515
in
many of the arts
of
civilized life, while the
ancestors
of
the English,
French, and Germans of the
present day were
deemed themselves vastly
superior to all foreigners
whatsoever.
5.
This
ignorant self-
esteem
of
the
naked savages, running
wild in their native
forests.
Unfortunately, added
my
Chinese friend, who have lived
in
Europe, or have mixed much
with Europeans elsewhere,
may think, it is
certain
that the overwhelming majority
of our
countrymen still
keep
the idea that Chinese people naturally
appears ridiculous in European
eyes; but it is still, nevertheless,
a powerful factor in the national feeling and policy
of China. Nor is it without
parallel in
other
countries, much like
England. Those who,
like myself, travelled
extensively in the interior