and it is all the more wanted, inasmuch as no people appears hitherto to have been more imperfectly comprehended by the rest of the world. Twelve centuries before our era, we find them, by indisputable proof, in a condition of advanced civilisation. Not to speak of the larger items of civilisation, which we have discussed on former occasions, they were then in possession of gold and silver—had money, and kept accounts—had silks, dyed in many colours—leather, hemp, wine, jewels, ivory, carriages, horses, umbrellas, earthenware, &c.;—they had a literature, and a Board of History; and, moreover, a very complete ceremonial of observances, the empire being regulated with all the minute formality of a household, in conformity with its household origin. Arrived at that condition thirty centuries ago, the Chinese are commonly supposed to have remained nearly stationary ever since, and to offer at this day a living picture of the condition of their nation three thousand years ago. We recently showed, from the history of this curious people, how fallacious was this opinion, alike in regard to their religion and their government, and filled in with broad touch the more salient features which have characterised the material and intellectual career of the nation throughout its forty centuries of vicissitude. Now, dispensing with abstract disquisitions, we desire to present to our readers a rapid coup-d’œil of the national life of China, especially in its more practical and social aspects.
In length of years the Chinese Empire has no rival; nor is it easy to find, in the rest of the world’s history, any States which may profitably be paralleled with it. In point of extent and populousness, the only ancient empire that can at all compare with it is the Roman; yet, in almost every other respect, they differ as widely as it is possible for any two States to do. Rome founded its empire wholly by the sword, China mainly by the ploughshare; the former by daring soldiers, the latter by plodding peasants. The conquests of Rome were those of a city that came to cast its chains over a world; the triumphs of China were those of a prolific nation, that absorbed its very conquerors. The splendid talents of the Roman generals, the ardour of the citizens to extend the republic, the thirst for glory, and the matchless skill and self-devotion of the legionaries, may find nothing equal among the sons of Han; but these latter produced heroes of peace, who instructed the people in industry and the useful arts, and increased by their skill the riches and population of the country. The former were masters in the art of destroying, the latter in that of preserving and multiplying human life. In China we must not (at least nowadays) look for the noble sentiments and grand actions which immortalised Greece and Rome. We find there an industrious but common-minded race, which strives stoutly to maintain its existence, however its numbers may multiply, and which finds no heart to sacrifice life for glory, no time to postpone business for politics. The rice-bearing plains are the fields of their glory, the centre of their hopes; and as they trudge forth to their never-ceasing labours, thus they sing:—
“The sun comes forth, and we work;
The sun goes down, and we rest.
We dig wells, and we drink;
We sow fields, and we eat.
The Emperor’s power, what is it to us?”[[35]]
The art of agriculture is coeval with the first establishment of the empire; and to this useful employment China mainly owes its grandeur and populousness. The enormous numbers of the people has caused the utmost attention to be paid to the art, and the cultivation of much of the country approaches as near as possible to garden-farming. Some parts of the country are mountainous and infertile, but the greater proportion of it is fruitful, and densely studded with houses. The hills and mountain-sides are terraced; the rocky fragments are gathered off the slopes, and formed into retaining-walls; and the wonders of Chinese irrigation have never been rivalled. Upon the decease of the parents, lands are divided among the male children, and, like all Orientals, the people cleave with great fondness to their patrimonial acres. Any one, by simply applying to Government, may obtain permission to reclaim waste land; and a wise exemption from all taxes, until it becomes productive, allows the cultivator to reap a proper reward for his industry and enterprise. The agricultural knowledge of China cannot vie with ours in point of science; but it is far more widely diffused. A uniform system of cultivation, the result of centuries of experience, is known to, and practised by, every cottar in the empire; and that system is indubitably unequalled by that of any other nation, unless it be our own. The steeping of seeds, and drilling in sowing, are practised, and have been so for ages; they never fail to seize promptly the proper season and weather for their farming operations; they take every advantage of their summer time by the system of double-cropping; and in the vitally important matters of manuring and irrigation, as well as in making the most of their land, they are unsurpassed, perhaps unrivalled, by any nation in the world.
The Chinese Government has always fostered agriculture as peculiarly the national pursuit; and well has it repaid the imperial patronage. A country nearly as large as all Europe, and far more densely peopled—containing, in fact, more than a third of the whole human race—sustains them more comfortably than any similar number of men on the face of the globe. No emigration has until now issued from its shores, and each new myriad of the rapidly-augmenting population has gone to increase the strength and resources of the State; while the invidious extremes of poverty and riches (that prime bane of old States) are there unknown, wealth being more equally divided than in any civilised country. Undisturbed in their little farms, the people are contented and cheerful; and with comparatively little commerce, and no manufactures (viewed as a distinct employment), the empire has continued for centuries thriving and unshaken by intestine commotions. The home consumers have maintained in comfort the home producers,—the grand opening of new markets has been found in the increase of the population,—the only emigration has been to the hill-side and the marsh. The French historian and philosopher, Sismondi, maintains that the real bone and muscle of a nation is its agricultural population, and predicted the coming ruin of the older states of Europe from the evident decline of this class of their people; but whatever truth there may be in his opinion, no such state of matters is likely soon to sap the foundations of the Chinese empire. There, no millionaire manufacturers, with machinery costing £30,000 or £40,000, overwhelm all competition, and, by ruining the small traders who ply the shuttle as well as till the ground, draw starving thousands to Nanking or Shanghae, feeding the towns to plethora at the expense of the country, and accumulating from the labour of thousands gigantic fortunes for individuals. The small farmer rears his crop of rice, cotton, or tea, dresses it, and sends it to market, and turns it to his own use as food or clothing; and although he cannot succeed in laying by money, it is only in periods of famine or inundation that he experiences the pressure of want.