nan.

however, had no taste for so inactive a life, and growing stronger as his years increased, he enlisted as a common soldier in the imperial army, in which capacity he distinguished himself so highly on two or three different occasions, that he was promoted, step by step, till he had attained to a high rank, when he married a widow of fortune and influence, whose family was among those who were disaffected toward the Tartar government. Choo soon imbibed similar principles, and took the lead in a formidable insurrection that broke out in the province of Nanking, or, as it was called, KeangThe many changes of name that have occurred in the provinces and cities of China, have caused great confusion in the geographical history of the country, and made it very difficult, in some cases, to identify even places of importance. However, as soon as it was known that the famous General Choo was at the head of the insurgents, the whole province was speedily in arms, the capital having already declared for the rebel chief, who met and defeated the imperial forces. The numbers of the rebel army increased daily; the most considerable cities opened their gates to them, and at length Peking itself was taken, and Shunty, with his family, fled into Tartary, leaving his capital in the undisputed possession of the victor, who was proclaimed emperor by the title of Tait-sou, in the year 1366; and this was the commencement of the Ming dynasty, which was displaced about three hundred years afterward by the present reigning family.

CHAPTER VI.

THE MING DYNASTY.

S soon as Tait-sou was firmly established on the throne, embassadors were sent by the kings of Corea and other tributary princes, to congratulate him on his elevation, and express their satisfaction that the country was once more under the dominion of a native ruler. The success of Tait-sou and his excellent government are attributed in great measure to the prudent counsels of his wife, by which he wisely suffered himself to be guided, and was thus, perhaps, restrained from falling into those excesses which often stain the victories of a conqueror. The new emperor chose Nanking for his capital, and erected Peking into a principality, which he bestowed on one of his sons, Yong-lo, who, when he became emperor, again removed the court from Nanking to Peking, which was better situated for keeping the Tartars in check, who were constantly at war with the Chinese after the fall of the Mogul dynasty. Tait-sou began his reign by restoring those institutions which had been disregarded since the time of Kublai Khan, whose successors had broken in upon one of the most important usages of the Chinese government, by lacing military men in all the chief offices of state, which, under Kublai,

had been filled, as usual, by the learned. This was one of the innovations that had led to the revolution, and was among the first grievances redressed by the new emperor, who restored the literary mandarins to their former rank and influence, and granted great privileges to the Hanlin college. He made several new regulations intended to promote the happiness of the people, and among others, that women should not devote themselves as priestesses to the religion of Budha; and that no man should enter a monastery till he was forty years of age; for Tait-sou knew by experience that young people were sometimes induced to adopt a life of seclusion before they were old enough to judge whether it was exactly suited to their dispositions, and were thereby doomed to many years of misery and regret.

Tait-sou reigned thirty-one years, and having lost his favorite son, appointed his grandson, a boy of thirteen to succeed him, which gave great offence to one of his sons, Yong-lo, who raised an army at Peking, and placing himself at its head, marched toward Nanking, to demand from his nephew the surrender of the throne. He was opposed by the imperial troops, and a battle ensued, in which many were killed on both sides; but the cause was still undecided, when the gates of the city were opened by some traitor, who had probably received a bribe for so doing. The assailants instantly rushed into the town, put many of the inhabitants to the sword, and set the palace on fire. The youthful emperor perished in the flames, and Yong-lo took possession of the vacant throne. Some of the ministers were condemned to death, others killed themselves, while many of the mandarins, who expected to be punished for their adherence to the cause of the late unfortunate prince, shaved their heads and assumed the sackcloth habits of the bonzes, and, thus disguised, were not recognised, for it was not the custom at that time for the Chinese to shave off their hair.

Although the new emperor had obtained the throne by cruelty and violence, he was not a bad sovereign, but, on the contrary, exhibited great moderation and justice in many acts of his government. It was he who removed the court to Peking, which has been the imperial residence ever since; but he established separate tribunals at Nanking, which city was occupied and governed by his eldest son.

It was in this reign that the great Mogul chief, Timour, or Tamerlane as he is more generally called, whose conquests almost equalled those of Zinghis Khan, being ambitious of adding China to the vast dominions he had already acquired by a long and successful course of warfare, set out with the intention of invading that empire; but happily for the Chinese, he died on the way, and the expedition was abandoned. From time to time, however, the Tartars renewed their invasions in the hope of recovering the empire, and were a terrible scourge to those provinces which bordered on Tartary. When there happened to be a powerful prince at the head of the state they were kept in check, but whenever the government was weak they did not fail to turn that advantage to account; so that the Chinese were never

entirely at peace during the whole period of the Ming dynasty, which lasted three centuries.

It was in the reign of the twelfth emperor of this race, that the rapid progress of navigation which followed the discovery of America, first brought the ships of Europe to the shores of China. The Portuguese, who were the great navigators of the age, having made several voyages to India by the newly-discovered passage round the Cape of Good Hope, ventured still farther eastward in the year 1516, and were the first Europeans who reached the port of Canton. Some alarm was experienced at Canton on the appearance of strange vessels of a form altogether new to the Chinese, who very naturally supposed an invasion was intended; consequently the fleet, which consisted of eight vessels, was immediately surrounded by Chinese warjunks, and it was with great difficulty that the commander, Perez de Andrado, obtained permission to proceed up the river to Canton with two of his ships. The viceroy of the city granted an audience to the captain, who explained, by means of an interpreter brought from Malacca, that they were merchants, who had no hostile intentions, but desired to trade with the people of the country; to which he received a favorable answer; and an express was sent to the emperor to inform him of the arrival of the strangers, and their object. The emperor graciously signified his pleasure that they should have leave to establish a factory on the coast, and send trading vessels to Canton once a year; and thus a regular treaty of commerce was concluded between Portugal and China.

The Portuguese were the first who called the great men of the Chinese empire mandarins. The first place where they established a settlement was at Ningpo, from which port they long carried on a profitable trade with other parts of China, and the Japan islands; but unfortunately, many of the Portuguese who went thither were daring adventurers, who were ready to undertake any desperate exploit for the sake of gain, and conducted themselves so improperly, that they were at length expelled from Ningpo by the provincial government. They had, however, been allowed to build some warehouses at Macao, a port on a small island at the entrance of the Canton river, for which privilege they paid an annual tribute, and Macao, in the course of time, became their chief settlement. They erected there, by degrees, a number of good houses, and the merchants who went to reside there took with them their wives and families, which was contrary to the laws of the empire, but connived at by the mandarins, who probably derived some advantage from granting this indulgence.

The new Portuguese town of Macao being situated at the extremity of a small peninsula, joined by a narrow isthmus to the island of Meang-shan, the Chinese government caused a wall to be built across the slip of land as a barrier; for, although the Chinese were not insensible to the advantages of foreign commerce, they adhered to their system of exclusion; and while they strictly prohibited the strangers from entering their cities, or even

passing the bounds of their own settlement, they jealously watched all their proceedings. A mandarin was appointed at Macao, who governed the town in the name of the emperor, and whose duty it was to give information to his superiors of the conduct of the inhabitants.

Not long after the Portuguese had opened a trade with China, the Spaniards began to send out ships to the Indian ocean, aud, in the reign of Philip the Second, established a colony at Manilla, in the Philippine islands, where they entered into commercial dealings with a company of Chinese merchants, who carried silks and porcelains thither for sale. There had been some warfare between the Spaniards and the natives of the Philippines, before the former had gained their object of settling a colony upon one of those islands; but at length, having subdued the prince of Luzon and forced him to acknowledge the king of Spain as his sovereign, they established themselves at Manilla, where they built many good houses and three monasteries, which were speedily filled with Spanish monks, who took great pains in endeavoring to convert the natives. But their grand object was to introduce the Christian religion into China, and with this view they earnestly solicited the Chinese merchants to admit them into the country. This request was long refused, as it would have been a violation of the laws that would have subjected any persons concerned to very severe penBut at length a circumstance occurred, which afforded them the desired opportunity.

alties.

The coasts of China and the neighboring shores had, from time to time, been infested with pirates, who were the terror of all the maritime towns and villages, and who sheltered themselves in some of the small islands that abounded in the adjacent seas. One of these lawless chiefs, whose name

was Limahon, having committed frightful ravages in different parts of the empire, made an attack on the town of Manilla, and treated such of the inhabitants as were unfortunate enough to fall into his hands, with the utmost barbarity. A Chinese fleet, under the command of Admiral Omoncon, was sent out in search of the formidable corsair; but the latter had already been defeated and driven from the Chinese seas by the Spaniards, in return for which good service, the admiral consented to introduce some of their priests into China; and two Augustine friars were permitted to embark on board one of his vessels, accompanied by two of the Spanish officers who had assisted in the defeat of Limahon. The strangers were received with much courtesy by the governors of several cities which they were allowed to visit, and were magnificently entertained at the houses of some of the chief mandarins; but whenever they applied for leave to preach to the people, the request was studiously evaded.

The appearance of foreigners in a Chinese city was so rare a sight, that the house in which they lodged was constantly surrounded by the populace, who mounted the walls and the housetops to obtain a glimpse of the men from an unknown land. When they went out, sedan-chairs were provided