THE EMPEROR'S DECREE. 373 might have come from another with propriety could not with propriety come from Keying. Why so? Because he was art and part of the administration [of this question], and was free to carry out any views of his own. How was it then that, unprovided with measures suppeditative or remedial while acting with others, he was only ready with the right suggestion after the event? "Had We but punished this officer as he humbly prayed We would, We had indeed fallen into [the snare of his machinations. For [in that prayer] Keying has plainly declared himself. Not only [does he imply that] his former offence had been completely washed away, but he seeks to lay blame on others; an intention yet more to his disgrace. He had fancied that, for unauthorisedly relinquishing his commission, dismissal from the service would be all the penalty awarded him, and, this end attained, he would have enjoyed himself at home. With the obligation laid upon him by long recognition of his little merit (lit. dullness, sc. his employment in spite of it) should such a conception have been tolerable to * Lit. In the game, in the plot, on the committee. He flies from Tientsin, on the plea that he has an important suggestion to make which he dare not write; yet he writes, and his suggestion proves of no value; nor is it a novel one, as he well knew. This suggestion, say all Chinese expositors consulted, was war, which it must be inferred he was at liberty to resort to. + Lit. Still less can his heart be inquired of. Man should be so that, "when he inquires of his heart, he finds nothing to be ashamed of." 374 him? elled. THE EMPEROR'S DECREE. Nor is this all, when his thoughts are unravWhen, after consultation with Kweiliang and Hwashana, it was agreed that a despatch + should be written they wept together beneath the window; they knew not in the morning that they should not die by night.' But We do not learn that, in devout obedience to Our will as earlier expressed, he then devised any worthier expedient of his own.§ By-and-by he observed to Hwashana that he feared his departure from Tientsin might disturb the population, and he would therefore pretend that he was moving thence for a while on business. But, though on arriving at Tung-chau he received the later letter of the Council [desiring him to return], We do not learn that he hastened back [to his post; on the contrary] he could not take himself out of the way fast enough. He treated Our commands as a thing of course to be dispensed with. Full of intrigue, bent on deceit, could a hundred voices excuse him from immediate annihilation? ¶ * Lit. [When we follow] the track, or footprints, of his heart. + Despatch, or communication, probably one addressed to Lord Elgin two days before Keying disappeared from Tientsin. A common phrase applied to meu consulting or studying together. It does not appear whether the Emperor learned this from Keying's despatches or elsewhere. § Lit. Separately or distinctly, that is, from his colleagues. || Lit. As a cap-hair; the tuft of hair formerly thrown away when the cap of manhood was assumed; a thing to be rejected, and rejected of course. An expression that would include his family in the act of destruction. THE EMPEROR'S DECREE. 375 "The [sentence proposed in the] original memorial of the Prince of Hwui and his colleagues was, nevertheless, too severe; neither was the memorial of [the Censor] Suhshun, again, proposing his immediate execution, as it should be. Our object in handing him over to Our servants in the capital* for trial, was to have the circumstances of so grave an offence duly weighed by them, and a sentence deliberately pronounced, for the edification of all. If We were still to have approved his summary execution, what need was there for bringing him to the capital? What need, to go farther, for [the formality of] a finding and sentence? Then the remark [in one memorial], that if left for some months he might die a natural death, and so escape with his head' is even more out of order.+ Such words be long to sentences passed on malefactors (lit. robbers). They could not without serious impropriety be арplied to Keying. We have bestowed great attention [upon his case] for several days, seeking to spare his life; but indeed it is impossible; and were We to reserve him, as Yih Su and his colleagues propose, for the Great Assize, then certainly to suffer, We feel that [when the time came] We could not endure to leave him in * That is to say, by the chief members of the administration. Lit. Then the remark-is a finding [in cases between which and the present there is] even less analogy. It could not wantonly, or at random, be applied to Keying. Colloquially, it would never do, &c. Yih Su, see note †, p. 370. the market-place. In this dilemma, having given all Our thought to a due appreciation of the facts and a just apportionment of the law, We command Jinshau, senior tsung-ching, and Mien Hiun, senior tsung-jin, of the Imperial Clan Court+ with Linkwei, President of the Board of Punishments, to go at once to the Empty House of the Clan Court, and having desired Keying to read [this] Our autograph decree, to inform him that it is Our will that he put an end to himself; that Our extreme desire to be at once just and gracious be made manifest. Respect this!" We were informed upon good authority, before leaving Tientsin, that the punishment here awarded had been actually carried out, Keying having drunk a cup of poison in the presence of the Imperial officers nominated to enforce it. Thus perished by his own hand this celebrated mandarin, whose signature, attached to the Treaty of Nankin, exactly fifteen years before, had secured for him a political notoriety in Europe greater than had ever previously been accorded to a Chinaman, and the tragical termination of whose career must ever invest his name with a yet more significant and touching interest. *Like a common criminal. + The tsung-jin-fu, or Imperial Clan Court, is an office charged specially with the registration, payment, and jurisdiction of the Imperial Family in all its branches. The Empty House mentioned just below is the prison of this establishment. CHAPTER XVIII. INSOLENCE OF THE MOB-A FORCIBLE ENTRY INTO TIENTSIN-MAK- TIENTSIN EXPLORATION OF THE THE HARVEST AT TIENTSIN SURROUNDING KITCHEN-GARDENS SALT-PANS-VETCH-FIELDS-LOCUST-HUNTING. OUR suspicions of the hostile character of Keying's interference, alluded to in the last chapter, had received a somewhat singular confirmation in the altered demeanour manifested by the inhabitants within two or three days after his arrival. Up to that time nothing could exceed the respectful bearing of all classes with whom we had come in contact, in the course of our rides and walks through the cityand suburbs. Upon the very day, however, of the VOL. I. Y |