subordination; but it existed previous to his time. The character
of the people molded his system, more than it was molded by it.
This readiness to be governed arose, according to Confucius,
from 'the duties of universal obligation, or those between
sovereign and minister, between father and son, between husband
and wife, between elder brother and younger, and those belonging
to the intercourse of friends [3].' Men as they are born into the
world, and grow up in it, find themselves existing in those
relations. They are the appointment of Heaven. And each relation
has its reciprocal obligations, the recognition of which is proper
to the Heaven-conferred nature. It only needs that the sacredness
of the relations be maintained, and the duties belonging to them
faithfully discharged, and the 'happy tranquillity' will prevail all
under heaven. As to the institutions of government, the laws and
arrangements by which, as through a thousand channels, it should
go forth to carry plenty and prosperity through the length and
breadth of the country, it did not belong to Confucius, 'the
throneless king,' to set them forth minutely. And indeed they were
existing in the records of 'the ancient sovereigns.' Nothing new
was needed. It was only

1 ¤¤±e, xx. 3.
2 Mencius, I. Pt. I. vi. 6.
3 ¤¤±e, xx. 8.


requisite to pursue the old paths, and raise up the old standards.
'The government of Wan and Wu,' he said, 'is displayed in the
records,-- the tablets of wood and bamboo. Let there be the men,
and the government will flourish; but without the men, the