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Ah! yes, the rumor of that war came to us. But what was the cause of it?

How politics interest her!

Yes! when that young man is her teacher.

The cause of it was peculiar. A Prince, kinsman to the Tartar usurper, conceived the foolish idea of mustering an army of bandits to hurl upon the hated Christians in the north of China. But the horde, once let loose, got out of hand. It rushed against the barbarian strangers, whose presence has for a long time been tolerated in the neighbourhood of the Palace. Then the armies of the Western nations came to sack Peking, whence the Tartar Emperor fled with his entire Court.

Doubtless it is unhappy for us that the usurper has made peace

Who knows? Perhaps China might have fallen under a more evil dominion still.

Is the lesson not finished yet?