Cylchgronau Cymru

IN a very charming little book which I believe first appeared in The Welsh Outlook Some Studies of Elizabethan Wales, by Mr. Roland williams-I came across something that aroused a train of thought. It was the statement that the Normans and the Tudors made Wales; that the Llewelyns and Glyndwr never envisaged anything beyond the Tribal System; and the train of thought began by my wondering whether Wales was made yet, and devoutly hoping it was not. No; I think a living organism never is made; it is always making itself, growing and changing; it advances from its birth to its prime, and wanes from its prime to its death; and then that is only a change, a temporary quiescence; it begins again presently. We have not really understood the Tribal System. We may be sure of two things about it: first, that it came in because of its value; because it met the needs of a time and race; and second, it went out because it was very old and ripe for death. That is true of every social or govern- mental system. Everyone of them dies in time; and when they die we are apt to say, they died because they were radically faulty. The Parlia- mentary System, supposed last century to be an absolute and immortal perfection, is creaking now ominously; the far-seeing would not pro- phesy for it a long life. As a matter of fact our Tribal System had some noble virtues of its own; there were good things that came down to us from it which, if they are dead now, were still alive within living memory. To illustrate, let me contrast two opposite theories of government the modern European, and the ancient Chinese. China first. The constitution of the Chinese Empire was built on Mencius's interpretation of Confucius, who drew his ideas from the ancients. Its found- ation therefore is extremely old and underlying it is a high and noble philosophy. The sun rules his solar system he gives light and life to his planets, who revolve about him in obedience to the dictates of what we call gravitation, but Con- fucius, being more human, would have called it filial love. He maintains in his heart the prin- ciple called Jên-written with the symbol for man and the symbol for two meaning the right relation of the unit to plurality, the individual to the universe, the ego to the non-ego reciprocal love. Because this principle rules in him, all is well with his empire, the solar system. On earth, the Son of Heaven is as much a part of Nature as the sun is in the sky. He is a divine being, a natural principle, the centre, sun and father of the earthly solar system, the em- pire. The whole theory of government is ex- pressed in this sentence "The Yellow Emperor sat upon his throne, and all the world THE TWO LAWS by Kenneth Morris, D.Litt. was at peace." The Yellow Emperor— Hwangti — was a sinless semi-mythological ruler dated at about 2900 B.C. He sat on his throne, united with his highest self, the spark of divinity within him-Jên, the self common to all; and because no unruiy thought could enter his mind, no unruliness could appear in the em- pire. The sun issues no commands to his planets, but sways them by the virtue he gives out. So too the Son of Heaven issued no commands. When a change seemed necessary, when any- thing was to be done, an edict was published but the spirit and wording of it were not Thou shalt or Thou shalt not-My subjects, you must obey; but, My children, let us try this plan and see how it works. Anyone was free to ignore it; if many ignored it, it was seen to be unwork- able, and withdrawn. Then something else was tried. In England, rebellion was the sin of sins to oppose the state, to strike at the power of the king, was treason, punished by the most barbar- ous form of death known to the English law. Under the Chinese constitution, on the other hand, it was the inalienable right of every sub- ject of the Son of Heaven to rebel when and where and for any reason that seemed good to him. Now to see how that worked. The Emperor deputed his power to the viceroys of the pro- vinces they theirs to district magistrates; they theirs to village headmen; they theirs to the heads of families I have probably not enumer- ated all the steps. Each grade ruled as the sun in the solar system or as the father in his family the bond was to be, not force, but love. But men are human in the present stage of their evolution, imperfect. A viceroy, or a district magistrate, might be lacking in jin, or might not fit his office. If so, he might oppress, or tax be- yond what reason and custom allowed. Then the people were called upon by reason and custom to exercise their inalienable right, and rebel. A crowd gathered say five men in front of the official's yamen, and raised a shout: if the occa- sion was dire, flung a stone or two. The magis- trate must report this to the viceroy, and he to Pekin and the magistrate was removed. But the right of rebellion extended further. The Son of Heaven was a god even his family was divine. But a family is also a human thing; anc the ruling family, because it is also human, mav cease to be divine. If so, it ceased to be divine, and that was all about it. It "exhausted the mandate of heaven," and must go. People of the Hundred Families-great Democracy of China-now exercise your right, and rebel! Drive out the family that has exhausted the man-