Fortunately for the young Emperor, Amavan, unlike most Asiatic uncles, proved faithful to his nephew, and, more fortunately still, Amavan happened to be a great as well as a brave man, who conquered his enemies as much by his intellect as his sword. Taking care, therefore, to have an overwhelming number of troops in Pekin, he first sought to establish the government by distributing the great offices of the empire equally among his Tartars and the Chinese mandarins. Then to Woo-san-Kwei he had represented by his ambassadors the folly of endeavoring to oppose the great power of the new Emperor, and, moreover, the cruelty of bringing upon the people the horrors of a civil war; while, if he would aid in the firm settlement of the new dynasty, he should not only be created King of Chen-si, but that, as the laws of the Chinese were the best in the world, the Tartars should conform to them in every respect. To all of which Woo-san-Kwei, being so entirely checkmated, could but submit, retaining a hope that the time and opportunity might come when he should be powerful enough to drive these Tartars from the land--a task which, when too late, he found to be rather more difficult than bringing them in. Having thus, as he thought, gained over the Ming general to his cause, and wishing to give the Chinese a proof that the young Emperor wished to conciliate them, Amavan resolved that the greatest of their countrymen should be received on his entry into Pekin with royal honors; and more, that the same day should be the one chosen for his imperial nephew's first grand levee. I will now return to Nicholas, who, with hardly suppressed indignation, was compelled to witness the following scene. Having commanded the great lords, who were prostrate at the foot of his throne, to rise, the child Emperor Chun-ti addressed them in a speech that not only astonished the whole court, but remains to the present day one of the marvels in the history of China. "It is your strength and power more than my felicity, my dear and generous uncle, and you, the rest of my noble commanders, which supports my weakness, and makes me so undauntedly ascend this imperial throne. My present assurance, and this chair's stability, is, I hope, as happy a sign of my future prosperity as its tottering proved unfortunate to the thief Li-Kong. You see my first step to the empire, but I know your valor to be such that I look not only upon the kingdom of China as my own, but conceive the empire of the world not only by me possessed, but also established. The rewards due to such incomparable virtues shall be no other than the riches of the empire and royal dignities."