GOVERNMENT, &x. 8g 



he can do no wrong ! but it is on the principle that the ftate is a 

 vaft family, that Tyen^ i. e^ the Supreme Being, hath placed him 

 on the throne, in order that he may be a father and a mother to 

 his people. In confequence of this, a ftrong fenfe of his duty is 

 continually before his eyes. The mandarines and princes of the 

 blood are at liberty to remind hirn of any faults he may fall into ; 

 and even the people, if they find him negligent, are as ready to 

 become tumultuous as in any other country. The grand fecret 

 of government in the emperor is the unremitting attention paid 

 to the condud; of the mandarines and other magiftrates, who are 

 carefully watched, and moft feverely puniflied on every faihire 

 of duty. He himfelf is perpetually anxious to confult the 

 good of his fubje(3:s, and to avoid incurring their hatred or 

 contempt. 



There is no country in which the filial duties are carried to Filial Duties. 

 fuch a length. " A veneration for fathersj" fays Montefquleu'^^ 

 " was neceirarily conneifted with a fuitable refpedl: for all who 

 ** reprefented fathers, fuch as old men, mafters, magiftrates, 

 « and the emperor. This refpecft for fathers, fuppofed a return, 

 ■*' of love towards children, and confequently the fame return 

 '^ from old men to the young, from magiftrates to thofe who 

 *« were under their jurifdidion, and from the emperor to his 

 « fubjeits. This formed the rites, and thcfe rites the general 

 ** fpirit of the nation." 



A PARRICIDE is extremely rare in this empire: whenever it 

 happens, the whole province is in alarm; the relations are pu- 

 niihed, and the mandarines depofed, as it is prefumed it muft 



* Spirit of Laws, vol. i. p. 433. 



Vol. III. N have 



