Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/124

104 T'ienwang from taking as active a part in the government as he might have done. Not infrequently the plans of the abler generals were frustrated by his overconfidence in divine power and unwillingness to take the necessary steps to win victories or avoid defeat. On this point the Chungwang thus levels his accusation against him: "The chief gave himself no concern about either the nation or the people, but buried in the recesses of his palace he never left the palace gate. When one proceeded to memorialise him upon internal affairs and to make suggestions pertinent to the preservation of the kingdom he would invariably greet you with assertions about heaven and earth — subjects totally irrelevant to the main argument or point of view."

Not only did Hung claim divinity for himself, but his son, Hung Fu-t'ien, was proclaimed as God's grandson. In an edict of 1860 we find these remarkable statements: "The Father and Elder Brother have descended upon earth and established the heavenly kingdom, and have taken me and the Junior Lord to regulate affairs pertaining to this world. Father, Son, and Royal Grandson are together Lord of the new heaven and earth. The Saviour and the Junior Lord are sons of the Heavenly Father; also the Great Brother's Christ's son, and my son is Lord. The Father and the Elder Brother, together with me, three persons constitute one, etc." From the curious wording of this edict it might appear that Hung had come to regard his own son as the adopted son of Jesus the Saviour in order that he might maintain the divine succession.

As to the popular religion we discover that the Taipings were careful, wherever they went, to establish their worship under the supervision of the officials. Morning