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Sept. 8, I860.] The Saturday Analyst and...
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DRAWING-ROOM SOKROW&* WE are indobtocl f...
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t W\o Rvai an* (ho AwMval, 13y tho Autho...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
China. * The Author Of " A Cruise In Jap...
only in the misapprehension of Chinamen , but in the misconduct of Englishmen . There was a time . when the English Government tried to have commercial relations with China , but they utterly ( failed . British merchants would smuggle , would defraud the Chinese revenue . The Chinese would apply their laws to Englishmen ; they seized British subjects as hostages ; they threatened our official representative ; they fired on our flag , and , finally , forbad us to trade with them , under penalty of death . Wars have since sprung , to a very great extent , from the same causes , mercantile rapacity and Chinese official violence , and Chinese incapacity to think or act as Europeans . Another evil is the fact , that from Chinese official subordinates correct information never reaches the Emperor . If it did , an end would soon be put to the system of peculation , extortion , and petty tyranny , by which such officials existed , and by which they , each in turn , hoped to amass a fortune . Moreover , heeding only their peculiar interests , a large mass of the European mercantile community in China were averse to such relations with the Court of Pekin as would compel us to place our trade relations upon a really healthy footing-. With few honourable exceptions they opposed the resident minister in Pekin , extension of open ports , and assistance to the Chinese Government in checking fraud upon their customs . And thus we Tiave been involved in three , wars with China , and endless acts of violence against Chinese officials . . What a picture , onboth sides / of the corruption of human nature ? West or east , both were alike transgressors . The affair of the Peiho River , however , crowned a series of acts of imperial duplicity with one of treachery , hot to be paralleled perhaps out of China . Yet England has been in no hurry to resent the insult . This slackness to avenge a . defeat is hot without injury . " With a Chinaman , as with any : . ' other Eastern , delay in acting against ¦ Mm , when he assumes a hostile position , does not increase the chance of his taking a more enlightened view of the irrational nature of his own proceedings , but merely confirms him iih his own folly , and he considers your forbearance to arise from fear or hesitation . " The Court of Pekin , meanwhile , has naturally treated Our diplomatists with scorn . Unfortunately , too , our leading ? mercantile firms in China abetted the obstructive factions ^ being ; equally opposed to the ; general opening up of China , and thus arrayed themselves against : the interests of Great Britain , and against the treaty of Tientsin . Our weakness , in regard to China , consists in our being- a house divided against itself . Hence the difficulty felt by Government ; and , perhaps , the delay in taldng those active measures which must at last be resorted to . We are at home , indee d ^ the victims of a base monopoly , established by our own countrymen . Captain Osborn has well argued this point , and rightly shewn the enormity of the offence . It is the objections and the influence of the founders of this , monopoly " ¦ which have alarmed the Foreign Secretary of Great Britain , and which at this moment threaten to sacrifice the interests of the manufacturer and consumer at home to the vestedrights of the exporters from China . " lie thinks , however , that they will not succeed in the end , and that the " sound good sense of this country . > yi 31 outride eventually all itheir jog ^ along theories . " In the course of Ms argument , he puts a case .. The tea that the wife of the poor English labourer pays 2 s . 10 d . or 3 s . a pound for—and even at that price it is adulterated with every abomination under heaven—sells on the spot where it is produced at 80 cash per catty , or in rough , terms 3 d . a pound English , Who is it , he demands , that takes the remaining Us . 6 d . for delivering a pound of tea at our doorsR Is it the mandarin , the merchant ; , or Mr . Gladstone ? " One thing is certain , that the half-crown does not go into the hands of the poor Chinese tea-farmer , and that it comes out of the hard- ? earued wages of the English labower , or starving half-pay officer . ' To remedy all this evil , our author argues that tbe Court of Pekin should be sun > inarily punished for its late perfidy , that we should insist upon our right of : having a representative at Pekin , who shall communicate directly with the prime minister or sovereign ; and , lastly , that wo should give all countenance and support to the establishment of the new-raised Chinese svnd European Boards pf Customs in China .. Every clause in the Treaty of Tientsin ought to , Ibe exacted to the full extent . An armed exploration of "the s ^ a-bOard and interior of China is needed , if China is to be opened , and our nnpprt trade to China to become . as flourishing as the export trade from China , Not until England appeared aa a . belligerent did European civilisation progress in the face pf Chinese excliusivenpss . It was to the strong arm of the executive that Western nations were * indebted for this extension ef trade to the five ports ,, and for our increased knowledge . of that Empire ; it was to tlio strong arm of the executive , not to the diplomatist , and not to the persuasions or enterprise of merchants or missionaries then resident in Canton , that Great Britain is indebted for her present revenue derivable from China . The whole life of the Chinese is so totally absorbed in temporal interests , that it is , merely materialism jmt in action . Hence , theiv indiffbronce ^ to any logic but the stern logic pf facts and force , and , their want of susceptibility to religious impressions . War with the Chinese , in future , must couso boing a solomn faffed , and become a , terrible reality . They will then soon learn to thinJc » lilce with ourselves , and condescend tq . thejn'opormqasuros for tho mutual gppd pf both countries . - ' ' vi
Sept. 8, I860.] The Saturday Analyst And...
Sept . 8 , I 860 . ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . ¦ 785
Drawing-Room Sokrow&* We Are Indobtocl F...
DRAWING-ROOM SOKROW &* WE are indobtocl for tliia phrase tp tho book , tho title of which we subjoin . It is aswaU , but decidedly good book , addressed to n young married wife * and attho commencement , warning 1 her thut the
realities of matrimony will break in , and , perhaps , jar with the idealities of courtship ; and giving such advice under the circumstances as is most expedient . . ' ¦ . Too much of fancy , of feeling , of passion , however delightful for a time , will not last for " a time , times , and half a time . " It is the . more sober view of things that wears longest . Personal and perpetual homage must not be exacted from the husband , however willingly i andered it may be by the lover . That wife is mistaken who thinks that a husband worth having will continue to be enslaved by his feelings . These lessons come with all the more force , as they proceed irom the pen of a lady . She reasonably objects greatly to the flimsey mode Of education in which women are usually reared , and which will not bear the rude touch of actual life . Friends of both sexes will probably be possessed by the husband , and these Will excite groundless jealousies in a wife whose mind is ill-regulated , and who foolishly expects to be her husband ' s idol to the end of the chapter . We repeat that these admonitions , proceeding from a female source , have great cogency and weight . Our authoress in her argument uses analogy with advantage : She detects a correspondence between music and religion , which she identifies somewhat after this fashion , , Education in both is generally , superficial . She tells lier correspondent that the latter is in some sort a musician , loves music , plays pleasingly on the piano , and might , with her taste and genius , have reached high excellence as a performer if she Would have borne the discipline necessary to that end ; might , in a word , have become an Arabella Goddard . In the days of her pupillage , under good Mr . Dash , she tried for a quarter of an hour , or so , to practise her musical exercises ; but , soon wearied , her eyes would rest , upon one amongst them that looked , easier than the rest , and , perhaps , it was prettier , more simple , and altogether what /' would tell better to learn by rote and please a drawing-room audience ; amongst which few know , and still fewer care , how intense and unremitting must be the labour to master those of a more difficult character . Much applauded for this easy victory , her correspondent , however , Was not aitogether happy iihder the i > raise ; because she was conscious that if her wandering admirers , knew as much of the matter as she did , they would see that she was less deserving of praise for her pains , than of censure for her want of them . Resolution would follow on " this to produce what rear practice would put it into her power to . exhibit , aiid for a day or two would be persevered in , and so far convince her that she really possessed the power to triumph over all obstacles . But other objects would then interfere , —objects of a more facile and enticing character , and requiring less labour ; and away went the exercises , and all chance of acquiring the excellence of Arabella Goddard . And thus ,, also , in religion , our fashionably educated young lady regards only its shewy externals , not its iniier sense . That this inneV sense must be believed in before it can be obeyed > she will as readily grant as that two and two make four ; but has she any idea of what believing in it comprises ; P Seldom hasher re ligion l ) een of the kind that tons inward for its manifestations , which It pinst do hi order to become a living and a growing thing , and to produce the sentiment called faith . Little of a living principle can she find stirred into activity by Sunday visits to church ; yet in these visits , for the most part , does all her religion consist . She may there listen to powerful sermons , and indulge hi the tenderness of devotional feeling , but the impressions thus made have about tho same vitality of . fact in them , in so far as her -religious state is concerned , as her musical condition possesses . She " can play very nicely all ; tho ' pretty and agreeable music she lenows , and which she has picked up as easily as she could gather a jlbvyer out of the garden ; but her ability goes no further . Why ? not because it is not there , but because it had never been developed by the labour and continuous attention requisite for that purpose , " There is something Spcratic in this kind of teaching . Our authoress then goes on to tqll a story of an old couple who read daily together the lessons of tho day , but without the routine practice producing' nny effect on thqir moral temper or mental discipline . . She regard ^ life as a condition of edtcoation , ftnd accordingly is disposed "to submit rationally and willingly to pain and disappointment . " "tossons on ' the folly of unguarded speech , and the beneficial influence of silence , next follow . Misplaced confidences are fatal . Bettor it is to practice patience , than tp seek such consolation . Next , tho relations that a mistress should bear to her servants are fully entered into . These remairks cannot fail of being highly serviceable to now-married people . Our relations to tho world , with all its dissatisfying conditions , are then treated . In this portion of the book , wo find some criticism oh the poet Keats , which we cannot but consider as too austere , and oven perhaps misdirected . But , to cotintorbalanco thin defect , there we some speculations on life and death , together with " iho grout mystery of huirnm discontent and misery which are really beautiful ; ' ' Some practical directions as to the duties of mothers towards their oflspring will , wo should think , bo found of much value . But the author recurs evermore to'hor loading arguments—tho ''elation of wife andhusband . There will come a time when tho uloaj of the former is no longer realized in theluttor ; and tho signal soonarnvos that the Hiud time in at Imucl when tho inOy inimt abdicate tho power to which she has boon accustomed . T |» jh wpnal , porhaps , . consists iii « » Hghc Ihult-findiiw with the viiin < ln provided for dinnor . This is atryint ? position , veril / . "TodosoondfVom the pedestal ^ on which tho mmgination ot ' a lovoy had plucocl it , und to behold the deification which had boon suoh a voluntary oilonnw , that it was 3 y 0 K « u « iblo to rcgkon upon Jte duration , thu « threatened . ynth extinction in the mivo ofan . ainwtito for savoury ( IisIioh , —all this is
T W\O Rvai An* (Ho Awmval, 13y Tho Autho...
t W \ o Rvai an * ( ho AwMval , 13 y tho Author of 'Vloltiinrmy R < ilwUt > U 9 r'WJ 0 . lUoluwV Bontloy .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 8, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_08091860/page/9/
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