Whether The Emperor's Apprehensions Overcame His
Reason, Or Whether There Were Among His Kinsmen, Some Men Of More Than
Average Ability, It Is Certain That The Princes Of The Manchu Family Were
Goaded Or Incited Into What Amounted To Rebellion.
The exact particulars
remain unknown until the dynastic history sees the light of day; but it is
known that many of them were executed, and that many hundreds of them were
banished to Manchuria, where they were given employment in taking care of
the ancestral tombs of the ruling family.
Special significance was given to these intrigues and palace plots by the
remarkable increase in the number and the confidence of the secret
societies which, in some form or other, have been a feature of Chinese
public life from an early period. Had they not furnished evidence by their
increased numbers and daring of the dissatisfaction prevalent among the
Chinese masses, whether on account of the hardships of their lot, or from
hatred of their Tartar lords, they would scarcely have created so much
apprehension in the bosom of the Emperor Kiaking, whose authority met with
no open opposition, and whose reign was nominally one of both internal and
external peace. These secret societies have always been, in the form of
fraternal confederacies and associations, a feature in Chinese life; but
during the present century they have acquired an importance they could
never previously claim, both in China and among Chinese colonies abroad.
The first secret society to become famous was that of the Water-Lily, or
Pe-leen-keaou, which association chose as its emblem and title the most
popular of all plants in China. Although the most famous of the societies,
and the one which is regarded as the parent of all that have come after
it, the Water-Lily had, as a distinct organization, a very brief
existence. Its organizers seem to have dropped the name, or to have
allowed it to sink into disuse in consequence of the strenuous official
measures taken against the society by the government for the attempt, in
1803, on Kiaking's life in the streets of Pekin. They merged themselves
into the widely-extended confederacy of the Society of Celestial Reason -
the Theen-te-Hwuy - which became better known by the title given to it by
Europeans of the Triads, from their advocacy of the union between Heaven,
earth, and man. The Water-Lily Society, before it was dissolved, caused
serious disturbances in both Shantung and Szchuen, and especially in the
latter province, where the disbanded army that had rescued Tibet and
punished the Goorkhas furnished the material for sedition. With more or
less difficulty, and at a certain expense of life, these risings were
suppressed, and Kiaking's authority was rendered secure against these
assailants, while for his successors was left the penalty of feeling the
full force of the national indignation of which their acts were the
expression.
With regard to the organization of these secret societies, which probably
remain unchanged to the present day, China had nothing to learn from
Europe either as to the objects to be obtained in this way or as to how
men are to be bound together by solemn vows for the attainment of illegal
ends. By signs known only to themselves, and by pass-words, these sworn
conspirators could recognize their members in the crowded streets, and
could communicate with each other without exciting suspicion as to their
being traitors at heart. In its endeavors to cope with this formidable and
widespread organization under different names, Kiaking's government found
itself placed at a serious disadvantage. Without an exact knowledge of the
intentions or resources of its secret enemies, it failed to grapple with
them, and, as its sole remedy, it could only decree that proof of
membership carried with it the penalty of death.
During the last years of the reign of Kiaking the secret societies rather
threatened future trouble than constituted a positive danger to the state.
They were compelled to keep quiet and to confine their attention to
increasing their numbers rather than to realizing their programme. The
emperor was consequently able to pass the last four years of his life with
some degree of personal tranquillity, and in full indulgence of his palace
pleasures, which seem at this period to have mainly consisted of a
theatrical troupe which accompanied him even when he went to offer
sacrifice in the temples. His excessive devotion to pleasure did not add
to his reputation with his people, and it is recorded that one of the
chief causes of the minister Sung's disgrace and banishment to Ili was his
making a protest against the emperor's proceedings. Some time before his
death Kiaking drew up his will, and on account of his great virtues he
specially selected as his successor his second son, Prince Meenning, who
had saved his life from assassins in the attack on the palace. Kiaking
died on September 2, 1820, in the sixty-first year of his age, leaving to
his successor a diminished authority, an enfeebled power, and a
discontented people. Some mitigating circumstance may generally be pleaded
against the adverse verdict of history in its estimation of a public
character. The difficulties with which the individual had to contend may
have been exceptional and unexpected, the measures which he adopted may
have had untoward and unnatural results, and the crisis of the hour may
have called for genius of a transcendent order. But in the case of Kiaking
not one of these extenuating facts can be pleaded. His path had been
smoothed for him by his predecessor, his difficulties were raised by his
own indifference, and the consequences of his spasmodic and ill-directed
energy were scarcely less unfortunate than those of his habitual apathy.
So much easier is the work of destruction than the labor of construction,
that Kiaking in twenty-five years had done almost as much harm to the
constitution of his country and to the fortunes of his dynasty as Keen
Lung had conferred solid advantages on the state in his brilliant reign of
sixty years.
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Page 89 of 188
Words from 89693 to 90712
of 191255
