Chap. III. the Empire of China. 997 
Whatever the Caufe might be of his Diftafte to the 
Jefuits, it was not long before it became fatal to the 
Chriftians in general j and yet this did not immediately 
fpring from his own Will and Pleafure* but from a Me- 
morial prefented to him by one of his chief Minifters, 
fecting forth abundance ot Enormities of which thefe 
Men had been guilty, more efpecially in the ill Ule 
they made of their Favour with the late Emperor, 
and of the Influence they had over their Converts, which 
they reprefented as highly prejudicial to the State, and 
dangerous too, it not deftrudive of their ancient Con- 
ftitucion. This Memorial was followed by feveral others 
of the fame Nature, and not long after by a much 
warmer Paper, tranfmicted by the Viceroy of Fokien^ 
containing his Reafons for expelling the Miflionaries out 
of that Province •, and concluding with a Requeft, that 
the Emperor would iflTue his Orders for exiling them 
out of all the reft of the Provinces, and fend them 
either to Court or to Macao. 
This laft Memorial was referred to the Tribunal of 
Rites, and by their Advice the of the Petition 
was complied with, notwithftanding all the Endeavours 
the Jefuits could ufe, and the Interceflion of their Friends 
and Patrons, who in this unlucky Situation could do 
them no farther Service than to procure a fmall Altera- 
tion in this Meafure, which was to fubftitute Canton in- 
ftead of Macao \ and accordingly all the Miflionaries 
throughout the Provinces were obliged to abandon their 
refpedive Places of Refidence, and were either fent to 
the laft mentioned City, or to Peking. Not long after 
this a Profecution was commenced againft a Prince of 
the Blood and all his Family, purely on the Score of 
their being Chriftians, which notwithftanding it was 
very numerous, and defeended from an elder Brother of 
the Founder of the Empire, was carried fo high, that 
by the fupreme Tribunal of the Empire they were con- 
demned to fuffer Death •, which however the Emperor 
was pleafed to commute, and fent them into perpetual 
Exile, as fome fay, or as others aflert, direefted them to 
be kept Prifoners during Life. 
One would imagine from thefe Accounts, that the 
Emperor Tong Pebing was of a very fevere Difpofltion, 
and had either conceived fome frightful Idea of the 
Chriftian Religion, or thought he had good Grounds to 
fecure himfelf againft any Attempts that might be made 
to the Prejudice of his Authority by fome of his own Fa- 
mily. Yet nothing of this Kind ever appeared, for with 
refpeeft to the Chriftians that made ufe ot Chinefe Priefts, 
and performed their divine Worfhip without Oftentation, 
he allowed them much the fame Kind of Indulgence 
they had under his Predeceffors ; fo that it feems it was 
not the Precepts of the Jefuits, at Icaft in a Religious 
Senfe, that he feared, but their Dominion over Con- 
fciences, their fecret Intrigues and hidden Pradices. As to 
the Imperial Family, he behaved towards fuch as were in 
a private Condition, with all the Refped and Tendernefs 
due to his Relations •, but in regard to fuch as were in 
publick Stations, he expeded from them as clear and as 
candid Accounts as from others in the like Employments, 
and if thefe were wanting, he puniflied them without 
any Refped to their being of his Blood, which he con- 
fidered only as an Obligation on them to be more cir- 
cumfped in the Difcharge of their Duty. An Inftance 
there was which put the Reditude of his Behaviour en- 
tirely out of Difpute. The next Brother to him had 
been thought of tor the Succefllon, being a Prince of 
great Wifdom and Prudence, and hq was let afide only 
from his afieding a fedentary Life. Yet the Emperor 
his Father admitted him into his Cabinet Council, took 
his Opinion upon all Matters of Importance, and very 
feldom or never aded contrary to his Advice. This 
Brother, when Tong Tching came to the Throne, he 
made the Partner of his Cares and of his Power ; he did 
nothing but according to his Counfels, and was fo con- 
ftant in this Refped, that he feemed rather his Brother’s 
Minifter than his Prince. 
When he died, which was in the Month of June^ 
1730, Tong Tching, according to the^ Guftom of the 
Country, fhewed his Reverence and Efteem for the De- 
ceafed, by the Solemnity of his Funeral, and the Length 
of the Mourning, both of which rather fuited the Com- 
panion of his Tiirone than the Prince of his Blood. 
After the Death of this Prince, the whole Weight of 
Affairs devolved upon the Emperor, and he attended to 
them with Patience beyond Example, and behaved, 
whenever he gave Audience, with an Affability beyond 
the Reach of Defcription. The Jefuits at who 
would have been glad to have difeovered anv Miftake in 
his Gondud, or Error in his Policy, very freely ac- 
knowledge this, and that inftead of indulging his Eafe, 
or purfuing his Pleafures, he was temperate in the high- 
eft Degree, and dedicated more Hours to Bufinefs than 
almoft any Man in his Dominions. He made ufe of 
his Revenues purely for the publick Service, and in Cafe 
of Dearths, or any other publick Calamity, he was fure 
to prevent any Applications for Relief by an early and 
adequate AfTiftance. He gave an extraordinary Inftance 
ot this paternal Alfedion for his Subjeds on the happen- 
ing of an Earthquake, November 19, 1731, by whinh 
a great Part of the Imperial City of Peking was demo- 
liflied, and upwards of a thoufand People buried in the 
Ruins. He was at the Time it happened at one of his 
Palaces in the Country, not far from that City, and 
was taking the Air in a Boat upon one of the Canals, 
from whence he had the Mortification to fee the greateft 
Part of the Buildings, which had coft his Predeceffors 
immenfe Sums, fubverted in an Inftant. Upon this he 
immediately went a-fhore, proftrated himfelf upon the 
Ground, implored the Mercy of the Great God of Heaven 
and Earth for his Fellow Creatures, and befought him, 
if that Punifhment was due to any Crimes of his, that 
he might rather be removed, and become the Objed 
of the Divine Vengeance, than that it fhould fall upon 
an innocent People, criminal only from their being his 
Subjeds. 
As foon as the Danger was’ over, forgetting the Ruin 
of his Palace, he appointed Commiffioners to enquire 
into the Loffes which the People of Peking had fuftained, 
relieved the Families of thofe who were killed, and iffued 
a prodigious Sum of Money for repairing the Houfes, 
and rebuilding the publick Edifices that had been thrown 
down, and which is a very ftrong Proof of his hav- 
ing no Pique or Prejudice to the Chriftian Religion 5 
being informed that the great Church of the Jefuits was 
in a Manner totally ruined, he fent for the Miflionaries, 
treated them with great Humanity and Tendernefs at 
their Audience, recommended to them the Repair of 
their Church as foon as poffible, and made them a Pre- 
fentof one thoufand Taels in Gold, which amounts to 
666 /. of our Money, for that Purpofe. 
We need not wonder that a Monarch, who reigned 
fo worthily, fhould be beloved and revered, as well as 
obeyed with the utmoft Sub'miffion by all his People ; 
and it is univerfally allowed, that the Chinefe fhewed their 
Duty to this Prince in a Manner fuitable to the Obliga- 
tions which he daily conferred upon them, and teftified 
upon all Occafions as fincere and tender Affection for 
him, as if he had been their natural Parent. We have 
no certain Accounts fince thefe, except only the Mif- 
fortune that befel the Chriftians in 1732, when the 
Miffionaries that had been hitherto allowed to remain 
at Canton were of a fudden ordered to retire to Macao, 
They had this Notice given them on the 6th of Auguft, 
and on the 9th they were embarked, to the Number of 
thirty Perfons, and thofe who accompanied the Miff 
fionaries, were treated with the utmoft Indignity j the 
only Reafon affigned was, becaufe, contrary to the Em- 
peror’s Orders, they had endeavoured to propagate the 
Chriftian Doblrine. But various Difputes having arifen 
between the Dominicans and the Jefuits refiding in China^ 
and feveral Books having been lately printed in Popifb 
Countries relating to thefe Difputes, we may from 
thence in fome Meafure gather what have been the 
Motives to this new Perfecution, 
In order to fet a Matter fo obfeure, in a Light as di- 
ftinift as may be, it will be, in the firft Place, right to 
obferve, that it is not abfolutely certain, whether it can 
be, with greater Propriety afferted, that the Jefuits hav@ 
taught the Chinefe a new Religion, than that the Chinefe 
have taught them one 5, it is very reafonable to believe. 
