Chapter 28 chapter 28

The Autocrat at the Breakfast Table classified minds under the heads of arithmetical and algebraical intellects. "All economical and practical wisdom, " he observes, " is an extension or variation of the arithmetical formulaplusequal . a plus b equal c. " Now the whole family of John Smith belong decidedly to the category of minds which the Autocrat calls arithmetical intellects. John Smith s father, John Smith senr, alias John Bull, made his fortune with the simple formula plus equal . John Bull came to China to sell his Manchester goods and to make money and he got on very well with John Chinaman because both he and John Chinaman understood and agreed perfectly upon the formulaplusequal . But John Smith Junr, who now rules the British Empire, comes out to China with his head filled with a plus b equal c which he does not understand_and not content to sell his Manchester goods, wants to civilize the Chineseor, as he expresses it, to "spread Anglo-Saxon ideals . " The result is that John Smith gets on very badly with John Chinaman, and, what is still worse, under the civilizing influence of John Smiths a plus b equal c Anglo -Saxon ideals, John Chinaman, instead of being a good, honest, steady customer for Manchester goods neglects his business, goes to Chang Su-ho's Gardens to celebrate the Constitution, in fact becomes a mad, raving reformer.

I have lately, by the help of Mr.Putnam Weales "Reshaping of the Far East" and other books, tried to compile a Catechism of Anglo-Saxon Ideals for the use of Chinese students. The result, so far, is something like this :_ . _ What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify the British Empire. . _Do you believe in God? Yes, when I go to Church. ._ What do you believe in when you are not in Church? I believe in interests_in what will pay. . _What is justification by faith? To believe in everyone for himself. . _What is justification by works? Put money in your pocket.

._What is Heaven? Heaven means to be able to live in Bubbling Well Roa * and drive in victorias. ._What is Hell? Hell means to be unsuccessful. . _What is a state of human perfection? Sir Robert Hart s Custom Service in China. ._What is blasphemy? To say that Sir Robert Hart is not a great man of genius. . _What is the most heinous sin? To obstruct British trade. _For what purpose did God create the four hundred million Chinese? For the British to trade upon. _What form of prayer do you use when you pray? We thank Thee,Lord, that we are not as the wicked Russians and brutal Germans are, who want to partition China.

. _Who is the great Apostle of the Anglo-Saxon Ideals in China. Dr. Morrison, the Times Correspondent in Peking. It may be a libel to say that the above is a true statement of Anglo-Saxon ideals, but any one who will take the trouble to read Mr. Putnam Weales book will not deny that the above is a fair represent- * The most fashionable quarter in Shanghai. station of the Anglo-Saxon ideals of Mr. Putnam Weale and John Smith who reads Mr. Putnam Weales books. The most curious thing about the matter is that the civilizing influence of John Smith s Anglo-Saxon ideals is really taking effect in China. Under this influence John Chinaman too is now wanting to glorify the Chinese Empire. The old Chinese literati with his eight- legged essays was a harmless humbug. But foreigners will find to their cost that the new Chinese literati who under the influence of John Smiths Anglo-Saxon ideals is clamouring for a constitution, is likely to become an intolerable and dangerous nuisance. fear John Bull Senior will not only find his Manchester goods trade ruined, but he will even be put to the expense of sending out a General Gordon or Lord Kitchener to shoot his poor old friend John Chinaman who has become non compos mentis under the civilizing influence of John Smiths Anglo-Saxon ideals. But that is neither here nor there.

What I want to say here in plain, sober English is this. It is a wonder to me that the Englishman who comes out to China with his head filled with all the arrant nonsense written in books about the Chinese, can get along at all with the Chinese with whom he has to deal. Take this specimen, for instance, from a big volume, entitled "The Far East: its history and its questions, " by Alexis Krausse. "The crux of the whole question affecting the Powers of the Western nations in the Far East lies in the appreciation of the true inwardness of the Oriental mind. An Oriental not only sees things from a different standpoint to (!) the Occidental, but his whole train of thought and mode of reasoning are at variance. The very sense of perception implanted in the Asiatic varies from that with which we are endowed!

After reading the last sentence an Englishman in China, when he wants a piece of -white paper, if he follows the ungrammatical Mr. Krausses advice, would have to say to his boy:_"Boy, bring me a piece of black paper." It is, I think, to the credit of practical men a-mong foreigners in China that they can put away all this nonsense about the true inwardness of the Oriental mind when they come to deal practically with the Chinese. In fact I believe that those foreigners get on best with the Chinese and are the most successful men in China who stick to plus equal , and leave the a plus b equal c theories of Oriental inwardness and Anglo-Saxon ideals to John Smith and Mr. Krausse. Indeed when one remembers that in those old days, before the Rev. Arthur Smith wrote his "Chinese Characteristics," the relations between the heads or taipans of great British firms such as Jardine, Matheson and their Chinese compradores * were always those of mutual affection, passing on to one or more generations; when one remembers this, one is inclined to ask what good, after all, has clever John Smith with his a plus b equal c theories o f Oriental inwardness and Anglo-Saxon ideals done, either to Chinese or foreigners?