neceffary, in order to forward that objedt, to make themfelves
ufeful to the government. In China, they are occafionally employed
as aftronomers, mathematicians, mechanics, and interpreters.
“ It muft have appeared a fingular fpeaacle,” obferves
Sir George Staunton, “ to every clafs o f beholders, to fee men
“ adtuated by motives different from thofe o f moft human
“ actions, quitting for ever their country and their connexions,
“ to devote themfelves for life to the purpofes o f changing
“ the tenets o f a people they had never feen; and in purfuing
“ that objedt to run every rifk, fuffer every perfecution, and
t facrifice every comfort; infinuating themfelves, by addrefs,
“ by talent, b y perfeverance, by humility, by application to
“ ftudies foreign from their original education, or by the culti-
“ vation o f arts to which they had not been bred, into notice
“ and protection ; overcoming the prejudices o f being ftrangers
“ in a country where moft ftrangers were prohibited, and where
“ it was a crime to have abandoned the tombs o f their ancejiors,
“ and gaining, at length, eftabliihments neceffary for the pro-
“ pagation o f their faith, without turning their influence to any
“ perfonal advantage.1’
Moft o f thofe, however, who were eftablifhed in Pekin, to
the fpiritual confolation o f having laboured in the vineyard o f
the gofpel not altogether in vain (for they do fometimes gain
a profelyte) add the fubftantial fatisfadtion o f not having ne-
gledled their worldly concerns. Befides the emoluments arifing
from their feveral communities, they have fhops and houfes in
the capital, which they rent to Chinefe. T h e y have alfo their
country villas and eftates, where they cultivate the vine and
other
other fruits,. apd make their own wine. The revenues o f the
two Portuguefe feminaries are ftated to amount to twelve
thouland ounces o f filver, or four thoufand pounds a year.
The miffion de propaganda fid e is poor. The French Jefuits
were once rich ; but their property was diflipated on the diffo-
lution of their fociety. The French mifiions étrangères drew on
their fuperiors at Paris before the revolution, but fince that event
are reduced to a moft deplorable fituation. And it feemed to
me, from what I could perceive at Yuen-min-yuen, that they
were not much difpofed to affift one another. Each nation-
had its feparate intereft, and they were not willing to lofe any
opportunity o f calumniating their fellow-labourers. The French
and Italians were the moft moderate and liberal ; the Portuguefe
the moft inveterate. The miffionaries o f this nation appeared,
to be infpired with a jealoufy and hatred, more than theological,
againft the reft. It is faid indeed that their rich poffeffio'ns, and
the high fituations they unworthily hold in the board o f mathematics,
render them jealous o f all other Europeans ; and they
ufe every means o f excluding them from the country.
From the frequent diffenfions, indeed , among the different
orders, and their perpetual broils, originated the perfecutions
which they and their profelytes- fuffered in China. The moft
violent o f thefe difputes was carried on between the Jefuits
and the Dominicans. The Jefuits endeavoured to affimilate
their dodtrines and their opinions to thofe o f the Chinefe, at
leaft as far as they confcientioufly could venture to do, in conformity
to the nature o f their miffion ; by which means, together
with their apparently difinterefted conduit, they foon colledted
3 a numerous