WHEN we reflect that the Tartar rnces were all originally composed of chief and slaves, and that a tenure of land something like the feodal tenure of Europe in the Middle Ages lins existed in some parts of Asin for ages, it is difficult not to believe that Asia was the birthplace of the feudal system, The Teutonic races who produced the greatest effect on European history were the Goths, the Franks, and the Saxons, and one of the chief results of their system of governing was the wide adoption iv Europe for several centuries of the feudal relationship between man ud entailing the duty of fighting imes of war. Que of the mum 18 in this system was serfdom as connected with attachment to land, and the obligation of working it for the benefit in part of the landlord and in part of the sort and his family. What do we find among the Manchus? They are all slaves before the Ewperor, and he grants them lands, food, and a money salary. They are all soldiers, and have to fight for the Emperor, The same is true of the Mongols, They are in two olagses—lord and clave. The Emperor is lord and the others are slaves. The great chiefs rule the lesser, und the lesser chiefs rule the common people. The word bogd, clave, in the Mongolia is boi in Mancha and pu in Chinese. If the Chinese Emperor call on Mongol lords to help in war they reply by} assembling their vassals and taking them with them to the place of conflict. The Japanese feudal system was has on the feudal system of Chinn, and its wame hoken, in Chinese song-kien,* implies an Imperial grant of titles and land, Yoritowro, the first of the reig ing Shogans, when be assamed the! Government of Japan did 60 because the feudal chiefs were in anarchy, and there was a party among them sufiiciently submissive to him to allow of his taking this step. We now hear that fifteen years after the destruction of the power of the Daimios and of the hoken aystem, Japan finds it necessary to introduce again a titled aristocracy.
To understand the feudal system as it las existed in Asia it is necessary to study Chinese history. As Babylon gave to Asia evidence and India gave the Buddhist religion, so China has given politics and mechanical arts, The time when the feudal system existed in the most perfect form was from the titles wa inno yon, estab if, wake an Imperial grant of twelfth century before Christdowntothe fifth, There were large fleta granted to the sons of Emperors and to imeritorious officers. There was the obligntion of military service on the onll of the Lord Paramount, who gave investiture and was the fountain of all honours, The nobles who possessed the fiefs were divided into five ranks, Kung, how, pd, tsze, nan. OF these lordships there were, it is said, in the twelfth century, if large and small be all counted, eight hundred. But let us take them as they stand in the historical work of Confucius compiled from public records, There were, in and before the time of the Sage, one duke, eight mar. quises, five earls, six visoonute, and one baron. The dake was descended from the Shang Imperial family. He received his duchy in Honan to maintain the sacrifices to that family, just as vow the chief duty of the direct. representative of Confucius, who ix strictly a feudal duke, is to maintain the sacrifices to his grent ancestor. The eight marquises had their territory granted them chiefly in Shantung, Shansi, and Honan, They were most of them gons of Wen Wang and Wu Wang, and held-their titles and Inud from the twelfth century. It was very much a family matter, though some meritorious officers were also made marquises, Kiang T'ai-kung was one of these, wester Sze Yo had helped the Emperor Yii to reduce the fouds of that age, which sprend ruin over the country, and he was made Baron of Lit on the south-west of Shantung, From Wa Wang, Kiang 'I'ai-kang himself, for his merits as a councillor and adminis. trator, received the 'T'si country on the north of Lai Shan, Another marquis was chief potter under Wa Wang; but he was appointed nominally to keep up the sacrifices to the ancient Emperor Shun. Of the five earls, one revolved the Peking country, He was rewarded in this way for services at the conquest, Another was a descendant of the Euperor Yi. He received the Lu country to maintain sacrifices to his ancestor, There was a brother of Hriian Wang, who in the ninth century received n large part of Honan under the name of the Cheng Kingdom, Another was the oder of the Ts'in family, who in the eighth century drove buck the Tibetan tribes and was rewarded with a feudal title, The great conqueror Tsin Shik Hanng was his descendant. Among the viscounts was the Lord of the Wa country, who resided at Wa-hsi near Soochow. Ho was originally uncle to hie Wang. The Viscount of Ch'u was sted to maintain snorifices to Ti-Vovgraudvon to the Yellow Emperor and predecessor of Yao. We can sit these examples before us under the objects of the feudal institution in the twelfth century before Christ. The great and small fiefs and the five titles nobility were established to give honour to the Iuperial priuoss, to reward faithful servants of the Crown, riflees to ancient
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.