peror is tempered in several
ways. Firstly, although the constitution conferred this absolute and
unchecked power on the emperor, it was not for his gratification but
that he might exercise it for the good of his people. He rules by
divine authority, and as the vicegerent of heaven upon earth. If he
rules corruptly or unjustly, heaven will send disasters and calamity
on the people as a reproof; if the rule becomes tyrannical, heaven may
withdraw its favour entirely, and then rebellion may be justified. The
Manchu dynasty came to the throne as foreign conquerors, nevertheless
they base their right to rule, not on the power of the sword, but on
divine approval. On this moral ground they claim the obedience of
their subjects, and submit themselves to the corresponding
obligations. The emperor, unless he has gained the throne by conquest,
is selected by his predecessor or by the imperial family in conclave.
He is usually a son (but seldom the eldest son) of his predecessor,
and need not be the child of the empress-consort,[28] though (other
things being equal) a son of the empress is preferred. Failing a son
another prince of the imperial house is chosen, the choice being
properly among the princes of a generation below that of the preceding
emperor, so that the new emperor may be adopted as the son of his
predecessor, and perform for him the due ceremonies at the ancestral
tablets. Apart from this ancestor-worship the emperor worships only at
the Altar of Heaven, leaving Buddhism, Taoism, and any other form of
worship to his subjects. The emperor's sacrifices and prayers to
heaven are conducted with great parade and ceremony. The chief of
these state observances is the sacrifice at the winter solstice, which
is performed before sunrise on the morning of the 21st of December at
the Temple of Heaven. The form of the altar is peculiar.

"It consists of a triple circular terrace, 210 ft. wide at the base,
150 in the middle, and 90 at the top.... The emperor, with his
immediate suite, kneels in front of the tablet of Shang-ti (The
Supreme Being, or Heaven), and faces the north. The platform is laid
with marble stones, forming nine concentric circles; the inner circle
consists of nine stones, cut so as to fit with close edges round the
central stone, which is a perfect circle. Here the emperor kneels, and
is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and t