CHAPTER XXIII.
AUDIENCE WITH THE SON OF HEAVEN.--NICHOLAS ACCUSES A GREAT PRINCE OFTREASON.
Nicholas was led into the hall between two inferior mandarins, and hadno sooner prostrated himself at the foot of the throne, than the PrinceLi-Kong said, "Surely the eyes of the Emperor of the earth are too holyto be darkened by such mean dogs as this. Let the common executionerdeal with him, for there can be no doubt of his guilt."
"Stop not the fountain of justice at its very source, O my sovereign,for when was it that a good king refused to listen to the meanest of hisslaves?" said Woo; but before the Emperor could reply, one of the greatofficers of the palace ran up to the steps of the throne, performed theprostrations, and being commanded to speak,
"The great and beautiful princess, thy daughter, begs an audience of herillustrious father," said the officer.
The Emperor having signified his assent, the princess, accompanied bythe Lady Candida, and both veiled, knelt before the Emperor, who,lifting her from her kneeling position, said affectionately, "Truly mydaughter must have matter of weighty import upon her lips, thus tobreak through the delicacy of her sex and rank."
"Pardon, great prince, if thy daughter has forgotten what is due eitherto her parent or her sex, but it is a common saying, 'that those whoforget favors conferred upon them are unfit to live,' and therefore thydaughter would protect the life of one who saved her from a crueldeath," said the princess.
"Has the safety of the pearl of my life been endangered?" said theEmperor, trembling at the possibility of such a catastrophe, and placinghis hands upon her head; adding, "What words are these, my daughter, foris not the empire crowded with those who would deem happiness if it wereto save their princess from danger."
"Not one of whom could have saved her from the savage sin-fin, who,having escaped from his cage, had seized her, when yonder bold youthslew the beast."
The Lady Candida then described the whole scene in the gardens to theEmperor, who forgetful of the desecration of the place by the profanefeet of Nicholas, nay, of every thing but the escape of his belovedchild from a fearful death, commanded the release of Nicholas; but againthe general Li-Kong stepped forward.
"It is true," said he, "that the beautiful and illustrious princess hasbeen saved from great peril, and the whole empire will rejoice; yet itis a maxim, 'that the laws should be enforced even upon the imperialkindred.' Moreover, my sovereign, in his generosity, forgets that thecage of the beast could not have opened itself, and that the slavemerits death for being in the garden."
"Though not generous, the words of the rebel-exterminating general arejust," replied the weak prince; adding, to Nicholas, sternly, "What saysthe boy; what traitorous errand brought him within the sacred gardens ofour palace?"
"The life of the slave belongs to the master. The personal safety of thyservant, O great prince, was nothing when he desired to place in thyhands a letter of the greatest moment, from one far greater than thelords around thy throne."
"These are wild words, O youth; for know you not that it was the duty ofour chief colao to receive thy letter?" said the Emperor, interrupting.
"Mean as is thy servant, O prince, he knew that treason was within thepalace, and that the letter would never reach thy royal hands;therefore, that it should not fail to do so, I sought the imperialgardens with the daring hope of meeting thy royal daughter, knowing thatif my life were sacrificed, my mission would be fulfilled," saidNicholas; adding, "Such has been the crime, and the criminal awaits hispunishment."
"This letter," said the Emperor.
"Is here, great prince," and Nicholas presented the document toWey-t-song, who tore open the seals, and for some minutes became lost inthe perusal of its contents, after which, to the surprise of the court,he placed it beneath his vest, saying, "This letter must be for theconsideration of our inner council. Youth, thy honesty and loyalty arebeyond doubt, and we permit thee to name thy own reward."
"Thy slave, O prince, would ask one so great, that the greatest of thytributaries would seek it upon his knees," was the reply, to theastonishment of the lords, who expected it would be nothing less thanthe hand of the princess. "No less, indeed, than a private audience,"added Nicholas, which, with a smile at this novel and modest request,the Emperor granted.
"May this not be a trap, O my prince, to beguile thy person within reachof the assassin's dagger?" said the artful but baffled Li-Kong.
"The dagger to be feared by thy sovereign, base prince, is beneath thineown vest," said Nicholas.
"Dares the dog so far?" said the exasperated Li-Kong.
"Forget not thy dignity, O noble Li," said Woo-san-Kwei, touching thatprince upon the shoulder, and adding, "Yet it is but just that such anassertion, made in the very presence of the Emperor, should beverified."
The Emperor came to the rescue, saying, "Open thy lips, youth, for, wellas we think of thy honesty, thou hast uttered words against the noblestof our yellow girdles, which as they are true or false merit reward orpunishment."
Thus challenged Nicholas fell upon his knees, and related his adventureat the palace of retirement, declaring that the two men were plottingthe dethronement of the Emperor, and that the chief of the two was thePrince Li-Kong himself. At this bold and circumstantial accusation, theyoung Prince Yong-Li and the great lords on the steps of the throne,placed their hands upon their swords, and alternately glancing atLi-Kong and Nicholas, awaited the command of the Emperor to seize eitheraccuser or accused. For an instant the lips of Li-Kong quivered withfear or rage, but, recovering his equanimity, he gave a signal with hishand, when a large body of military mandarins came around him, and fellupon their knees before the Emperor, when Li said, "Are the services ofthy servant so soon forgotten, have the rebels been no sooner chastised,and peace restored within the empire, that the exterminator and hisofficers should be as mice before the words of this less than a dog? Omy sovereign! let these officers be questioned, and they will prove thaton the night of which the dog speaks, their general was engaged indiscovering a new conspiracy among the Fan-Kwi priests."
"What words are these, O prince?" said the Emperor, whose alarm had beenartfully turned in another direction. "Have we not honored thesepriests, even to making their chief the president of our high board ofmathematics?"
"Yet such is the ingratitude of the barbarians, O my Emperor, that, inleague with the outer barbarians, they seek to overthrow the empire."
"Let my guards instantly secure every villain priest within the walls ofthe city," said the terrified Emperor.
"Thy slaves have been diligent, and thy command anticipated, O Emperor;the miserable chief of the mathematics and his brethren have beencarried before the three tribunals, their guilt proved, and mostmercifully adjudged to be strangled; the sentence but awaits thevermilion pencil of the Emperor," said Li-Kong.
"The judges have failed in the duties of their office by so mild asentence, for which let them all be degraded three degrees of rank, andthe priests be cut into ten thousand pieces," said the Emperor.
"If the crime be proved, the sentence is light; if not, terrible must bethy remorse, O my sovereign, for the learned father's services have beengreat. Surely, then, thy wisdom alone should seek to discover the guiltor innocence of this enormous culprit, or much-injured priest," saidWoo.
"The words of the venerable Woo, O my royal father, are worthy of hisyears and the imperial dignity; let not thy indignation rather than thyjustice adjudge this priest, but command that he be brought beforethee," said the young prince, earnestly.
"Thy words are but reasonable, my son; we will examine the Christian dogourselves," said the Emperor. When, at a signal, the aged missionary,Adam Schaal, was brought before the throne, so laden with iron chainsthat his form was bent to the shape of a bow; still, with his long whitehair and beard, and the unflinching, piercing blue eye of his Germanrace, he looked, as he was, a willing martyr for the cause of hisSaviour.
At the sight of his old favorite thus humiliated, even th
e Emperormelted with pity and doubt as to his guilt. "Can it be under heaven,"said he, "that so holy a body should contain so vile a heart? Have wenot protected and fostered thee and thy companions in the heart of ourempire, giving thee permission to build thy temples and even to convertthe people to thy religion; nay, moreover, raised thee to the first rankamong the learned? Canst thou answer, thou villainous old man?"
"It is even these favors, O mighty Emperor, that have raised the envy ofthe enemies of Christ, who, jealous of the success of thy servant'scause, seek to destroy him, that they may triumph over his religion; andif their malice should prevail, the Christian priest will die blessingthe great Emperor who enabled him to do so much good."
"What says the accuser to these words?" said the Emperor, sternly, morethan half believing in the father's innocence.
"Stand forth, O Hung," said Li-Kong; when a mandarin of the seconddegree fell before the throne and held above his head some medals, abook, and a chaplet of beads, saying, "Are not these proofs of the oldrogue's guilt?"
"They are, O my sovereign, the mysterious symbols and secret marks usedby the initiated in the great conspiracy, which is now insidiouslyspreading throughout the empire, and known to each other."
"How! what dog's words are these, thou ignorant slave? Dost thou notknow that these are the symbols of the Lord of heaven's religion?"replied the Emperor, who, at the beginning of his reign, havingbefriended the missionaries, and made himself master of the mysteriesand symbols of their religion, was far beyond most of his nobles inintelligence.
"It is so alleged, O dread sovereign, by the villains, for their ownvile ends, and should it be even so, the Son of Heaven can not doubtthis proof of guilt," replied the mandarin, placing a letter in theEmperor's hands.
For some time there was a dread silence; when, however, the Emperor hadperused the document, his eye sparkled with rage, and he exclaimed,"Truly the proof is overwhelming, and it is to the viceroy of Quang-Tungthe Emperor owes the discovery of this villainy. Bring hither thepetition of the criminal tribunal for the villain's execution. Moreover,let it go forth through the earth that every Christian dog beexterminated;" and the court having prostrated themselves three times intoken of obedience, one of the colaos presented the petition or sentenceto the Emperor, which as he was about to confirm, by affixing thesignature of the vermilion pencil, Nicholas threw himself at the foot ofthe throne, crying at the risk of his life, "O great Emperor, thy slavedares proclaim the extreme villainy of the great viceroy of Quang-Tung,whose jealousy and envy of the favors his royal master has bestowed uponthe good father has caused him to seek his life."
"Is the boy pirate mad that he dares so insolently presume upon hissmall services, as to interrupt the course of justice?" exclaimed theangry Emperor.
Taking from his vest the letter his father had given him for FatherAdam, Nicholas said, boldly, "This letter, O great sovereign, thyservant was commanded by his parent to place in the hands of the priestAdam. Should it contain treason, the Emperor can punish on the spot, forboth the priest and the son of the writer are in his hands. Should it beotherwise, his royal generosity will know how to reward."
No less surprised than appeased by the boy's vehemence, Wey-t-songcommanded the censor Woo to proclaim aloud its contents, to which thenobles, as they were friends or enemies of the priests of Christ,listened with divided attention. The document was lengthy and tedious,and directed by Chin-Chi-Loong, the merchant of the south, to hisillustrious teacher and religious parent, the Father Adam Schaal,warning him that the viceroy of Quang-Tung, in conjunction with thebonzes of the court, whom he had bribed at Pekin, had organized such ascheme that it could not fail to appear clear that the Christian priestsin China were at the head of a conspiracy to dethrone the Emperor, atwhose feet he advised the Father Adam immediately to prostrate himselfand demand an investigation, promising speedily to send proofs of theviceroy's villainy to Pekin.
"The wickedness of this viceroy must be great, O my sovereign," saidWoo, when he had concluded.
"Truly the great father of the empire will not believe the miserablecharge of a wretched pirate against one of his highest officers," saidLi-Kong savagely; but making an angry motion to the prince for silence,the Emperor said, "What says the priest?"
"Truth, O great sovereign, is deeply emeshed in falsehood, that timealone can unravel; yet, had that letter reached thy servant's hands, hisimperial master would have been saved an act of injustice; of, notreceiving the great merchant's warning, the cruel viceroy succeeded, thestorm of persecution burst over Hang-tcheou-fou, the churches of Christwere destroyed, and their priests loaded with chains whipped, torturedupon the rack, and otherwise degraded, it being only by the providenceof the Almighty that thy servant was enabled to escape and reach Pekinin safety--where, alas! the persecution followed, and burst out withredoubled fury; thy servant, the head of his Church, being the first tofeel and glory that he was the first to suffer for the cause of Christ."
"Can these words be true, O Woo? Has such villainy taken place in theland?" said the Emperor.
"Such things, O great prince, have been done in thy holy name by roguishministers, who (_may I be pardoned for my boldness_) have takenadvantage of the luxurious retirement of their Emperor to serve theirown vile ends," replied Woo.
"Then be it the care of the upright censor to see that these miserablemandarins, who have so traitorously brought their Emperor's name intocontempt and hatred, be exterminated with their whole families," saidWey-t-song, who was as impulsive for good as for bad.
"Surely my great father may be upon the brink of great injustice; hemay be sacrificing the lives of many devoted servants. It would be butjustice that accusers and accused should be confined till the matter issifted, and the truth discovered," said the young prince.
"The prince, our heir, has wisdom beyond his years; his words are good,and shall be followed," said the Emperor. At which there was anindecorous murmur of satisfaction, which was, however, instantlysuppressed by the Emperor making the signal with his sleeves, that theaudience was at an end.