Free
discussion and general news have no place in its columns; so that
in the modern sense it is not a newspaper.
The court--even the occupant of the Dragon Throne--needs watch-dogs.
Such is the theory; but as a matter of fact these guardians of official
morals find it safer to occupy themselves with the aberrations of
satellites than to discover spots on the sun. About
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thirty years ago one of them, Wukotu, resolved to denounce the
Empress Dowager for having adopted the late emperor as her son
instead of making him her grandson. He accordingly immolated himself
at the tomb of the late emperor by way of protesting against the
impropriety of leaving him without a direct heir to worship his
manes. It is doubtful whether the Western mind is capable of following
Wukotu's subtle reasoning; but is it not plain that he felt that
he was provoking an ignominious death, and chose rather to die
as a hero--the champion of his deceased master?
If a censor succeeds in convicting a single high functionary of
gross misconduct his fortune is made. He is rewarded by appointment
to some respectable post, possibly the same from which his victim has
been evicted. Practical advantage carries the day against abstract
notions of aesthetic fitness. Sublime it might be to see the guardians
of the common weal striking down the unworthy, with a public spirit
untainted by self-interest; but in China (and in some other countries)
such machinery requires self-interest for its motive force.
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