indulge [3]. He held that there was in men an adaptation and
readiness to be governed, which only needed to be taken advantage
of in the proper way. There must be the right administrators, but
given those, and 'the growth of government would be rapid, just
as vegetation is rapid in the earth; yea, their

1 Isaiah iii. 12.
2 ¤Ñ¤U¥­. See the ¤j¾Ç, ¸g, pars. 4, 5; &c.
3 Ana. III. xi; et al.


government would display itself like an easily-growing rush [1].'
The same sentiment was common from the lips of Mencius.
Enforcing it one day, when conversing with one of the petty rulers
of his time, he said in his peculiar style, 'Does your Majesty
understand the way of the growing grain? During the seventh and
eighth months, when drought prevails, the plants become dry.
Then the clouds collect densely in the heavens; they send down
torrents of rain, and the grain erects itself as if by a shoot. When
it does so, who can keep it back [2]?' Such, he contended, would be
the response of the mass of the people to any true 'shepherd of
men.' It may be deemed unnecessary that I should specify this
point, for it is a truth applicable to the people of all nations.
Speaking generally, government is by no device or cunning
craftiness; human nature demands it. But in no other family of
mankind is the characteristic so largely developed as in the
Chinese. The love of order and quiet, and a willingness to submit
to 'the powers that be,' eminently distinguish them. Foreign
writers have often taken notice of this, and have attributed it to
the influence of Confucius's doctrines as inculcating