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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 136, 28 June 1889, Page 3

In China the hereditary principle has only a limited force. The son of a noble is of less rank than his father, or, to illustrate this, the son of a duke, on the death of his father, does net become a duke but merely a mar* quia ; the son of a simple lord iB merely a commoner. In process of time therefore the natural tendency is that noble families lose their rank entirely unless the leading memj ber shows sufficient valour, or wisdom, or public virtue in some way to be elevated to a title of honour on his own account. Degenerate families therefore sink into the general mass of the people in a few generations ; whereas those in which publio virtue is hereditary, pontinue to maintain their rank by a process of fresh creations. It would be interesting to see ho-jv this principle would work in isolated cases in England.