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In China the Imperial dignity is not the certain inheritance of the Prince next in succession, but of him whom the deceased Monarch may have left named in a note, which is deposited in a casket: the reigning Prince having the power of preferring not only the younger sons to the eldest (though this should be the son of the Empress and those the children of concubines), but also his grandsons. Women have but little influence on this nomination in the present dynasty, but in some of the former they have exercised it so far as to promote a concubine to the dignity of Empress Mother, obliging the latter to abdication, or imprisonment.
page 132 note * On the 18th of October 1813, as the Emperor Kea-King was about to enter Peking, on his return from a summer's excursion to Jeho (literally Thermopylæ, or “The Hot Springs”), a party of conspirators entered the Imperial palace, and kept possession of a part of it for some time. The first intimation of this occurrence was conveyed in the following Proclamation from the Emperor:—
“Proclamation—to announce a revolt which has taken place, and to inculpate myself.— Eighteen years have elapsed since, possessed of only inferior virtue, I looked up and received with profound veneration, the throne from my imperial father; after which I dared not resign myself to ease, or neglect the affairs of government. I had but just ascended the throne, when the sect of the Pŭ-lëen (white-lily) seduced into a state of confusion four provinces, and the people suffered more than my feelings can bear to express. I ordered my generals to go against them, and after eight years' conflict reduced them to submission. I then hoped that with my children (the people) I should have enjoyed increasing pleasure and repose. On the sixth of the eighth moon (in 1813) the sect of T'hëen-le (celestial reason), a band of vagabonds, suddenly created disturbance, and caused much injury, extending from the district of Chang-yuen in the province of Pe-che-lee, to the district of Tsaou in Shan-tong. I hastened to order Wun, the viceroy of Peking, to lead forth an army to exterminate them and restore peace. This affair, however, yet remained at the distance of a thousand le from the capital. But suddenly, on the fifteenth of the ninth moon, rebellion arose under my own arm. The calamity has sprung up in my own house. A banditti of upwards of seventy men, of the sect T'hëen-le, violated the prohibited gate, and entered withinside: they wounded the guard, and rushed into the inner palace. Four rebels were seized and bound; three others ascended the wall with a flag. My imperial second son (the present Emperor) seized a matchlock and shot two of them; my nephew killed the third. For this deliverance I am indebted to the energies of my second son. The princes and chief officers of the Loong-tsoong gate led forth troops, and, after two days’ and one night's severe exertion, completely routed the rebels.” The paper goes on to cast the blame on his own remissness, and on the vices of his delegates; and to call for a general reformation—J. F. D.
page 133 note * The value of the taél, the Portuguese coin, is 3s. 6d. The Chinese taél is 6s. 8d.
page 134 note * Presentes activos, in the Portuguese original.
page 135 note * Presentes passivos.
page 136 note * The new cruzado in silver is worth 2s. 6d. According to this statement, the revenue of China would amount, in silver and grain, to only £18,750,000. I have given an account of the Almanack above referred to, and a detailed statement of the amount of the taxes, in the “Asiatic Journal” for 1817, pp. 333–4, 430–1—W. H.Google ScholarPubMed