Page:The Chinese Repository - Volume 01.djvu/16

2 of the earth's surface is made impassable, it is not easy to understand; we can only record it, (and we do it with peculiar emotions,) that such is the fact. A vast domain, stretching from East to West more than three thousand miles, and from North to South two thousand and upwards, constitutes the "Middle Kingdom;" and, with the exception of the Russian Establishment at Peking, consisting of only ten persons, and a very narrow place at Canton and Macao, 'foreigners can by no means be permitted to enter and reside in it.'

Time was when they might, and did traverse the country in every direction: many valuable records, of men and things, were then made. But all who read, at this day, those early writings, will find much which it is hard to believe. Rocks do not often change their forms, nor rivers cease to flow; but the one may be rolled from their beds, and the other turned from their courses, without the violence of the earthquake or the tempest. The decree of Darius, established and signed according to the law "which altereth not," was soon obsolete. The decrees of others, and in modern times, have shared the same regard, and with equal justice. The changes of the last few years, are, doubtless, the precursors of others, more extensive and salutary in their consequences. For tens of centuries, Old Custom has held a despotic and cruel sway over a noble race of men, restraining and destroying their best energies. Still, even here, and during the period strangers have been shut out of the country, very considerable changes have taken place.

One of the objects of this work, then, will be to review foreign books on China, with a view to notice the changes that have occurred, and how and when they were brought about; and to distinguish, as far as it can well be done, between what is, and what is not, now true. Many of the old books, while they contain much that is valuable, contain also so much that is worthless,