THE invincible optimism humanity is expressed in many] Proverbs: the silver lining of every cloud; the long lane that) has no turning; the darkest hour before dawn. 'And of these the last is particularly appropriate to} the feeling of most of us to-day. Perhaps it is only the reflexion' of the Christmas atmosphere, which very few ever grow gnarled and cynical as to be altogether insensible, that there ig a hopefulness abroad, rather, perhaps, in defiance of facts, but, none the less irresistible. There! is certainly no lack of things to depress us all; yet somehow, cannot say why, we are sure that they are only a prelude to everything becoming much better than it as been for a long time past.
The truth is, perhaps, that a long period of anger and bitterness has its reaction even more surely than any other high pitch of emotion. "Envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness" are not the natural state. A man must be either a madman or Gemoniac, which is much th vame, to live like the Jubjub "in, perpetual passion." We grow! tired of the sulks, of being on bad terms with our fellows. And whatever remains of bad blood between British and Chinese is, perhaps, chiefly due to the feeling on each side, that, they would like to make frienda if only the other side were not, hostile. More than one houseboat party recently has described, how the country-people seemed! to go out of the way to be pleasant; we have read the same story in our outport letters and.
traveller from up the Yangtze not long ago had a like experilence in the big river ports. If this be the mood of Chine: there can be no question that it! is also that of the British. The! article we published a fortnight Jeg under the little of "A Soft Answer," on the need of making new start and trying to take a new new of things, has brought} y expressions of approbation not less from British than from Chinese and we are sure that it! represents the feelings of all the best men on both sides.
After all, there is very little in the way of purely material] things that is worth fighting] about; and where these alone are at stake, the basis of the quarrel 3 nothing but fear and distrust. Some evil agency has put it into the heads of the Chinese that we foreigners wish to enslave them: some equally mendacious delusion bids us believe that the Chinese seek to take everything from us that we have worked for and may legitimately claim!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.