Tr is the fashion to speak as if the Chinese had always held the attitude toward foreigners which they held until trade was forced on them by Great Britain, and which they would gladly reassume. We have become 80 accustomed to "exclusivism" as the traditional policy of the Mandarinate of the Middle Kingdom, that we cannot imagine the country pervaded by any other spirit. It is worth remembering, however, that in the beginning it was not so, The favour shown by Kublai Khan to Marco Polo.is one instance amongst many that might be cited of the enlightened patronage of Europeans by the early Sovereigns of China, The Ming dynasty introduced the policy which may be called emphatically Chinese, viz., the policy of distrust and suspicion of all things foreign. The Mongols were comparatively liberal, and had they retained the reins of Government, China would, in all likelihood, have been opened to foreigners centuries ago. The Emperor under whose auspices the Grand Canal was designed and carried out was surely not behind any of his European contemporries in farsighted aim or practical energy. There are no monuments of the thirteenth century in Europe, which compare with this great engineering work in extent, cost, or grandeur of design, and the Monarch who planned it deserves in a special manner the epithet of enlightened. Besides, Kublai was eager to use the appliances of the West and anxious to find employment for Europeans. Not only did he give occupation to Marco Polo, his father, and his uncles, bat he allowed the great Venetian to introduce Missionaries into China, and appointed Mar-Sarghis, a Nestorian Christian, Governor of Chinkiang fu. He, too, it was who received De Monte Corvino, the Ambassador of Pope Nicholas IV.
We make no apology for reminding our readers of these facts, as they prove that in historic times China was a field open to European enterprize, and gladly availing itself of European proficiency in arts and sciences. When the leading thought of Europe was the phronzy of the Crusades, and when learning and art were restricted to the cloister, an Asiatic despot in barbarous China was employing able mon from every land and undertaking works that are still mar-vols of construction and utility. Ifwo are disposed to despair of the Middle Kingdom, and to believe that she will never open her closely barred doors to the inventive genius of the West, we may take comfort from the reflect tion of Solomon that."the thing that hath been it is that which shall be," and that the literary class of China will be led ultimately perhaps to see the wisdom of a policy which is not an innovation but a return to the practise of the past.
Almost everything depends on the way in which a proposition is presented to a race differing in modes of thought from ourselves, Even Confacius apred, a8 we all know, as the restorer of old learning—as the discloser of the intentions of ancient sages, and perhaps these obstinate literati might be in-Guced to look with favour upon plans of foreign origin if they were assured that one of their ancient rulers had condescended to employ the services of Western men and to avail himself of the contrivances of Western ingenuity. If some of the writers in our papers would condescend to this line of argument, we are not without hope that it might exercise s beneficial effect on minds obstinately prejudiced against the learning of Europe, principally on the ground that it is new-fangled. It would be something gained if the Chinese were forced to realize that the contact with Western folk was in past ages acknowledged by one of their own rulers to have produced beneficial results, and that "exclusivism" has not always been the Imperial policy. Colonel Yule calls attention to the fact that in no respect is Marco Polo's book so defective aa in regard to Chinese manners and pecalisrities. He gives a formidable list of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.