Ch. XX. OPPOSITION TO EAILWATS. 349 



in this country, are now brought forward afresh by the fears 

 of the Chinese. The abolition of old and time-honoured 

 methods of travel — the destruction of the means of liviag 

 of a large section of the population, — are urged against 

 them. At the same time there are serious difficulties arising 

 from the peculiar spirit. and laws of the nation. Ground 

 would of course be required, and so much is taken up with 

 ancestral tombs, that to avoid them would be difficult, while 

 to touch them would be to do violence to the strongest 

 feelings of the people. Again, the Chinese could neither 

 construct nor manage a railway by themselves, and there- 

 fore foreign aid and an English company must be called in 

 to effect it for them. But in that case the occupation of a 

 horde of peculating officials would be gone, and the whole 

 constitution of society changed; the illegal perquisites of 

 numberless small tyrants would be stopped, and they would 

 be forced to starve upon their legal incomes. These are 

 serious difficulties doubtless, especially when it is remem- 

 bered that those who will thus suffer are those who are 

 called upon to decide in favour of the introduction of rail- 

 ways. Another important point is, the universal system of 

 barrier-taxation, which would be annihilated. Vehicles of 

 aU kinds, on river or on land, are squeezed at these barriers ; 

 but how can a goods train be stopped and examined in the 

 same way ? These prejudices have such show of reason in 

 them, that it is no wonder that at the present time, and 

 on the first proposal to introduce railways, very considerable 

 opposition has been brought to bear, and with temporary 

 success. 



But the great barrier to a better understanding between 

 the Chinese and the EngHsh is language, — not only the 

 impracticability of Chinese to an Englishman, but the 



