CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



statesmen and scholars. Confucius is an object 

 of special veneration. In every important town 

 there is a temple to his honour, where sacrifices 

 are regularly offered and sticks of incense are 

 burned. The posterity of Confucius, who are very 

 numerous, are highly revered. Religious homage 

 is also paid to the reigning monarch, who is the 

 supreme pontiff, as well as the civil despot of 

 China ; and, on the whole, the ecclesiastical 

 routine of China is but a part of the system of 

 secular government. 



Dissatisfied with so ungenial a system, many of 

 the Chinese have sought consolation in the reli- 

 gions of Buddha and Taou two rival systems of 

 faith which are tolerated, though not encouraged, 

 by the Chinese government. Buddhism (see MO- 

 HAMMEDANISM, &c.) made great progress in China 

 during the earlier part of the Christian era ; and 

 at present, thousands of lofty pagodas in honour 

 of the Indian deliverer are scattered over the 

 empire, many of which have extensive monastic 

 establishments attached to them. The sect of 

 Taou was founded by Laou-tsze, who was born in 

 604 B.C. 54 years before Confucius, and died in 523 

 B.C. a Chinese philosopher who seems to have 

 taught doctrines having a far higher scope than 

 those of Confucius. He aimed at making man 

 immortal by constant contemplation of God and 

 repression of the passions. His moral code was 

 good, but it has of late degenerated into all 

 sorts of quackery, and has no hold on the edu- 

 cated people. Although neither sect receives any 

 endowment from the state, she exercises control 

 over both, and directs prayers to be offered at her 

 pleasure in their temples. Nor is the profession 

 either of Buddhism or of Taou inconsistent with 

 orthodox Confucianism, which is more a system of 

 morals than a theological creed. 



Where women are treated with indelicacy or 

 harshness, or not allowed to be the companions 

 of men in ordinary affairs, society is in an abject 

 condition. Such is the case in China. The 

 practice of female infanticide is tolerated, and 

 women are exposed to many indignities ; the most 

 degrading of which consists in deforming their 

 feet, and rendering them lame by bandaging. 

 Like the women of other Asiatic nations, they 

 are shut up in domestic privacy ; and though 

 education is not denied them, they exercise no 

 direct social influence, and are wholly dependent 

 on the will of their husbands, fathers, or brothers. 



At present, however, there seems little prospect 

 of any reorganisation of the Chinese mind, except 

 by means of a Caucasian stimulus applied to it. 

 That Mongolian civilisation is capable of advance- 

 ment, is, we think, proved by the recent progress 

 of Japan, and a study of the history of that empire. 

 Till lately, its organisation was purely military, 

 war being, with the exception of the priesthood, 

 the only occupation thought worthy of honour. 

 Trade and agriculture were pursuits only fit for 

 the lower classes. Since 1854, all that has been 

 changed. Japan has opened itself to the influence 

 of western ideas with wonderful rapidity, and is 

 now organised on the type of the imperial system 

 of France. The recorded history of Japan begins 

 with the foundation of a dynasty of emperors by 

 Zen Mou, in 600 B.C. A succession of rebellions 

 under feeble, sovereigns followed, till in 1192 

 A.D. the Tycoon (Chinese Tai Koon, or great 

 lord), or chief of the army, usurped supreme 



authority on all temporal matters, leaving trie- 

 Mikado, or emperor proper, only a shadow of suzer- 

 ainty over him, and with possession of supreme- 

 authority in spiritual affairs only. Thus there was- 

 a double sovereignty the Tycoon who governed, 

 and the Mikado who reigned. The court of the 

 former was at Yeddo ; that of the latter at Miako. 

 Up till 1854, Japan was, in other respects, very like 

 England under the feudalism of the Plantagenets, 

 Daimios, or feudal lords, ruling under the Tycoon 

 with despotic authority the various provinces. In 

 1549, Francis Xavier introduced Christianity into> 

 the country, and the Portuguese opened up a trade 

 with it ; but in 1683, both Catholic missionaries 

 and Portuguese traders were expelled, and a rigid 

 policy of isolation adopted. In 1853, the Americans 

 forcibly extorted a treaty from the Tycoon, and,, 

 much to the disgust of the Daimios, the country 

 was opened up to foreign trade. Then it entered 

 on a career of marvellous progress. The unifica- 

 tion of the nation under the Mikado was first 

 resolved upon, and the Tycoon abdicated after a 

 coup d'ttat and short civil war in 1867-68. The 

 Daimios, by a patriotic act of self-sacrifice, gave up- 

 their powers, and an imperial system was founded. 

 under the Mikado, who once more assumed su- 

 preme authority in temporal as well as spiritual' 

 matters. He has an executive ministry, a senate, 

 a council of state ; and the Daimios gave way to 

 provincial prefects, who administerprovincial affairs 

 pretty much as they do in France. The army and! 

 navy were organised on European models. Rail- 

 ways, telegraphs, the arts, sciences, and inventions 

 and industries of the West, were introduced ;. 

 and it is even now in contemplation to institute 

 an elective parliament ; a national code on the 

 mode of the Code Napoleon is being drawn up. 

 The religions of Japan are Sintuism and Buddhism,, 

 the latter being a comparatively modern importa- 

 tion. The hierarchy of the former, or Sin-syu, con- 

 sists of the Mikado who, as descendant of the 

 sun-goddess, unites in himself the attributes of 

 the Deity two ecclesiastical judges, monks and 

 priests. The chief object of worship is Ten-sio' 

 dai-sin, the great Sun-goddess ; but there are 

 hosts of demi-gods, for every patriot, warrior, or 

 great man is made one after death. The chief 

 tenets are purity of heart and abstinence from all 

 that leads to impurity, diligent observance of holy 

 days, and pilgrimages to holy places ; according to 

 some, mortification of the flesh. The worshippers 

 first wash in a font, pray before the sacred mirror 

 which, as a symbol of purity, is placed on the altar 

 then drop a few cash in the money-box, and strike- 

 a bell to indicate that their devotions are finished. 

 The social and political progress of Japan has 

 progressed at such a wonderful rate since 1868,. 

 that some incline to think it has been too rapid 

 that, having been the result of forcing rather than 

 growth, it wants the elements of enduring sta- 

 bility. The fact, however, that it has progressed 

 under the stimulus of western ideas and influences, 

 is a sufficient proof that a stationary condition is 

 not the inseparable characteristic of Mongolian 

 civilisation, and that the Mongol is not racially 

 incapable of progress, 



INDO-EUROPEAN AND SEMITIC HISTORY. 



While the Negro race if we except the ancient 

 Ethiopians seems never to have emerged out of 





