Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/333

This reign of Kublai offers to our observation one re- markable phenomenon. We see this powerful sovereign ruling at once over the most civilised nations of the East, and over those who had scarcely issued from bar- barism ; with one hand encouraging the arts of peace, and with the other exciting ardour for martial enter- prises ; softening nations already vanquished, and un- chaining against others the furies of war. Kublai had received a Chinese education ; he appre- ciated the advantages of civilisation ; he admired the institutions of China, and protected literature and the sciences. Pie had some of the best Chinese books translated into the Mongol language, and founded schools for the young people of his own country, and oave much encouragement to their studies. He received with favour learned and literary men of every country and religion, granting them many privileges, and exempting them from taxes and tributes. It was he who established the college of Han-lin, the first academical institution of China. He spread the taste for mathematics, and, with the assistance of the Arabs, laboured in the construction of a new system of as- tronomy, greatly superior to any that the Chinese had hitherto been acquainted with. He afforded, also, great encouragement to agriculture, industry, and commerce ; he had numerous canals dug in all the provinces of China, and he threw open the sea-ports to all foreigners. But the task of civilising the Tartars proved beyond the power even of Kublai. The intercourse of these ignorant and warlike tribes with a peaceful and culti- vated nation, never effected any fusion between them ; and whilst the Tartars retained their rude, turbulent, and vagabond habits, the Chinese submitted patiently VOL. i. y