on this gratifying consummation had scarcely ceased, when it was reported and extensively credited that the recent adjustment of difficulties had been effected by the most disreputable means; that, in short, the contending factions had bribed the governor to withdraw his troops, and forward to the emperor a glowing but utterly mendacious report of the victories won by the imperial troops, and the complete settlement of the whole affair. A literary gentleman in possession of all the facts in the case, memorialized the emperor on the subject. The memorial reached the emperor, and a commissioner was immediately dispatched to Fuhchau to investigate the matter. On arriving at Fuhchau, the commissioner was waited on by the lieutenant-governor, who soon arranged the preliminaries of the investigation entirely to his own satisfaction. The lieutenant-governor then sent for the author of the memorial, and partly by threats, but chiefly by bribes, induced him to write out a voluntary confession of his guilt, stating that the charges against the governor contained in his memorial to the emperor were utterly false, that the governor is in all respects a most upright and virtuous officer, that he can offer no justification for the malicious slanders contained in his memorial, and that he now begs the emperor to inflict upon him the severest punishment. Strange to say, this "voluntary confession" was duly embodied in the commissioner's official report of the case to the emperor, and in a short time an imperial rescript was received at Fuhchau, exonerating the governor from the charges preferred against him, and sentencing the

author of the memorial to immediate banishment beyond the northern frontiers.

Another characteristic incident on this subject may close this chapter. When Europeans and Americans first went to live at Fuhchau, under the provisions of the treaties formed by their respective governments with the emperor of China, some of the people of the city, influenced by the bad precedent established at Canton, announced that foreigners could not be allowed to reside within the city wall. The English consul, however, failing to obtain a suitable residence in the suburbs, and having found an eligible and picturesque situation within the city wall on a hill called Ushih-shan, (black stone hill,) proceeded at once to occupy it. This gave great offense to the literary gentry of Fuhchau, and they ceased not to send up to the emperor the most urgent and elaborately written remonstrances against this invasion of their intra-mural city precincts by the ruthless foreigner. They stated that the residence of foreigners on the hill within the city wall was exerting a most deleterious influence on the trade and health of the city, and that it was every way exceedingly offensive to the people. Yielding at length to these persistent appeals, the emperor dispatched a commission to Fuhchau, to examine and report upon the subject. When the members of the commission reached Fuhchau, they found that the English Consul was really living on the Ushih-shan, that the hill was indeed within the city wall, and that the literary gentry of the city were anxious for his removal. But they soon ascertained it was useless to attempt driving him

away. The case was an embarrassing one, but Chinese ingenuity was equal to the emergency. The history of Fuhchau states that in ancient times the Ushih-shan, which is now within the city wall, was then outside the city limits. Availing themselves of this important historic fact, the commissioners in preparing their report for the emperor, gravely stated that, on investigating the subject, they found that the allegations of the memorialists were in the main correct; that the English consul did certainly live on a hill called Ushih-shan, and that there is a hill by that name within the city wall. "But," continued the commissioners, "we find there are two hills in Fuhchau called Ushih-shan, one being within, the other outside the city wall, and it is on the Ushihshan outside the wall that the English consul is living.

CHAPTER VI.

RELIGIONS: CONFUCIANISM.

THE religious notions and practices of the Chinese have been divided into three systems: Confucianism, Tauism or Rationalism, and Budhism; and the classification is convenient, and sufficiently correct for all practical purposes. This arrangement is in accordance with Chinese ideas on this subject. If you were to ask a Chinese how many systems of religious belief and practice there are in his country he will invariably answer three, and will name them in the order just given. And yet if the reader infers from this that there are three distinct classes in Chinese society, distinguished by these religious characteristics, the inference would be incorrect. It is utterly impossible to distribute Chinese society according to this arrangement. All that can be stated with strict propriety on this point is, that in Chinese society there is a class in whose minds the Confucian element predominates; another class in whom Rationalism is the leading characteristic; and a third class with whom the Budhistic element is in the ascendency. At the same time it is true that the so-called Confucian will resort to the teachings and practices of both the Rationalists and Budhists

whenever such a step will subserve his own interests; that the Rationalist will avail himself of all the helps which Confucianism and Budhism proffer; and that the Budhist will supplement the teachings of the great sage by the axioms of Confucius and Lau-tsz. We thus reach the seemingly paradoxical conclusion that in the same Chinese mind there coexist three distinct systems of religious faith. A brief examination of the subject will aid us in appreciating and explaining this mental phenomenon.

Confucianism confines itself to the enunciation and application of the principles of morals and political economy; it aims at teaching a man to govern himself, the child to obey its parents, the citizen to respect and conform to the laws of society, and the subject to revere and implicitly follow the commands of his ruler. All these principles and duties it seeks to substantiate and enforce by constant appeals to what might be called the moral sense; and hence it assumes the form and character of a system of moral philosophy underlying and vitalizing their social system and the entire scheme of political economy on which rests the stupendous fabric of their general government. Its sole tendency is to qualify man for society and government; but adduces no divine authority for its teachings, fails to communicate anything with regard to man's origin, nature, responsibilities to a higher power, or future destiny, and is utterly silent touching those questions which in all ages press upon the human mind and indicate the universal and imperative wants of the race. Rationalism is an intensified form of human selfishness. It