Cuar. I.] THE NORTHERN CHINESE. 5 
Doubtless the Chinese were in that half-civilised 
state in which they are now, ata very early period, 
and when the now polished nations of the West 
were yet rude savages. It is long since they dis- 
covered the art of making the beautiful porcelain, 
lacquer-ware, and silks, which have for centuries 
been so much admired in Europe; but these very 
facts—their civilised condition, their advance- 
ment in the arts, and even their discovering a mag- 
netic power in nature, which they could convert 
into a compass for the purpose of navigation — 
instead of telling in their favour as an active and 
intelligent people, do the very reverse when we 
consider what they might have been now and what 
they really are. 
A great proportion of the northern Chinese seem 
to be ina sleepy or dreaming state, from which it is 
difficult to awake them. When a foreigner at any 
of the northern ports goes into a shop, the whole 
place inside and out is immediately crowded with 
Chinese, who gaze at him with a sort of stupid 
dreaming eye ; and it is difficult to say whether they 
really see him or not, or whether they have been 
drawn there by some strange mesmeric influence over 
which they have no control: and I am quite sure 
that, were it possible for the stranger to slip out of 
his clothes and leave a block standing in his place, 
these Chinese would still continue to gaze on, and 
never know the difference. The conduct of the 
Chinese peasants during the war was very remark- 
able in this respect. I-have been told by some of 
B 3 
