After the ancient feudal system of China had been destroyed its excessive despotism was not felt by the people. From the time of the Chin Dynasty, absolutism of the! successive ruler was directed first lof all towards the preservation of their own imperial positions. They. desired to make the empire their. own family possession, in order that. their descendants might ever afterwards enjoy it in comfort, #0 any uprising of the people, if the throne was in danger, was suppressed by the use of great force, If one man rebelled the entire clan was exter-
The reason why such severe) punishment was used to prevent re-Dellion was because the absolute, ruler desired to protect his throne. But on the other hand, if the people. did not transgress the rights of the: Emperor, no matter what they did, the esiperor took no notice. There: fore from the time of the Chins, the. Chinese ruler simply looked after his throne and did not bother about. the people's affairs. As for their. well-being he could not do anything.
Now we have come to the 13th year of the Republic, but because the affairs of government are still in confusion and we have not been able to set them right, the relationship between the people and the state hag not been attended to, Manchus and the People, remember what " the absolutism of the Manchu emperor like, before the establishment of the Republic? Thirteen years, presly what relation had the people With the 'Mancha rulers? During he Mavehu "Dynasty in' each pros there was at the boad, the ice toy and Governor; next. there weve the Prefect and. Intendant of Circuit and beneath them the Sub-Prefect and County, Magistrate, 0 the relationship of the people with the emperor was of little account, There was only one thing' by which they were connected, and that, wa the payment of taxes, Apart from this the people kad nothing to-do with the government. "So the peoble's interest in the government was very slight; they did not care who was emperor, so long as they paid their taxes; that was the fulfilment of their responsibility. The gov-ferment only requized the people to Pay taxes and paid no attention to' nything else that concerned them; merely allowing them to, live or die' as they might, From tha we can see that the Chinese people never suffered direct-any of the evils of despotism. 'They only suffered indirectly, and that was because the empire being decadent was subject to foreign domination and economic pressure with 20. means of resisting. 'The people's wealth having been exhaust-they thomaslves' suffered. the hardships of poverty. This kind of Aulfering was indirect and" not direct, so the people of that time had few complaints to make againat the emperor. But the tyranny in Europe was a different thing Zrom the tyranny in China, Tyrannical Restrictions From the time of the destruction of Rome in Europe until 300 years ago, the tyranny" of the rulery inyetsed' great, and the hardehipe fof the "people were exceedingly Severe, even beyond endurance. "At that time when people were aulfering in such a manner, Testejetions upon their liberty were many, the worst being lack of liberty in thought or speech or action." But these are now relics of the past in Europe.
'The. circumstances under which the people lived we are not able to sec, but we know something' abet the restrictions upon ther liberty of fellen. For instance we know Something about the hardships caused by the lack of freedom intercourse and action suffered by Ghinese emigrants. who live in the Dutch East Indies or the territories of France. Java. was originally a Subject kingdom of China, and one that paid tribute; it afterwards be. longed. to Holland. "Since it has come under the Dutch government, whenever Chinese go there, no mat. ter whether merchants atadents. oF labourers, as soon as the steamer arrives, Dutch policemen come to examine them. They take the Chin-{08 small howse. where they fre shut up and made to take of their clothes." They are examined by a doctor from head to foot and their Bodies are measured before they ave released and allowed to disembark. When they go on shore. they must also state Where they are going to live. If they' want to remove {eom their present to another place, they must @ Jhin 'a passport, Afetr nine o'cloge in the evening, if they wish to travel this passport is not sufficient, they must obtain a night passport and also have a lamp. This is the vay Chinese emigrants are treated under the Dutch government in Java that is they have no liberty of action, These restrictions on people's Liberty of movement, were certeialy used in former times by. the rulers of Europe and have remained to this day, and the Dutch use them in their treatment of Chinese emigrants." From the way our Chinese emigrants are treated we can form an idea of the character of despotic rule in former times in Europe.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.