The principle of true goverament lies in the determination to seck for the substance of all things. Of late, owing to the difficulties of the times, the Throne has in a things sought to effect the welfare of the {people, and whenever our Ministers and lower officials memorialised un subjects having reference to the strengthening of the country we have never failed to approve of them with the command to bring such measures into force at once, while the number of decrees issued on these subjects has, indeed, not been few. If, therefore, the high officials, both in Peking and in the provinces, set earnestly to -work in obeying our commands there would never have been any difficulty in obtaining substantial results therefrom. Unfortunately old practices have been so deeply rooted in the hearts of all these officials that it seems impossible to make them break through such barriers. For whenever they receive an Imperial edict they think that all that is needed of them is to transmit our commands to their subordinates: they never make avy attempt to see that our edicts are put into fore. And when chided for their dilatoriness, excuses and false attestations are put forward to cover their faults. It follows, therefore, that our decrees are looked upon only asso much waste paper and never have we heard of any substantial results arising from them. Why is it then that, having received such acious bounties from the Throne, our coreys and Governors never "seek to help us bear our burdens, which cause us anxious days and sleepless nights? We, therefore, now again call upon these high officials to set to work at once upon all matters of immediate importance, such as the disciplining and organising of the territorial armies; the Pao-chia or Military Police organisations the creation of reserve granaries; and the encouragement of agriculture, mechanical arts, and commerce. Let there be no further delay and let every one tremblingly obey our commands. "Those amongst the high officials who have already reported to us on such matters are hereby commanded to begin at once to put them into execution, while to those who have not we grant one month to report to us what they can do in this direction. Moreover, having begun on such reform measures the said high officials are to report to us at various intervals upon the progress of their work so that we may send special commissioners to examine them. In conclusion, all our high officials are expected, after receiving this edict, to rouse themselves up into active and earnest effort and they are warned from attending to the advice of crafty secretaries and slippery. subordinates, accustomed to a life of fraud and falsehood; for, if it be hereafter discovered that empty show instead of the solid substance has been attempted, we will consider it to be a wish to deceive the Throne and the delinquent guilty of sch conduct will be punished according to the law provided for such crimes. "Let it not be said that warning has not been given in time.
[Wote: The punishment for deceiving the Emperor is death and confiscation of property.—Translator.]
(sued 1st January.)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.