their religious rites "steeled the heart against human sympathy, and begat a thirst for carnage, like that excited in the Romans by the exhibitions of the circus. The perpetual recurrence of ceremonies, in which the people took part, associated religion with their most intimate concerns, and spread a gloom of superstition over the domestic hearth, until the character of the nation wore a grave and even melancholy aspect, which belongs to their descendants at the present day." The sternness, if not the cruelty, exhibited in the religious rites of the Mexicans were observable also in their dealings with criminals. Their penal code may have shown "a profound respect for the great principles of morality," but, adds Prescott, it was stamped with "the severity, the ferocity, indeed, of a rude people hardened by familiarity with scenes of blood." The usual penalties were death or slavery. Murder, whether of a freeman or a slave, was punished with death, as was adultery, and also theft of the more heinous kinds. The removal of land marks

placed in the fields by public authority, the defrauding by false measures, and even the prodigal squandering of a patrimony, were treated as capital offences. Intemperance was punished by death, or with loss of rank and confiscation of property, according to whether the offender was young or more advanced in years. Traitors and rebels were, of course, treated as capital offenders; and such was the fate also of judges who accepted a bribe or gave an unjust sentence.2

The severity of the punishments, awarded by their penal code to certain offences, would seem to show that the Mexicans were governed by what they considered was essential to the interests of the State, rather than by the perception and recognition of the principles of morality 1 Prescott, op. cit., vol. i., p. 75.

2 Clavigero, op. cit., vol. i., p. 355, seq.

as Prescott supposes. A reference to the exhortations addressed by parents to their children confirms this view. In a father's advice to his sons, the great aim appears to be to enforce such conduct as should lead the gods to give them "riches, honour, and prosperity, even as they give them to those who are strong in battle." Sahagun has preserved also an address by an Aztec mother to her daughter, in which the evil of adultery is dwelt on. She says, "see that you disgrace not yourself, that you stain not your honour, nor pollute the lustre and fame of your ancestors." Notwithstanding the elevated tone of this advice, it is noticeable that the condemnation of the act of adultery is placed on the ground of duty to the husband, and not of any special heinousness in the act itself. The punishment which it is said God will inflict on the offender is for daring to injure her husband. In an earlier passage, the mother warns her daughter against unchastity before marriage, but there is nothing to show that she had any idea of immorality in connection with the offence.2 Nevertheless, those addresses, no less than the prayers to the Deity, contain much valuable moral instruction.

Moral discipline occupied also an important place in the education which both sexes received at the hands of the priests. An abhorrence of vice, a modesty of behaviour, respect to superiors, and love of fatigue were, says Clavigero, strongly inculcated Veracity was one of the things most highly esteemed, while reverence for parents was so sedulously cultivated, that

1 Bancroft, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 247.

3

2 Clavigero states that no punishment was provided for unchastity before marriage, although its evil was dwelt upon by parents in their admonitions to their children, op. cit., vol. i., p. 357. The Otomis appear to have allowed more license than the Mexicans, do., vol. i., p. 321.

Of

children, when grown up and married, hardly durst speak before them. Those youths who completed their education in the temple seminaries remained there until the time of their marriage had arrived, when they were dismissed by the superior, who exhorted them to a perseverance in virtue, and the discharge of all the duties of the married state.1 Whatever influence virtuous action may be supposed to have had over the worldly lot of those who practised it, such conduct does not appear to have had any great effect on their condition after death. the three separate states of existence in the spirit world, which the religion of the Mexicans provided, the highest was reserved for the souls of those who fell in battle, or died in captivity, and of the women who died in childbirth. The second was devoted to the souls of children, and of those drowned, or struck by lightning, or who died by dropsy, humours, or other such diseases, or from wounds. The former "passed at once into the presence of the Sun, whom they accompanied with songs and choral dances, in his bright progress through the heavens; and after some years, their spirits went to animate the clouds and singing birds of beautiful plumage, and to revel amidst the rich blossoms and odours of the gardens of Paradise." Those relegated to the intermediate state passed into a cool and delightful place, where they enjoyed the most delicious repasts, with other sensuous pleasures. The third place was that to which were consigned the souls of the rest of the dead, who were supposed to reside in utter darkness, although they would seem not to have been subjected to positive punishment.2

1 op. cit., vol. i., p. 337.

2 Prescott, op. cit., vol. i., p. 56. Clavigero, do., vol. i., p. 242.

Chinese and Japanese.

The government of Peru was essentially paternal, the Inca being the Father, whose will was law, and whose providential care supplied all the wants of his children. The same spirit runs throughout the political institutions of both China and Japan. No doubt, the notion of dependence is less pronounced, this being due to the fact that the natives of those countries have attained socially to a certain degree of manhood. Actions are no longer punished because they are contrary to the will of the ruler, but are so because they "transgress the hallowed laws of the Empire," and individuals have a freedom of action which the Peruvians were quite strangers to. The American and Asiatic peoples agreed, however, in their idea as to what should be the aim of good government. An Emperor of China-Kang-hi-who was nearly contemporary with Louis XIV. of France, thus speaks in his will:"I the Emperor, who honour Heaven, and who am charged with its decrees, say: From all time it has been the duty of those who govern the universe to revere Heaven and to follow the ways of our ancestors. The true way to do this is to treat kindly those who come from far, and to promote, according to their worth, those who are near; to give the people peace and plenty; to aim at the good of the world as at our own; to make our heart one with the heart of the world; to preserve the State from dangers before they come, and to meet all disturbances with wisdom. During

so long a reign I have had no other end than to bring peace into the empire, to make my people happy, each in his condition. For this I have toiled, and it has

1 Thunberg's "Travels in Europe, Africa, and Asia” (Eng. trans.), vol. ii., p. 65.

This is Inca of

worn out the strength of my mind and body." language which might have been used by an Peru, whose parental condition is reproduced in that of the rulers of China and Japan. Mr Dickson affirms that the State in Japan is founded on the idea of the family exactly as in China, whose sage, Mencius, says, "the root of the empire is the State—the root of the State is in the family—the root of the family is in the person of its head.” 2 Indeed, the sentiments, and sometimes the very words of the laws of Iyeyas, are taken from the writings of the Chinese sages Confucius and Mencius. The code is founded upon the five duties of universal obligation enunciated by the former in the Chung Yung, that of a sovereign and minor, of a father and son, of husband and wife, of elder and younger brothers, and between friends, and upon "the principle that the administration of government lies in getting proper men, and that such are to be obtained by means of the ruler's own character." Iyeyas wrote that he, like the Mikado, loved his people as a mother does her children, and he added, "this benevolence of mind is called Jin. This Jin may be said to consist of five parts-these are humility, integrity, courtesy, wisdom, and truth." Elsewhere he says to his subjects, "respect the gods, keep the heart pure, and be diligent in business during the whole life," adding, "the aged, whether widowers or widows, and orphans, and persons without relatives, every one should assist with kindness and liberality for justice to these four, is the root of good government.'

"4

5 دو

"3

These sentiments are doubtless derived from the

1 Quoted by Dr Bridges in "International Policy" (1860), p. 387. 2 This saying, which occurs in "Le Low," is thus translated by Dr Legge :-"The root of the kingdom is in the State; the root of the State is in the clan; the root of the clan is in the person."—The Works of Mencius (1875), p. 237. 4 Do., p. 268.

3 Op. cit., p. 269.

5 Do., p. 242.