THE histories of all other nations disclose successive revolutions in government, in morals, and in civilization,—the prostration of thrones, and the dissipation of tribes ; while that of the vast Empire of China, extending over ten millions of square miles, and sustaining three hundred and sixty millions of inhabitants, has enjoyed an uninterrupted perpetuity of political existence for upwards of four thousand years. This nation has been stationary, while all others have received an impulse, either advancing towards civilization, or sinking in the on-rolling tide of time.

 

  Wrapt in the dark mantle of idolatry, a population, one-third of the whole amount that animates the surface of our globe, has remained, from the first unit of recorded duration, ” the abject, beaten slaves” of arbitrary rule. Each subject is an automatic piece of imperial mechanism, to which the director assigns its specific duty ; and by the performance, such excellence is attained, that Chinese industrial productions have reached the climax of human perfection.

  Amongst the celebrated monuments of Cathay, those that have excited the highest astonish-ment, are its Royal Roads, numerous Canals, immense single-arched Bridges, and pyramidal Towers ; but, above all, the Great Wall, styled, in the exaggerated manner of the East, ” Van-Li-Tching ” (The Wall of Ten Thousand Li), although it only extends half that length, or about 1,500 miles, traversing in its course the highest mountains, crossing the deepest valleys, and spanning the broadest rivers.

  Obstinate adherence to national customs, love of antiquity, and repudiation of intellectual intercourse with foreigners, have given moral and physical characters to this ” teeming population,” that render their history unique, original, and extraordinary. Their agricultural system is unequalled, their manufactures the models of other nations, their architecture elaborate and fantastic, and their plans for economizing labour and redeeming time, admirable. The first light of those three portentous discoveries—printing, gunpowder, and the mariner’s compass— discoveries to which modern times owe all their boasted superiority over the earlier ages of the world—is known to have emanated from China.

  To illustrate the scenery, customs, arts, manufactures, religious ceremonies, and political insti¬tutions of a people so unlike the rest of mankind, so attached to established usages, that they exemplify the manners of thousands of years back—so jealous of intrusion, that a foreigner has always been held by them in execration—” hic labor, hoc opus est.” To accomplish this labour, to perform this work, mental and even physical energies have been here concentrated ; and, that enterprise, for which the public have given the publishers credit, by unexampled patronage, has never perhaps been more conspicuous than in this instance.

  Having dwelt in ” the land of the cypress and myrtle,” Mr. ALLom’s talents were fully matured for the faithful delineation of Oriental scenery ; and, in many instances, he has so successfully pictured forth the subject to be illustrated, as to secure a signal triumph for the pencil over the pen. The exercise of his cultivated mind, however, being now dedicated to Architecture, pro¬fessional ambition must necessarily limit his subsequent labours in this branch of the arts. It is probable, therefore, that his purely pictorial productions will henceforth only be found in the pub¬lications of the Messrs. FISHER, under whose auspices that avenue was first opened, along which he passed, with more than common celerity, to the very general applause he so deservedly enjoys.

  The manuscript of the appended memoir of Kang-He, the work of the Rev. Mr. GUTZLAFF, was kindly placed at the disposal of the publishers by the Right lion. Sir ALEXANDER JOHNSTON ; and a further acknowledgment is also due to Sir GEORGE STAUNTON, Bart., for permission to copy several interesting subjects from his beautiful collection of Chinese Drawings by native artists.

G. N. WRIGHT.
LONDON, JULY, 1843.