The Middle Kingdom - v. 1 Author:Samuel Wells Williams Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VII. Laws of China, and Plan of its Government. The consideration of the theory and practice of the Chinese government recommends itself to the att... more »ention of the intelligent student of man by several peculiar reasons, among which are its acknowledged antiquity, the multitudes of people it rules, and the comparative quiet enjoyed by the inhabitants. The government of a heathen nation is so greatly modified by the personal character of the executive, and the people are so liable to confound institutions with men, either from imperfect acquaintance with the nature of those institutions, or from being, through necessity or habit, easily guided and swayed by designing and powerful men, that the long continuance of the Chinese polity is a proof both of its adaptation to the habits and condition of the people, and of its general good management. The antiquity and excellence of such a government, and its orderly administration, might, however, be fur greater than it is in China, without being invested with the interest which attaches to it in that empire in consequence of the immense population, whose lives and property, food and security, depend to so great a degree upon it. What was at first rather a feeling of curiosity, gradually become sone of awe, when the evil results of misgovern- ment, or the beneficent eflects of equitable rule, are seen to be so momentous. The theory of the Chinese government is undoubtedly the patriarchal ; the emperor is the sire, his officers are the responsible elders of its provinces, departments, and districts, as every father of a household is of its inmates. This may, to be sure, be the theory of most governments, but nowhere has it been systematized so thoroughly, and acted upon so consistently and for so long a period, as in China. Two...« less