In a mere contest of will.power between Occidentals and Orientals, the latter are almost sure to be worsted.' The foreigner can be firm', with the firmness of adamant So, too, can the Chinese, up toa certain point, but he knows much better how to yield than does the foreigner, and he also well knows what the foreigner does not know at all, how to yield fully. But the yielding of the Oriental, particularly of the Chinese, strongly resembles the pliancy of the bamboo, which is likely to be followed by @ rebound in the opposite direction, illustrating the law of physics that action and reaction are equal. The methods by which this result is accomplished, it is needless to observe, are seldom obtrusive. They are not like the tidal wave, which sweeps everything before it, but rather resemble the slow and imper ceptible subsidence of a coast, until before the inhabitants are aware what is going on, they find themselves sliding int the water. Even then, they hardly know how it was accomplished. A loan' to a Chinese, under ordinary circumstances, if not secured by a lien upon wages, is equivalent to a gift being borrowed, like Boswell's sixpence not to be returned.' Even in the numerous cases in which wages are a security, it is extremely common for the foreigner to find that, owing to circumstances over which the debtor says that he has unfortunately no control, the security is rather imaginary than real. We have heard of an instance in which it became necessary for a foreigner to raise the wages affa Chinese teacher in his employ, marder to reimburse himself for the loan which he had injudiciously made, An interesting side light was, however, thrown upon the transaction, by the remark of an individual who was acquainted with the facts in the case, that he had reason to think that the Chinese teacher never knew that his wages had been raised, or that his debt had been paid! fo such subterfuges are foreigners driven, when dealing with the Chinese. It is a more common experience for a foreigner to allow the Chinese with whom he has relations to get gradually into his debt, to such an extent that extrication is hopeless, and the perpetual struggle more than his temper can stand (although the ese do not seem to mind it, this being. their native air). At the next following Chinese New Year, the distracted foreigner perhaps announces to his assembled debtors that he has taken a fresh departure; he ives them all and severally their respective debts (sv as to save himself trouble), but trill take care in future that none of them contract any further debts to him, "The debtors receive the intelligence with extreme and characteristic calmness, although with nods of approbation, having meantime their own private views as to the probable future relations between themselves and a creditor endued by Heaven with such a happy temperament that he i obliged to forgive his debts because unable to collect them.
Tt is not in regard to debts only that the Chinese talent for counteraction is exhibited, but throughout the whole range of their dealings with us, as with each other. A task will be performed, but it cannot be done now. A borrowed' article will be restored, but it is at the moment inaccessi ble. The modest request of the Chines for a little more time. Have patience with me, and I will do it all." The still more at request of the foreigner is merely, "Oh tell me in what far-off land does this To-morrow' lie."
Tt has always been considered asa mark of talent when one is able to do with ease a thing more or less intrinsically ditiicult, Counteraction of an obstinate race of people (as tke Anglo-Saxons unquestionably are) would not seem to be an easy task, but the Chinese make nothing oft. Their talents in this direction may be likened to that of the man of whom it was "he could speak four Janguages with hi hands tied behind his back," Sometimes the frustration is accomplished by overt methods; more frequently it is brought about by' that simple negation of action in which the Chinese exon. In such cases the solidarity of the Chinese, remarkable phenomenon, and when all the agenta through whom alone we can act have up made their minds that the thing shall not really go through, what can we do? A Chinese is content simply to report that the end is achieved, and unless an. investigation is ordered in a way which he is able to control, that is the end of the matter, for all thuse sent to investigate will unanimously report that the thing has actually been done, and " what everybody says must be true." But for foreigners, with our different training, this is more of less difficult, and as a result we are left chafing at obstacles which the Chinese have never recognised as any impediment at all.
Instances of Chinese counteraction, some of them implying a high degree of skill, can be cited by every reader, especially by those who may happen to be personally in relations with Chinese officials. Every yamen in China isa hotbed of counteraction, so far asthe plans and enterprises of foreigners are concerned, and the grand focal point of all this counteraction is the Foreign Office in Peking. In fact the whole history of this bureau, so far as we understand it, is a conspicuous example of the talent of the Chinese in the direction which we have named. At first a mere extemporised expedient, it has gradually become a powerful
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.