The Princes, Nobles,* Ministers and subordinate officers of our Court who have one and all received our bounty, ought by rights to show their gratitude by doing their best in lightening our labours in such crises as the present as well diligently order to deserve the confidence we have placed in them. We are therefore filled with indignation when we find that it has of late been a habit of many of our officers to shirk their duties using all sorts of excuses to avoid them. Even, for instance, after hehad decreed certain officers to attend simple ceremonies such as sacrificial worship and the like, we often now meet with memorials from the various Boards and departments praying us to select some one else to take the place of the selected oticers owing to the latter being unavoidably prevented from one cause or another obeying the Imperial commands, etc. This we take to be sheer laziness and shirking of extra work which must be severely denounced and prohibited once for all. We would therefore give fair warning to all such that in the future we will make careful investigations into excuses brought to us and if we find any one guilty of trying to deceive us, we promise such persons that their punish-mont will in no wise be light. Now, after this decree, let no one say that he has not boon given fair warning to desist frown such evil practices, 9th February.
We have received a memorial from Tan Chung-lin, Viceroy of the Two Kuang +provinces, stating that the people of Chaochou prefecture are anxious to show their appreciation of the kind and benoficent rule of a recent prefect, the late Wu Chun, by praying for permission to build a memorial temple in honour of the deceased prefect in the city of Chaochou. Furthermore, memorialist, in looking over the official record of the deeds dune by the late prefect, is of opinion that they also should be commemorated by being inseted in the Dyasstic History as an example of kind and beneficent official who had been uniformly devoted to his duties for rer twenty years and loved the people as disown children. As this is a laudable case we have pleasure in granting both the prayers abore noted.
10th February.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.