hout performing the _kotow_ was granted, the ambassador of
Japan being first received, and after him those of the United States,
Russia, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands. For the first time
foreigners were permitted to stand erect and gaze with uplifted eyes on
"the sacred countenance," and the equality with the emperor of the
monarchs of the West was acknowledged by the Celestial court.

_A GREAT CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT AND ITS FATE._

The Chinese are a peculiar people, and have odd ideas of the power and
duty of their monarchs and of their own rights and duties. In their
country no son has the right to resist his father, even if he be treated
with tyrannical cruelty. But in regard to the emperor, though they look
upon him as the father of his people, they claim the right to depose him
and put him to death if he plays the tyrant. So long as he rules with
justice and wisdom both man and nature acknowledge his authority, but if
he violates the principles of justice and goodness the Chinaman claims
the right to rebel, while such evils of nature as pestilence and famine,
destructive storms and earthquakes, are held as proofs that Heaven is
withdrawing from the weak or wicked emperor the right to rule.

The history of the empire is full of instances of popular rebellions
against offending rulers, some quelled, others hurling the monarch from
his throne, and in this way most of the old dynasties ended and new ones
began. The course of events brought about such a state of affairs in the
nineteenth century. Though the Chinese have never been content with
their Manchu rulers, they submitted to them as long as they were just
and public-spirited. But in time this dynasty suffered the fate of all
others, weak emperors following the strong ones, and in the reign of the
incompetent Kea-king, who succeeded Keen Lung, rebellions broke out in a
dozen quarters, pirates ravaged the coast, and the disaffection extended
throughout the realm.

In 1820 this weak emperor died, and was succeeded by Taou-kwang, who
proved even less fit to rule than his father, devoting himself to the
pursuit of pleasure and leaving the empire to take care of itself. Soon
new rebels were in the field, whom the armies proved unable to put down,
and the disorganization of the empire made rapid progress. Even the
Meaou-tsze, or hill-tribes, the descendants of the first inhabitants of
the country, rose in arms and defeated an army of thirty thousand m