nces as much as that of words in English,
French, or German. Others have suggested that to the teachings of
Confucius, which have outlived the competition of Taoism, Buddhism and
other faiths, China is indebted for the tie which has knitted men's
hearts together, and enabled them to defy any process of disintegration.
There is possibly some truth in all such theories; but these are
incomplete unless a considerable share of the credit is allowed to the
spirit of personal freedom which seems to breathe through all Chinese
institutions, and to unite the people in resistance to every form of
oppression. The Chinese have always believed in the divine right of
kings; on the other hand, their kings must bear themselves as kings, and
live up to their responsibilities as well as to the rights they claim.
Otherwise, the obligation is at an end, and their subjects will have
none of them. Good government exists in Chinese eyes only when
the country is prosperous, free from war, pestilence and famine.
Misgovernment is a sure sign that God has withdrawn His mandate from the
emperor, who is no longer fit to rule. It then remains to replace the
emperor by one who is more worthy of Divine favour, and this usually
means the final overthrow of the dynasty.

The Chinese assert their right to put an evil ruler to death, and it is
not high treason, or criminal in any way, to proclaim this principle in
public. It is plainly stated by the philosopher Mencius, whose writings
form a portion of the Confucian Canon, and are taught in the ordinary
course to every Chinese youth. One of the feudal rulers was speaking to
Mencius about a wicked emperor of eight hundred years back, who had been
attacked by a patriot hero, and who had perished in the flames of his
palace. "May then a subject," he asked, "put his sovereign to death?"
To which Mencius replied that any one who did violence to man's
natural charity of heart, or failed altogether in his duty towards
his neighbour, was nothing more than an unprincipled ruffian; and he
insinuated that it had been such a ruffian, in fact, not an emperor
in the true sense of the term, who had perished in the case they were
discussing. Another and most important point to be remembered in any
attempt to discover the real secret of China's prolonged existence as
a nation, also points in the direction of democracy and freedom. The
highest positions in the state have always been open, through the medium
of competitive