264 EEV. F. STORES TUENER, B.A., 0^^ MENCIUS. 



King that he had a pitiful heart; and thus could pity the 

 miseries of his people who were dying of hunger. But he did 

 not stop there. He asked the King, " Is there any difference 

 between killing a man with a stick or a sword ? " " No," said 

 the King. " Is there any difference between killing him with a 

 sword, or by bad government ? " " No." " In your kitchen,''" 

 said Mencius, " there is fat meat ; in your stables there are fat 

 horses. But your people have the look of hunger, and on the 

 wilds there are those who have died of famine. This is leading 

 on beasts to devour men."* It must have required courage to 

 tell one of those fighting despots that he was murdering his. 

 people. Another occasion called forth a still more conspicuous 

 illustration of fearless truth-speaking. The King of Ts'e asked 

 Mencius about the duties of the chief ministers. " If the Knig 

 has great faults," Mencius answered, " and his chief ministers 

 are his relatives, they ought to remonstrate with him, and if 

 he does not listen to them, after repetition of the remonstrance, 

 they ought to dethrone him." No wonder that the King 

 changed countenance ; but Mencius said, " Do not think it 

 strange, your majesty. You put a question to me and I dared 

 not give other than a true answer."f That he was not clapped 

 into prison, nor expelled the country shows the great respect 

 felt in those times for wise and faithful advisers. The princes, 

 of the Middle Kingdom could not bring themselves to place 

 government in his hands ; but they treated him as an honoured 

 guest and rewarded him richly. 



Mencius was at heart a democrat : the rulers, whether dukes 

 or princes or kings, in his opinion existed for the people, and 

 were only justified by the well-being of the people. "The 

 people," he said, " are the most important element in the state ; 

 the spirits of the land and grain are the next ; the sovereign is. 

 the least important .... When a prince endangers tlie 

 altars of the spirits of the land and grain, he is deposed and 

 another is appointed. "When the sacrifices have been duly 

 offered, if there comes drought or inundation the spirits of tlie 

 land and grain are deposed and others appointed in their place. "{ 

 Tliis treatment of the inferior divinities as merely the servants 

 of mankind is to us a strange notion, but it accords with 

 Chinese ideas. The emperor will decree such changes in tlie 

 spirit-world, and in Chinese belief. Heaven, the Supreme Kuler, 

 also judges emperors and rulers by results. If the people do 



* I). 9. 



t p. 2(i8. 



I ]). 3G0. 



