Page:Oriental Religions - China.djvu/141

111 But it is in the science of government that this race of organizers have done their best work, anticipat- Politics.

ing the West by many centuries, both in noble definition of public duties, and in practical construction of the political and civil elements. It is a wonderful subject, worthy of all study, this tribe of Mongolic settlers, bear- ing within them the prophetic gifts of industry and mutual service in a remote antiquity ; gradually transforming the flooded wastes and wandering races of Eastern, Asia into a vast and orderly civilization, under more or less cen- tralized administrative rules ; and evolving steadfast con- ceptions of civil order, of equal rights, of law above personal caprice ; of official functions open to all competitors and due only to the best ; of personal responsibilities and pub- lic tests, instituted and maintained with greater or less fidelity while so much of the West was in a state of bar- barism. Here, at least, we cannot refuse the recognition of scientific capacity, even though deficient in the qualities that prompt to indefinite progress.

Under the patriarchal system, government is father, teacher, preserver of the people ; yet not, as will hereafter be mere fully shown, by divine right of kings to the absolute allegiance of the people. It represents the relation of the whole race to the universe, expressed in principles and laws higher than personal caprice. It originates in the moral needs of men, and in their spontaneous recognition of right. In the old time, it affirms, rulers wrought not by laws, but by example ; not by rules, but by instinctive per- ceptions. They laid down the maxim, even in dealing with rebellion or invasion, that doing justly would conquer an enemy more effectually than force of arms. 1 This, of course, means that such was the aspiration which, in later times, this peaceable and civil race pursued, affirming its success to have been apparent in the divine and creative

Shu-king, II. 2.