ven those Chinese who come to this country for manual
labor, can read and write to some extent. Undoubtedly there is a large
number of illiterate and brutal outcasts, who are a standing disgrace
to humanity at large, but they can be found in every nation at
present. The average intelligence of the middle class in China is,
next to Japan, perhaps, the highest among the Asiatic nations. But the
greatest evil from which Chinese intellect is suffering is its
bombastic antiquarianism. This differs from conservatism, in that it
is not the cautious distrust of new institutions for the improvement
of the existing ones, but an effort to move backward, and to revive
the ancient order of things, which crumbled into dust a thousand years
before, from its inadaptability. The goal toward which modern
civilization is striving, is the attainment of justice, the security
of property and of the lives of individuals. The ideal society of the
Chinese is one in which the simplicity of primitive tribes makes the
administration of justice unnecessary, in which the possession of
property and the protection of lives are unknown. Eulogies are
lavished throughout their literature to the peaceful reigns of the
primitive kings, when no one locked his house at night, or touched
another's article which he happened to find on his way. To them
antiquity is adorable instead of venerable. They consider themselves
insignificant by the side of their godly ancestors. No doubt the
doctrine of Confucius, which the Chinese people endeavor to carry out
to a letter, has played a large part in producing this effect. Instead
of unfolding the possibilities of the future, he recapitulated the
virtues and achievements of the past. I am not attempting to
depreciate the inestimable service, which his system of philosophy has
rendered toward enhancing the standard of rectitude among his
disciples. But for him Asia might have sunk into the depths of moral
chaos. This much at least must be said in justification of his
doctrine, that evidently it was not his intention to reproduce an
exact duplicate of the primitive Chinese civilization. "Let each day
bring a new order of things," and "A sage's principles change as
time," are among the precepts he enunciated. But these aphorisms, upon
which the Anglo-Saxons would have laid a great stress, have been set
at naught by his followers to the detriment of their own welfare.

This antiquarianism also existed in Japan, before the i