precisely as we find it at the present day.

In 1613, Nurhachu had gathered about him an army of some forty thousand
men; and by a series of raids in various directions, he further
gradually succeeded in extending considerably the boundaries of his
kingdom. There now remained but one large and important State, towards
the annexation of which he directed all his efforts. After elaborate
preparations which extended over more than two years, at the beginning
of which (1616) the term Manchu (etymology unknown) was definitively
adopted as a national title, Nurhachu, in 1618, drew up a list of
grievances against the Chinese, under which he declared that his people
had been and were still suffering, and solemnly committed it to the
flames,--a recognised method of communication with the spirits of heaven
and earth. This document consisted of seven clauses, and was addressed
to the Emperor of China; it was, in fact, a declaration of war. The
Chinese, who were fast becoming aware that a dangerous enemy had arisen,
and that their own territory would be the next to be threatened, at
length decided to oppose any further progress on the part of Narhachu;
and with this view dispatched an army of two hundred thousand men
against him. These troops, many of whom were physically unfit, were
divided on arrival at Mukden into four bodies, each with some separate
aim, the achievement of which was to conduce to the speedy disruption of
Nurhachu's power. The issue of this move was certainly not expected on
either side. In a word, Nurhachu defeated his Chinese antagonists
in detail, finally inflicting such a crushing blow that he was left
completely master of the situation, and before very long had realised
the chief object of his ambition, namely, the reunion under one rule of
those states into which the Golden Dynasty had been broken up when it
collapsed before the Mongols in 1234.