the great idea, Confucio-Mencian, that the son
of Heven must be 'compliant': leading rather than driving. He
promulgated edicts, but they were never rigidly enforced; a
certain voluntaryism was allowed as to the carrying out of them:
if one of them was found unsuccessful, or not to command popular
approval, another could be--and was--issued to modify or change
it. So that the whole system was far removed from what we think
of as an 'Oriental Despotism'; on the contrary, there was always
a large measure of freedom and self-government. You began with
the family: the head of that was its ruler, and responsible
for order in his little realm. But he governed by consent
and affection, not by force. Each village-community was
self-governing; the headman in it taking the place of the father
in the family; he was responsible for order, so it was his
business to keep the people happy;--and the same principle was
extended to fit the province, the viceroyalty, the empire.
Further, there was the absence of any aristocracy or privileged
class; and the fact that all offices were open to all Chinamen
(actors excepted)--the sole key to open it being merit, as attested
by competitive examinations.

The system is Mencian; the inspiration behind it from Confucius.
It is the former's working out of the latter's superb idea of
the _li._

The Mencian system has broken down, and been abolished. It had
grown old, outworn and corrupt. But it was established a couple
of centuries before that of Augustus, and has been subject to the
same stress of time and the cycles; and only broke down the
other day. Time will wear out anything made by man. There is no
garment, but the body will out-grow or out-wear it; no body, but
the soul will outlive it and cast it away. Mencius, inspired by
his Master Confucius, projected a system that time took two
thousand years and more to wear out in China. It was one that
did much or everything to shield the people from tyranny.
Whether a better system has been devised, I do not know; but
should say not--in historical times. As to the inspiration
behind it--well, lest you should doubt the value of Confucius,
compare the history of Europe with that of China. We have
disproportioned ideas, and do not see these things straight. The
Chinese Empire was founded some two centuries before the Roman:
both composed of heterogeneous elements. Both, after about four
centuries, fell; but China, after about fou