The old Chinese were so entrenched in
their vastnesses that without the play of forces which were
supernatural to them, i.e., the steam-engine, the telegraph, the
armoured war-vessel, etc., their daily lives could not be
affected. Left to themselves, and assisted by their own methods,
they knew that blows struck across the immense roadless spaces
were so diminished in strength, by the time they reached the spot
aimed at, that they became a mere mockery of force; and, just
because they were so valueless, paved the way to effective
compromises. Being adepts in the art which modern surgeons have
adopted, of leaving wounds as far as possible to heal themselves,
they trusted to time and to nature to solve political differences
which western countries boldly attacked on very different
principles. Nor were they wrong in their view. From the capital to
the Yangtsze Valley (which is the heart of the country), is 800
miles, that is far more than the mileage between Paris and Berlin.
From Peking to Canton is 1,400 miles along a hard and difficult
route; the journey to Yunnan by the Yangtsze river is upwards of
2,000 miles, a distance greater than the greatest march ever
undertaken by Napoleon. And when one speaks of the Outer
Dominions--Mongolia, Tibet, Turkestan--for these hundreds of
miles it is necessary to substitute thousands, and add there to
difficulties of terrain which would have disheartened even Roman
Generals.
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