The History of China, Vol. 2 of 2

Excerpt from The History of China, Vol. 2 of 2

When the aged Keen Lung passed from the hall of audience into the inner chamber of the palace, there were no symptoms that the power of the executive was on the wane, or that his successor would fail to maintain intact the legacy of Manchu authority which he had inherited from three vigorous predecessors. So far as external appearances went, China at the commencement of the present centurj was at the very height of her prosperity and renown. Never before had her Empire been recognized over a wider surface or by a greater number of subjects; and at no previous period had her Exchequer been so well replenished, or her commerce in a more flourishing condition. The dangers of national prejudice and hostility, which had long threatened to hurl the Tartar dynasty from its seat, were obliterated, or at least thrust out of sight; and to the most critical examination the Celestial Empire presented the appearance of complete unanimity between the ruler and the ruled. Never before, and certainly never since, did the Chinese appear a greater and more powerful people in the eyes of the European traveller than they did when the present century, big with the destiny of mighty things, began to dawn.

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