this Tsu I returned to his own city, and said, "Your crimes, which are many, are registered above, and can you still appeal to the appointment of Heaven in your favor? Yin will perish very shortly. As to all your deeds, can they but bring ruin on your country?"

Book XI.- THE COUNT OF WEI1

1. The Count of Wei spoke to the following effect: "Grand-Master and Junior-Master, the House of Yin, we may conclude, can no longer exercise rule over the four quarters of the kingdom. The great deeds of our founder were displayed in former ages, but by our maddened indulgence in spirits we have destroyed the effects of his virtue in these after-times. The people of Yin, small and great, are given to highway robberies, villainies, and treachery. The nobles and officers imitate one another in violating the laws, and there is no certainty that criminals will be apprehended. The smaller people consequently rise up, and commit violent outrages on one another. Yin is now sinking in ruin; its condition is like that of one crossing a stream, who can find neither ford nor bank. That Yin should be hurrying to ruin

at the present pace!"

He added, "Grand-Master and Junior-Master, we are manifesting insanity. The most venerable members of our families are withdrawn to the wilds; and you indicate no course to be taken, but only tell me of the impending ruin; what is to be done?"

2. The Grand-Master made about the following reply:

1 The conversation recorded here- called, like the last Book, and with as little reason, an Announcement "- is referred to 1123 B.C., the year in which the dynasty of Shang perished. Wei was a principality in the royal domain, corresponding to the present district of Lu-Chang, department of Lu-an, Shan-hsi, the lords of which were counts. The count who appears here was, most probably, an elder brother of the king, and by the same mother, who was, however, only a concubine when the count was born, but raised to be queen before the birth of Chau-hsin. Saddened with the thought of the impending ruin of the dynasty, the count seeks the counsel of two other high nobles, and asks them to tell him what was to be done.

"O son of our former king, Heaven in anger is sending down calamities, and wasting the country of Yin. Hence has arisen that mad indulgence in spirits. The king has no reverence for things which he ought to reverence, but does despite to the venerable aged, the men who have long been in office. The people of Yin will now steal even the pure and perfect victims devoted to the spirits of heaven and earth; and their conduct is connived at, and though they proceed to eat the victims they suffer no punishment. On the other hand, when I look down and survey the people of Yin, the methods by which they are governed are hateful exactions, which call forth outrages and hatred; and this without ceasing. Such crimes equally belong to all in authority, and multitudes are starving with none to whom to appeal. Now is the time of Shang's calamity; I will arise and share in its ruin. When ruin overtakes Shang, I will not be the servant of another House. But I tell you, O king's son, to go away, as being the course for you. Formerly I injured you by what I said; if you do not now go away, our sacrifices will entirely perish. Let us rest quietly in our several parts, and each present himself to the former kings 2 as having done I do not think of making my escape."

So.

2 It is understood that the former king, the father of both Chi and Chau-hsin, had wished to leave the throne to Chi, and that the GrandMaster had advocated such a measure; thereby injuring Chi when it did not take effect, through making Chau-hsin jealous of him.

THE SHU KING

PART V.- THE BOOKS OF CHAU 1

Book I. THE GREAT DECLARATION 2

Section 1

In the spring of the thirteenth year 3 there was a great assembly at Mang-Ching. The king said, "Ah! ye hereditary rulers of my friendly States, and all ye my officers, managers of my affairs, harken clearly to my declaration.

"Heaven and earth is the parent of all creatures; and of all creatures man is the most highly endowed. The sincerely intelligent among men becomes the great sovereign; and the great sovereign is the parent of the people. But now, Shau, the king of Shang, does not reverence Heaven above, and inflicts calamities on the people below. Abandoned to drunkenness, and reckless in lust, he has dared to exercise cruel oppression. He has extended the punishment of offenders

1 Chau is the dynastic designation under which King Wu and his descendants possessed the throne from 1122 to 256 B.C., a period of 867 years. They traced their lineage up to Chi, who was Minister of Agriculture under Shun. He was invested with the principality of Thai, the present district of Fu-fang, department of Fang-hsiang, Shen-hsi. Long afterward Than-fu, claiming to be one of his descendants, appears in 1326 B.C., founding the State of Chau, near mount Chi, in the same department of Fang-hsiang. This Than-fu was the great-grandfather of King Wu.

2 King Wu, having at last taken the field against Chau-hsin, the tyrant of Shang, made three speeches to his officers and men, setting forth the reasons for his enterprise, and urging them to exert themselves with him in the cause of humanity and Heaven. They are brought together, and constitute "the Great Declaration." "In the first Part," says a Chinese critic, "King Wu addresses himself to the princes and nobles of inferior rank; in the second, to their hosts; and in the third, to his officers."

3 The thirteenth year is reckoned from King Wu's succeeding to his father as "the Chief of the West."

66

Mang-Ching, or the Ford of Mang," is still the name of a district in the department of Ho-nan, Ho-nan.

VOL. XI.-6.

to all their relatives. He has put men into offices on the hereditary principle. He has made it his pursuit to have palaces, towers, pavilions, embankments, ponds, and all other extravagances, to the most painful injury of you, the myriads of the people. He has burned and roasted the loyal and good. He has ripped up pregnant women. Great Heaven was moved with indignation, and charged my deceased father Wan to display its terrors; but he died before the work was completed.

"On this account, I, Fa, the little child, have by means of you, the hereditary rulers of my friendly States, contemplated the government of Shang; but Shau has no repentant heart. He sits squatting on his heels, not serving God nor the spirits of heaven and earth, neglecting also the temple of his ancestors, and not sacrificing in it. The victims and the vessels of millet all become the prey of wicked robbers, and still he says, 'The people are mine; the heavenly appointment is mine,' never trying to correct his contemptuous mind.

"Heaven, for the help of the inferior people, made for them rulers, and made for them instructors, that they might be able to be aiding to God, and secure the tranquillity of the four quarters of the kingdom. In regard to who are criminals and who are not, how dare I give any allowance to my own wishes?

"Where the strength is the same, measure the virtue of the parties; where the virtue is the same, measure their righteousness.' Shau has hundreds of thousands and myriads of officers, but they have hundreds of thousands and myriads of minds; I have but three thousand officers, but they have one mind. The iniquity of Shang is full. Heaven gives command to destroy it. If I did not obey Heaven, my iniquity would be as great.

"I, the little child, early and late am filled with apprehensions. I have received the command of my deceased father Wan; I have offered special sacrifice to God; I have performed the due services to the great earth; and I lead the multitude of you to execute the punishment appointed by

Heaven. Heaven compassionates the people. What the people desire, Heaven will be found to give effect to. Do you aid me, the One man, to cleanse for ever all within the four seas. Now is the time! It should not be lost."

Section 2

On the day Wu-wu,5 the king halted on the north of the Ho. When all the princes with their hosts were assembled, the king reviewed the hosts, and made the following declaration: "Oh, ye multitudes of the west, harken all to my words.

"I have heard that the good man, doing good, finds the day insufficient; and that the evil man, doing evil, also finds the day insufficient. Now Shau, the king of Shang, with strength pursues his lawless way. He has driven away the timeworn sires, and cultivates intimacies with wicked men. Dissolute, intemperate, reckless, oppressive, his ministers have become assimilated to him; and they form combinations and contract animosities, and depend on their power to exterminate one another. The innocent cry to Heaven. The odor of such a state is felt on high.

Heaven loves the people, and the sovereign should reverently carry out this mind of Heaven. Chieh, the sovereign of Hsia, would not follow the example of Heaven, but sent forth his poisonous injuries through the States of the kingdom; Heaven therefore gave its aid to Thang the Successful, and charged him to make an end of the appointment of Hsia. But the crimes of Shau exceed those of Chieh. He has degraded from office the greatly good man; he has behaved with cruel tyranny to his reprover and helper. He says that with him is the appointment of Heaven; he says that a reverent care of his conduct is not worth observing; he says that sacrifice is of no use; he says that tyranny is no harm. The beacon for him to look to was not far off it

5 In Book iii we are told that Wu commenced his march to attack Chau-hsin, on Kwei-Chi, the second day of the moon. Calculating on to the day Wu-wu, we find that it was the twenty-eighth day of the same

moon.

• The count of Wei.

7 Pi-kan.