FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30  
31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   >>   >|  
F JUSTICE ANSWERS HIS OPPONENTS 13 THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY 14 NEW PROTECTIVE ORDINANCES 15 "PROTECTION" AT SINGAPORE 16 SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES 17 STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM 18 PERILS AND REMEDIES CHAPTER 1. THE EARLY DAYS OF HONG KONG. Time was when so-called Christian civilization seemed able to send its vices abroad and keep its virtues at home. When men went by long sea voyages to the far East in sailing vessels, in the interests of conquest or commerce, and fell victims to their environments and weak wills, far removed from the restraints of religious influences, and from the possibility of exposure and disgrace in wrongdoing, they lived with the prospect before them, not always unfulfilled, of returning to home and to virtue to die. That day has passed forever. With the invention of steam as a locomotive power of great velocity, with the introduction of the cable, and later, the wireless telegraphy; with the mastery of these natural forces and their introduction in every part of the world, we see the old world being drawn nearer and nearer to us by ten thousand invisible cords of commercial interests, until shortly, probably within the lifetime of you and me, the once worn out and almost stranded wreck will be found quickened with new life and moored alongside us. The Orient is already feeling the thrill of renewed life. It is responding to the touch of the youth and vigor of the West and becoming rejuvenated; it is drawing closer and closer in its eagerness for the warmth of new interests. The West is no longer alone in seeking a union; the East is coming to the West. And that part of the East which first responds to the West is the old acquaintance; the one that knows most about us, our ways and our resources; the element with which the long sea-voyager mingled in the days when it seemed more difficult for man to be virtuous, because separated so far from family and friends and living in intense loneliness. The element which now draws closest to us is that portion of the Orient with which the adventurer warred and sinned long ago, and which bears the deep scars of sin and battle. As the old hulk is moored alongside, in order that the man of Western enterprise may cross with greater facility the gangplank and develop latent resources on the other side, the Easterner hurries across from his side to ours with no less eagerness, to pick up gold in a land where it seems so abundant to him. Alm
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30  
31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

interests

 

element

 

closer

 

eagerness

 
introduction
 

resources

 

SLAVERY

 

nearer

 

moored

 

alongside


Orient

 

responds

 

coming

 
acquaintance
 
seeking
 
quickened
 

stranded

 

feeling

 

thrill

 

rejuvenated


drawing

 

warmth

 

renewed

 
responding
 

longer

 

difficult

 
greater
 
facility
 

develop

 
gangplank

enterprise
 

Western

 
battle
 

latent

 
Easterner
 

hurries

 

virtuous

 
family
 

separated

 

abundant


voyager

 
mingled
 

friends

 

living

 
warred
 

adventurer

 

sinned

 

portion

 
closest
 

loneliness