ART. VII. A Dissertation on the Nature and Character of the Chinese System of Writing; in a Letter to John Vaughan, Esq. By PETER S. DU PONCEAU, LL. D., President of the American Philosophical Society, of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and of the Athenæum of Philadelphia; Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, &c. &c. To which are subjoined a Vocabulary of the Cochinchinese Language, by Father JOSEPH MORRONE, R. C. Missionary at Saigon; with References to Plates containing the Characters belonging to each Word, and with Notes showing the degree of Affinity existing between the Chinese and Cochinchinese Languages, and the Use they respectively make of their Common System of Writing, by M. DE LA PALUN, late Consul of France at Richmond in Virginia; and a Cochinchinese and Latin Dictionary, in Use among the R. C. Missions in Cochinchina. Published by Order of the American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia. 1838. Svo. pp. xxxii. and 375.

THIS is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable publications of the present day. The able author, the veteran philologist of America, was the first writer, who gave to the learned world just views of the extraordinary structure and peculiarities of the aboriginal languages of this continent views, which were originally opened in his interesting "Correspondence" with the late Reverend Mr. Heckewelder, and in his "Report to the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia" (between the years 1816 and 1819), and which have been more fully developed in the various publications made by him since that period. The last of these is yet hardly known in the United States, in consequence of its being written in the French language, conformably to a rule of the Institute of France, to which body it was offered as a competitor for the prize established by Count Volney for the advancement of Comparative Philology, or, as it is sometimes technically called, the Science of Linguistics. The title of it is, "Mémoire sur le Système Grammatical des Langues de quelques Nations Indiennes de l'Amérique du Nord." It deserves the more particular notice, as it is the latest work of Mr. Du Ponceau on that subject, and is

the first instance, within our knowledge, in which an American author has had the distinction of obtaining one of the prizes, offered by the French Institute, for the best essay on any of the literary questions proposed by that learned body. In the present case, the Institute not only did the author the honor to award to him the well-merited prize, but conferred on him the additional distinction of subscribing for a part of the edition, as "a mark of the particular satisfaction," which his profound and learned work had afforded them.*

We have adverted to that work for the purpose of drawing the attention of our readers to the extended and philosophical views, which Mr. Du Ponceau is accustomed to take of the subjects that come under his investigation. Some of the native dialects of America, it is true, had been before observed to abound with highly compounded words; and our venerable "apostle Eliot," in speaking of the Massachusetts Indians and their language, after giving an example of their long words, says, in the quaint style of his age;

"It seems their desires are slow but strong,

Because they be utter'd double-breath't and long." Mr. Du Ponceau, however, was the first writer who took a comprehensive view of the languages of the whole continent, and established the general conclusion, that the American dialects, from one extremity of the continent to the other (with perhaps some exceptions), form a distinct class, or family; which, from their highly compounded character, he has happily designated by the term polysynthetic.

Now these complex American dialects are at one extremity of the series, or chain, of human languages; while at the other we find the very simple and inartificial language of China; these two extremes, when contrasted with each other, presenting this extraordinary phenomenon, that the savage tribes of the New World, though destitute of all

The Committee of the Institute at that time (1834) consisted of MM. Destut de Tracy, Raynouard (president), Jay, Eugène Burnouf (secretary), Amédée Jaubert, Reinaud, Flourens. M. de Tracy and M. Raynouard were afterwards succeeded by M. A. Dupin, and M. Feletz; M. Amédée Jaubert being president. The prize question proposed was; "To determine the grammatical character of the Languages of North America, known under the names of the Lenni-Lenape, Mohegan, and Chippeway.' Mr. Du Ponceau's Mémoire was published at Paris, 1838, in 8vo. pp. 464.

t Eliot's "Massachusetts Indian Grammar," in Mass. Hist. Collections, Vol. IX. Second Series, p. 243.

literature and even of written languages, are found to be in possession of highly complex and artificial forms of speech, -which would seem to be the result of cultivation, while in the Old World, the ingenious Chinese, who were civilized and had a national literature even before the glorious days of Greece and Rome, have for four thousand years had an extremely simple, not to say rude and inartificial language, that, according to the common theories, seems to be the infancy of human speech. This phenomenon well deserves the consideration of the philosophical inquirer, and especially of those speculatists, who have assumed a certain necessary connexion between what is considered the refined or artificial state of a language, and the cultivation of the human race; but it is not our purpose to enter upon an examination of this great question on the present occasion.

Our learned author having, as we remarked, thus investigated the structure of the complex Indian dialects of America, now goes to the other continent, to the

"plains

Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

With wind and sail their cany wagons light,"

and proceeds to examine the true nature and character of the monosyllabic language of China; which, as we have just observed, forms the other extreme of the chain of languages. And, as a general remark, we may here add, with confidence, that the present able work will reflect as much honor upon the author and his country, as his various publications on the American languages have done; while in Europe it will attract the greater attention, from the circumstance, that the subject itself is more interesting to the learned in that quarter of the world, and that Mr. Du Ponceau has been the first to maintain views of the real nature of the Chinese language directly in opposition to the opinions hitherto entertained by the scholars of Europe. For these reasons, and especially as the reputation of our literature has an interest in the case, we shall devote more space to the subject than under ordinary circumstances we should be willing to do. But, though the discussion may lead to some minute particulars, we have no fears that the subject itself will not possess interest enough to induce readers of all classes to

* Milton's Paradise Lost, Book III. 438.

VOL. XLVIII. No. 102.

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follow us; not merely professed scholars, but all those persons also, who are ambitious of such a portion of general knowledge upon different subjects, as belongs to what Milton calls a "generous education."

In order, however, to make the discussion more readily intelligible to those readers who may not have directed their attention to the points which have been in controversy among philologists, it will be necessary to give a short account of the study of the Chinese language as hitherto pursued in Europe, particularly in Great Britain and France.

A leading British review several years ago observed, that it was rather remarkable," that, "notwithstanding the great commercial intercourse which England had maintained with China for more than a century," the Ta Tsing Leu Lee, or Penal Code of China, translated by Sir George Staunton in the year 1810, should have been "the first work ever rendered out of that language (Chinese) directly into our own."* The same journal, on another occasion, asked with some emphasis; Why has it not been made a point to have Englishmen acquainted with the language of China? It has been learned by Portuguese, by Italians, by Frenchmen.

. . The nation, which above all others maintains the greatest intercourse with China; the nation, which above all has the greatest interest dependent on that intercourse; the nation, which has had so many of her sons living for so many years on Chinese ground, was under the necessity of going to Naples for an interpreter, when she thought of sending an embassy to China.” (!) †

The truth is, however unpalatable a truth it may be, and we advert to it, not in that taunting spirit which is so often displayed in certain transatlantic journals, but with regret, the truth is, we say, that the state of Chinese studies in Great Britain, for a long time, and even to our own day, has been comparatively low. A striking illustration of this state of things will be found in the extraordinary and scarcely credible, though well authenticated anecdote of that accomplished scholar, Sir William Jones, (of whom no man can speak but with admiration and reverence,) who is supposed to have translated some Chinese odes, and yet has inserted in his own handwriting, as it is said, on one of the

* Edinb. Review, Vol. XVI. p. 477. Ibid. Vol. XIV. pp. 412, 413.

blank pages of a Chinese manuscript Dictionary, presented to the Royal Society, a remark to this effect, that, if the letters A and B can be supplied, the work will be inestimable. (!) The defect, as has been observed, was in his knowledge, and not in the dictionary; for the Chinese have no word which, properly speaking, can be said to begin with the vocal A, nor does the power of B, as all Chinese scholars know, enter into their language. The same distinguished scholar frankly avows, that "it is to our French neighbours we are indebted for almost every effort, that has been made to elucidate the language and literature of China."

The well-known traveller, Mr. Barrow, who accompanied the English embassy of Lord Macartney to China, became sensible of the general ignorance of the language and literature of China, which at that time prevailed in England. "In Great Britain," says he, "we have known still less of the Chinese language and Chinese literature than on the continent;" and he relates the following amusing anecdote in relation to this subject.

"It is not many years ago, that one of the small copper coins of China, stamped in the reign and with the name of the late Tchien-lung (or, as he is usually called in the southern dialect of China, Kien-long), was picked up in a bog in Ireland, and, being considered as a great curiosity, was carried to an indefatigable antiquary, whose researches have been of considerable use in investigating the ancient history and language of that island. Not knowing the Chinese character nor their coin, it was natural enough for him to compare them with some language with which he was acquainted; and the conclusion he drew was, that the four characters on the face [the emperor's name and the value of the coin] were ancient Syriac; and that the reverse [which are Mantchoo letters] appeared to be astronomical or talismanic characters, of which he could give no explanation [!] "*

Another British writer, the Reverend W. Milne, who was among the first missionaries sent from England to China, states, that when the mission was first suggested (in 1807),—

"There were no helps in English to assist in the acquisition of the Chinese language. England knew and cared little about China beyond its commerce. Some even doubted the practicability of acquiring the language to any available

* Barrow's Travels in China, p. 258, 4to ed.