Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 273

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Huly Wars of the Tsing Dynasty.

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the old, we view it favorably as a transition state. It is a cheering fact that a Reformation has commenced in China-a reformation that, while it will be no less salutary in its results, may be a thousand times more rapid in its progress than the old Reformation of Europe.

The change here—this transition state-has been commenced by men who have little idea of what will be the consequences of their doings. The case of Lin is in point. Before he lest Peking for his crusade against the traffickers in opium, he boasted of his knowledge of foreigners. Born and bred on the frontiers, "he knew them well.” The sequel of his first acts-how different from what he and his im- perial master anticipated! Of this sequel only the first, the opening scenes, have yet been unfolded. Admission to the five ports and the toleration of Christianity, form but the beginning in the new order of

events.

If we rightly judge, Wei Yuen, the author of the Holy Wars, is in sentiment of the same school as Lin Tsehsü; of him, however, we know nothing except what we learn from his book. He was born near the close of the last century; and is, we presume, still living. At a very early age, he left his native town in Húnán for a residence at l'eking, where he had access to all the records of the Capital, not excepting those of the Cabinet and his majesty's historiographers. He also enjoyed, what was to him of great advantage, the society of oany aged men, veteran statesmen whose reminiscences ran back scores of years prior to the time when he entered upon his public career as minister of state. The military achievements of the reigning family soon and powerfully arrested his attention; were the objects of his highest admiration, and the volumes before us are the result. In them we have the military career of the Manchus from the origin of the family down to the present time, drawn out and adorned in fine Chinese style. The book is one we can recommend to all those stu- dents of this language who wish to see "the Chinese as they are.” From the materials contained in it, a series of most interesting essays could be prepared, giving sketches of the Manchus, the Mongols, and the many "peoples and tribes" within the limits and upon the bor- ders of the Chinese empire.