Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/186

174 174 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. daily distinguished one of his ministers and one of his secretaries. The Franciscans had come to Tartary in the persua- sion that the Kha-kan protected the Christians; but, says Piano Carpini, " we were not long in perceiving that this Emperor, in concert with his vassals, had raised his banner against the Roman Church, and against all Christian kings and princes." He had, in fact, formed the design of turning his arms towards the west, and death alone prevented its execution. The successors of Tchinguiz-Khan belonged to no distinct religious system, and did not, till the time of Khublai, who adopted Buddhism, and compelled his subjects to follow his example. It is, therefore, by no means surprising that Christians should have been well received by Couyouk. That prince gave, doubtless, an equally good reception to Mussulmans and Lamas ; and such is, in fact, the ordinary result of perfect indifference to religion. We shall see the emperors of the Mantchoo Tartar dynasty at Pekin performing, as patriarchs of the sect of the Lettered, civil ceremonies in honour of the heavens, the earth, and Confucius, addressing prayers to the spirits honoured by the Tao-Sse, adoring Buddha incarnate in the persons of the superior Lamas, and sending Catholic inscriptions to the churches of the Jesuits, without in the least concerning themselves about the contradictions involved in such proceedings. The ambassadors of the Holy See were at length under the necessity of taking their departure, and the court began to prepare some letters, which they were to carry back. It was asked whether there were about the Pope any persons who understood Tartar, Arabic,