Extracts from: Philosophical and Scientific Journals. 
deed years, before Christ, “ the Chinese 
nation; jas small and feeble, the eastern’ 
foreigners othat;,.is,..the aborigines; 
rhaps,Tartars, between them and 
past coast) numerous -andstrong,”’ 
apd;that the former “gradually obtained: 
a,residence in) the,middle of the coun- 
trys? namely, in, Honan. It is univer- 
sally, admitted | among, themselves; that 
the seat of government, was at. first» in 
Shen-si,.the north-west part of the pre- 
sent.empire,, where the colonists, men- 
tioned by. the, Indian Lawgiver, are sup- 
posedito have settled, and that they sub- 
sequently; carried|.on, wars against a 
state; called Yen; in Péehzli, and another 
named, 7'si, in Shan-tung, until they suc- 
ceeded dn, fixing, themselves in Honan. 
«Lhe. opinion, hazarded’ by M. de 
Guignes, that,.the Chinese were a co- 
y from,Egypt,, seems hardly capable 
of being. supported. by. sufficient proof. 
Such adistant, and extensive emigration 
could not, have taken, place without the 
ywledge,.and.. notice, of the nations 
inhabiting the vast- countries that inter- 
vene; besides which, there exists no 
resemblance. between. the: mysterious. 
lieroglyphics of Egypt and the Chinese 
sharacters,*..which. might, as Sir W. 
ones observes,“ have. been contrived 
by the first Chinas, or outcast Hindus, 
who, either. never, knew, or had forgot- 
ten, the.alphabetic character of their 
waser, ancestors.” Though M. de Pauw 
aud, other learned men have been of 
nion that, the Chinese were originally 
a.tribe of Tartars, or Scythians, I can- 
not-help. thinking that there are some 
reasonable, grounds for concluding that 
they, were,.a colony from, India, and 
it they, owe their present distinctive 
character to, their subsequent mixture 
with the aborigines of the country, and 
the Tartars. 
to Sy 
eleaying the religion of his country- 
menoas ‘he found it, Confucius embo- 
died \in ‘sententious maxims the first 
principles of morals and of government, 
and the purity and excellence of some 
of his precepts (whatever may have been 
said) to the'contrary by persons ignorant 
ofthe language) will bear a comparison 
with even those of the gospel. He, 
and he only, of the men who have at 
times: aspired: to teach the 
ae 
io® Aearned atid ingenious original atticle 
im the M: M.,) Vol. 59; No. 406, to ‘be 
published on the first of February 1825, 
will. demonstrate, however, that there is 
sug resemblunce,—+E prr. 
647 
Chinese,“ was: truly deserving sof © the 
title|of Philosopher’; and‘he alone; dur- 
ing'the! revolution of ages, has met with 
uniform: veneration. © Guided by °the 
lightof reason, he applied the’ energies! 
of a powerfub intellect ‘to then Study of 
Man, andi grounded ‘his: doctrines son 
the fixed’ and immutable /principles? of 
humam nature:> His works are at: this 
day the Sacred Books of the-Chinese; 
and when compared with the evanescent 
relics of Fo and of Laou-Keun; confirm: 
the superiority of truth over the'fictions 
of artful, and the ravings: of fanaticak 
teachers. Thus it is that “ opinionun® 
delet dies, naturze judicia confirmat.” 
Among other points of inquiry relat= 
ing to the Chinese, their attainments 
in the various branches of human know- 
ledge have naturally been the objects of 
much curiosity in Europe. With reéspéct 
to those arts of life which  adniitister 
to the wants and enjoyments of ‘mah- 
kind, they must: be allowed to: Have 
made. a ‘very early and’ considerable. 
proficiency, and ‘are even at this: day, in” 
many respects, the most skilfuland best: 
workmen in the world. Of science, 
however, they are; and appear always’ 
to have been, entirely destitute, The 
ancient skill of the» Hindus, in “astro= 
nomical and algebraic science, has been 
cleatly and ably demonstrated: but no: 
proofs have yet occurred that they im= 
parted any portion of that skill to the 
Chinese. I feel persuaded that, until 
the introduction of astronomy into the’ 
Empire by the Arabians, in the first m= 
stance, and subsequently by the Euro= 
pean Missionaries, the whole science of 
the Chinese consisted in a careful ob+ 
servation and scrupulous notation of the 
eclipses, and other heavenly pheno- 
mena. Their ignorance led them to 
attach the most important political in- 
fluences to the different aspects and 
conjunctions of the celestial orbs, and 
hence arose the exactness with which 
they marked and chronicled them. 
Confucius has recorded six and thirty 
eclipses of the sun, the greater number 
of which have been verified by the cal- 
culations of European astronomers : 
but the recording an eclipse may prove 
the authenticity of historical annals, 
while, at the same time, it’ proves 
nothing as to the ‘existence of astrono~ 
mical science. von 
Dxrrnactrs of Lavin, from WJ. 
Bankes, Esq., containing an Accoun® 
of Mr. Linayt’s Expedition to Sen- 
i Na’AR, 
