“ it is not the country where he drew his breath, but the blook
“ from which he fprung; it is not the fcenery o f the theatre,
“ but the fpirit o f the drama, that engages his attention and
“ occupies his thoughts. A feries o f two hundred years, in the
“ fucceiiion o f eight or ten monarchs, did not change the Mo*
“ gul into a Hindoo, nor has a century and a half made T’chien-
“ Ljing a Chinefe. He remains, at this hour, in all his
“ maxims o f policy, as true a Tartar as any o f his an-
“ cellars.”
Whether this moft ancient empire among men will long
continue in Its liability and integrity, can only be matter o f conjecture,
but certain it is, the Chinefe are greatly diflatisfied, and
not without reafon, at the imperious tone now openly affirmed
by the Tartars ; and though they are obliged to cringe and fub-
mit, in order to rife to any diftinition in the Hate, yet they un*
animoully load them with
“ Curfes, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath *'• *
* The Taft accounts, indeed, that have been received from China, are rather of
an alarming nature. A very ferious rebellion had broken out in the weftern provinces,
which had extended to that o f Canton, the. object of which was the overthrow
o f the Tartar government. I t was known for fome years paft, as I before obferved,
that certain fecret focieties were forming in the different provinces, who correfponded
together by unknown figns, agreed upon by convention, but they were not confidered
to be o f that extent as to caufe any uneafinefs to the government. It appears, however,
that not fewer than forty thoufand men had aflembled in arms in the province
of Canton, at the head o f whom was a man o f the family o f the laft Chinefe Emperor,
who had aflumed the Imperial Yellow. Thefe rebels, it feems, ate confider-
ably encouraged in their caufe by a prophecy, which is current among the people,
that the prefent T artar dynafty ihall be overturned in the year 1804. The exiftence
o f fuch a prophecy may be more dangerous to the Tartar government than the arms
o f the rebels, by affifting- to bring about its own accompliihftieiJU
Whenever
Whenever the difmemberment or dislocation o f this great machine
ihall take place, either by a rebellion or revolution, it
muft be at the expence o f many millions o f lives. For, as is
well obferved by Lord Macartney, “ A fudden tranfition from
“ flavery to freedom, from dependence to authority, can fel-
4 dom be borne with moderation or difcretion. Every change
in the ftate o f man ought to be gentle and gradual, other-
wife it is commonly dangerous to himfelf, and intolerable to
<c others. A due preparation may be as neceflary for liberty,
“ as for inoculation o f the fmall-pox, which, like liberty, is
% future health but, without due preparation, is almoft certain
“ deftrudion. Thus then the Chinefe, i f not led to emanci-
xi pation by degrees, but let loofe on a burft o f enthufiafm,
u would probably fall into all the exceffes o f folly, fuller all
u the paroxyfms o f madnefs, and be found as unfit for
<£ the enjoyment o f rational freedom, as the French and the
fj negroes,”