He, no less than his people, is bound by a law higher than that of any private will,--the authority of custom.

For, in China, more than anywhere else, "what is gray with age becomes religion." The authority of the emperor is simply authority to govern according to the ancient usages of the country, and whenever these are persistently violated, a revolution takes place and the dynasty is changed.

But a revolution in China changes nothing but the person of the monarch; the unwritten constitution of old usages remains in full force.

"A principle as old as the monarchy," says Du Halde, "is this, that the state is a large family, and the emperor is in the place of both father and mother.

He must govern his people with affection and goodness; he must attend to the smallest matters which concern their happiness.