Excerpt from The Manchus, or the Reigning Dynasty of China: Their Rise and Progress
The design of this work is explained in the preface to my "History of Corea," which is introductory to the present history as well as illustrative of the past and descriptive of the present of the Corean people. Interesting though the story be of the rise and progress of the Manchus, it would never have been written by me were it not the best nail on which to hang as good a picture of the actual condition of the Chinese people as time, ability, and accessible sources enable me to draw. The history of the past of China is useful, because among so conservative a people, with a civilization so ancient, principles of action have not changed; and centuries there have introduced fewer innovations than years in Britain. The active motives of three centuries ago are the potent motives of to-day; and the phases of character appearing in this history are exactly similar to those seen in the existing state of Chinese society. The main value of this work is therefore that it represents what does now actually exist; and gives us in the west an opportunity of judging contemporaneous Chinese, their actual character, and their possible conduct. To one who knows the past history of China, her present resources, the intelligence of her people and their intense nationalism, the natural bravery of her soldiers when well led, and the mental ability of her rulers, the future of that country cannot but be matter of deep interest and solicitude. The ignorant may laugh at and treat her with contempt; but there is a day not very remote when China, if continuing free from serious internal convulsions, will astonish many. We have long inferred that China must, from her nature, assume an attitude of suspicion and defiance towards Russia; and she has long smarted under the humiliation of taxes levied on opium at the dictation, and under the compulsion, of the British government. The Chinese will not always tamely submit to that degradation. If we persist in our opium policy, we shall have to pay for it.
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