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CHI N A, 



THE miracle of governments! Its dominion extends from Government. 

 the ftreights oi Hainan^ in north Lat. 20° 13', to the extre- 

 mity of the province of Pe-cbe-Ii^ in Lat. 41° 15', comprehend- 

 ing a fpace of near fifteen hundred miles in length, and in 

 breadth above a thoufand. The numbers of its inhabitants 

 (given by the lively Voltaire) are a hundred and fifty millions*, 

 yet all are ruled by a fingle man ! The government is founded 

 on the law of \\\q fifth commandment^ and the honor paid to the 

 emperor in the charadler of father, amounts to a veneration due 

 to the Divinity himfelf. The greateft of his fubjedls never fpeak 

 to him without kneeling ; his words are law, and every thinn- 

 he fays is received as oracular. The fame refpedt, proportion- 

 ably diminiflied, is rendered to all his fervants, as emanations of 

 his facred perfon, from the firft mandarine down to the loweft 

 officer who is inverted with delegated power. He is called 

 Tyen-tfey the fon of Heaven ; 'Tbau-tin^, palace royal ; Fan-fzvi, 

 ten thoufand years ; and by other epithets emblematic of the 



• The more accurate information obtained by Lord Macartney's embafly, makes the popu- 

 btion of China Proper amouiK to 333jOOO,ooo, inhabiting a fpace of 1,297,999 fquare miles. E. 



fandlity 



