The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-03-09
WHAT CONFUCIUS.DID
HE TAUGHT MORALS RATHER THAN a
( PARTICULAR RELIGION.

How He United the Warning Principalitics
of Chins--Jealousy Was the Cause ot
His Downfaii-Died In Poverty, but His
Philosophy Is Accepted by Millions.
The real name of Confucius was Kunp.
fu-tse. According to some authorities he
lived i've centuries and half and &C.
cording to Others four centuries and a
half before the Christian era. The place of
his birth Is now generally stated to have
been the state of Loo, little to the cast.
ward OF the great canal In Shantung prov.
ince, where he was educated and where he
married. His object In acquiring knowl-
edge was to turn IL practically to the pur-
poses OF good government, and he accord
ingly devoted himself exclusively to moral
and political science. He aftcrward di-
vorced his wife, in order, as the Jesuits
say, that he might better attend To his
studies. When he thought himself suffi-
cicntly qualified to instruct the barbarous
age in which he lived he quit his soli-
tude for the courts of princes. China was
not then united under one emperor. This
union did not take place until two or
three centuries after the philosophers
death. But when Confucius began his
mission there seem to have been as many
independent kings in China as there were
In England under the Saxon heptarcby.
He journeyed through these various states
IN condition of simplicity and poverty,
devoting himself to the instruction of all
ranks In his precepts Of virtue and social
order. His adherents gradually increased,
and he Mt length reckoncd as many as
5000 disciples, of whom 72 were more par
sl~..u tt.sv.
TO their master, and 10 were go well
grounded in all sorts of knowledge that
they were called by way of excellence "the
ten wise men,
In his visits to the different princes Con-
fucius endeavored to prevail upon them to
establish wise and peaceful administri-
ton. After many wanderings and disap-
pointments he became prime minister,
with recognized authority to carry his
theories into practice In Loo, his native
country. At this time he was 55 years old
In three years nc is said to have effected u
thorough change in the moral condition of
the kingdom. The happiness and prosperi-
ty created by the philosophic prime minis
ter excited the jealousy of the neighboring
kings. The sovereign of Loo was soon in
duccd 10 abandon his bencfactor, and Con-
fucius was Obliged to fee 20 the northern
parts of China. He was subsequently re.
pulsed at three different courts to which
ne applied for Office in order that he might
render the people happy, and, after sus-
tanning many other sorrows, he withdrew
20 the kingdom Of Chin, where he lived in
great poverty. His doctrines, however, had
taken root, and ii was at this time of adj
vorsity that his disciples were most numcr-
Gus. He went again To Loo, his native
country, but yainly solicited 10 be rc-em.
ployed in the government. At length, full
of years, il not of honors, he retired from
the world, in company with n few of his
closest disciples, to write or complete those
works which became the sacred books of
the Chinese, and which have survived %
centuries. He died in his seventy third
year.
''It was the great object of Confucius to
regulate the manners of the people. He
thought outward decorum the true en-
blem OF excellence in heart. He there.
fore digested all the various ceremonies
into one general code of rites, which was
called Lc-ke, or Ly king, etc. In this work
every ritual in all the relations of human
life is strictly regulated, SO that a true
Chinaman Is perfect automaton, put in
motion by the regulations Of the Ly-king.
Some of the rites are most excellent. The
duties toward parents the respect due to
superiors, the decorum i'm the behavior of
common life, ETC., speak highly in favor of
Confucus, but his substituting ceremony
for simplicity and true politeness is unpar-
donablc The Ly-king contains many ex-
cellcnt maxims and inculcates morality,
but ii has come to us in mutilated state
with many interpretations, says Gutzlaff
in his "Sketch of Chinese History, Ancient
and Modern"
In the writings Of Confucius the duties
of husbands toward their wives were
slightly dwelt upon. On the other hand,
the duties and implicit submission of chill
dren to their parents were extended to the
utmost and most rigidly inculcatcd. Upon
this wide principle of 1lial obedience the
whole of his system moral and political,
Is founded. Confucius was teacher of
morals, but not the founder Of II religion.
His doctrines constitute rathera system of
philosophy in the department Of morals
and politics than any particular religious
faith.
The moral doctrines of Confucius In
clude that capital one which, however
neglected in practice, has obtained the
universal assent of mankird-he taught
his disciples 'to treat Others according TO
the treatment which they themselves
would desire at their hands - In his doc
trines there Is an evident leaning to pre-
destination or fatalism, and To predicting
events by the mystical lines of Fo-shec
The system of Confucius, without making
any prctension to a divine legation, con-
tinues to prevail throughout the most cx-
tensive empire i'm the world. The body of
his laws and instructions Is still followed,
not only 10y the Chinese, but by the Ko-
reans, Cochin Chinese and other people,
who, taken collectively, are estimated at
400, ,000, 900.
Her beautiful Arms.
NJ, IocIy GnrdDar's arms NO fhp moSt