of a leading State, that there was no help to come from it to the House of Chow, and no permanent alleviation of the evils under which the nation was suffering.

4. At the close of the Ch'un Ts'ëw period the kingdom was in a worse and more hopeless condition than at its commencement; and it seems strange to us that it did not enter into the mind of Confucius to forecast that the feudal system which had so long prevailed in China was 'waxen old and ready to vanish away.' But what State was to come out victorious from its conflicts with all the others, and take the lead in settling a new order of things? Only the event could reveal this, but it could be known that the struggle for supremacy would lie between two or three powers; and the The growth of some of the States an important study of their growth supplies one of the most important lessons which the Work of the sage and the Commentary of Tso are calculated to teach us.

subject of study. The causes of it.

A glance at the map shows us that the China proper of Chow was confined at first within narrow limits. Even at the beginning of the Ch'un Ts'ëw period it consisted of merely a few States of no great size, lying on either side of the Yellow River, from the point where its channel makes a sudden bend to the east onwards to its mouth.

North of the Royal Domain was Tsin, but, though a fief dating from the commencement of the kingdom, its growth had been so slow, that it is not till the second year of duke He, B.C. 657, that it appears in Confucius' text, on the eve of its subjugation of the small States of Yu and Kwoh. This was the first step which Tsin took in the career of enlargement by which it ere long attained to so great a size.

South of the Domain was Ts'oo; and, though it had been founded in the time of king Ching, it does not appear in the text of our Classic till the tenth year of duke Chwang, B.C. 683. It is then called King, and we do not meet with it under the name of Ts'oo till the first year of duke He, B.C. 658.

West from the Domain was Ts'in, the first lord of which was given a local habitation and name only in B.C. 908; and it did not become an independent fief of the kingdom till the year 769. Its first appearance in our text is in the fifteenth year of duke He, B.C. 644. A long way east from Ts'oo, and bordering on the sea, was the State of Woo, which, though claiming an earlier origin than the kingdom of Chow itself, is not mentioned in the classic till the seventh year of duke Ch'ing, B.C. 583.

But it will be observed that these four States had from their situation grand opportunities for increasing their territory and their population; and the consequence was that before the end of the Ch'un Tsew period each of them occupied an extent of country many times larger than the Royal Domain, while Ts'oo was nearly as large as all the Middle States, as those of Chow proper were called, together. The way in which it and Tsin proceeded was by extinguishing and absorbing the smaller States adjacent to them, and by a constant process of subjugating the barbarous tribes, which lay on the south and west of Ts'oo, and on the north and east of Tsin. Ts'in lay farther off from the settled parts of the country, and its princes had not so much to do in absorbing smaller States, but they early established their sway over all the Jung, or the wild hordes of the west. The leadership, which I have said in the preceding paragraph is improperly ascribed to duke Muh of Ts'in as being over the feudal States belonged to him in his relation to the Jung. The sea forbade any extension of the border of Woo on the east, but it found much land to be occupied on the north and south, and its armies, going up the Keang or Yang-tsze, met those of Ts'oo, and fought with them for the possession of the country between that great river and the Hwae.

The States of Chow proper had little room for any similar expansion. They were closely massed together. From the first immigration of the ancestors of the Chinese tribe, their course had been eastwards and mainly along the course of the Yellow River, and most of the older occupants of the country had been pushed before them to the borders of the sea. Ts'e extended right to the sea, and so did Ke which the other absorbed. Then came the small States of K'e and Keu, the latter of which had a sea border, while they do not seem to have ever thought of pushing their way into what is now called the promontory of Shan-tung. The people of both K'e and Keu were often taunted by the other States with belonging themselves to the E barbarians. South from Keu there was a tract extending inland a considerable way, occupied by E tribes and the half-civilized people of Seu, and reaching down to the hordes of the Hwae, which Loo pleased itself with the idea of reducing, but which it was never able to reduce. Altogether there was, as I have said, hardly any room for the growth of these middle States. Ts'e was the strongest of them, and longest maintained its independence, ultimately absorbing Sung, which had itself previously absorbed Ts'aou. Of the others, Heu, Ts‘ae, Ch'in, the two Choo, Loo, and in the end

1 See the She, Part, IV., Bk. II., ode III.

Ch'ing fell to Ts'oo, and Wei became dependent on one of the marquisates or kingdoms into which Tsin was divided.

Woo for a time made rapid progress, and seemed as if it would at least wrest the sovereignty of the south from Ts'oo; but its downfall was more rapid than its rise had been. It was extinguished by Yueh a very few years after the close of the Ch'un Ts'ëw period, and Yueh itself had ere long to succumb to Ts'oo.

Thus, as time went on, it became increasingly clear that the final struggle for the supreme power would be between Ts'in and Ts'oo. If Tsin had remained entire, it would probably have been more than a match for them both; but the elements of disorganization had long been at work in it, and it was divided, about the year B.C. 400, into three marquisates. The lords of these soon claimed, all of them, the title of king, and the way in which they maintained for a century and a half the struggle with Ts'in and Ts'oo shows how great the power of Tsin unbroken would have been. Ts'e and Yen also assumed the royal style, and made a gallant defence against the powers of the west and the south; but they would not have held out so long as they did but for the distance which intervened between them and the centres of both their adversaries. Ts'in at last bore down all opposition, and though of all the great States that developed during the Ch'un Ts'ew period it was the latest to make its appearance, it remained master of the field. From the kings of Chow it cannot be said to have met with any resistance. Their history for three hundred years before the extinction of the dynasty is almost a blank. They continued to hold a nominal occupancy of the throne so long only because there were so many other princes contending for it.

The above review of the closing centuries of the dynasty of Chow, and of its overthrow by the king of Ts'in, seems to prove, brief as it has been, that, given a number of warring States or nations, victory will in the long run declare itself in favour of that one which has the most extensive territory and the largest population. Ts'in and Ts'oo, when they first came into contact with the States of Chow proper, were, no doubt, inferior to them in the arts of civilization generally, and among these of the art of war; but they had vast resources and a rude energy, which compensated in the first place for want of skill, and they soon learned from their adversaries whatever was required for their effective application. A fixedness of purpose and recklessness in the expenditure of human life characterized their measures, and the struggle came at last to be mainly

between themselves. It ended more from the exhaustion of the combatants than from any real superiority on the part of Ts'in.

While the downfall of Chow has led me thus to speak of the success which must inevitably attend the efforts of the combatant whose resources are the greatest, if the contents of my volume led me to trace the history of China downwards for a few more years, it would be as evident that, while material strength is sure, when not deficient in warlike skill, to gain a conquest, it cannot consolidate it. The brief existence of the Ts'in dynasty seemed but to afford a breathing time to the warring States, and then China became once more horrid with the din of arms. Most of the States which had contended over the throne of Chow again took the field, and others with them, until, after sixteen years more of strife and misery, the contest was decided in favour of the House of Han, which joined to force of arms respect for the traditions of the country, and a profession at least of reverence for the virtues of justice and benevolence.

6. An incident occurred during the time of duke Sëang which deserves to have attention called to it, as illustrating the saying that 'there is nothing new under the sun,' where we should not expect its illustration. The strife between Ts'oo and Tsin was then at its height; and the States generally were groaning under the miseries which it occasioned. It occurred to Heang Seuh, a minister of An endeavour made to put an Sung, that he would be deserving well of end to war by covenant. S the country if he could put an end to the constant wars. The idea of a Peace Society took possession of his mind. He was by no means without ability himself, and had a faculty for negotiation and intrigue. He was, no doubt, sincerely desirous to abate the evils which abounded, but we are sorry to find that he was ambitious also 'to get a name' for himself by his measure, and had an eye to more substantial advantages as well. How his scheme worked itself out in his own mind we do not know; but after long brooding over it, he succeeded in giving it a practical shape, which may have been modified by the force of circumstances. Being on friendly terms with the chief ministers of Tsin and Ts'oo, he first submitted his plan to them, and procured their assent to it. In Tsin they said, 'War is destructive to the people and eats up our resources; and it is the greatest calamity of the small States. Seuh's plan will perhaps turn out impracticable, but we must give it our sanction; for if we do not, Ts'oo will do it, and so improve its position with the States to our disadvantage.' Similarly they

reasoned and agreed in Ts'oo, Ts'e, and Ts'in, The great powers appeared all to be willing.

Having succeeded thus far, Seuh proceeded to call a meeting of the States generally, and in the summer of 535 the representatives of not fewer than fourteen of them met in the capital of Sung. Various jealousies were displayed in making the arrangements preliminary to a covenant. Ts'e and Ts'in were exempted from taking the oath, so that the agreement was narrowed to a compact between Ts'oo and Tsin, and the States which adhered to them respectively; and though this would secure a temporary peace to the kingdom, yet the two other great States, being left unbound, might take advantage of it, to prosecute their own ambitious designs. Ts'oo, moreover, displayed a fierce and unconciliating spirit which promised illfor the permanence of the arrangement. However, the covenant. was accepted with these drawbacks. There should be war no more! And to assure so desirable an end, the princes who had been in the habit of acknowledging the superiority of Ts'oo should show their respect for Tsin by appearing at its court, and those who had been adherents of Tsin should similarly appear at the court of Ts'oo. Thus these two Powers would receive the homage of all the States; and it was implied, perhaps, that they would unite their forces to punish any State which should break the general peace. Nothing was said of the loyal service which was due from them all to the kings of Chow; and Ts'in and Ts'e were left, as I have said, unfettered, to take their own course. I apprehend that the princes and ministers who were at the meeting separated without much hope of the pacification being permanent;—as indeed it did not prove to be. Heang Seuh alone thought that he had accomplished a great work; and without being satisfied, as we wish that he had been, with the consciousness that he had done so, he proceeded to ask a grant of lands and towns from the duke of Sung as a reward for 'arresting the occasion of death.' His application was acceded to, but it did not take effect. Seuh showed the charter of the grant which he had obtained to Tsze-han the chief minister of the State, who said to him, 'It is by their arms that Tsin and Ts'oo keep the small States in awe. Standing in awe, the high and low in them are loving and harmonious, and thus the States are kept quiet, and do service to the great powers, securing their own preservation and escaping ruin. Who can do away with the instruments of war? They have been long in requisition. By them the lawless are kept in awe, and accomplished virtue is displayed. On them