REV. ARTHUR ELWIN, ON CONFUCIANISM. 



45 



Minister of Crime, a position equivalent to that of Prime 

 Minister. Confucius was now fifty years old. Historians tell 

 us that his theories, when applied, vindicated themselves, and 

 order reigned throughout the land. He became such a terror 

 to evil-doers that crime disappeared, and order prevailed every- 

 where. "A thing," we are told, "dropped on the ground was 

 not picked up, there was no fraudulent carving of vessels, 

 coffins were made of the ordained thickness, graves were 

 unmarked by mounds raised over them, and no two prices were 

 charged in the markets." Although wonderfully successful, 

 there was still room for improvement. A father, it is said, 

 brought a charge against his son in the expectation, probably, 

 of gaining his case with ease before a judge, who laid such 

 stress on the virtue of filial piety. To the surprise of all, 

 Confucius cast both father and son into prison, saying : " Am I 

 to punish for a breach of filial piety one who has never been 

 taught to be filially minded ? Is not he who neglects to teach 

 his son his duties equally guilty with the son who fails in 

 them ? " 



It is interesting to notice how the Chinese follow this teach- 

 ing of Confucius, even to the present day. On one occasion I 

 was walking down a street in Hangchow, when a young man 

 standing at the door of a house called me names — foreign devil. 

 Generally we paid no attention to this, the calling of bad names 

 being so common, but as this was an aggravated case, I thought 

 I would see what the boy's parents would say about it. I 

 walked into the courtyard in front of the house, and said to 

 two men I found there : " Who called me names ? " They 

 answered, " No one called you names here, sir." I said, " You 

 know there was a young man who called me names ; where is 

 he ? " Just then a man appeared from the interior of the 

 house, dragging along the boy who had been impudent. He 

 said, " This is the boy, sir, and I will now beat him." I said 

 " Wait a minute ; are you the father of the boy ? " He answered. 

 " Yes." I then turned to the people who had followed me and 

 said, " This man says his son has been calling me bad names, 

 and he is going to beat him for it. Now I ask you, if the boy 

 has been behaving badly, who ought to be punished, the son or 

 the father ? " Those present at once said, the father ought to be 

 beaten. I then turned to the father and said, " You hear what 

 your own people say ! Good morning." 



I have time only for one more illustration. A friend of 

 mine was sitting in his study at Ningpo one evening, when 

 suddenly his servant ran in to tell him that some people were 



