de Philipinas_, v, pp.

474-479.
Another letter from Otaco, dated February 18, 1620, says: "There has been a very heated discussion (which still continues) regarding aid for the Philipinas, between the lords of the Council and all the procurators and agents of those islands." [3] Translated: "[This blow upon us], beyond measure, still we are the Lord's and He is just, and His judgment is upright." [4] So in the MS., but apparently a copyist's error for Leatum, the form given in later pages; apparently a phonetic blunder for Liao-tung, the name of the province where the contest between Russia and Japan is now centered (May, 1904).
[5] W.Winterbotham gives, in his _View of the Chinese Empire_ (London, 1796), ii, pp.

6-8, an interesting account of the "mandarins of letters," the chief nobility of the empire.

He says: "There are only two ranks in China, the nobility and the people, but the former is not hereditary ...

China contains about fifteen thousand mandarins of letters, and a still greater number who aspire to that title ...