Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 271

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Holy Wars of the Tsing Dynasty

MAYI

thing to fear; if able to write, and command the means to print, he may send the efforts of his genius, his literary essays, into every village and family of the land. Nor is there, that we are aware of, any tax, direct or indirect, on productions of the press. All this free- dom operates favorably for the multiplication and circulation of literary works. No vocations are more honorable than authorship and the manufacture and sale of books. The number of such works annually published in this empire, is very great; and their influence by no means inconsiderable.

As in other countries, so it is in this, with regard to the motives which have influence in leading men to engage in literary enterprises. Honor, fame, pleasure, gain—all tend more or less directly to swell the catalogues of books for sale in all the principal cities of the em- pire. The work now before us is the product of one belonging to that very large class of men in China, whose special interest it is to sustain and perpetuate the supremacy of the reigning Manchu fami- ly. These men, by education, by habit, by elevation to places of trust and emolument, become part and parcel of the governmental system—a system which with them is all in all; its prosperity is their prosperity; its life is their life; and its downfall would be their ruin. Under such circumstances, it is no marvel that they are its zealous supporters. The danger is-nor is it small,—that their numbers ere- long will become so great as to convert them from parasites into parricides. Many of them are able men; but they are very nume- rous, and it is from the people that they derive their support. They rob and devour the people. The legal taxes, for the most part, are not heavy, but the extortions are enormous.

The Records comprised in the volumes before us form a somewhat curious work; and to those who desire to study the history of the Manchu race and its policy, especially its policy towards people and nations not its own, it is a valuable work. The title-Ta-tsing Shing Wú Ki,, literally translated, reads the "Great-Pure Holy Wars' Records;" a title eminently characteris- tic of the high pretensions which are put forth by and in behalf of the "celestial dynasty." Their empire is Great; it alone is supreme; in it is, or ought to be, comprised, as they believe," all beneath the hea- vens." It is withal a pure dynasty; naught that is vile, low, or igno- ble, can, as they fancy, have a place in it. As the heavens overshadow all lands, so the "celestial dynasty," the tien cháu, in dominion, is wide as the world, All who oppose, or will not submit to its rule, offend against high heaven; they are, to use the strong language of

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