Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume II.djvu/252

 238 CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, ETC. answer to the petition of the assessor; but, far from being discouraged, he drew up another, still more violent than the first, and induced one of liis brethren in the Court of Kites to draw up a third, to ])e presented to the emperor at the same time. A member of the College of Mathematics, who had been in friendly relation with the missiouaries, having heard of the plot, procured two copies of the petitions, and forwarded them to Dr. Paul; and this zealous Christian, a dis- tinguished statesman, and one of the first writers of his time, spent the niglit in composing a refutation of the charges, and an apology for Cliristianity, ready to be presented to the emperor at the proper time, lie also sent to the Court of Kites one of his discij)les, a keen- witted mandarin, to make the President of that court aware of the intrigues set on foot by his subordinates, and entreat him not to favour the malicious proceedings of his Assessor, Kio-Tchin. The President assured Dr. Paul of his entire devotion to his wishes, and at the same time fearing to appear less zealous than his Assessor, he hastened to send in a memorial of his own, in which he declared that the complaints of Kio-Tchin were rpiite just, and conform- able to the good of the state; and that for his own part he should think he was performing a laudable action, and fulfilling the duties of his office, if, Avithout even waiting for the emperor's orders, he should himself undertake to drive these strangers from his dominions. He would except, however, such as resided at Pekin, they being " too powerfully protected." By these last words, the President of the Court of Kites intended, apparently, to throw blame on the high functionaries