Mr. Davis's Meynoir concenii7ig the Chinese. 5 



The period of Chow, from about the middle of which the era of authentic 

 history may be dated, was distinguished by the birth of Confucius, and of 

 Laou-keun, the founders of two of the sects of China ; while Fo, or Buddha, 

 the author of the third, was also born in India about the commencement of 

 the same period, although his worship was not introduced into the empire 

 until long after, in the first century of the Christian era. The memory and 

 the doctrines of Confucius have met with almost uninterrupted veneration 

 down to the present time ; while the absurd superstitions of the other two 

 have been alternately embraced and despised by the different sovereigns of 

 the country. Under the present Tartar government, they can merely be 

 said to be tolerated. In the instructions of the Emperor Yung-ching to the 

 people, the tenets of Fo and of Laou-keun are stigmatized among the 

 " impure doctrines" against which the nation is warned to guard itself with 

 especial caution. 



Leaving the rehgion of his countrymen as he found it, Confucius embodied 

 in sententious maxims the first principles of morals and of government, and 

 the purity and excellence of some of his precepts (whatever may have been 

 said to the contrary by persons ignorant of tlie language) will bear a com- 

 parison with even those of the gospel. He, and he only, of the men who 

 have at different times aspired to teach the Chinese, was truly deserving of 

 the title of Philosopher ; and he alone, during the revolutions of ages, has 

 met with uniform veneration. Guided by the light of reason, he applied 

 the energies of a powerful intellect to the Studi/ of man, and grounded his 

 doctrines on the fixed and immutable principles of human nature. His 

 works are at this day the Sacred Books of the Chinese, and when compared 

 with the evanescent relics of Fo and of Laou-keun, confirm the superiority 

 of truth over the fictions of artful, and the ravings of fanatical teachers. 

 Thus it is that " opinionum delet dies, naturae judicia confirmat." 



After the death of Confucius, who appears to have been respected by the 

 sovereigns of nearly all the independent states of China, a series of sangui- 

 nary contests arose among them, which gave to this period of history the 

 name of Chen-kwo, or the " contending nations," and proved at length the 

 ruin of the race oi" Chow. Tiie king of 2'sin, who had long been growing 

 very powerful at the expense of the neighbouring states, fought against six 

 other nations, and after a course of successes, compelled them all to acknow- 

 ledge his supremacy (B.C. 200). The chief government began now to 

 assume the aspect of an Empire, which comprehended the greater portion 



