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Rh reasoned and agreed in Ts‘oo, Ts‘e, and Ts‘in, The great powers appeared all to be willing.

Having succeeded thus far, Seuh proceeded to call a meeting of the States generally, and in the summer of 535 the representatives of not fewer than fourteen of them met in the capital of Sung. Various jealousies were displayed in making the arrangements preliminary to a covenant. Ts‘e and Ts‘in were exempted from taking the oath, so that the agreement was narrowed to a compact between Ts‘oo and Tsin, and the States which adhered to them respectively; and though this would secure a temporary peace to the kingdom, yet the two other great States, being left unbound, might take advantage of it, to prosecute their own ambitious designs. Ts‘oo, moreover, displayed a fierce and unconciliating spirit which promised ill for the permanence of the arrangement. However, the covenant was accepted with these drawbacks. There should be war no more! And to assure so desirable an end, the princes who had been in the habit of acknowledging the superiority of Ts‘oo should show their respect for Tsin by appearing at its court, and those who had been adherents of Tsin should similarly appear at the court of Ts‘oo. Thus these two Powers would receive the homage of all the States; and it was implied, perhaps, that they would unite their forces to punish any State which should break the general peace. Nothing was said of the loyal service which was due from them all to the kings of Chow; and Ts‘in and Ts‘e were left, as I have said, unfettered, to take their own course. I apprehend that the princes and ministers who were at the meeting separated without much hope of the pacification being permanent;—as indeed it did not prove to be. Hëang Seuh alone thought that he had accomplished a great work; and without being satisﬁed, as we wish that he had been, with the consciousness that he had done so, he proceeded to ask a grant of lands and towns from the duke of Sung as a reward for ‘arresting the occasion of death.’ His application was acceded to, but it did not take effect. Seuh showed the charter of the grant which he had obtained to Tsze-han the chief minister of the State, who said to him, ‘It is by their arms that Tsin and Ts‘oo keep the small States in awe. Standing in awe, the high and low in them are loving and harmonious, and thus the States are kept quiet, and do service to the great powers, securing their own preservation and escaping ruin. Who can do away with the instruments of war? They have been long in requisition. By them the lawless are kept in awe, and accomplished virtue is displayed. On them 121]