At length he was summoned into the presence of Kublai Khan, who said to him, “What is it you want?” “By the grace of the Sung Emperor,” he replied, “I became His Majesty’s Minister.  I cannot serve two masters.  I only ask to die.”  Accordingly, he was executed, meeting his death with composure, and making an obeisance in the direction of the old capital.  His last words were, “My work is finished.”  Compare this with the quiet death-bed of another statesman, who flourished in the previous century.  He had advised an enormous cession of territory to the Tartars, and had brought about the execution of a patriot soldier, who wished to recover it at all costs.  He was loaded with honours, and on the very night he died he was raised to the rank of Prince.  He was even canonized, after the usual custom, as Loyalty Manifested, on a mistaken estimate of his career; but fifty years later his title was changed to False and Foul and his honours were cancelled, while the people at large took his degraded name for use as an alternative to spittoon.

Two names of quite recent patriots deserve to be recorded here as a tribute to their earnest devotion to the real interests of their country, and incidentally for the far-reaching consequences of their heroic act, which probably saved the lives of many foreigners in various parts of China.  It was during the Boxer troubles in Peking, at the beginning of the siege of the legations, that Yuan Ch’ang and Hsu Ching-ch’eng, two high Chinese officials, ventured to memorialize the Empress Dowager upon the fatal policy, and even criminality, of the whole proceedings, imploring her Majesty at a meeting of the Grand Council to reconsider her intention of issuing orders for the extermination of all foreigners.  In spite of their remonstrances, a decree was issued to that effect and forwarded to the high authorities of the various provinces; but it failed to accomplish what had been intended, for these two heroes, taking their lives in their hands, had altered the words “slay all foreigners” into “protect all foreigners.”  Some five to six weeks later, when the siege was drawing to a close, the alteration was discovered; and next day those two men were hurriedly beheaded, meeting death with such firmness and fortitude as only true patriotism could inspire.

The Mongols found it no easy task to dispossess the House of Sung, which had many warm adherents to its cause.  It was in 1206 that Genghis Khan began to make arrangements for a projected invasion of China, and by 1214 he was master of all the enemy’s territory north of the Yellow River, except Peking.  He then made peace with the Golden Tartar emperor of northern China; but his suspicions were soon aroused, and hostilities were renewed.  In 1227 he died, while conducting a campaign in Central Asia; and it remained for his vigorous grandson, Kublai Khan, to complete the conquest of China more than half a century afterwards.  So early as 1260, Kublai was able