X.15 Other means of preserving a conquest

, par Stewart

When a monarch conquers a large state, there is an admirable practice, equally well-chosen for moderating despotism and for preserving the conquest ; the conquerors of China made use of it.

In order not to dismay the vanquished people, and not to puff up the victor, in order to prevent the government from turning military, and to hold the two peoples to their duty, the Tartar family that now reigns in China has decided that each corps of troops in the provinces is to be composed of half Chinese and half Tartars, so the jealousy between the two nations will hold them to their duty. The tribunals as well are half Chinese, half Tartar. Several good effects flow from this : first, the two nations contain each other ; second, they both retain military and civil authority, and one is not obliterated by the other ; third, the conquering nation can spread everywhere without weakening and undoing itself. She becomes capable of holding out through civil and foreign wars. This is such a sensible institution that almost all those who have conquered on the ground have been undone for want of one like it.