Page:Tseng Kuo Fan and the Taiping Rebellion.djvu/346

Rh priests are willing to protect the church members, and the consuls to protect the priests. Next year when the treaty with France is revised we must make a revision in the clause regarding the church. ...

His visit in Peking was extended till after the emperor's birthday (November 3) and his own (November 4). That being his sixtieth anniversary, his fellow officials of Hunan and Hupeh gave him a magnificent feast in the Guild Hall. After that he repaired to Nanking, where he took over the seals on December 14.

He was far from popular now in the capital, and wrote to his brother from Nanking during the following year:

The two times I was in Peking I was not properly received, for I was neglected by all the officials. Especially has this been true since the T'ientsin affair, over which wordy discussions have taken place, and since when in all matters great or small those in the Board have been disposed to keep it stirred up with trifling words and cutting gibes. When Ch'eng Yu-li, being forwarded to Heilungkiang, passed through T'ungchow, his wife at the capital made accusations in which she said that I had been unfair in carrying on my investigation and that I owed him four thousand taels on his salary and would not pay it, etc. From this my heart cannot but be saddened. Who, having lived through several decades, does not know that official life, if it has its comforts, also has its risks; that if there is promotion there is also downfall, and that he should in anticipation cultivate a detachment that cannot be overcome, only praying that no serious calamity shall befall him sufficient to bring shame to his ancestors, his relatives, and the people of his native place?

Aside from routine matters and a long tour of inspection in October and November, 1871, only one thing is of especial importance in this second term of Tsêng at Nanking. This was the memorial in which he and Li