[ S7 ]
C H I N A
T HE miracle of governments'! Its dominion extends from G o v e r n m e n t .
the freights of Hainan, in north Lat. 20° 13', to the extremity
o f the province o f Pe-che-li, in Lat. 41° 15', comprehending
a fpace of near fifteen hundred miles in length, and in
breadth above a thoufand. The numbers o f its inhabitants
(given by the lively Voltaire) are a hundred and fifty millions*,
yet all are ruled by a fingle man ! The government is founded
on the law o f fixe, fifth commandment, and the honor paid to the
emperor in the charadter of father, amounts to a veneration due
to the Divinity himfelf. The greateft of his fubjedts never fpeak
to him without kneeling; his words are law, and every thing
he fays is received as oracular. The fame refpedt, proportion-
ably diminilhed, is rendered to all his fervants, as emanations of
his facred perfon, from the firfl: mandarine down to the lowefl:
officer who is inverted with delegated power. He is called
Tyen-tfe, the fon of Heaven •, fihau-ting, palace royal; Van-fwi,
ten thoufand years; and by other epithets emblematic o f the
# T h e more accurate information obtained by Lord Macartney’s embafly, makes the popu-
lationof China Proper amount to 333)000,000, inhabiting a fpace of 1,297,999 fquare miles. E.
ijindtity