Chapter 10 chapter 10

When I was in Japan last year the ex-Minister of Education, Baron Kikuchi, asked me to translate four Chinese characters taken from the book in which, as I said, Confucius taught this State religion of his. The four characters were Ming fen to .yi (^^_^fo^C) . I translated them as the Great Principle of Honor and Duty. It is for this reason that the Chinese make a special distinction between Con-fucianism and all other religions by calling the system of teaching Taught by Confucius not a chiao (^_the general term in Chinese for religion with which they designate other religions, such as Buddhism, Mohammedanism and Christianity_but the ming chiao (^ ^C)_the religion of Honor. Again the term chum tzu chih too ( ^ ^.$lM) in the teachings of Confucius, translated by Dr. Legge as "the way of the superior man, " for which the nearest equivalent in the European languages ​​is moral law_means literally, the way_the Law of the Gentleman. In fact , the whole system of philosophy and morality taught t by Confucius may be summed up in one word: the Law of the Gentleman. Now Confucius codified this law of the gentleman and made it a Religion, _a State religion. The first Article of Faith in this State Religion is Ming fen ta yi_the Principle of Honor and Duty_which may thus be called: A Code of Honor.

In this State religion Confucius taught that the only true, rational, permanent and absolute basis, not only of a State, but of all Society and civilization, is this law of the gentleman, the sense of honor in man. Now you, all of you, even those who believe that there is no morality in politics_all of you, I think, know and will admit the importance of this sense of honor in men in human society. But I am not quite sure that all of you are aware of the absolute necessity of this sense of honor in men for the carrying on of every form of human society; in fact, as the proverb which says: "There must be honor even among thieves," show_even for the carrying on of a society of thieves. Without the sense of honor in men, all society and civilization would on the instant break down and become impossible. Will you allow me to show you how this is so? Let us take, for example, such a trivial matter as gambling in social life . Now unless men when they sit down to gamble all recognize andfeel themselves bound by the sense of honor to pay when a certain color of cards or dice turns up, gambling would on the instant become impossible. The merchants again_unless merchants recognize and feel themselves bound by the sense of honor to fulfill their contracts, all trading would become impossible. But you will say that the merchant who repudiates his contract can be taken to the law-court. True, but if there were no law-courts, what then? Besides, the law-court_how can the law-court make the defaulting merchant fulfill his contract? By force. In fact, without the sense of honor in men, society can only be held together for a time by force. But then I think I can show you that force alone cannot hold society permanently together. The policeman who compels the merchant to fulfill his contract, uses force. But the lawyer, magistrate or president of a republic_how does he make the policeman do his duty? You know he cannot do it by force; sense of honor in the policemen or by fraud.

In modem times all over the world to-day_and I am sorry to say now also in China_the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic make the policeman do his duty by fraud. In modem times the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic tell the policeman that he must do his duty, because it is for the good of society and for the good of his country; and that the good of society means that he, the policeman, can get his pay regularly, without which he and his family would die of starvation. The lawyer, politician or president of a republic who tells the policeman this, I say, zises fraud. I say it is fraud, because the good of the country, which for the policeman means fifteen shillings a week, which barely keeps him and his family from starvation, means for the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic ten to twenty thousand pounds a year, with a fine house, electric light, motor cars and all the comforts and luxuries which the life blood lab our of ten thousands of men has to supply him. I say it is fraud because without the recognition of a sense of honor_the sense of honor which makes the gambler pay the last penny in his pocket to the player who wins from him, without this sense of honor, all transfer and possession of property which makes the inequality of the rich and poor in society, as well as the transfer of money on a gambling table, has no justification whatever and no binding force. Thus the lawyer, politician, magistrate or president of a republic, although they talk of the good of society and the good of the country, really depend upon the policeman s unconscious sense of honor which not only makes him do his duty, but also makes him respect the right of property and be satisfied with fifteen shillings a week, while the lawyer, politician and president of a republic receive an income of twenty thousand pounds a year. I, therefore, say it is fraud because while they thus demand the sense of honor from the policeman; they, the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic in modem society believe, openly say and act on the principle that there is no morality, no sense of honor in politics.

You will remember what Carlyle, I told you, said_that the right of a king to govern us is either a divine right or a diabolic wrong. Now this fraud of the modern lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic is what Carlyle calls a diabolic wrong. It is this fraud, this Jesuitism of the public men in modem society, who say and act on the principle that there is no morality, no sense of honor in politics and yet plausibly talk of the good of society and the good of the country; it is this Jesuitism which, as Carlyle says, gives rise to "the widespread suffering, mutiny, delirium, the hot rage of sansculottic insurrections, the cold rage of resuscited tyrannies, brutal degradation of the millions, the pampered friction of the units" which we see in modern society to-day. In short, it is this combination of fraud and force, Jesuitism and Militarism, lawyer and policeman, which has produced Anarchists and Anarchism in modem society, this combination of force and fraud outr aging the moral sense in man and producing madness which makes the Anarchist throw bomb and dynamite against the lawyer, politician, magistrate and president of a republic.