Page:The Chinese Repository - Volume 01.djvu/311

 THE

REVIEW.

presents the very remarkable spectacle of a vast and ancient empire, with a civilization entirely political, whose principal aim has constantly been to draw closer the bonds which unite the society it formed, and to merge, by its laws, the interest of the individual in that of the public. All other ancient civilizations have, on the contrary, been based upon religious doctrines, which are the best adapted to give stability to human society, by softening the ferocity naturally incident to [fallen] man..... As far as we can trace the organization of society in China, in the remotest antiquity, we find it established on the politico-patriarchal principle. The emperor is considered as the father of his people; his subjects constitute his family. The prime virtue, the prime