His

enacted by the Papists in Ireland. kindred, having refused to assist two other clans in that neighbourhood to fight in their feuds, suffered the most shocking cruelties in consequence. Their houses were laid in ruins; several hundred acres of land seized and devastated; money plundered; temples of ancestors thrown down; graves dug up; and the water cut off from the rice-fields. Many persons were killed; more still were maimed and crippled for life; and, notwithstanding the large rewards offered for the apprehension of the leaders, such was the organization which bound them together, that they escaped unpunished.

The immense fleets of pirates who have often continued for years to infest the southern coasts, and who at length have been put down only by a compromise on the part of the government, may partly account for the existence of a maritime population in these two provinces, distinguished by a ferocity of character so different from the peaceable mildness of the other Chinese. To repress these, as well as to provide a safeguard against the European traders, is probably the object of the unusually large amount of Chinese troops and of war-junks, which are kept up in the Canton province. At a short distance below the foreign factories is the dock-yard, which seems continually engaged in building or repairing the vessels of the Emperor's squadron, whose inefficiency against European ships the Chinese never pretend to dispute. The Sovereign of China himself not long since issued a paper, in which he inveighed against "the falling off" of his navy, as he declared had been proved on several occasions. "There is the name of going to sea, he observed, but not the reality. Cases of piracy are continually occurring, and even barbarian barks anchor in our inner seas,"alluding to the European vessels on the

eastern coasts.1

The land force retained about the city of Canton has been estimated at 7000; but a

I The defeat of Admiral Kuan and his twenty-nine war-vessels by the Volage and Hyacinth (a small frigate and sloop), in 1839, extorted an admission in a paper from Peking that the European ships were too strong to cope with: but the admiral was rewarded and a victory claimed at Canton.

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considerable portion of these are a municipal police, and not regular soldiers, though the same term ping, in contradistinction to the common people, is applied to all alike. One of the Viceroys of the province, subsequently to the ill conduct of the Canton troops in the operations against the independent mountaineers, published a curious summary of the duties of a Chinese soldier in warfare" Whoever runs away is to be decapitated. When an enemy advances, he who shrinks, or whispers to his comrade, shall suffer death. On commencing a fight, powder, shot, and arrows must not be thrown away at a distance, but reserved for closer action, as the want of them, when needed, is like waiting to be slain with the hands tied. When a mandarin is wounded or taken, the men must make every effort to save him, and if they neglect this, they are to be put to death. The soldier who bravely kills an enemy shall be rewarded, but he who lies concerning his own merits, or usurps those of others, shall be decapitated. He who hears the drum and does not advance, or who hears the gong and does not retire, shall suffer the same punishment. Strict adherence to the severities of martial law is the only way to make brave men of cowards."

It may be reasonably doubted whether the above rules are the best that could be devised for such a purpose, and the proof is that the Chinese generally effect the object of force by trickery and compromise. But after this enumeration of the chief duties of a common soldier, it may be as well to give, from another quarter, the virtues of a good general in the selection of his men; some of which, it must be remarked, are rather of a speculative than of a practical nature. "The covetous he appoints to guard his treasure; the uncorrupt to dispense his rewards; the benevolent to accept submission; the discriminating and astute to be envoys; the scheming, to divine the enemy's plans; the timid, to guard the gate; the brave, to force the enemy; the strong, to seize an important pass; the alert, to gain intelligence; the deaf, to keep a look out; and the blind, to listen. As a good carpenter throws away no blocks, so a good general has no men unemployed. Each is selected according to his capacity: but favour

(it is added) and interest, and secret influence subvert the order of things, sending the blind to look out, and the deaf to listen." It has never yet, by any chance, happened to Chinese soldiers to be engaged with European troops on land; but, by the admission of the natives themselves, they have always failed entirely. and always must fail against ships; and it can scarcely be doubted that they would be as easily discomfited in the other instance, did any European power ever find it worth while to make the trial.1

The

The Chinese government has expended very large sums in the vain endeavour to render the entrance of the Canton river impassable to European ships of war. Alceste frigate forced her way, in 1816, almost without opposition; but, since that period, additional forts have been built, and all the guns that could be collected have been placed in them, with something like a determination to succeed in the object. When Lord Napier, in September 1834, despatched a requisition to his Majesty's ships Imogene and Andromache to proceed to Whampoa and join the merchantshipping at their anchorage, it met of course

1 Such a trial seems now about to be made, in 1840.

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It has been observed that the very errors of the human mind form a part of its history; and it is on this ground that the different religious or philosophic persuasions into which the vast population of China has been divided, claim a portion of our attention; while it may be added, of the doctrines of Confucius in particular, that they form the basis of the whole system of government. These last, perhaps, owe some of their better traits to the circumstance of having originated during a period when the country was divided into a number of small states, nominally dependent on one head, but each ruled by its own laws; a condition more favourable to liberty and good government than its subsequent union under one absolute master.

Confucius, as his name has been Latinized by the Jesuits (being really Koong-foo-tse), was born about 550 B.C., in the state Loo, within the district now called Keo-fow Hien, just to the eastward of the great canal in Shantung province. It will be observed, from the date, that he was a contemporary of Pythagoras. From his earliest age Confucius is said to have been indifferent to the ordinary amusements of youth, and devoted to grave and serious pursuits. Being the son of a statesman, the chief minister of his native kingdom, he employed himself entirely on moral and political science, and neither investigated any of the branches of natural knowledge, nor meddled with the common superstitions of his country. His doctrines, therefore, constitute rather a system of philosophy in the department of morals and politics, than any particular religious per

suasion.

It was the chief endeavour of the sage to correct the vices which had crept into the state, and to restore the influence of those maxims which had been derived from the

ancient kings, as Yaou, Shun, and others, celebrated in history or tradition. That he was sincere, and that his professed love of reform was not a mere stepping-stone to his personal ambition, or an instrument to serve his private ends, was proved by the readiness with which he abandoned the station to which his talents had raised him, when he found that his counsels were unavailing, and his influence inadequate to the restoration of order. That portion of modern China which lies to the north of the great Keang, was then divided into a commonwealth of states, of which the native kingdom of Confucius formed only a constituent member; and through these various countries he journeyed in a condition of simplicity and comparative indigence, devoting himself to the instruction of all ranks, and to the propagation of his precepts of virtue and social order. Such was the success of his endeavours, and the weight of his influential character and good example, that he is said to have reckoned, at length, as many as three thousand disciples or proselytes, of whom seventy-two were more particularly distinguished by their devotion to their master, and their practice of his precepts. He was now sought after by the rulers of the several states, and employed in high offices tending to mature his knowledge and experience; but at length retired to the company of his chosen disciples, to study philosophy, and compose or compile those celebrated works which have handed down his reputation to after-ages, and become the sacred books of China.

Among the moral doctrines of this great oriental teacher might be noticed some which have obtained the universal assent of mankind, and which cannot be surpassed in excellence as rules of conduct. He taught men 66 treat others according to the treatment which

to

they themselves would desire at their hands," and to guard their secret thoughts," as the sources and origin of action. In common, however, with every other scheme of philosophy merely human, there is much to condemn in the principles of the Chinese sage. He carried his inculcation of filial duty to so absurd and mischievous an extent, as to enjoin it on a son "not to live under the same heaven" with the slayer of his father; or, in other words, to exercise the lex talionis, and put him to death. This pushing to extremes of the paternal claim has (as we have before hinted) been the constant device of Chinese statesmen and rulers; the tendency being to strengthen the authority of the Emperor, founded as it is in the rights of a father over his children. Confucius was renowned for his unpretending humility and modesty; but this portion of his mantle has not descended on his disciples of the present day; for if distinguished occasionally by some of the virtues of stoics, they resemble that sect still more in the high tone of selfsufficiency and pride which marks the conduct of the Confucians to all who have not the honour to profess the state religion of China.

By the marriage which he had contracted at the early age of nineteen, the sage had but one son, who died before his father, leaving, however, a grandson to Confucius, who inherited the talents and virtues of his progenitor, and distinguished himself in high stations. The founder of another sect, calling themselves Taou-sze, or "Doctors of reason" (whom we shall hereafter describe), was contemporary with the great philosopher, and perhaps has been indebted, in some measure, for the consideration in which he is held, to the attention bestowed on him by Confucius, who is said to have repaired to his dwelling for the purpose of conferring with him, and exploring his tenets. After completing his last work, the Chun-tsieu, which was a history of the times in which he had lived, Confucius died at the age of seventy-three, much regretted by the rulers of the states whose government and morals he had contributed mainly to ameliorate. Time has but added to the reputation which he left behind him; and he is now, at the distance of more than two thousand years, held in universal vene

ration throughout China by persons of all sects and persuasions, with shrines and temples erected to his worship.

Dr. Morrison, in the first part of his dictionary, has quoted various particulars relating to the life of the sage from several Chinese works. Confucius is said to have been more than nine cubits in height; and, whatever may have been the cubit of those days, he was universally called "the tall man. Various prodigies, as in other instances, were the forerunners of the birth of this extraordinary person. On the eve of his appearance upon earth, two dragons encircled the house, and celestial music sounded in the ears of his mother. When he was born, this inscription appeared on his breast-" The maker of a rule for settling the world." The pedigree of Confucius is traced back in a summary manner to the mythological monarch Hoang-ty, who is said to have lived more than two thousand years before Christ. The morality of his family, however, notwithstanding this high descent, and even of himself, was in one respect open to censure, for he divorced his legal wife, and the example was followed by his son and grandson.

When he had concluded his travels through the various states, and retired to his native kingdom, which was at the age of thirty, disciples began to flock to him in great numbers. "At fifteen (says the sage in the Lunyu) I commenced my application to wisdom, and at thirty my resolution was immovably fixed." The close of his life was far from tranquil, and he was either employed in the affairs, or implicated in the disputes of the petty states of his day. A quarrel, in which the Sovereign of Loo was defeated, obliged Confucius to flee northwards to the kingdom Tsy, situated in the modern gulf of Pechely. Between his fiftieth and seventieth years he was absent from home fourteen years together. When seventy years of age, his favourite disciple Yenhoey died. Confucius being greatly concerned for the continuance and propagation of his doctrines, and having entertained great hopes of this person, was inconsolable for his loss, and wept bitterly, exclaiming, · Heaven has destroyed - Heaven has de stroyed me!" In his seventy-third year, a few days before his death, he moved about, lean

ing on his staff, and sighed as he exclaimed

"The mountain is crumbling,

The strong beam is yielding,

The sage is withering like a plant."

He observed to a disciple that the empire had long been in a state of anarchy, and mentioned a dream of the previous night, which he regarded as the presage of his own departure; and so it came to pass, for after seven days of sickness he died. The 18th day of the second moon is kept by the Chinese as the anniversary of their sage's death. In the Hân dynasty, long subsequent to his existence, Confucius was dignified with the highest title of honour, Koong; and he was subsequently styled the Sovereign Teacher. The Ming, or Chinese dynasty, which succeeded the Mongols, called him "The most holy teacher of ancient times," a title which the present Tartar family has continued.

Though only a single descendant (his grandson) survived Confucius, the succession has continued through sixty-seven or sixty-eight generations to the present day, in the very district where their great ancestor was born. Various honours and privileges have always distinguished the family. The heads have enjoyed the rank of nobility; and in the time of Kang-hy the total number of descendants amounted to eleven thousand males. In every city, down to those of the third order, styled Hien, there is a temple dedicated to Confucius. The Emperor himself, the magistrates, and all the learned of the land do him service. The philosopher in his lifetime sometimes spoke as if persuaded that he had received a special commission to instruct the world. In a moment of apparent danger he exclaimed, "If heaven is resolved that my doctrine shall not fail, the men of Kuâng can do nothing to me."

Dr. Morrison justly observes that "Confucius was engaged in politics all his life; and even his ethics dwell chiefly on those social duties which have a political bearing. A family is the prototype of his nation or empire, and he lays at the bottom of his system, not the visionary notions (which have no existence in nature) of independence and equality, but principles of dependence and subordination

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-as of children to parents, the younger to the elder, and so on. These principles are perpetually inculcated in the Confucian writings, as well as embodied in solemn ceremonials, and in apparently trivial forms of mere etiquette. It is probably this feature of his doctrines that has made him such a favourite with all the governments of China for many centuries past, and down to this day. These principles and these forms are early instilled into young minds, and form the basis of their moral sentiment: the elucidation and enforcement of these principles and forms is the business of students who aspire to be magistrates or statesmen, and of the wealthy who desire nominal rank in the country; and it is, in all likelihood, owing chiefly to the influence of these principles on the national mind and conscience, that China holds together the largest associated population in the world." It is certain that no pagan philosopher or teacher has influenced a larger, if so large, a portion of the whole human race, or met with more unalloyed veneration. Whatever the other opinions or faith of a Chinese may be, he takes good care to treat Confucius with respect; and, as we have before observed that Confucianism is rather a philosophy than a religion, it can scarcely be said to come into direct collision with religious persuasions. The Catholics got on very well until they meddled with the civil and social institutions of China.

A summary view of the original works or compilations which have come down from the age of Confucius and his disciples will perhaps enable us to form some judgment respecting that school of philosophy and literature of which he was the head, and which constitutes, at this day, the standard of Chinese orthodoxy. The classical or sacred works consist in all of nine; that is to say, the "Four Books," and the "Five Canonical Works." In the course of a regular education, the former of these are the first studied and committed to memory, being subsequently followed up by the others; and a complete knowledge of the whole of them, as well as of the standard notes and criticisms by which they are elucidated, is an indispensable condition towards the attainment of the higher grades of literary and official rank. The original text of these