12 ON THE CHINESE SYSTEM OF WRITING. 



prevents much obscurity and ambiguity in books, where it cannot be explained 

 or corrected as in oral conversation. Yet, we are told by M. Remusat that the 

 merchants and others in China, in their famiUar correspondence, make use but 

 of one character for each monosyllable of the language ; but as M. Remusat 

 never was in China, and could know that only from hearsay, I shall make no 

 observation upon it. I wish, however, that your friendly correspondent would 

 throw some light upon this subject, and let us know how far M. Remusat is 

 supported by facts in the statement that he makes. 



But I am wandering from the main object that has induced me to address 

 this letter to you. I wish to investigate, with the aid of your learned corre- 

 spondent, if it can, without too much indiscretion, be obtained, the extent to 

 which the Chinese characters serve as a means of communication between 

 different nations who can neither speak nor understand each others' oral lan- 

 guage, and the causes by v/hich such a remarkable effect is produced. I once 

 doubted the fact, because it was asserted as the proof of the alleged superiority 

 of the Chinese alphabet, independently of the languages to which it is applied, 

 and as a kind of pasigraphic system that might be applied to every idiom ; but 

 farther reflection, and an attentive study of the peculiar structure of the Chi- 

 nese language, satisfied me that that fact might be admitted to a certain extent; 

 hence, in my Dissertation, and before that, in my letter to Captain Hall, which 

 is annexed to it, I did not venture to deny it in general terms, but only men- 

 tioned it as a subject requiring farther investigation; it is with a view to that 

 investigation that I now address this letter to you. 



Your correspondent is very explicit in his statement of the fact which we 

 are investigating. I beg leave to quote here his own words : 



"Having," says he, "myself acquired the Japanese, as well as Cochinchi- 

 nese, and also had intercourse with the Coreans, of whom several are now at 

 Macao, I can only extol the ease with which one may communicate to them 

 by means of the Chinese characters, though not understanding a single word 

 of their idiom. This does not refer to the learned classes only, but to the very 

 fishermen and peasants, with only some exceptions. In the Loo-Choo islands 

 men of distinction talk the Chinese with great fluency, but the bulk of the 

 people speak a dialect of the Japanese, and use the Chinese characters as well 

 as the Japanese syllabary." 



