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XIV. Some Account of a Secret Association- in China, entitled the Triad 

 Society. By the late Dr. Milne, Principal of the Anglo-Chinese College. 

 Communicated by the Rev. Rorert Morrison, D.D., F.R.S., M.R.A.S. 



Read February 5, 1825. 



The writer of this paper is fully sensible how difficult it is to discover 

 that which is studiously concealed, under the sanction of oaths, curses, and 

 the (supposed^ impending vengeance of the gods ; and how liable one is, 

 even after the utmost care, to be mistaken in tracing the progress of any set 

 of principles and schemes, which the fortunes or lives of the parties who have 

 adopted them are concerned to hide, to varnish, to distort, and to misre- 

 present. He therefore offers the following remarks, not as the result of 

 firm and unhesitating conviction, but as having a good deal of probability 

 to support them, and as containing the substance of the best information 

 procurable in his situation. He begs then to say a few words on the name, 

 objects, government, initiatory ceremonies, secret signs, and seal of the said 

 association, and to conclude with a few miscellaneous remarks. 



First, the Name. 



The name is not expressed on the seal, and hence it is difficult to ascer- 

 tain it with certainty. It seems, however, to be the * San hO hwuy, i. e. 

 " The Society of the Three united, or the Triad Society." The three re- 

 ferred to in this name are t T'heen, te,jin, i. e. " Heaven, Earth, and Man," 

 which are the three great powers in nature, according to the Chinese doc- 

 trine of the universe. In the earlier part of the reign of his late Chinese 

 majesty, X Kea King, the same society existed, but under a different denomi- 

 nation. It was then called the § T'heen te hwuy, i. e. " The Ccelesto-terres- 

 trial Society," or " The Society that unites Heaven and Earth." It spread 

 itself rapidly through the provinces, had nearly upset the government, and 



» For the Chinese characters, see Plate I, No. 1. t See plate, No. 2. 



X See plate, No. 3. J See plate, No. 4. 



