The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1869-11-27
The influence of ConfucIus.

ence than Confucius. lie was born 549
years before Christ and was contemporary
with the prophets Daniel and Zacharian.
At the time Daniel was interpreting to
the troubled king Of Babylon the mystic
rious hand writing which appeared on
the walls of his palace, Confucius was a
lad playing in northeastern China, in
what is now the province of Shangtung.
Socrates and Cincinnatus were not born
till one hundred years later. His wis
dom was not borrowed from Greece and
Rome, whose sages all came after him.
His simplicity was equal to that of Soc
rates, his political system more enduring
than that of Solon. His father, who
was prime minister Of the province of
Loo, died while Confucius was child
and the son was educated by the grand
father He was married at nineteen, but
after year of married life was divorced
When only twenty one years of age he
was appointed to a high position, as SUI
perintendent of a department of internal
revenue These were the days of form
and ceremony. Officials thought more
of their dignity, ease and comfort than
of their duties Affairs were then much
bound around with red tape He cut
through old customs, introduced reforms,
cleaned out fossilized and venal officials
and reoreanized the department The
revenue that had been poeketed by the
officials found its way into the treasury.
Having won the appreciation of his SOW
ereign, he was appointed to higher po-
sitiou, as superintendent of grain. Men
who are turned out of office always have
a grudge against those who displace
them. Corrupt office holders cannot
tolerate an honest colleague, and success
begets envy The favor of the sovereign
and the applause of the people were off
set in the case of Confncius by the en-
nifty of the mandarins, who were able
to drive him from office.
He travelled in his own country, and
studied the habits and customs of the
people of the different provinces. Find
ing vice and immortality prevalent every
where, he took the side of virtue, rallied
good and true men around him, was
eventually called to court and made prime
minister, with almost absolute authority.
There was an overhauling of public af-
fairs. correction of abuses. abandonment
of old customs and a clearing out of dis
honest officials. They made every effort
possible to get rid of the new minister,
but he was nearest the throne, and had
strong hand. The state coach with its
new driver, crushed all who threw them
selves in its way. Some mandarins lost
their heads, others We're exiled
China at that time was composed Of
nine provinces, instead of eighteen as at
~, ho
wise administration of affairs in the prov
ince of Loo, of which Confucius was the
prime minister, soon gave it a superiority
that provoked the enmity of surrounding
States.
The prince of Loo, not unlike other
princes of the so-called loyal blood, who
have lived since his time, thought less of
virtue than OF the voluptuous damsels
which were sent to his court by neigh
boring ruler, who understood the weak
side of his royal brother.
Through woman's charms Samson lost
his eyes and hair, David his uprightness,
his exalted wisdom, Mark Ana
tony an empire, and Confucius his place
at court.
I think it was Persian king
Who used to say that evermore
In human flesh each evil thing
Come of the sex that men adore;
In brief, that nothing e'er befel
To harm grieve our hapless race,
But if you probe the matter well,
You ii find a woman in the ease
let not this be construed as a calamity
against the better half of the human
race. Antony was far weaker than Gle
opatra, and the prince who sent Confn-
clus into exile more foolish than the
damsels who captivated him with their
wiles.
At the age of fifty six Confucius laid
aside the robes of Office, left the province,
travelled westward, melancholy and de-
pressed, hunted by his enemies, who, /
having driven him from power, determ-
ined to take his life He was harrassed
from town to town, from the plains to
and FROM the public road to
out of the way places, and forced to con-
ceal himself in lonely retreats, where he
bemoaned his lot in verse as thus trans
lated:
.. Through the valley howls the blast,
Drilling rain falls thick and fast:
Homeward goes the youthful bride
Ger the wild-crowds by her side.
How is it, azure Heaven.
From my home L thus am driven,
Through the land my way to trace,
With no certain dwelling place z
Dark. dark, the minds of men
Worth in vain comes to their ken
Hasten on my term of years,
Old age, desolate disappears.'
He gathered band Of disciples, taught
them moral aphorisms, inculcated virtue,
composed hymns, and collected the writ
lngs of the Aneients. About fifty years
before Ezra annotated the Old Testament
Confucius collated the Sacred
Books of China, which from that time to
the present, through twenty three CEN
turies, have been looked upon by the mil
lions of this land with a reverence akin
to that given to the Old Testament by
the Jews and the Christian nations of
modern times. Four other volumes were
added to these Sacred Books by his dis
ciples, about three hundred years before
Christ, that are historical, biographical,
and poetical, with aphorisms, moral pre-
cepts, aud principles of political econo-
my In one respect they ure in marked