ABSTRACT
National institutions inevitably have aspects which are to be commended and others which are to be condemned. Sometimes powerful families exert their strength arrogantly. Again, a powerful and tyrannical ruler may appear upon the throne. Violence may call forth violence and strength contend with strength. Cruelty and oppression may go hand in hand. Foreign countries have ever sought in vain to realise a perpetual peace. The reason for this state of affairs is that in these foreign
countries the apparently superior persons are not really superior, and the same is true of their inferiors. Even insignificant men are able to seize power and prevail over their fellows. By an opportune usurpation of power they may even command the homage due to true rulers. They may even aspire to the throne. But let their oppressive rule slacken for a moment and innumerable rivals spring up and battle for the possession of the country. There are countless instances of this character in the annals of foreign nations. We need never doubt this fact for a moment. Such phenomena are natural. They arise from deficiencies or faults in the national organisation. We cannot afford to neglect these national institutions which give rise to such phenomena as are displayed in world history. There are, however, certain phenomena unique and unparalleled in the history of other nations, whose glory still shines brightly after a myriad ages. Such are to be witnessed only in our Empire. Our superior national institutions are not comparable with those of other nations. Indeed, in the history of our Empire there has never appeared a single usurper, a rebel, or a calumniator of the throne. None has ever complained of oppression. In peaceful content the whole people has basked from time immemorial as though in the gentle breezes of spring. Our lives and our hearts are ever at one with the will of our Emperor. This constant unity is the peculiar glory of our nation and constitutes the essential principle and the true spirit of our national institutions. Oh, how happy we are in the possession of this unique spirit which from the most ancient times has never been paralleled in human history.
