342 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. [Ch. XX. 



so thoroughly established in the Chinese mind, and so taken 

 ia with their mother's milk, that those who do not possess 

 the requisite amount of genius or industry look upon their 

 more fortunate brethren without repining, being fully con- 

 vinced that the principle is acted upon with impartiality — 

 so that on the one hand aU the public business is in the 

 hands of that class of men who are most capable of perform- 

 ing it in a satisfactory manner, and on the other the most 

 able men are all officially employed and weU paid, and 

 therefore the least inclined to disturb the status quo, while 

 the reformer and demagogue must be drawn from the ranks 

 of those who have either failed at the public examinations, 

 or have not had sufficient talent or ambition to induce them 

 to make an effort to succeed — negative qualities which are 

 no less against their succeeding as agitators. Hence they 

 are at a great disadvantage ; and however much right and 

 justice they have upon their side they cannot fail to be in 

 a minority. 



But although the Chinese Empire has lasted in its in- 

 tegrity for it may be so many thousand years, that is 

 no reason why it should be an exception to the careers of 

 other nations, and should last for ever. And indeed in the 

 present generation it has sustained some severe shocks. 

 Notwithstanding the terrible lessons they have had in the 

 Tae-ping rebellion, the Chinese administration, as soon as 

 they are clear of one difficulty, relapse into torpor, inactivity, 

 and, what is stiU worse, oppression. Instead of keeping up 

 a force which shall be sufficient to meet the spirit of discon- 

 tent, they disband their troops as soon as the immediate 

 necessity for them has disappeared, often without giving 

 them their stipulated pay, and thus themselves sow the 

 seeds of new rebellion and mutiny before they have well got 



