Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/159

Rh the interior, or plots the removal of subjects out of the empire, shall, without any distinction between principals and secondaries, be beheaded. No law is more frequently or more lightly broken than this; the natives emigrate by thousands annually; while dozens of catholic priests are every year clandestinely introduced into the country, and protestant missionaries land frequently on all parts of the coast, and walk over hill and dale unhurt, and almost unhindered by the natives.

Respecting the policy of this regulation, however, much may be said. Though the Chinese flatter themselves with the idea that they are the greatest of nations, and almost the only people worthy of being called a nation; they cannot but see, how easily they have been overcome by a barbarous tribe from the north; and how much they are disturbed by every petty insurrection on their mountains, and every paltry piracy on their coasts. Contrasted with their own weakness, they must be aware of the power of foreigners. They see the rapid strides which Europeans are making towards conquest and power in the eastern world; and how the English, in particular, from the establishment of a factory, have proceeded to the erection of a battery; and then sending out their armies, have subdued whole kingdoms to their sway; till they number a hundred millions among their subjects, whom they keep in awe by a few thousand European troops. The Chinese, seeing this, could not but be alarmed for their safety, and the integrity of their empire. They therefore decided on checking the threatened evil in its infancy, and resolved to keep at arm's length a power, with which they knew that they could not successfully grapple. They judged that if they could but keep out