FANG HSIAO-JU.
a.d. 1357-1402
[A Minister of State under Hui Ti, the Emperor who vanished and is supposed to have been recognized forty years afterwards, by a mole on his chin. Refusing to serve under the new Emperor, Yung Lo, whose name is connected with the giant encyclopaedia, he was cut to pieces in the market-place and his family was exterminated.]
IT IS ALWAYS THE UNEXPECTED.
STATESMEN who forecast the destinies of an empire, oft-times concentrate their genius upon the difficult, and neglect the easy. They provide against likely evils, and disregard combinations which yield no ground for suspicion. Yet calamity often issues from neglected quarters, and sedition springs out of circumstances which have been set aside as trivial. Must this be regarded as due to an absence of care?―No. It results because the things that man can provide against are human, while those that elude his vigilance and overpower his strength are divine.
The Ch‘ins obliterated the feudal system and united the empire under one sway. They saw that the Chou dynasty had been overthrown by the turbulence of vassal nobles, and therefore they dispersed these over the land as officers of state responsible to the central government; trusting that thereby appeal to arms would cease, and the empire be theirs for ever. But they could not foresee that the founder of the Hans would arise from the furrowed fields and snatch away the sceptre from their grasp.
The Hans took warning by the Ch‘ins, and re-established feudatory princes, choosing them from among the members of the Imperial family, and relying upon their tie of kinship to the throne.[1] Yet the conflict with the Confederate States was at hand, in consequence of which the power of the princes was diminished to
- ↑ See Music, p. 78.
