THE SUCCESS IN CHINA.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 356, 22 March 1861, Page 3

THE SUCCESS IN CHINA.

As was expected our aims have been triumphant in our first contest"in China; and Lord Elgin, distrusting the mandarins deputed to negotiate with him, is on'his way to Pekin to dictate terms witH the Emperor. Now, however, begins our real difficulty. It was never for one moment supposed that China would be able lo resist the combined attack of France;and England ; but what will be the consequences of our success?

For an extraordinary period the empire of China has preserved an independent existence. The wild Tartars who have mastered its government at successive periods have been in fact subdued or civilized by the masses of China,.and, preserving the empire entire, have become the direct heirs of its most ancient government. They have seized the reins of power to hold them after the Chinese, not the Tartar fashion. With some modifications they have fallen in with the manners of the old nation and have preserved its character, almost unbroken, tc the present time. There is not in the world another example of suclicontinuity of power, and of such a homogeneous people as constitute the empire of China. •, •

-Originating at a period coeval with the most ancient nations known to European history, the empire of China has outlived them all. Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans have all passed awtfy, only leaving behind them undying thoughts and some few stone memorials of their existence, while the Chinese have flourished and grown through the whole period, which witnessed the birth and death of these other renowned empires, and now contribute about a fourth of the human race, and occupy a large portion of the globe. They seem, however, now to be verging to that state of dissolution which predeceased empires successive^ underwent. Defeated by us, a prey to interior dissensions, a great insurrection founded on a religious principle raging through large districts cf the country, China seems destined to break up like the Roman Empire, and to fall into the miserable condition of an old civilization destroyed ere another has grown up to supersede it.

We cannot stop to inquire into all the circumstances which have led to the continual growth of this remarkable nation. We nfust, however, say that it seems in the main to have depended on that respect for industry—the source of all wealth and all subsistence—which is implied in the annual ceremony of the Emperor guiding a plough. It is clear that without industry no soil, however fertile, yields much abundance, and no people can become either numerous or civilised. Respect for industry, which is undoubtedly the characteristic of the Chinese, has been the source of their

greatness, and is incompatible with that kind of slavery which existed in mediaeval Europe, and amongst the nations of what we call antiquity. It may therefore be inferred that this condition has never prevailed in China. At the same time, from the little we know of the country, it may also be inferred that the system of industry connected with the head of jJie State, growing from the State, and regulated by it, depends in all its parts on the preservation of the State. In China it seems the result of institutions; in Europe the system ot industry has grown up in spite of institutions. We may therefore dread lest the overthrow of the State in China, which now seems imminent, should carry with it the disruption of this system of industry, and the desolation of an immense country and people.

We have to recollect that to improve the government, and teach the rulers of China respect for Europeans and European usages —t) curb Asiatic sn 1 Mandarin falsehood, presumption, and intolerance, we were forced into war; and the very principle on which it was begun seems to impose on us the necessity of providing against vast evils which seem likely to accrue from the dissolution of the State, provoked and forwarded by our success. The unexpected and unforseen career of a mercantile company, compelled us gradually to make ourselves masters of Hindostan, and responsible for its government and welfare. With this example before us, and its consequence, we can but dread that we may be compelled, as a state, to follow in China the course of the East India Company. The difficulties which such a prospect shadows forth, with a government not renowned for: the wise administration of its own territories, colonial and home, may well appal the stoutest heart of the most ambitious statesman. We, then, are much afraid that with our triumph will begin a great and serious trouble. ; All the issues are complicated by our entanglement with an ally. In common with him we must decide what is to be done. France and Frenchmen envy ing*lis-the posession of India, may be desirous, whatever may be our views, to annex some portion of China, as it breaks up, and then we should be compelled to d.oithe like. We already possess Han<gflib;Kong, and, should the French establish^themselves in the Chinese waters* the; two nations may carry thither, as they formerly carried into Hindostan, their ancient rivalry, and the contentions may be renewed there which in Europe public opinion will no longer tolerate. We would fain look, cheerfully and hopefully at the triumph of our arms, but the probable consequences of our success excite in us the most serious apprehensions. We know, and the public must know, that great successes, as in the case of the first Napoleon, only hurry on decay and destruction ; and we fear many disasters from the gigantic nature of a task which has been imposed on us; a task likely to be far greater than our national power to accomplish.— London Review.

Sometimes words wound more that swords, Solitude is the parent ot reflection.