Chap. III. from M u s d o v Y /o G H t n A* 95p 
tant Poft from the Chan, he is obliged to naturalize 
himfeif a Manfur or ‘Tartar. Mod of the Inhabitants 
within the Walls of Peking are Tartars., and the prin- 
cipal Chinefe Markets and Goods are kept without in 
the Suburbs. All rich People keep a certain Number 
of Slaves for the Emperor’s Service, ,fof which they 
receive an annual Stipend from him ; and thefe Men, 
in Time of War, are obliged to be kept ready armed, 
cloathed, and mounted on Horfeback. The Jelliits 
who were at Peking vthtn I was there were but eight ; 
of which two were Spaniards, three Portuguefe, two 
Frenchmen, and the laft a Roman. 
The Chinefe, but efpecially the Courtiers, retain a 
very great Refpedt for thefe Fathers, and the other Ec- 
clefiafticks I but the Bonzies look upon , them fomewhat 
obliquely. It muft indeed be own’d, that the Romifo 
Clergy difcover a very great Zeal for the Propagation 
of their Religion. The Ruffian Nation hath allb built 
a Church at Peking, and have converted and baptized 
feveral confiderabie Perfons to the Greek Chriftian 
Religion. I do not think it at all neceffary to touch 
on the Races of the Monarchs which have hitherto 
reigned in China, fince the curious Part of the 
World may find an entire and exadl Lift of them in 
the Chinefe Chronology pubiifhed by Chriflian Menze- 
lius, Councellor and Phyfician of the Body to the King 
of Prujfia, printed at Berlin in. 1696. 
As for what relates to the Great Wall, which encom- 
paffes Part of the Empire of China, I fhall only add 
in ftiort to what I have already faid of it, that it is a 
prodigious Work, but not fo much to be valued on 
account of any extraordinary Art fhewn in the building 
of it, as the furprizing Labour and Expence employed in 
the eredingofit by the Emperor who raifed it ; for which 
the Chinefe curfe him to this Day, by reafon he thereby 
thoroughly ruined the Empire. The Jefuit Father Alex- 
ander informed me, that by the Emperor’s Order he 
travelled all along by this Wall, from the Weft where 
it begins, to the South-eaft, as far as the Corftfkan Sea, 
and found it to be three hundred German Miles long, 
and had it ftood all on a Level, it would certainly have 
ftretch’d to four hundred Miles ; but it is carried over 
feveral high Mountains, and hath four Entrances, viz. 
‘ the Leatongian, Daourian, Lelinger, and Tibetfchian 
Gates ; befides which, it is fo broad, that eight Horfe- 
men may eafily ride a-breaft upon it. 
I do not think it proper to offer any more Particulars 
concerning China, fince my Refidence there was not 
long, but defire the Reader favourably to accept this 
little, and. give me Leave to refer him to the fuccindt 
Defeription annexed, in which he will find feveral Things 
very well worth his Attention. 
17. It is very remarkable, that even in thefe Obfer- 
vations our Author very modeftly excufes himfeif from 
the ftiort Stay he made in China, and from his Manner 
of living there, as to giving any diftind, methodical and 
regular Account of that vaft Empire and its Inhabitants. 
We very often meet with Writers, who, without hav- 
ing any of thefe Advantages, prefume to enter into par- 
ticular Deferiptions of Countries and Nations, as if it 
were credible that in the Space of a few Months, a Man 
fhould either fee, or hear, or read fufticient for that Pur- 
pofe. There is another Thing no lefs extraordinary, 
our Author, though he is fo circumftantial in every 
Thing that he fays relating to both his Journeys, and to 
what paffed at his feveral Audiences of the Chinefe Em- 
peror, yet he does not fo much as drop a Syllable of the 
Buftnefs upon which he went. He fays nothing of the 
Commiftion given him by their Czarifti Majefties, of 
the Succefs of his Negociation, or of the Advantages 
he procured thereby to the Court of Rufjia ; and yet if 
he had been a vain Man, he might have done all this 
without any great Injury to Truth. A third Singularity 
there is which alfo deferves to be remembred. He ac- 
knowledges the Country to be one of the fineft in the 
World ; he admits that no body could be treated more 
politely, or with greater Refpedl than he was ; but for 
all this he does not fuffer himfeif to be led away with 
thofe fond and enthufiaftical Notions with which many 
Travellers are poffefs’d, and to which the World owes 
Vo I,. II. 135. 
all thofe romantick and extraf^agant Stories they liavs 
been told of this Country and People. 
The Charaffer he gives of both is very fimple, na« 
tural, and intilligible, and he gives it not with any Aif 
of Suffidencyor Confidence, but barely as his own Senti^i 
ment, the Reception of which he leaves entirely to his 
Reader, after he fhall have examined it with the like 
Care and Candour with which it was delivered, , It 
muft feem not a little ftrange to fuch as have read 
other Deferiptions of this Country, to find our Author 
advancing two Things that feem to be direftly oppofite 
to all we have ever heard of this Empire and its Inha- 
bitants. The fir ft is, that the Tartars are wifer and 
more polite ; the fecond, that the Chinefe have naturally 
more Probity than the Tartars. But notwithttand- 
ing this, many Reafons may be alledged in Sup- 
port of our Author’s Opinions, and perhaps it will 
not fatigue the Reader much if we mention two or 
three. In the firft Place let it be confidered, that 
the Chinefe were fo much attached to their old [>aws 
and Cuftoms, that without regarding either the original 
Motives upon which they were eftabliftied, or how far 
they were agreeable to that Situation of Affairs which 
the Changes and Revolutions that all Things, great and 
final], are liable to in this World, bring about, they 
perfifted with inflexible Firmnefs, or rather incorrigible 
Obftinacy, in fupporting them, without the fmalleft 
Alteration, from a Notion that any Thing of this Kind 
was the higheft Inftance of Impiety. 
The Tartars, though they very wifely adopted the 
Chinefe Conftitution as the fitteft for that Country, and 
by which alone it could be governed, yet they would 
never fubmit to this Notion of unalterable Laws ; but 
on the contrary, made no Scruple of changing what 
either Reafon inclined them to think wrong, or Expe^ 
rience had taught them to be fo ; and to this their In- 
tercourfe with other Nations, their opening their Ports 
to all Strangers without Diftinclion, and their fendino- 
and receiving Minifters, are fo many inconteftable In- 
ftances. Whoever confiders thefe Points with any De- 
gree of Attention, will very plainly perceive that our 
Author had Reafon to prefer the Policy and civil Pru- 
dence of the Tartars to that of the Chineje. 
Another, and yet a ftronger Argument of the Juftice 
of this Preference, may be taken from the Hiftory of 
the two Minorities which happened in this Empire im- 
mediately after the laft Conqueft of it by the Tartars. 
Tfong t'e, who fubdued China, died in the Year 1644, 
almoft as foon as he was feated on the Throne, and left 
the Empire to his Son Chun tchi, who was but fix Years 
old, and confided the Care of the young Prince to 
his Brother A ma van. One would have imagined that 
this muft have been fatal to a new and half eftabliftied 
Government ; and not only our Hiftories, but even 
thofe of the Chinefe, by which 1 mean the natural and 
native Inhabitants of that Country, feem to confirm 
this. But it proved quite otherwife, the Proteffcor finifti- 
ed the Conqueft of China in the Space of about eight 
Years, without the leaft Prejudice to the Authority of 
his Nephew, and upon his Death the Adminiftration 
was put into the Hands of his younger Brother, with the 
Affiftance of a Council, in which it did not continue long. 
They perceived very clearly that this kind of Rule 
was by no Means fuited either to the Tartar or to the 
Chinefe Conftitution, and therefore with a Wifdom and 
Honefty of which there is fcarce any Parallel to be met 
with in Hiftory, they laid down the Enfigns of their 
Power, and defired the young Emperor, who was then 
about fourteen, to take the Reins of Government into 
his own Hands. This was another Crifis that would 
have been fatal in almoft any other Country, but it was 
favourable here, and the Emperor governed for ten 
Years with great Wifdom and Capacity. 
Upon his Death lucceeded Cang Hi bis Son, who 
was no more than eight Years old, and according to 
the Direction of the deceafed Emperor, the Regency 
was put into the Hands of four of the principal Mi- 
nifters, and one would naturally apprehend, that this muft 
have proved the Source of private Cabals, of various 
Factions, and in a ftiort Space of Time of Difcord and 
1 1 L Confufion« 
