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244 seminaries; one at Macao, and the other in Tartary, beyond the wall of China. They have in Peking a Catholic community, amounting to no less than twenty-six thousand members, over whom two French priests preside. In the province of Sze-chuen, Christians are interred in the churchyard; and, over their graves, crosses are erected. When the rulers do not suspect the presence of Europeans, they are very indulgent towards the native Christians; and the local authorities having once tolerated them, are interested in preventing their detection in higher quarters; lest they should be called to account for their previous want of vigilance. When, therefore, a community is once formed, it incurs very little risk of being molested. Should the Catholics succeed in forming a native clergy, competent to discharge the duties of their office, their cause may rally; for the government seeks to repress it, not on religious grounds, but because it is an instrument of European influence.

It is difficult to determine the precise number of adherents still claimed by the Romanists in China; the following, however, is from Marchini's map of the missions presented to the bishop of Macao in 1810:—

