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of his administrative sphere. But the rule does not hold in the case of subordinate officials ap- pointed locally for the purpose of discharging minor duties. These "rats under the altar," as the Chinese call them, are the hereditary rogues referred to by Mr. Parker in the above extract.

Such in brief being the organisation of the administration, it remains now to examine the machinery of the central government in Peking. At the head of this stands the Emperor, who is styled the "son of heaven" and who rules by divine right, bequeathing his office to his eldest son, or nominating a successor from among his

own children or blood relations, in which latter case the nomination is seldom made public during the sovereign's life. The Emperor is not a despot, for in a certain sense his tenure of sovereignty depends on his conforming with the principles of wise and benevolent administration. It is true that no recognised means exist for displacing him should he ignore those principles, nor any recognised machinery for giving expression to public opinion. But since the nation is permeated with a democratic conviction of its own right to remove an immoral or tyrannical ruler, and since that conviction insensibly begets forces to make it effective, no dynasty long survives its own conspicuous fall from grace, nor does any ruler regard himself as independent of his people's affection. There is this radical difference between