Travels in China - Sir John Barrow (drm ebook reader .TXT) 📗
- Author: Sir John Barrow
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For having in his possession more than two hundred strings of pearls, and an immense quantity of jewels and precious stones, which his rank did not allow him to wear, and among which was a pearl of such wonderful magnitude, that the Emperor himself had no equal to it.
For having in gold and silver alone, which has been already discovered and confiscated, the amount, at least, of ten million taels (about 3,300,000l. sterling).
One article is singularly curious. For having been guilty of the deepest treachery in informing him (the new Emperor) of his father's intention to abdicate the government in his (the new Emperor's) favour, one day before his father made it public, thinking by such means to gain his favour and affection!
After enumerating the several articles of accusation, the Emperor states, that this minister being interrogated by a Tartar prince on several points, had confessed the whole to be true, and, therefore, without further evidence, he commands the presidents and members of the several courts in Pekin, the viceroys of provinces, and governors of cities, on these articles of accusation being laid before them, to pass a proper sentence on the said Ho-tchung-tang. According to the majority, he was condemned to be beheaded; but as a peculiar act of grace and benevolence on the part of the Emperor, this sentence was mitigated to that of his being allowed to be his own executioner. A silken cord being sent as an intimation of this mark of the Emperor's favour, he caused himself to be strangled by some of his attendants.
Who could escape when the Emperor of China is himself the accuser? It will readily occur, from the fate of Ho-tchung-tang, that there is not that line of independence drawn between the executive and juridical authority, which the ingenious author of the Spirit of Laws has clearly proved to be the grand foundation of a just, legal, and efficient security of the life and property of the subject. In fact, in all state crimes, the Emperor becomes both the accuser and the judge. In the case of Ho-tchung-tang he may likewise be said to have been the only evidence.
[29] Among the various customs of China, particularized in the accounts of the two Mahomedan travellers in the ninth century, this remarkable one is noticed, affording, with the rest, equally singular and peculiar to this nation, an proof of the authenticity of these two relations.
[30] The words of Kaung-shee's proclamation, repeated by Kia-king, are: "At present when an army is sent on any military service, every report that is made of its operations, contains an account of a victory, of rebels dispersed at the first encounter, driven from their stations, killed, and wounded, to a great amount, or to the amount of some thousands, or, in short, that the rebels slain were innumerable."
[31] When the art of printing was first introduced into England, and carried on in Westminster Abbey, a shrewd churchman is said to have observed to the Abbot of Westminster, "If you don't take care to destroy that machine, it will very soon destroy your trade." He saw at a single glance of the press, the downfal of priestly dominion in the general diffusion of knowledge that would be occasioned by it, and had the rest of the clergy been equally clear-sighted, it is probable the dark ages of superstition and ignorance had still continued, or at least had been greatly protracted.
[32] When the mischievous doctrines of Tom Paine, expounded in his "Rights of Man," were translated into various languages, and industriously attempted to be propagated among the eastern nations, by means of French emissaries; when one of those assiduous disturbers of the peace of mankind had actually succeeded in furnishing the Seiks with an abstract of this precious work in their own language, he next turned his attention to the vast empire of China, a glorious theatre for those zealous cosmopolites to play their parts in, if they could once contrive to suit their drama to the taste of the people. The experiment, however, failed of success. The golden opinions of Tom Paine could not be transfused into the Chinese language; and these unfortunate people understood no other but their own; so that three hundred and thirty-three millions were doomed to remain in ignorance and misery on account of their language being incapable of conveying the enlightened doctrines of Tom Paine.
[33] The last accounts, indeed, that have been received from China, are rather of an alarming nature. A very serious rebellion had broken out in the western provinces, which had extended to that of Canton, the object of which was the overthrow of the Tartar government. It was known for some years past, as I before observed, that certain secret societies were forming in the different provinces, who corresponded together by unknown signs, agreed upon by convention, but they were not considered to be of that extent as to cause any uneasiness to the government. It appears, however, that not fewer than forty thousand men had assembled in arms in the province of Canton, at the head of whom was a man of the family of the last Chinese Emperor, who had assumed the Imperial Yellow. These rebels, it seems, are considerably encouraged in their cause by a prophesy, which is current among the people, that the present Tartar dynasty shall be overturned in the year 1804. The existence of such a prophecy may be more dangerous to the Tartar government than the arms of the rebels, by assisting to bring about its own accomplishment.
[34] Vattel.
[35] This consideration on the transient nature of languages, and especially of those whose fleeting sounds have never been fixed by any graphic invention, makes it the more surprizing how Lord Kames, in his sketch on the origin and progress of American nations, after observing that no passage by land had been discovered between America and the old world, should have given it as his opinion, that an enquiry, much more decisive at to the former being peopled by the latter, might be pursued, by ascertaining whether the same language be spoken by the inhabitants on the two sides of the strait that divides the northern regions of America from Kamskatka. And that, after finding this not to be the case, he should conclude that the former could not have been peopled by the latter. Had not Lord Kames written upon a system of a separate and local creation, pre-established in his own mind, he would unquestionably have laid more stress upon a resemblance in their physical characters, in their superstitions and religious notions, than on similarity of language; which, among the many acquirements of the human species, or of human institution, is not the least liable to change by a change of situation, especially where no written character has been employed to fix it. His Lordship's conclusion is the more extraordinary, as he had already observed that the resemblance between them was perfect in every other respect.
[36] It is sufficiently remarkable, that the Emperor Kaung-shee, in giving, by public edict, some account to his subjects of the different nations of Asia and Europe, should make the following observation. "To the southward of the Cossack country a horde of Hoo-tse (Turks) is established, who are descended from the same stock with Yuen-tay-tse, formerly Emperors of China."
[37] The exterior angles are here meant which, in the Chinese also, are extended in the same or a greater proportion than the interior ones are rounded off.
[38] As a corroborating proof of the Chinese being of Scythic origin, it may be observed, that the adjunct character Shee (to the family name Foo) is composed of a sheep, rice, an arrow, and the conjunctive character also, from whence may be inferred that he united the occupations of shepherd, agriculturist, and warrior.
[39] The Shoo-king.
[40] Ptolemy, the Geographer, places Serica adjoining to Scythia, extra Imaum, corresponding with Cashgar, Tangut, and Kitai, countries famous for the cultivation of the cotton plant. It would seem, indeed, from all the passages which occur in ancient authors concerning the Seres, that cotton was the substance alluded to, rather than silk, and that these people were not the present Chinese, but the Tartars of Kitai.
Velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres?
Virg. Georg. ii. v. 120.
——Primique nova Phaethonte retecti
Seres lanigeris repetebant vellera lucis.
Sil. Ital. 1. 6. v. 3.
——Quod molli tondent de stipite Seres
Frondea lanigeræ carpentes vellera Silvæ.
Claudian.
Seres lanificio Sylvarum nobiles perfusam aquá depectentes frondium canitiem.
Plin. 1. 6. 17.
Horace makes the Seres expert in drawing the bow, a weapon in the use of which the Scythians were always famous.
Arcu paterno?
Hor. lib. i. Od. 29. v. 9.
It certainly cannot be inferred that by the Seres, in any of the above quotations, was meant the same people as the present Chinese; on the contrary, the probability is that it did not allude to this nation, and that the ancients had not the least knowledge of its existence. It appears from another passage in Pliny, that the best iron in the world was in Sericum, and that the Seres exported it with their cloths and skins. The iron of the Chinese, as I have had occasion to observe, is remarkably bad, and all their articles of peltry are imported.
[41] All our enquiries, in passing the city of Hang-tchoo-foo, were fruitless with regard to these Israelites. We had hitherto entertained a hope of being able to procure, in the course of our journey, a copy of this ancient monument of the Jewish history, which the late Doctor Geddes considered as very desirable to compare with those already in Europe; but the hasty manner in which we travelled, and the repugnance shewn by our conducting officers, Chou and Van excepted, who had little power or influence in the provinces, to enter into any of our views that might appear to occasion delay, prevented the fulfilment of those hopes. It were much to be wished, that the reverend missionaries would so far lay aside their antipathy against opinions, not exactly coinciding with their own, and enter into such a correspondence with the Jews, as would obtain from them, which they are no doubt possessed of, an account of the progress made by the Chinese in civilization and arts, since their first settling in that country, and of other particulars noted down by them. The circumstance of their carrying with them their code of laws, and the history of their tribes, is a sufficient proof that they understood a written language which there can be no doubt, they would use the utmost caution not to lose. Such an account would be more authentic than the Chinese annals, the best of which abound in hyperbole, and contain facts so disguised in metaphor, that it is no easy matter to extract from them the simple truth. At all events, the comparison of the two histories would serve to verify each other.
[42] In the year 1785, Kien Long liberated, by a public edict, twelve missionaries out of prison, who, being detected in privately seducing the Chinese from the religion and customs of the country, had been condemned to perpetual imprisonment. This edict, of which I procured a copy in Pekin, does
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