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    CHINA AM) JAPAN.*

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    rpHE decision of the French Government to send an Embassy-to -V China has resulted in a valuable record of the mission- Q 11 the 7 th May , 1857 , the Moniteur stated that Baron Gros had " been appointed by his Majesty the Emperor to proceed-to China , in the capacity of Special High Commissioner . " LordJElgin had received a similar commission from the , Queeir ~ of England . Th ^ Russian and American Governments were also invited to combine in the demonstration , but they refused to take any part in the affair . The latter proceeded upon the usual policy of the United States , which was , never to become bound by treaty with a European power . The French Embassy effected their departure on the 2 . 7 th May , in the frigate Audacieuse . They arrived in the Canton river on the 14 th October . Three days afterwards , Baron Gros proceeded to Hong Kono-, and received a warm welcome from the English authorities . After remaining live days in the roads at Hong Kong , Bai ^) n- ^ TO 8-r ^ tur ^ ed ^ o ^ astle . J ^ akJBay ^ Q-j ^) flni the ft ve « ch _

    squadron . On the spot where a few miserable junks used timidly to anchor , in terror lest they should be set upon by pirates , there is now a forest of ships of war and merchantmen belonging to every nation under the sun . A great amount of capitalis employed m new buildings , which were rapidly going forward . Sir John Bowrin"" entertained them to dinner on the day after then- arrival . The Baron was surprised at the familiarity and ease with which the English mixed with the Chinese , while at war with thencountry He learned , however , to associate with the English authorities , and they visited a Chinese play together . The drama commenced at eight o ' clock in the morning , and continued without interruption till six o ' clock in the evening , the stage never being altogether deserted by the players * during the whole oli the period . " Gods and heroes , and mythological personages of divers sorts , battle witu

    make their appearance in the pieces performed , and do each other after a fashion altogether preternatural , lor pantomime the Chinese actors are unrivalled , and nothing can surpass the richness of their costumes , which literally glitter . m silk mid i ? old Women never make thoir appearance on the stage in tho Middle Empire ; they are prevented from doing so by religious precepts , and consequently the female parts are taken by young men The toue of the voice of the actors is so sharp and grating , and the music is so deafening , that tho patience of a European spectator who understands nothing of what he sees never outlasts half an hour" ¦>¦

    . ....., ,. „ ., Much of the Baron ' s statement relates to tho Woman Catholic establishments in China ; but thore is nothing in regard to them that need detain the reader . What n .-luies to the war with tho Governor of the two Kwaugs is of more interest . Lord lUgin anTBttrw " OFdS ^ grB ^ trUia"fltep : 1 » : Utfrtnkonr--All was life and activity in preparing for battle . The firing of cannon was constant . Every day tho disembarkation companies wont on shore for exercise , and to get used again to tho fatigue of long , marches and tne drill on land . On Tward tho Nemesis theatrical per-

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    instances we are aware of seeds of greatness that appear to us to be full of the sublirnest promise . But disappointment ensues from various accidents—lowly station , the force of competition , and earlv death . The last is a frequent cause . If good fortune be expedient to a prosperous career , most of all is that of being born with a lasting constitution . "A sound mind in a sound body is of itself the primal privilege , arid constitutes in itself a condition of success above all others . In cases where " the spirit is willing , but the flesh is weak , " it is probable that we should recognise the unsuccessful great man . In these judgments , however , we do the body wrong . The greatness we would predicate is nearly as much dependent on the body as on the mind . Such a man would make a great preacher , if only he had the requisite organ to make himself heard shall we therefore credit him with the preacher ' s powers ?

    By no means . Another would make a valiant soldier , only he has not the physique , and is not tall enough : shall we therefore credit him with ' the warrior ' s fame ? . It would be perfectly absurd . Another man might be a poet , but he lacks " the accomplishment of verse : " shall we therefore award him the honours of the minstrel ? Notwithstanding some authoritative dicta to the contrary , still we answer , Certainly not ; The final test in all these cases is wanting the triumph over the last difficulty . The spiritual and material coalesce in the production of indisputable greatness . ! Lon ° - life belongs to Nature ' s great men by right of birth . Some few indeed , have won fame early , and died early . These have been favoured by a special Providence ; but , in general , greatness is tested by the wear and tear of a life-loug labour ; a long

    standup light against difficulty and danger . ¦ " Virtue in elevated region dwells , A steep and rugged road , moist with the dew That Labour from his wrinkled forehead sheds , Scaling the rough ascent . " Bat here we must guard against misapprehension . The argument does uot require that success should be produced as the ^ test of greatness , but notoriety . It must be -knownby the : world to have struggled , to have persevered , and to have died . I hat is all that is requiredA great man need not be a conqueror , it is

    suffavelopment is merely a tantalising irritation ;—iqualifies as vanity , not as genius . It is a lazy , indolent assumption of inerit , not the diligent proof and fruitful evidence of it . It is the barren figtree ; on which resteth the curse . _ ¦ ¦ . - ¦ •' There is more than one reason why sometimesverv considerable talent fails in obtaining publicity . Sometimes it is behind the age . Public men , we have seen , are the embodiments of prevailing principles , which demand , and through them achieve , utterance . The man of talent , whose instincts are conservative of old usages , has ¦¦ would do is work wouia

    _ . ; i _ . :.. 4 . « tu wAwirl frtn lute . The work he simply ^ ome ^ u to ^ he ^ v-orid-iop-lai e . W } 9 ne . aojg alreadyTlone to his hands . With the work that is doing , or remains to be undertaken , he has . no sympathy . He lives in the past , only ve-etates in the present , and has no faith m the future . No public res ult can possibly be generated by the / wrigghngs of such a piece of intellectual senility . With . such literary or artistic effort is all « vanity and vexation of spirit . " Were they listened to motions of the universeTime

    there would be a stop to the vital . must retrograde to suit itself to the snai pace of their reluctant activity . ¦ Reform , and improvement would have no name to live , and ideas would revolve in a circle without any progression . It is , in fact , mercy to minds like these that their borrowed notions should confine themselves to a sphere of privacy , the walls of a cathedral town , or the back parlour of an old marine store-shop . Their interference with the real business of society would only ^ applv the drag-chain while the vehicle was ; labouring up-hill ; and , it it gained the top , would find that the effort had left no chain at all to regulate its journey down the opposite side . It ; is , however , by " the decree of the Watchers" that ancient prejudices , however obstinate , shall dissolve before the sunbeams of advancing truth , and that their advocates perforce bury themselves in the night and

    obscurity of the past . ¦ . « i n u * r . ™ Doubtless , also , there are some men of genius who are before their age , and , accordingly , find difficulty in commanding immediu ± e attention . Prophets like these may die before they can get the slightest hearing ; and many of such visjonanes an ^ drearners are , indeed , short-lived , men of delicate constitutions , and little calculated for personal contact with the busy competitors ini the market of life , with whom they most unwillingly associate . Nevertheless , as a class , they have no reason to complain ; for their dreams not seldom juitifytlierriselves ; future ; thus their work is done , though they may not get the credit of it . Prophets , however , are rathor favourites with cliques and / . / vf ^ Soo -JSi Aut . nin' BBnflcial recoeriutions among fellow workers , und

    thus cannot be said to be entirely , ignored by the world they live in . Some have even risen to fame and power , though not ultimately successful . , . i ¦ . j ¦ % ii We haVe already mentioned Sa \ onauola , and wo might add the names of many mystical thinkers-names not unknown to literary investigators , nor without disciples , constituting after their deaths

    . t cient that he works in the daylight . Also , he may have his conquestsV but not be finally triumphant . He may ^ boast of his Leipzig and his Marengo j- ^ and yet have his Waterloo and , St . Helena ! For this ,: however , he is not the less the hero ; jus ^ greatness , in fact , may come out strongest in his reverses and his fall . No publicity is all that is asked for . Martyrs are ^ great men , thou gh they perish before their oause is established , Savo 2 jauoi , a is as proud a name as Ltjther . Greatness is activity , _ actuality ; not an abstract possibility . Power-incapable-oLexertion or

    desmall sects and churches , but on which the broad seal of the world s chancery has not been set . After all , we may grant that the world knows less than it ought of some great men . There is many a good man who conceals his benevolences , and " lets not his left hand know what his right hand doeth ; " and in such reticences there is a greatness above the world ' s appreciation . In spiritual and moral martyrdoms there is frequently an unutterable majesty . There is a supernatural kind of power , as to which the revelation is also the hiding of its manifestation ; it so perpetually expresses itself in negations , owing to the inadequacy of the utmost affirmation . It comes in clouds and darkness , and remains , however powerfully expressed , still inarticulate . This is the mystery of goodness , which rather avoids than seeks recognition .

    On the other hand , there are many writers who insist on a divorce between Goodness and Greatness , and would not allow that the heroes of the former are to be confounded with the latter . But is it advisable that universal ideas should be thus broken into sectarian conceptions ? If some of our so-called great men may not be properly ranked also as good , nevertheless is there any so bold as to assert that the good deserve not likewise the epithet of great ? Is not , in fact , goodness the only true greatness ? Amomrst these , we may readily enough apprehend that the most illustrious of the illustrious obscure are to be found . That quiet , secret ooodness which haunts the by-ways of life—which , while it keeps itself unspotted from the world , seeks out its sorrowful

    places , and wherever it penetrates dispels , like the daylight , the shadows of sin and misery that skulk in the darkness of its mighty capitals , and love the veil of night , because of the evil of their dee ( j s—that serene virtue which , while in itself it is godlike , arrogates nothing , but pities and relieves every sufferer as a brotherthat ever-present charity which endures all , believes all , and pardons all;—such is the goodness which is the soul of the highest greatness , and without which the latter is but an inanimate body , however Titanic in its dimensions , and seemingly grand in its exterior form . It is like the letter which , however eloquent , still killeth ; while the former , like the spirit , not only liveth , but maketh alive .

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    June 23 ? I 860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 593

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    * Rei'ollevMmtt of Baron O-nrn' JCml > us » i / to China und , / apan in 1857 -58 / By tho MAuiuis »» Hooks , Attache to the ^^ . [^ i ^ Truncation . ) With Coloured Illustrations . London and Glasgow : Kd . Griffin & Co .

    China Am) Japan.*

    CHINA AM ) JAPAN . *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 593, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2353/page/13/