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CHAP. VIII - Conjectures on the Origin of the Chinefe.—Their Religious Sects,—Tenets,—and Ceremonies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

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Summary

THE fufpicious and watchful conduct of the Chinefe government towards ftrangers was ill fuited to the free and independent fpirit of Britons. Confined within the limits of their hotel, the populous capital of China was to them little better than a defert. It was, therefore, lefs painful to be obliged to quit a place which they could confider in no other light than as an honourable prifon, and to take leave of a people, whofe general character feemed to be ftrongly marked with pride, meannefs, and ignorance. After having paffed fome time in a nation, where every petty officer is a tyrant, and every man a flave, how doubly precious do the bleffings of that true liberty appear, which our happy conftitution affords to every one the means of enjoying at home; where property is fecured from violence, and where the life of the meaneft fubject is equally protected with that of the prince. Let thofe vifionary men, who amufe themfelves in building Utopian governments, and thofe who, from real or fancied injury or neglect, feel the chagrin of difappointment, vifit other countries, and experience how juftice is adminiftered in other nations; they will then be taught to confefs that real liberty exifts only in Great Britain—in that happy ifland where, to ufe the expreffion of an eminent writer on the laws of nations, “an enlightened piety in the “people is the firmeft fupport of lawful authority; and in the “fovereign's breaft, it is the pledge of the people's fafety, and “excites their confidence.”

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Travels in China
Containing Descriptions, Observations and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen
, pp. 418 - 487
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1804

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