in the way of crime which they will
not commit. Then, when they have involved themselves in guilt, to follow
up and punish them,--this is but to ensnare them."

In another passage Mencius says: "The tyrants of the last two dynasties,
Chieh and Chou, lost the Empire because they lost the people, by which I
mean that they lost the hearts of the people. There is a way to get the
Empire;--get the people, and you have the Empire. There is a way to get
the people;--get their hearts, and you have them. There is a way to get
their hearts;--do for them what they wish, and avoid doing what they do
not wish."

Those are strong words, especially when we consider that they come from
one of China's most sacred books, regarded by the Chinese with as much
veneration as the Bible by us,--a portion of that Confucian Canon, the
principles of which it is the object of every student to master, and
should be the object of every Chinese official to carry into practice.

But those words are mild compared with another utterance by Mencius in
the same direction.

"The people are the most important element in a nation; the gods come
next; the sovereign is the least important of all."

We have here, in Chinese dress, wherein indeed much of Western wisdom
will be found, if students will only look for it, very much the same
sentiment as in the familiar lines by Oliver Goldsmith:--

"Princes and lords may flourish or may fade,--
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride
When once destroyed, can never be supplied."

The question now arises, Are all these solemn sayings of Mencius to be
regarded as nothing more than mere literary rodomontade, wherewith to
beguile an enslaved people? Do the mandarins keep the word of promise to
the ear and break it to the hope? Or do the Chinese people enjoy in real
life the recognition which should be accorded to them by the terms of
the Confucian Canon?

Every one who has lived in China, and has kept his eyes open, must have
noticed what a large measure of personal freedom is enjoyed by even the
meanest subject of the Son of Heaven. Any Chinaman may travel all over
China without asking any one's leave to start, and without having to
report himself, or be reported by his innkeeper, at any place at which
he may choose to stop. He requires no passport. He may set up any
legitimate business at any place. He is not even obliged to be educated,
or to foll