The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-20
CAREER or C0NFUCIUs.
How He United the Warning PrIncl-
pies of China.
From an Exchange.

From an Exchange.
The real name of Confucius was Koong-
foo tse. According to some authorities, he
lived five centuries and half, and, ac-
cording to others, four centuries and
half before the Christian era. The place
of his birth is now generally stated to
have been the state of Loo, a little to
the eastward of the great canal in Shan
tung province, where he was educated
and where he married. His object in ac-
curing knowledge was to turn IL practi-
cally to the purpose of good government
and he accordingly devoted himself eXclu-
sively TO moral and political science. He
afterward divorced his wife, In order, as
the Jesuits say, that he might better at
tend to his studies. When he thought
himself sufficiently qualified to instruct
the barbarous age In which he lived, he
quilted his solitude 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 phi
losopher's death. But, when Confucius
began his mission, there seems to have
been as many independent kings in China
as there were in England under the Saxon
heptarchy. He journeyed through these
various States in a condition of simplicity
and poverty, devoting himself to the in
Struction of all ranks In his preceptS of
virtue and social order. His adherents
gradually increased. and he at length
reekoned as many as 5000 disciples, of
whom " were more particularly distin-
gushed by their devotion to their master,
and ten were so 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
Confucius endeaVored to prevail upon
them to establish a wise and peaceful
administration. After many wanderlngs
and disappointments he became prime
minister, with a recognized authority to
carry bis theories into practice in Loo,
his native country. At this time he was
65 years old In three years he is said
to have effected a thorough change in
the normal condition of the kingdom.
The happiness and prosperity created by
the philosophic prime minister excited
the jealousy of the neighboring kings.
The sovereign of Loo was soon induced
to abandon his benefactor, and Con-
fucius was obliged to flee to the north
ern parts of China. He was SUISSE
quently repulsed at three different courts
to which he applied for office In order
that he might render the people happy;
and, after sustaining many other sor-
rows, he withdrew to the kingdom of
Chin, where he lived in great poverty.
His doctrines, however, had taken root
and 1T was at his time of adversely
that his disciples were most numerous
He went again to Loo, his native coun-
try, but vainly solicited to be re-em-
ployed in the government. At length, full
of years, il not of honors, he retired from
the world, In company with few of his
closest disciples, to write or complete
those works which became the sacred
books of the Chinese, and which have sur
vved twenty-five centuries. He died in
his 73d year.
at 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, therefore,
digested all the various ceremonies into
one general code of rites which was call
ed Le-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 a perfect automaton, put in
motion by the regulations OF the Ly-king
Some of the rites are most excellent: the
superiors, the decorum in the behavior of
common life, etc, speak highly in favor OF
Confucius but his substituting ceremony
for simplicity and true politeness is I'M
pardonable. The Ly-king contains many
excellent maXims and inculcates morality;
but it has come to us in a mutilated state
'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 inculcated. Upon
this wide principle of filial obedience the
whole OF his system, moral and political
is founded. Confucius was a teacher of
mora.s, but not the founder Of a religion
His doctrines constitute rather a system
of philosophy in the department of morals
and politics than any particular religious
faith.
The moral doctrines Of Confucius include
that capital one which. however neglected
In practice has obtained the universal
assent Of mankind he taught his disci-
pies ito treat others according to the
treatment which they themselves would
desire at their hands" In his doctrines
there Is an evident leaning to predestna-
ton or fatalism, and to predicting events
by the mystical lines OF Fo-shee. The
system of ConfuciuS, without making any
pretension to a divine legation, continues
TO prevail throughout the most extensive
empire in the word. The body OF his laws
and instructions IS still followed not only
by the Chinese, but by Koreans, Cochin
Chinese and other people who, taken col
lectiYely, are estimated at 400 900 600.