eads, even if they are useless, because we thus exalt them toward
gods. We do well to leave out of view all just balance between head and
hand because that is common and vulgar. We do well to say that the man
who _says_ a good thing is greater than he who _does_ a good thing, for
the spiritual _is_ divine, and the earthly _is_ base!

Keeping in view the short time we have possessed this land, we may
fairly arrogate to ourselves what England has long claimed for herself,
great "progress." We have created more great cities, more luxurious
habits, more free whiskey, more useless railroads, more brokers'
boards, more wild-cat banks, more swindling mining companies, more
political jobs, more precocious boys and more fast girls, more bankrupt
men and more nervous women than any country known in history. Following
the "example of our illustrious predecessor"--England--we have done one
thing of which we are justly proud, and the full account of which,
illustrated with pictures, our "Government" (as we facetiously call it)
has published in some ten fine volumes. And what is the example we
followed? It is this: England, having possessed herself of the vast
kingdom of India, found a production there of opium very lucrative to
her and very desirable to many of the Chinese, who enjoyed the smoking
of the pleasing drug. England greatly desired to sell this drug to
China, for it was all in the interest of trade. One fine day some
Chinese emperor or mandarin took it into his meddling head to check or
forbid the freedom of this trade: and then the virtue, the religious
fervor of the devoted Briton was roused. Ninety-three thousand chests
of good merchantable opium, worth many taels, was not a dogma to be
trifled with, not even by the Emperor of the Flowery Kingdom. What!
Should trade be impeded by this yellow Mantchu, this devotee of
Confucius, this long-eyed heathen, because he had some sentimental
notions about his people's morals or manners? Good heavens! Could trade
stand that? By no means. Persuasion must bring him to his senses if he
had any. Persuasion was tried, and various iron arguments were used.
They battered down Canton, they assaulted and took the cities of Amoy,
Chusan, Ningpo, Woosung, Shanghai, Nanking; and thus the English
missionaries kept on persuading until at last the heathen Chinee
yielded: was persuaded to pay $12,000,000, to open the ports of Canton,
Amoy, Foochoo, Ningpo, Shanghai to trade; to welcome all future