History of the Insurrection in Chin

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. The new Emperor and the old Ministers?First news of the Insurrection. After the death of Tao-kouang, one of us wrote as follows: ? We must be very ignorant of the affairs of China, or have some interest in concealing the truth, if we do not feel the gravity of the political position resulting...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. The new Emperor and the old Ministers?First news of the Insurrection. After the death of Tao-kouang, one of us wrote as follows: ? We must be very ignorant of the affairs of China, or have some interest in concealing the truth, if we do not feel the gravity of the political position resulting from the old Emperor's decease. These words were addressed to some journalists, who seemed to think that the people of the Celestial Empire were utter strangers to the feelings which animate the people of the West. We, on the other hand, who have long been convinced that the disdain of the Chinese for the arts of the barbarians is no more than a result of national vanity, could not conceal from ourselves the gravity of the position. A young man of nineteen, inheriting absolute power, and succeeding an old man whose reign had been checquered by events of incalculable import, appeared to us a severe test for the destinies of STATE OP PARTIES. 27 the empire. It was to be feared that he would only be guided by the feelings and suggestions of persons of his own age; and it must be remembered that in China the educated youth and the ignorant populace entertain the same political opinions. They profess an equal hatred for foreigners, and entertain the same instinctive repugnance for the institutions of other countries. The arts of other nations seem to them tainted with heresy, for they feel that their introduction among themselves is followed by new manners and customs. In a word, they are re-action- aries by habit, and by their attachment to national usages. Only those who are of a mature age, and have been trained in the school of experience, can appreciate the arts and institutions of Christian nations. Ki-in, at the time of our residence in China, when no misfortun...