BOARDS OF REVENUE AND RITES.4. TheHu Pu, or Board of Revenue, “directs the territorial government of the Empire, and keeps the lists of population in order to aid the Emperor in nourishing all people; whatever appertains to the regulations for levying and collecting duties and taxes, to the plans for distributing salaries and allowances, to the rates for receipts and disbursements at the granaries and treasuries, and to the rights for transporting by land and water are reported to this Board, that sufficient supplies for the country may be provided.” Besides these duties, it obtains the admeasurement of all lands in the Empire, and proportions taxes and conscriptions, according to the divisions, population, etc., regulates the expenditure, and ascertains the latitude and longitude of places. One minor office prepares lists of all the Manchu girls fit to be introduced into the palace for selection as inmates of the harem, a duty which is enjoined on it because the allowances, outfits, and positions of these womencome within its control. The injudicious mode of collecting revenue common under the Persian and Syrian kings, by which the sums obtained from single cities and provinces were apportioned among the royal family and favorites, and carried directly to them, has never been practised by the Chinese.There are fourteen subordinate departments to attend to the receipt of the revenue from each of the provinces, each of which corresponds with the treasury department in its respective province. The revenue being paid in sundry ways and articles, as money, grain, manufactures, etc., the receipt and distribution of the various articles require a large force of assistants. This Board is moreover a court of appeal on disputes respecting property, and superintends the mint in each province; one bureau is called the “great ministers of the Three Treasuries,” viz., of metals, silks and dye-stuffs, and stationery.5. TheLí Pu, or Board of Rites, “examines and directs concerning the performance of the five kinds of ritual observances, and makes proclamation thereof to the whole Empire, thus aiding the Emperor in guiding all people. Whatever appertains to the ordinances for regulating precedence and literary distinctions, to the canons for maintaining religious honor and fidelity, to the orders respecting intercourse and tribute, and to the forms of giving banquets and granting bounties, are reported to this Board in order to promote national education.” The five classes of rites are defined to be those of a propitious and those of a felicitous nature, military and hospitable rites, and those of an infelicitous nature. Among the subordinate departments is that of ceremonial forms, which “has the regulation of the etiquette to be observed at court on all occasions, on congratulatory attendances, in the performance of official duties, etc.; also the regulation of dresses, caps, etc.; as to the figure, size, color, and nature of their fabrics and ornaments, of carriages and riding accoutrements, their form, etc., with the number of followers and insignia of rank. It has also the direction of the entire ceremonial of personal intercourse between the various ranks or peers, minutely defining the number of bows and degree of attention which each is to pay to the other when meeting in official capacities, according as they areon terms of equality or otherwise. It has also to direct the forms of their written official intercourse, including those to be observed in addresses to and from foreign states. The regulation of the literary examinations, the number of the graduates, the distinction of their classes, the forms of their selection, and the privileges of successful candidates, with the establishment of governmental schools and academies, are all under this department.”Another office superintends the rites to be observed in worshipping deities and spirits of departed monarchs, sages, and worthies, and in “saving the sun and moon” when eclipsed. The third, called “host and guest office,” looks after tribute and tribute-bearers, and takes the whole management of foreign embassies, supplying not only provisions, but translators, and ordering the mode of intercourse between China and other states. The fourth oversees the supplial of food for banquets and sacrifices. The details of all the multifarious ritual duties of this Board occupy fourteen volumes of the Statutes. “Truly nothing is without its ceremonies,” as Confucius taught, and no nation has paid so much attention to them in the ordering of its government as the Chinese. TheBook of Ritesis the foundation of ceremonies and the infallible standard as to their meaning; the importance attached to them has elevated etiquette and ritualism into a kind of crystallizing force which has molded Chinese character in many ways.Connected with the Board of Rites is a Board of Music, containing an indefinite number of officers whose duties “are to study the principles of harmony and melody, to compose musical pieces and form instruments proper to play them, and then suit both to the various occasions on which they are required.” Nor are the graces of posture-making neglected by these ceremony-mongers; but it may with truth be said, that if no other nation ever had a Board of Music, and required so much official music as the Chinese, certainly none ever had less real melody.THE PING PU, OR BOARD OF WAR.6. ThePing Pu, or Board of War, “has the duty of aiding the sovereign to protect the people by the direction of all military affairs in the metropolis and the provinces, and toregulate the hinge of the state upon the reports received from the various departments regarding deprivation of, or appointment to, office; succession to, or creation of, hereditary military rank; postal or courier arrangements; examination and selection of the deserving, and accuracy of returns.” The navy is also under the control of this Board. The management of the post is confided to a special department, and the transmission of official despatches is performed with great efficiency and regularity. A minor bureau of the courier office is called “the office for the announcement of victories,” which, from a recital of its duties, appears to be rather agrande vitesse, whose couriers should hasten as if they announced a victory.To enable this Board of War to discharge its duties, they are apportioned under foursz’, or bureaus, severally attending to promotion for various reasons; to the regulation of the distribution of rewards and punishments, inspection of troops and issue of general orders, answering to an adjutant-general’s department; to the supply and distribution of horses for the cavalry; and, lastly, to the examination of candidates, preparation of estimates and rosters, with all the details connected with equipments and ammunition. The conception of all government with the Manchus being military and not civil, they have developed this Board more than was the case during the last dynasty, the possessions in Central Asia having drawn greatly on their resources and prowess.The Household troops and city Gendarmerie have already been noticed; their control is vested in theNui-wu Fu, and the oversight of all the Bannermen in the Empire vests in the metropolitan office of theTu-tung, or Captains-general, of whom there are twenty-four, one to every banner of each race. The Board of War has no control directly over this large portion of the Chinese army, and as the direction of the land and sea forces in each province is entrusted in a great degree to the local authorities, its duties are really more circumscribed than one would at first imagine. The singular subordination of military to civil power, which has ever distinguished the Chinese polity, makes the study of the army, as at present constituted, a very interesting feature of the national history; for while it hasoften proved inefficient to repress insurrection and defend the people against brigandage, it has never been used to destroy their institutions. In times of internal commotion the national soldiers have usually been loyal to their flag, though it must be confessed that discipline within the ranks is not so perfect as to prevent the soldiers from occasionally harassing and robbing those whom they are set to protect.[235]BOARDS OF PUNISHMENTS AND WORKS.7. TheHing Pu, or Board of Punishments, “has the government and direction of punishments throughout the Empire, for the purpose of aiding the sovereign in correcting all people. Whatever appertains to measures of applying the laws with leniency or severity, to the task of hearing evidence and giving decisions, to the rights of granting pardons, reprieves, or otherwise, and to the rate of fines and interest, are all reported to this Board, to aid in giving dignity to national manners.” TheHing Pupartakes of the nature of both a criminal and civil court; its officers usually meet with those of the Censorate and Talí Sz’, the three forming theSan Fah Sz’, or ‘Three Law Chambers,’ which decide on capital cases brought before them. In the autumn these three unite with members from six other courts, forming collectively a Court of Errors, to revise the decisions of the provincial judges before reporting them to his Majesty. These precautions are taken to prevent injustice when life is involved, and the system shows an endeavor to secure a full and impartial consideration for all capital cases, which, although it may signally fail of its full effect, does the rulers high credit, when the small value set upon life generally by Asiatic governments is considered. These bodies are expected to conform their decisions to the law, nor are they permitted to cite the Emperor’s own decisions as precedents, without the law on these decisions has been expressly entered as a supplementary clause in the code.It also belongs to sub-officers in the Board of Punishments to record all his Majesty’s decisions upon appeals from the provinces at the autumnal assizes, when the entire list is presentedfor his examination and ultimate decision, and see that these sentences are transmitted to the provincial judges. Another office superintends the publication of the code, with all the changes and additions; a third oversees jails and jailers; a fourth receives the fines levied by commutation of punishments, and a fifth registers the receipts and expenditures. If the administration of the law in China at all corresponded with the equity of most of its enactments, or the caution taken to prevent collusion, malversation, and haste on the part of the judges, it would be incomparably the best governed country out of Christendom; but the painful contrast between good laws and wicked rulers is such as to show the utter impossibility of securing the due administration of justice without higher moral principles than heathenism can teach.Theyamunof theHing Puin the capital is the most active of all the Boards, but little is known of what goes on within its walls. Its prisoners are mostly brought from the provinces, officers of high rank arrested for malfeasance or failure, and criminals convicted or condemned there who have appealed to the highest tribunals. Few of those who enter its gates ever return through them, and their sufferings seldom end as long as they have any property left. The narrative of the horrible treatment endured by Loch and his comrades in 1860, while confined within thisyamun, gives a vivid picture of their sufferings, but native prisoners are not usually kept bound and pinioned. In the rear wall of the establishment is an iron door, through which dead bodies are thrust to be carried away to burial.8. TheKung Pu, or Board of Works, “has the government and direction of the public works throughout the Empire, together with the current expenses of the same, for the purpose of aiding the Emperor to keep all people in a state of repose. Whatever appertains to plans for buildings of wood or earth, to the forms of useful instruments, to the laws for stopping up or opening channels, and to the ordinances for constructing the mausolea and temples, are reported to this Board in order to perfect national works.” Its duties are of a miscellaneous nature, and are performed in other countries by no one department, thoughthe plan adopted by the Chinese is not without its advantages. One bureau takes cognizance of the condition of all city walls, palaces, temples, altars, and other public structures; sits as a prize-office, and furnishes tents for his Majesty’s journeys; supplies timber for ships, and pottery and glassware for the court. A second attends to the manufacture of military stores and utensils employed in the army; sorts the pearls from the fisheries according to their value; regulates weights and measures, furnishes “death-warrants” to governors and generals; and, lastly, takes charge of arsenals, stores, camp-equipage, and other things appertaining to the army. A third department has charge of all water-ways and dikes; it also repairs and digs canals, erects bridges, oversees the banks of rivers by means of deputies stationed at posts along their course, builds vessels of war, collects tolls, mends roads, digs the sewers in Peking and cleans out its gutters, preserves ice, makes book-cases for public records, and, lastly, looks after the silks sent as taxes. The fourth of these offices confines its attention chiefly to the condition of the imperial mausolea, the erection of the sepulchres and tablets of meritorious officers buried at public expense, and the adornment of temples and palaces, as well as superintending all workmen employed by the Board.The mint is under the direction of two vice-presidents, and the manufacture of gunpowder is specially intrusted to two great ministers. One would think, from this recital, that the functions of the Board of Works were so diverse that it would be one of the most efficient parts of government; but if the condition of forts, ports, dikes, etc., in other parts of the country corresponds to those along the coast, there is, as the Emperor once said of the army, “the appearance of going to war, but not the reality”—most of the works being on record, and suffered to remain there, except when danger threatens, or his Majesty specially orders a public work, and, what is more important, furnishes the money.THE LÍ FAN YUEN, OR COLONIAL OFFICE.9. TheLí Fan Yuen, or Court for the Government of Foreigners, commonly called the Colonial Office, “has the government and direction of the external foreigners, orders their emoluments and honors, appoints their visits to court, andregulates their punishments, in order to display the majesty and goodness of the state.” This is an important branch of the government, and has the superintendence of all the wandering and settled tribes in Mongolia, Cobdo, Ílí, and Koko-nor. All these are calledwai fan, or ‘external foreigners,’ in distinction from the tributary tribes in Sz’chuen and Formosa, who are termednui fan, or ‘internal foreigners.’ There are alsonui íandwai í, or ‘internal and external barbarians,’ the former comprising the unsubdued mountaineers of Kweichau, and the latter the inhabitants of all foreign countries who do not choose to range themselves under the renovating influences of the Celestial Empire. The Colonial Office regulates the government of the nomads and restricts their wanderings, lest they trespass on each other’s pasture-grounds. Its officers are all Manchus and Mongols, having over them one president and two vice-presidents, Manchus, and one Mongolian vice-president appointed for life.Besides the usual secretaries for conducting its general business, there are six departments, whose combined powers include every branch necessary for the management of these clans. The first two have jurisdiction over the numerous tribes and corps of the Inner Mongols, who are under more complete subjection than the others, and part have been placed under the control of officers in Chihlí and Shansí. The appointment of local officers, collecting taxes, allotting land to Chinese settlers, opening roads, paying salaries, arranging the marriages, retinues, visits to courts, and presents made by the princes and the review of the troops, all appertain to these two departments. The third and fourth have a similar, but less effectual control over the princes, lamas, and tribes of Outer Mongolia. At Urga reside two high ministers, organs of communication with Russia, and general overseers of the frontier. The oversight of the lama hierarchy in Mongolia is now completely under the control of this office; and in Tibet their power has been considerably abridged. The fifth department directs the actions, restrains the powers, levies the taxes, and orders the tributary visits of the Mohammedan begs in the Tien shan Nan Lu, who are quiet pretty much as they are paid by presents and flatteredby honors. The sixth department regulates the penal discipline of the tributary tribes. The salaries paid the Mongolian princes are distributed according to an economical scale. Atsin wangannually receives $2,600 and twenty-five pieces of silk; akiun wangreceives about $1,666 and fifteen pieces of silk; and so on through the ranks of Beile, Beitse, Duke, etc., the last of whom gets a stipend of only $133 and four pieces of silk. The internal organization of these tribes is probably the same now as it was at first among the Scythians and Huns, and partakes of the features of the feudal and tribal system, modified by the nomadic lives they are obliged to lead. The Chinese government is endeavoring to reduce the influence and retinues of the khans and begs and elevate the people to positions of independent owners and cultivators of the soil.THE TU-CHAH YUEN, OR CENSORATE.10. TheTu-chah Yuen, or Censorate,i.e., ‘All-examining Court,’ is entrusted with the “care of manners and customs, the investigation of all public offices within and without the capital, the discrimination between the good and bad performance of their business, and between the depravity and uprightness of the officers employed in them; taking the lead of other censors, and uttering each his sentiments and reproofs, in order to cause officers to be diligent in attention to their daily duties, and to render the government of the Empire stable.” The Censorate, when joined with the Board of Punishments and Court of Appeal, forms a high court for the revision of criminal cases and hearing appeals from the provinces; and, in connection with the Six Boards and the Court of Representation and Appeal, makes one of theKiu King, or ‘Nine Courts,’ which deliberate on important affairs of government.The officers are two censors and four deputy censors, besides whom the governors, lieutenant-governors, and the governors of rivers and inland navigation areex-officiodeputy censors. A class of censors is placed over each of the Six Boards, whose duties are to supervise all their acts, to receive all public documents from the Cabinet, and after classifying them transmit them to the several courts to which they belong, and to make a semi-monthly examination of the papers entered on the archives of each court. All criminal cases in the provinces come underthe oversight of the censors at the capital, and the department which superintends the affairs of the metropolis revises its municipal acts, settles the quarrels, and represses the crimes of its inhabitants. These are the duties of the Censorate, than which no part of the Chinese government has attracted more attention. The privilege of reproof given by the law to the office of censor has sometimes been exercised with remarkable candor and plainness, and many cases are recorded in history of these officers suffering for their fidelity, but such instances must be few indeed in proportion to the failures.The celebrated Sung, who was appointed commissioner to accompany Lord Macartney, once remonstrated with the Emperor Kiaking upon his attachment to play-actors and strong drink, which degraded him in the eyes of his people and incapacitated him from performing his duties. The Emperor, highly irritated, called him to his presence, and on his confessing to the authorship of the memorial, asked him what punishment he deserved. He answered, “Quartering.” He was told to select some other; “Let me be beheaded;” and on a third command, he chose to be strangled. He was then ordered to retire, and the next day the Emperor appointed him governor in Ílí, thus acknowledging his rectitude, though unable to bear his censure.History records the reply of another censor in the reign of an Emperor of the Tang dynasty, who, when his Majesty once desired to inspect the archives of the historiographer’s office, in order to learn what had been recorded concerning himself, under the excuse that he must know his faults before he could well correct them, was answered: “It is true your Majesty has committed a number of errors, and it has been the painful duty of our employment to take notice of them; a duty which further obliges us to inform posterity of the conversation which your Majesty has this day, very improperly, held with us.”The censors usually attend on all state occasions by the side of his Majesty, and are frequently allowed to express their opinions openly, but in a despotic government this is little else than a fiction of state, for the fear of offending the imperial ear, and consequent disgrace, will usually prove stronger than the consciousness of right or the desires of a public fame andmartyrdom for the sake of principle. The usual mode of advising is to send in a remonstrance against a proposed act, as when one of the body in 1832 remonstrated against the Emperor paying attention to anonymous accusations; or to suggest a different procedure, as the memorials of Chu Tsun against legalizing opium. The number of these papers inserted in thePeking Gazettefor the information of the Empire, in many of which the acts of officers are severely reprehended, shows that the censors are not altogether idle. In 1833 a censor named Sü requested the Emperor to interdict official persons at court from writing private letters concerning public persons and affairs in the provinces. He stated that when candidates left the capital for their provincial stations, private letters were sent by them from their friends to the provincial authorities, “sounding the voice of influence and interest,” by which means justice was perverted. The Emperor ordered the Cabinet to examine the censor and get his facts in proof of these statements, but on inquiry he either would not or could not bring forward any cases, and he himself consequently received a reprimand. “These censors are allowed,” says the Emperor, “to tell me the reports they hear, to inform me concerning courtiers and governors who pervert the laws, and to speak plainly about any defect or impropriety which they may observe in the monarch himself; but they are not permitted to employ their pencils in writing memorials which are filled with vague surmises and mere probabilities or suppositions. This would only fill my mind with doubts and uncertainty, and I would not know what men to employ; were this spirit indulged, the detriment of government would be most serious. Let Sü be subjected to a court of inquiry.”The suspension or disgrace of censors for their freedom of speech is a common occurrence, and among the forty or fifty persons who have this privilege a few are to be found who do not hesitate to lift up their voice against what they deem to be wrong; and there is reason for supposing that only a small portion of their remonstrances appears in theGazette. With regard to this department of government, it is to be observed that although it may tend only in a partial degree to checkoppression and reform abuses, and while a close examination of its real operations and influence and the character of its members may excite more contempt than respect, still the existence of such a body, and the publication of its memorials, can hardly fail to rectify misconduct to some degree, and check maladministration before it results in widespread evil. The Censorate is, however, only one of a number of checks upon the conduct of officers, and perhaps by no means the strongest.[236]COURTS OF TRANSMISSION AND JUDICATURE.11. TheTung-ching Sz’, which may be called a Court of Transmission, consists of a small body of six officers, whose duty is to receive memorials from the provincial authorities and appeals from their judgment by the people and present them to the Cabinet. Attached to this Court is an office for attending at the palace-gate to await the beating of a drum, which, in conformity with an ancient custom, is placed there that applicants may by striking it obtain a hearing. It is also the channel through which the people can directly appeal to his Majesty, and cases occur of individuals, even women and girls, travelling to the capital from remote places to present their petitions for redress before the throne. The feeling of blood revenge prevails among the Chinese, and impels many of these weak and unprotected persons to undergo great hardships to obtain legal redress, when the lives of their parents have been unjustly taken by powerful and rich enemies.12. TheTa-lí Sz’, or Court of Judicature and Revision, has the duty of adjusting all the criminal courts in the Empire, and forms the nearest approach to a Supreme Court in the government, though the cases brought before it are mostly criminal. When the crimes involve life, this and the preceding unite with the Censorate to form one court, and if the judges are not unanimous in their decisions they must report their reasons to the Emperor, who will pass judgment upon them. In a despotic government no one can expect that the executive officers of courts will exercise their functions with that caution andequity required in Christian countries, but considerable care has been taken to obtain as great a degree of justice as possible.THE HANLIN AND MINOR COURTS.13. TheHanlin Yuen, or Imperial Academy, is entrusted “with the duty of drawing up governmental documents, histories, and other works; its chief officers take the lead of the various classes, and excite their exertions to advance in learning in order to prepare them for employments and fit them for attending upon the sovereign.” This body has, it is highly probable, some similarity to the collection of learned men to whom the King of Babylon entrusted the education of promising young men, for although the members of the Hanlin Yuen do not, to any great degree, educate persons, they are constantly referred to as the Chaldeans were by Belshazzar. Sir John Davis likens it to the Sorbonne, inasmuch as it expounds the sacred books of the Chinese. Its chief officers are two presidents or senior members, calledchwang yuen hioh-sz’, who are usually appointed for life; they attend upon the Emperor, superintend the studies of graduates, and furnish semi-annual lists of persons to be “speakers” at the “classical feasts,” where the literary essays of his Majesty are translated from and into Manchu and read before him.Subordinate to the two senior members are four grades of officers, five in each grade, together with an unlimited number of senior graduates, each forming a sort of college, whose duties are to prepare all works published under governmental sanction; these persons are subject from time to time to fresh examination, and are liable to lose their degrees or be altogether dismissed from office if found faulty or deficient. Subordinate to the Hanlin Yuen is an office consisting of twenty-two selected members, who in rotation attend on the Emperor and make a record of his words and actions. There is also an additional office for the preparation of national histories.The situation of a member of the Hanlin is one of considerable honor and literary ease, and scholars look forward to a station in it as one which confers dignity in a government where all officers are appointed according to their literary merit, but much more from its being the body from which the Emperor selects his most responsible officers. A graduate of this rank ismost likely to be nominated to a vacant office, though the possession of the title does not of itself warrant a place.[237]Before proceeding to consider the provincial governments, notices of some of the other departments not connected with the general machinery of the state are here in place. The municipality of Peking has already been mentioned when describing the capital; it is intimately connected with the general government and forms an integral part of the machine. Among the courts not connected with the municipal rule of the metropolis, nor forming one of the great departments of state, isTai-chang Sz’, or ‘Sacrificial Court,’ whose officers “direct the sacrificial observances and distinguish the various instruments and the quality of the sacrifices.” Their duties are of importance in connection with the state religion, and they rank high among the court dignitaries of the Empire, but as members of this, possess no power. TheTai-puh Sz’, or Superintendent of H. I. M.’s Stud, is an office for “rearing horses, taking account of their increase, and regulating their training;” large tracts of land beyond the Great Wall are appropriated to this purpose, and the clerks of this office, under the direction of the Board of War, oversee the herdsmen and grooms.TheKwangluh Sz’, or ‘Banqueting House,’ has the charge of “feasting the meritorious and banqueting the deserving;” it is somewhat subordinate to the Board of Rites, and provides whatever is necessary for banquets given to literary graduates, foreign ambassadors, etc. TheHunglu Sz’, or ‘Ceremonial Court,’ regulates the forms to be observed at these banquets, which consist in little else than marshalling the guests according to their proper ranks and directing them when to make thekotow, called alsosan kwei kiu kao, “three kneelings and nine knockings.” TheKwoh-tsz’ Kien, or ‘National College,’ is a different institution from the Hanlin Yuen, and intended for teaching graduates of the lower degrees; the departments of study are the Chinese language, the classics and mathematics, each branch having its appropriate teachers, with some higher officers, both Chinese and Manchu.TheKin Tien Kien, or ‘Imperial Astronomical College,’ as might be expected, is much more astrological than astronomical; its duties are defined to be “to direct the ascertainment of times and the movements of the heavenly bodies, in order to attain conformity with the celestial periods and to regulate the notation of time among men; all things relating to divination and the selection of days are under its charge.” The preparation of the almanac, in which, among other things, lucky and unlucky days are marked for the performance of all the important acts of life, and astrological and chiromantic absurdities inserted for the amusement of fortune-tellers and others, the instruction of a few pupils, and care of the observatory, occupy most of the time of its officers. It is now of no practical use, and as theTung-wăn Kwandevelops into a learned and efficient college, including astronomy and medicine and their kindred branches, these native Boards will gradually pass away.RELATION OF THE EMPEROR WITH HIS OFFICIALS.The other local courts of the capital seem to have been subdivided and multiplied to a great degree for the purpose of affording employment to a larger number of persons, especially Manchus and graduates, so that the Emperor can attach them to himself and be surer of their support in case of any insurrection on the part of the people, and also that he may have them more under his control. The number of clerks and minor offices in all the general departments of state is doubtless more numerous than it would be in a European government. In the mutual relations of the great departments of the Chinese government the principles of responsibility and surveillance among the officers are plainly exhibited, while regard has been paid to such a division and apportionment of labor as would secure great efficiency and care, if every member of the machine faithfully did his duty. Two presidents are stationed over each Board to assist and watch each other, while the two presidents oversee the four vice-presidents; the president of one Board is sometimes the vice-president of another; and by means of the Censorate and the General Council every portion is brought under the cognizance of several independent officers, whose mutual jealousy and regard for individual advancement, or apartial desire for the well-being of the state, affords the Emperor some guarantee of fidelity. The seclusion in which he lives makes it difficult for any conspirator to approach his person, but his own fears regarding the management of such an immense Empire compel him to inform himself respecting the actions of ministers, generals, and proconsular governors. The conduct and devotion of hundreds of officers, both civil and military, during the wars with Great Britain and the suppression of rebellions within the last thirty years, afford proof enough that he has attached his subordinates to his service by some other principle than fear. The total number of civilians holding office is estimated at about fourteen thousand persons, but those dependent on the government are many times this amount.The rulers of China have contrived the system of provincial governments in an admirable manner, considering the character of the people and the materials they had to work with; no better proof of their sagacity in this respect can be required than the general degree of good order which has been maintained for nearly two centuries, and the great progress the people have made in wealth, numbers, and power. By a well-arranged plan of checks and changes in the provincial authorities, the chances of their abusing position and power and combining to overthrow the supreme government have been reduced almost to an impossibility; the influence of mutual responsibility among them does something to prevent outrageous oppression of the people, by leading one to accuse another of high crimes in order to exonerate himself or obtain his place. The sons and relatives of the Emperor being excluded from civil office in the provinces, the high-spirited and talented native Chinese do not feel inclined to cabal against the government because every avenue to emolument and power is filled and closed against them by creatures and connections of the sovereign; nor when in office are they disposed to attempt the overthrow of the reigning family, lest they lose what has cost them many years of toilsome study and the wealth and influence of friends to attain. The examination of these pashaliks is furthermore entitled to notice from the degree of power delegated to their highestofficers, and the shrewd manner in which its exercise has been circumscribed and rendered amenable to its imperial source.HIGHER PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES.The highest officers in the provinces are atsungtuh, lit. ‘general director,’ or governor-general, and thefutaiorfuyuen, ‘soother’ or governor. The former is often called a viceroy, but that term seems to be quite inapplicable when used to denote an officer within the limits of the state; governor-general, or proconsul, is more analogous to his duties. A translation of these and many other Chinese titles does not convey their exact functions, but in some cases an equivalent is more intelligible than a translation.[238]Thetsungtuhhas rule over two provinces, or else fills two high offices in one province, while thefutaiis placed over one province, either independent of or in subordination to atsungtuh, as enumerated in the table on page61.An examination of theRed Bookfor 1852 showed that out of a total of 20,327 names in it, 16,474 were Chinese, 3,295 were Manchus and Mongols, and 558 enrolled Chinese; in the copy for 1844, out of 12,758 names, 10,463 were Chinese, 1,768 Manchus, and 527 enrolled Chinese; these figures include only civilians and the employees in Peking. The Eighteen Provinces have altogether less than two thousand persons in office above the rank of assistant district magistrate, viz.: 8 governor-generals, 15 governors, 19 treasurers, 18 judges, 17 chancellors, 15 commanders of the forces, including 2 admirals and 1,740 prefects and magistrates. All those filling the high grades in this series report themselves to the Emperor twice every month, by sending him a salutatory card upon yellow paper, enclosed in a silken envelope; stating, for instance, that ‘Lin Tseh-sü, governor-general of Liang Kwang, humbly presents his duty to the throne, wishing his Majesty repose.’ The Emperor replies with the vermilion pencil,Chin ngan,i.e., ‘Ourself is well.’The duties of the governor-general consist in the collective control of all affairs, civil and military, in the region under his jurisdiction; he occupies, in his sphere, under correction, the same authority that the Emperor does over the whole Empire.Thefutaihas a similar control, but in an inferior degree when there is atsungtuh, in the more special supervision of the administrative part of the civil government, as distinguished from the revenue, gabel, or literary branches.The departments of the civil government are five, viz.: administrative, literary, gabel, commissariat, and excise; the first being also divided into the territorial and financial and the judicial branches. At the head of the first branch is thepu-ching sz’(i.e., regulating-government commissioner), who is usually called the treasurer; thengan-chah sz’, or ‘criminal judge,’ presides over the second. These two officers often unite their deliberations in the direction of any territorial or financial business, or the trial of important cases. The literary department is placed under the direction of an officer selected from among the members of the Hanlin Academy, called ahioh-ching, director of learning, or literary chancellor; there are seventeen of them altogether. The gabel and commissariat are usually supervised by certain intermediate officers calledtao, ortaotai, sometimes termed intendants of circuit, who have other functions in addition. The excise, or commercial department, is underkientuh, or superintendents, but the details of these three branches vary considerably in different provinces. The officers of the excise, either in the interior or on the coast, are made amenable to their superiors in the province, but their functions are exercised in an irregular manner; for the collection of the revenue is a difficult affair, and mostly entrusted to the local magistrates.The military government of a province includes both the land and sea forces. It is under atítuh, or commander-in-chief, of which rank there are in all sixteen, twelve of them commanding one arm alone, and four controlling both land and sea forces. In five provinces thefutaiis commander-in-chief, and in Kansuh there are two. Above thetítuh, in point of rank but not of power, are placed garrisons of Manchu Bannermen under atsiang-kiun, or general, whose office is conferred, and his actions directly controlled, by the captains-general in Peking; he has jurisdiction, usually, only in the city itself, the principal object of the appointment, apparently, being to check any treasonable designs of the civil authorities.The duties and relations of these various grades with one another require some further explanation, however, to be understood. The three officers,tsungtuh,futai, andtsiangkiun(if there be one), form a supreme council, and unite in deliberating upon a measure, calling in the subordinate officer to whose department it particularly belongs, and to whom its execution is to be committed, the whole forming a deliberative board, though the responsibility of the act rests with the two highest officers. By this means the various members of the provincial government become better acquainted with each other’s character and plans, though their intercourse is much restricted by precedence and rivalry. In the provincial courts civilians always take precedence of military officers; the governor-general and Banner commander, governor and major-general, the literary chancellor and collector of customs, rank with each other; then follow the treasurer, the judge, and other civilians. The authority of the governor-general extends to life and death, to the temporary appointment to all vacant offices in the province, to ordering the troops to any part of it, issuing such laws and taking such measures as are necessary for the security and peace of the region committed to his care, or any other steps he sees necessary. Thefutaialso has the power of life and death, and attends to appeals of criminal cases; he oversees, moreover, the conduct of the lower civilians.Next in rank to thepu-ching sz’andngan-chah sz’, who always reside in the provincial capital, are the intendants of circuit, who are located in the circuits consisting of two or three prefectures united for this purpose. They are deputies of the two highest functionaries, and their delegated power often includes military as well as civil authority, the chief object of their appointment being to relieve and assist those high functionaries in the discharge of their extensive duties. Some of the intendants are appointed to supervise the proceedings of the prefects and district magistrates; others are stationed at important posts to protect them, and those connected with foreign trade at the open ports have no territorial jurisdiction.SUBORDINATE PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES.Subordinate to the governors, through the intendants of circuits, are the prefects or head magistrates of departments, calledchífu,chíchau, andting tungchí,i.e., ‘knowers’ of them, according as they are placed overfu,chau, ortingdepartments. It is the duty of these persons to make themselves acquainted with everything that takes place within their jurisdiction, and they are held responsible for the full execution of whatever orders are transmitted to them, all presenting their reports and receiving their orders through the intendants.The practical efficiency of the Chinese government in promoting the welfare of the people and preserving the peace depends chiefly upon these officers. The people themselves are prone to quarrel and oppress each other; beggars, robbers, tramps, and shysters stir up disorders in various ways, and need wise and vigorous hands to repress and punish them; while all classes avoid and resist the tax-gatherer as much as is safe. The proverb, “Achífucan exterminate a family, achíhiencan confiscate a patrimony,” indicates the popular fear of their power.The subdivisional parts of departments, calledting,chau, andhien, have each their separate officers, who report to thechífuandchíchauabove them; these are calledtungchí,chíchau, andchíhien, and may all be denominated district magistrates. The parts of districts calledsz’are placed under the control ofsiunkien, circuit-restrainers, or hundreders, who form the last in the regular series of descending rank—the last of the “commissioned officers,” as they might not improperly be called. The prefects sometimes have deputies directly under them, as the governor has his intendants, when their jurisdiction is very large or important, who are calledkiunmin fuandtungchí,i.e., ‘joint-knowers.’ The deputies of district magistrates are termedchautungandchaupwanfor thechíchau, andhienchingandchufufor thechíhien; the last also have others calledtso-tangandyu-tang,i.e., left-tenants and right-tenants.Besides these assistants there are others, both in the departments and districts, having the oversight of the police, collection of the taxes and management of the revenue, care of water-ways, and many other subdivisions of legislative duties, which it is unnecessary to particularize. They are appointed whenever and wherever the territory is so large and the duties so onerous that one man cannot attend to all, or it is not safe toentrust him with them. They have nearly as much power as their superiors in the department entrusted to them, but none of them have judicial or legislative functions, and the routine of their offices affords them less scope for oppression. Nor is it worth while to notice the great number of clerks, registrars, and secretaries found in connection with the various ranks of dignitaries here mentioned, or the multitude of petty subordinates found in the provinces and placed over particular places or duties as necessity may require. Their number is very large, and the responsibility of their proceedings devolves upon the higher officers who receive their reports and direct their actions.The common people suffer more from these “rats under the altar,” as a Chinese proverb calls them, than from their superiors, because, unlike them, they are usually natives of the place and better acquainted with the condition of the inhabitants, and are not so often removed. The fear of getting into their clutches restrains from evil doings perhaps more than all punishments, though the people soon complain of high-handed acts in a way not to be disregarded. One saying, “Underlings see money as a fly sees blood,” indicates their penchant, as another, “Cash drops into an underling’s paw as a sheep falls into a tiger’s jaw,” does the popular notion how to please them. Each intendant, prefect, and district magistrate has special secretaries in his office for filing papers, writing and transmitting despatches, investigating cases, recording evidence, keeping accounts, and performing other functions. All above thechíhienare allowed to keep private secretaries, calledsz’ ye, who are usually personal friends, and accompany the officers wherever they go for the purpose of advising them and preparing their official documents. Thengan-chah sz’have jailers under their control, as have also the more important prefects.
BOARDS OF REVENUE AND RITES.
4. TheHu Pu, or Board of Revenue, “directs the territorial government of the Empire, and keeps the lists of population in order to aid the Emperor in nourishing all people; whatever appertains to the regulations for levying and collecting duties and taxes, to the plans for distributing salaries and allowances, to the rates for receipts and disbursements at the granaries and treasuries, and to the rights for transporting by land and water are reported to this Board, that sufficient supplies for the country may be provided.” Besides these duties, it obtains the admeasurement of all lands in the Empire, and proportions taxes and conscriptions, according to the divisions, population, etc., regulates the expenditure, and ascertains the latitude and longitude of places. One minor office prepares lists of all the Manchu girls fit to be introduced into the palace for selection as inmates of the harem, a duty which is enjoined on it because the allowances, outfits, and positions of these womencome within its control. The injudicious mode of collecting revenue common under the Persian and Syrian kings, by which the sums obtained from single cities and provinces were apportioned among the royal family and favorites, and carried directly to them, has never been practised by the Chinese.
There are fourteen subordinate departments to attend to the receipt of the revenue from each of the provinces, each of which corresponds with the treasury department in its respective province. The revenue being paid in sundry ways and articles, as money, grain, manufactures, etc., the receipt and distribution of the various articles require a large force of assistants. This Board is moreover a court of appeal on disputes respecting property, and superintends the mint in each province; one bureau is called the “great ministers of the Three Treasuries,” viz., of metals, silks and dye-stuffs, and stationery.
5. TheLí Pu, or Board of Rites, “examines and directs concerning the performance of the five kinds of ritual observances, and makes proclamation thereof to the whole Empire, thus aiding the Emperor in guiding all people. Whatever appertains to the ordinances for regulating precedence and literary distinctions, to the canons for maintaining religious honor and fidelity, to the orders respecting intercourse and tribute, and to the forms of giving banquets and granting bounties, are reported to this Board in order to promote national education.” The five classes of rites are defined to be those of a propitious and those of a felicitous nature, military and hospitable rites, and those of an infelicitous nature. Among the subordinate departments is that of ceremonial forms, which “has the regulation of the etiquette to be observed at court on all occasions, on congratulatory attendances, in the performance of official duties, etc.; also the regulation of dresses, caps, etc.; as to the figure, size, color, and nature of their fabrics and ornaments, of carriages and riding accoutrements, their form, etc., with the number of followers and insignia of rank. It has also the direction of the entire ceremonial of personal intercourse between the various ranks or peers, minutely defining the number of bows and degree of attention which each is to pay to the other when meeting in official capacities, according as they areon terms of equality or otherwise. It has also to direct the forms of their written official intercourse, including those to be observed in addresses to and from foreign states. The regulation of the literary examinations, the number of the graduates, the distinction of their classes, the forms of their selection, and the privileges of successful candidates, with the establishment of governmental schools and academies, are all under this department.”
Another office superintends the rites to be observed in worshipping deities and spirits of departed monarchs, sages, and worthies, and in “saving the sun and moon” when eclipsed. The third, called “host and guest office,” looks after tribute and tribute-bearers, and takes the whole management of foreign embassies, supplying not only provisions, but translators, and ordering the mode of intercourse between China and other states. The fourth oversees the supplial of food for banquets and sacrifices. The details of all the multifarious ritual duties of this Board occupy fourteen volumes of the Statutes. “Truly nothing is without its ceremonies,” as Confucius taught, and no nation has paid so much attention to them in the ordering of its government as the Chinese. TheBook of Ritesis the foundation of ceremonies and the infallible standard as to their meaning; the importance attached to them has elevated etiquette and ritualism into a kind of crystallizing force which has molded Chinese character in many ways.
Connected with the Board of Rites is a Board of Music, containing an indefinite number of officers whose duties “are to study the principles of harmony and melody, to compose musical pieces and form instruments proper to play them, and then suit both to the various occasions on which they are required.” Nor are the graces of posture-making neglected by these ceremony-mongers; but it may with truth be said, that if no other nation ever had a Board of Music, and required so much official music as the Chinese, certainly none ever had less real melody.
THE PING PU, OR BOARD OF WAR.
6. ThePing Pu, or Board of War, “has the duty of aiding the sovereign to protect the people by the direction of all military affairs in the metropolis and the provinces, and toregulate the hinge of the state upon the reports received from the various departments regarding deprivation of, or appointment to, office; succession to, or creation of, hereditary military rank; postal or courier arrangements; examination and selection of the deserving, and accuracy of returns.” The navy is also under the control of this Board. The management of the post is confided to a special department, and the transmission of official despatches is performed with great efficiency and regularity. A minor bureau of the courier office is called “the office for the announcement of victories,” which, from a recital of its duties, appears to be rather agrande vitesse, whose couriers should hasten as if they announced a victory.
To enable this Board of War to discharge its duties, they are apportioned under foursz’, or bureaus, severally attending to promotion for various reasons; to the regulation of the distribution of rewards and punishments, inspection of troops and issue of general orders, answering to an adjutant-general’s department; to the supply and distribution of horses for the cavalry; and, lastly, to the examination of candidates, preparation of estimates and rosters, with all the details connected with equipments and ammunition. The conception of all government with the Manchus being military and not civil, they have developed this Board more than was the case during the last dynasty, the possessions in Central Asia having drawn greatly on their resources and prowess.
The Household troops and city Gendarmerie have already been noticed; their control is vested in theNui-wu Fu, and the oversight of all the Bannermen in the Empire vests in the metropolitan office of theTu-tung, or Captains-general, of whom there are twenty-four, one to every banner of each race. The Board of War has no control directly over this large portion of the Chinese army, and as the direction of the land and sea forces in each province is entrusted in a great degree to the local authorities, its duties are really more circumscribed than one would at first imagine. The singular subordination of military to civil power, which has ever distinguished the Chinese polity, makes the study of the army, as at present constituted, a very interesting feature of the national history; for while it hasoften proved inefficient to repress insurrection and defend the people against brigandage, it has never been used to destroy their institutions. In times of internal commotion the national soldiers have usually been loyal to their flag, though it must be confessed that discipline within the ranks is not so perfect as to prevent the soldiers from occasionally harassing and robbing those whom they are set to protect.[235]
BOARDS OF PUNISHMENTS AND WORKS.
7. TheHing Pu, or Board of Punishments, “has the government and direction of punishments throughout the Empire, for the purpose of aiding the sovereign in correcting all people. Whatever appertains to measures of applying the laws with leniency or severity, to the task of hearing evidence and giving decisions, to the rights of granting pardons, reprieves, or otherwise, and to the rate of fines and interest, are all reported to this Board, to aid in giving dignity to national manners.” TheHing Pupartakes of the nature of both a criminal and civil court; its officers usually meet with those of the Censorate and Talí Sz’, the three forming theSan Fah Sz’, or ‘Three Law Chambers,’ which decide on capital cases brought before them. In the autumn these three unite with members from six other courts, forming collectively a Court of Errors, to revise the decisions of the provincial judges before reporting them to his Majesty. These precautions are taken to prevent injustice when life is involved, and the system shows an endeavor to secure a full and impartial consideration for all capital cases, which, although it may signally fail of its full effect, does the rulers high credit, when the small value set upon life generally by Asiatic governments is considered. These bodies are expected to conform their decisions to the law, nor are they permitted to cite the Emperor’s own decisions as precedents, without the law on these decisions has been expressly entered as a supplementary clause in the code.
It also belongs to sub-officers in the Board of Punishments to record all his Majesty’s decisions upon appeals from the provinces at the autumnal assizes, when the entire list is presentedfor his examination and ultimate decision, and see that these sentences are transmitted to the provincial judges. Another office superintends the publication of the code, with all the changes and additions; a third oversees jails and jailers; a fourth receives the fines levied by commutation of punishments, and a fifth registers the receipts and expenditures. If the administration of the law in China at all corresponded with the equity of most of its enactments, or the caution taken to prevent collusion, malversation, and haste on the part of the judges, it would be incomparably the best governed country out of Christendom; but the painful contrast between good laws and wicked rulers is such as to show the utter impossibility of securing the due administration of justice without higher moral principles than heathenism can teach.
Theyamunof theHing Puin the capital is the most active of all the Boards, but little is known of what goes on within its walls. Its prisoners are mostly brought from the provinces, officers of high rank arrested for malfeasance or failure, and criminals convicted or condemned there who have appealed to the highest tribunals. Few of those who enter its gates ever return through them, and their sufferings seldom end as long as they have any property left. The narrative of the horrible treatment endured by Loch and his comrades in 1860, while confined within thisyamun, gives a vivid picture of their sufferings, but native prisoners are not usually kept bound and pinioned. In the rear wall of the establishment is an iron door, through which dead bodies are thrust to be carried away to burial.
8. TheKung Pu, or Board of Works, “has the government and direction of the public works throughout the Empire, together with the current expenses of the same, for the purpose of aiding the Emperor to keep all people in a state of repose. Whatever appertains to plans for buildings of wood or earth, to the forms of useful instruments, to the laws for stopping up or opening channels, and to the ordinances for constructing the mausolea and temples, are reported to this Board in order to perfect national works.” Its duties are of a miscellaneous nature, and are performed in other countries by no one department, thoughthe plan adopted by the Chinese is not without its advantages. One bureau takes cognizance of the condition of all city walls, palaces, temples, altars, and other public structures; sits as a prize-office, and furnishes tents for his Majesty’s journeys; supplies timber for ships, and pottery and glassware for the court. A second attends to the manufacture of military stores and utensils employed in the army; sorts the pearls from the fisheries according to their value; regulates weights and measures, furnishes “death-warrants” to governors and generals; and, lastly, takes charge of arsenals, stores, camp-equipage, and other things appertaining to the army. A third department has charge of all water-ways and dikes; it also repairs and digs canals, erects bridges, oversees the banks of rivers by means of deputies stationed at posts along their course, builds vessels of war, collects tolls, mends roads, digs the sewers in Peking and cleans out its gutters, preserves ice, makes book-cases for public records, and, lastly, looks after the silks sent as taxes. The fourth of these offices confines its attention chiefly to the condition of the imperial mausolea, the erection of the sepulchres and tablets of meritorious officers buried at public expense, and the adornment of temples and palaces, as well as superintending all workmen employed by the Board.
The mint is under the direction of two vice-presidents, and the manufacture of gunpowder is specially intrusted to two great ministers. One would think, from this recital, that the functions of the Board of Works were so diverse that it would be one of the most efficient parts of government; but if the condition of forts, ports, dikes, etc., in other parts of the country corresponds to those along the coast, there is, as the Emperor once said of the army, “the appearance of going to war, but not the reality”—most of the works being on record, and suffered to remain there, except when danger threatens, or his Majesty specially orders a public work, and, what is more important, furnishes the money.
THE LÍ FAN YUEN, OR COLONIAL OFFICE.
9. TheLí Fan Yuen, or Court for the Government of Foreigners, commonly called the Colonial Office, “has the government and direction of the external foreigners, orders their emoluments and honors, appoints their visits to court, andregulates their punishments, in order to display the majesty and goodness of the state.” This is an important branch of the government, and has the superintendence of all the wandering and settled tribes in Mongolia, Cobdo, Ílí, and Koko-nor. All these are calledwai fan, or ‘external foreigners,’ in distinction from the tributary tribes in Sz’chuen and Formosa, who are termednui fan, or ‘internal foreigners.’ There are alsonui íandwai í, or ‘internal and external barbarians,’ the former comprising the unsubdued mountaineers of Kweichau, and the latter the inhabitants of all foreign countries who do not choose to range themselves under the renovating influences of the Celestial Empire. The Colonial Office regulates the government of the nomads and restricts their wanderings, lest they trespass on each other’s pasture-grounds. Its officers are all Manchus and Mongols, having over them one president and two vice-presidents, Manchus, and one Mongolian vice-president appointed for life.
Besides the usual secretaries for conducting its general business, there are six departments, whose combined powers include every branch necessary for the management of these clans. The first two have jurisdiction over the numerous tribes and corps of the Inner Mongols, who are under more complete subjection than the others, and part have been placed under the control of officers in Chihlí and Shansí. The appointment of local officers, collecting taxes, allotting land to Chinese settlers, opening roads, paying salaries, arranging the marriages, retinues, visits to courts, and presents made by the princes and the review of the troops, all appertain to these two departments. The third and fourth have a similar, but less effectual control over the princes, lamas, and tribes of Outer Mongolia. At Urga reside two high ministers, organs of communication with Russia, and general overseers of the frontier. The oversight of the lama hierarchy in Mongolia is now completely under the control of this office; and in Tibet their power has been considerably abridged. The fifth department directs the actions, restrains the powers, levies the taxes, and orders the tributary visits of the Mohammedan begs in the Tien shan Nan Lu, who are quiet pretty much as they are paid by presents and flatteredby honors. The sixth department regulates the penal discipline of the tributary tribes. The salaries paid the Mongolian princes are distributed according to an economical scale. Atsin wangannually receives $2,600 and twenty-five pieces of silk; akiun wangreceives about $1,666 and fifteen pieces of silk; and so on through the ranks of Beile, Beitse, Duke, etc., the last of whom gets a stipend of only $133 and four pieces of silk. The internal organization of these tribes is probably the same now as it was at first among the Scythians and Huns, and partakes of the features of the feudal and tribal system, modified by the nomadic lives they are obliged to lead. The Chinese government is endeavoring to reduce the influence and retinues of the khans and begs and elevate the people to positions of independent owners and cultivators of the soil.
THE TU-CHAH YUEN, OR CENSORATE.
10. TheTu-chah Yuen, or Censorate,i.e., ‘All-examining Court,’ is entrusted with the “care of manners and customs, the investigation of all public offices within and without the capital, the discrimination between the good and bad performance of their business, and between the depravity and uprightness of the officers employed in them; taking the lead of other censors, and uttering each his sentiments and reproofs, in order to cause officers to be diligent in attention to their daily duties, and to render the government of the Empire stable.” The Censorate, when joined with the Board of Punishments and Court of Appeal, forms a high court for the revision of criminal cases and hearing appeals from the provinces; and, in connection with the Six Boards and the Court of Representation and Appeal, makes one of theKiu King, or ‘Nine Courts,’ which deliberate on important affairs of government.
The officers are two censors and four deputy censors, besides whom the governors, lieutenant-governors, and the governors of rivers and inland navigation areex-officiodeputy censors. A class of censors is placed over each of the Six Boards, whose duties are to supervise all their acts, to receive all public documents from the Cabinet, and after classifying them transmit them to the several courts to which they belong, and to make a semi-monthly examination of the papers entered on the archives of each court. All criminal cases in the provinces come underthe oversight of the censors at the capital, and the department which superintends the affairs of the metropolis revises its municipal acts, settles the quarrels, and represses the crimes of its inhabitants. These are the duties of the Censorate, than which no part of the Chinese government has attracted more attention. The privilege of reproof given by the law to the office of censor has sometimes been exercised with remarkable candor and plainness, and many cases are recorded in history of these officers suffering for their fidelity, but such instances must be few indeed in proportion to the failures.
The celebrated Sung, who was appointed commissioner to accompany Lord Macartney, once remonstrated with the Emperor Kiaking upon his attachment to play-actors and strong drink, which degraded him in the eyes of his people and incapacitated him from performing his duties. The Emperor, highly irritated, called him to his presence, and on his confessing to the authorship of the memorial, asked him what punishment he deserved. He answered, “Quartering.” He was told to select some other; “Let me be beheaded;” and on a third command, he chose to be strangled. He was then ordered to retire, and the next day the Emperor appointed him governor in Ílí, thus acknowledging his rectitude, though unable to bear his censure.
History records the reply of another censor in the reign of an Emperor of the Tang dynasty, who, when his Majesty once desired to inspect the archives of the historiographer’s office, in order to learn what had been recorded concerning himself, under the excuse that he must know his faults before he could well correct them, was answered: “It is true your Majesty has committed a number of errors, and it has been the painful duty of our employment to take notice of them; a duty which further obliges us to inform posterity of the conversation which your Majesty has this day, very improperly, held with us.”
The censors usually attend on all state occasions by the side of his Majesty, and are frequently allowed to express their opinions openly, but in a despotic government this is little else than a fiction of state, for the fear of offending the imperial ear, and consequent disgrace, will usually prove stronger than the consciousness of right or the desires of a public fame andmartyrdom for the sake of principle. The usual mode of advising is to send in a remonstrance against a proposed act, as when one of the body in 1832 remonstrated against the Emperor paying attention to anonymous accusations; or to suggest a different procedure, as the memorials of Chu Tsun against legalizing opium. The number of these papers inserted in thePeking Gazettefor the information of the Empire, in many of which the acts of officers are severely reprehended, shows that the censors are not altogether idle. In 1833 a censor named Sü requested the Emperor to interdict official persons at court from writing private letters concerning public persons and affairs in the provinces. He stated that when candidates left the capital for their provincial stations, private letters were sent by them from their friends to the provincial authorities, “sounding the voice of influence and interest,” by which means justice was perverted. The Emperor ordered the Cabinet to examine the censor and get his facts in proof of these statements, but on inquiry he either would not or could not bring forward any cases, and he himself consequently received a reprimand. “These censors are allowed,” says the Emperor, “to tell me the reports they hear, to inform me concerning courtiers and governors who pervert the laws, and to speak plainly about any defect or impropriety which they may observe in the monarch himself; but they are not permitted to employ their pencils in writing memorials which are filled with vague surmises and mere probabilities or suppositions. This would only fill my mind with doubts and uncertainty, and I would not know what men to employ; were this spirit indulged, the detriment of government would be most serious. Let Sü be subjected to a court of inquiry.”
The suspension or disgrace of censors for their freedom of speech is a common occurrence, and among the forty or fifty persons who have this privilege a few are to be found who do not hesitate to lift up their voice against what they deem to be wrong; and there is reason for supposing that only a small portion of their remonstrances appears in theGazette. With regard to this department of government, it is to be observed that although it may tend only in a partial degree to checkoppression and reform abuses, and while a close examination of its real operations and influence and the character of its members may excite more contempt than respect, still the existence of such a body, and the publication of its memorials, can hardly fail to rectify misconduct to some degree, and check maladministration before it results in widespread evil. The Censorate is, however, only one of a number of checks upon the conduct of officers, and perhaps by no means the strongest.[236]
COURTS OF TRANSMISSION AND JUDICATURE.
11. TheTung-ching Sz’, which may be called a Court of Transmission, consists of a small body of six officers, whose duty is to receive memorials from the provincial authorities and appeals from their judgment by the people and present them to the Cabinet. Attached to this Court is an office for attending at the palace-gate to await the beating of a drum, which, in conformity with an ancient custom, is placed there that applicants may by striking it obtain a hearing. It is also the channel through which the people can directly appeal to his Majesty, and cases occur of individuals, even women and girls, travelling to the capital from remote places to present their petitions for redress before the throne. The feeling of blood revenge prevails among the Chinese, and impels many of these weak and unprotected persons to undergo great hardships to obtain legal redress, when the lives of their parents have been unjustly taken by powerful and rich enemies.
12. TheTa-lí Sz’, or Court of Judicature and Revision, has the duty of adjusting all the criminal courts in the Empire, and forms the nearest approach to a Supreme Court in the government, though the cases brought before it are mostly criminal. When the crimes involve life, this and the preceding unite with the Censorate to form one court, and if the judges are not unanimous in their decisions they must report their reasons to the Emperor, who will pass judgment upon them. In a despotic government no one can expect that the executive officers of courts will exercise their functions with that caution andequity required in Christian countries, but considerable care has been taken to obtain as great a degree of justice as possible.
THE HANLIN AND MINOR COURTS.
13. TheHanlin Yuen, or Imperial Academy, is entrusted “with the duty of drawing up governmental documents, histories, and other works; its chief officers take the lead of the various classes, and excite their exertions to advance in learning in order to prepare them for employments and fit them for attending upon the sovereign.” This body has, it is highly probable, some similarity to the collection of learned men to whom the King of Babylon entrusted the education of promising young men, for although the members of the Hanlin Yuen do not, to any great degree, educate persons, they are constantly referred to as the Chaldeans were by Belshazzar. Sir John Davis likens it to the Sorbonne, inasmuch as it expounds the sacred books of the Chinese. Its chief officers are two presidents or senior members, calledchwang yuen hioh-sz’, who are usually appointed for life; they attend upon the Emperor, superintend the studies of graduates, and furnish semi-annual lists of persons to be “speakers” at the “classical feasts,” where the literary essays of his Majesty are translated from and into Manchu and read before him.
Subordinate to the two senior members are four grades of officers, five in each grade, together with an unlimited number of senior graduates, each forming a sort of college, whose duties are to prepare all works published under governmental sanction; these persons are subject from time to time to fresh examination, and are liable to lose their degrees or be altogether dismissed from office if found faulty or deficient. Subordinate to the Hanlin Yuen is an office consisting of twenty-two selected members, who in rotation attend on the Emperor and make a record of his words and actions. There is also an additional office for the preparation of national histories.
The situation of a member of the Hanlin is one of considerable honor and literary ease, and scholars look forward to a station in it as one which confers dignity in a government where all officers are appointed according to their literary merit, but much more from its being the body from which the Emperor selects his most responsible officers. A graduate of this rank ismost likely to be nominated to a vacant office, though the possession of the title does not of itself warrant a place.[237]
Before proceeding to consider the provincial governments, notices of some of the other departments not connected with the general machinery of the state are here in place. The municipality of Peking has already been mentioned when describing the capital; it is intimately connected with the general government and forms an integral part of the machine. Among the courts not connected with the municipal rule of the metropolis, nor forming one of the great departments of state, isTai-chang Sz’, or ‘Sacrificial Court,’ whose officers “direct the sacrificial observances and distinguish the various instruments and the quality of the sacrifices.” Their duties are of importance in connection with the state religion, and they rank high among the court dignitaries of the Empire, but as members of this, possess no power. TheTai-puh Sz’, or Superintendent of H. I. M.’s Stud, is an office for “rearing horses, taking account of their increase, and regulating their training;” large tracts of land beyond the Great Wall are appropriated to this purpose, and the clerks of this office, under the direction of the Board of War, oversee the herdsmen and grooms.
TheKwangluh Sz’, or ‘Banqueting House,’ has the charge of “feasting the meritorious and banqueting the deserving;” it is somewhat subordinate to the Board of Rites, and provides whatever is necessary for banquets given to literary graduates, foreign ambassadors, etc. TheHunglu Sz’, or ‘Ceremonial Court,’ regulates the forms to be observed at these banquets, which consist in little else than marshalling the guests according to their proper ranks and directing them when to make thekotow, called alsosan kwei kiu kao, “three kneelings and nine knockings.” TheKwoh-tsz’ Kien, or ‘National College,’ is a different institution from the Hanlin Yuen, and intended for teaching graduates of the lower degrees; the departments of study are the Chinese language, the classics and mathematics, each branch having its appropriate teachers, with some higher officers, both Chinese and Manchu.
TheKin Tien Kien, or ‘Imperial Astronomical College,’ as might be expected, is much more astrological than astronomical; its duties are defined to be “to direct the ascertainment of times and the movements of the heavenly bodies, in order to attain conformity with the celestial periods and to regulate the notation of time among men; all things relating to divination and the selection of days are under its charge.” The preparation of the almanac, in which, among other things, lucky and unlucky days are marked for the performance of all the important acts of life, and astrological and chiromantic absurdities inserted for the amusement of fortune-tellers and others, the instruction of a few pupils, and care of the observatory, occupy most of the time of its officers. It is now of no practical use, and as theTung-wăn Kwandevelops into a learned and efficient college, including astronomy and medicine and their kindred branches, these native Boards will gradually pass away.
RELATION OF THE EMPEROR WITH HIS OFFICIALS.
The other local courts of the capital seem to have been subdivided and multiplied to a great degree for the purpose of affording employment to a larger number of persons, especially Manchus and graduates, so that the Emperor can attach them to himself and be surer of their support in case of any insurrection on the part of the people, and also that he may have them more under his control. The number of clerks and minor offices in all the general departments of state is doubtless more numerous than it would be in a European government. In the mutual relations of the great departments of the Chinese government the principles of responsibility and surveillance among the officers are plainly exhibited, while regard has been paid to such a division and apportionment of labor as would secure great efficiency and care, if every member of the machine faithfully did his duty. Two presidents are stationed over each Board to assist and watch each other, while the two presidents oversee the four vice-presidents; the president of one Board is sometimes the vice-president of another; and by means of the Censorate and the General Council every portion is brought under the cognizance of several independent officers, whose mutual jealousy and regard for individual advancement, or apartial desire for the well-being of the state, affords the Emperor some guarantee of fidelity. The seclusion in which he lives makes it difficult for any conspirator to approach his person, but his own fears regarding the management of such an immense Empire compel him to inform himself respecting the actions of ministers, generals, and proconsular governors. The conduct and devotion of hundreds of officers, both civil and military, during the wars with Great Britain and the suppression of rebellions within the last thirty years, afford proof enough that he has attached his subordinates to his service by some other principle than fear. The total number of civilians holding office is estimated at about fourteen thousand persons, but those dependent on the government are many times this amount.
The rulers of China have contrived the system of provincial governments in an admirable manner, considering the character of the people and the materials they had to work with; no better proof of their sagacity in this respect can be required than the general degree of good order which has been maintained for nearly two centuries, and the great progress the people have made in wealth, numbers, and power. By a well-arranged plan of checks and changes in the provincial authorities, the chances of their abusing position and power and combining to overthrow the supreme government have been reduced almost to an impossibility; the influence of mutual responsibility among them does something to prevent outrageous oppression of the people, by leading one to accuse another of high crimes in order to exonerate himself or obtain his place. The sons and relatives of the Emperor being excluded from civil office in the provinces, the high-spirited and talented native Chinese do not feel inclined to cabal against the government because every avenue to emolument and power is filled and closed against them by creatures and connections of the sovereign; nor when in office are they disposed to attempt the overthrow of the reigning family, lest they lose what has cost them many years of toilsome study and the wealth and influence of friends to attain. The examination of these pashaliks is furthermore entitled to notice from the degree of power delegated to their highestofficers, and the shrewd manner in which its exercise has been circumscribed and rendered amenable to its imperial source.
HIGHER PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES.
The highest officers in the provinces are atsungtuh, lit. ‘general director,’ or governor-general, and thefutaiorfuyuen, ‘soother’ or governor. The former is often called a viceroy, but that term seems to be quite inapplicable when used to denote an officer within the limits of the state; governor-general, or proconsul, is more analogous to his duties. A translation of these and many other Chinese titles does not convey their exact functions, but in some cases an equivalent is more intelligible than a translation.[238]Thetsungtuhhas rule over two provinces, or else fills two high offices in one province, while thefutaiis placed over one province, either independent of or in subordination to atsungtuh, as enumerated in the table on page61.
An examination of theRed Bookfor 1852 showed that out of a total of 20,327 names in it, 16,474 were Chinese, 3,295 were Manchus and Mongols, and 558 enrolled Chinese; in the copy for 1844, out of 12,758 names, 10,463 were Chinese, 1,768 Manchus, and 527 enrolled Chinese; these figures include only civilians and the employees in Peking. The Eighteen Provinces have altogether less than two thousand persons in office above the rank of assistant district magistrate, viz.: 8 governor-generals, 15 governors, 19 treasurers, 18 judges, 17 chancellors, 15 commanders of the forces, including 2 admirals and 1,740 prefects and magistrates. All those filling the high grades in this series report themselves to the Emperor twice every month, by sending him a salutatory card upon yellow paper, enclosed in a silken envelope; stating, for instance, that ‘Lin Tseh-sü, governor-general of Liang Kwang, humbly presents his duty to the throne, wishing his Majesty repose.’ The Emperor replies with the vermilion pencil,Chin ngan,i.e., ‘Ourself is well.’
The duties of the governor-general consist in the collective control of all affairs, civil and military, in the region under his jurisdiction; he occupies, in his sphere, under correction, the same authority that the Emperor does over the whole Empire.Thefutaihas a similar control, but in an inferior degree when there is atsungtuh, in the more special supervision of the administrative part of the civil government, as distinguished from the revenue, gabel, or literary branches.
The departments of the civil government are five, viz.: administrative, literary, gabel, commissariat, and excise; the first being also divided into the territorial and financial and the judicial branches. At the head of the first branch is thepu-ching sz’(i.e., regulating-government commissioner), who is usually called the treasurer; thengan-chah sz’, or ‘criminal judge,’ presides over the second. These two officers often unite their deliberations in the direction of any territorial or financial business, or the trial of important cases. The literary department is placed under the direction of an officer selected from among the members of the Hanlin Academy, called ahioh-ching, director of learning, or literary chancellor; there are seventeen of them altogether. The gabel and commissariat are usually supervised by certain intermediate officers calledtao, ortaotai, sometimes termed intendants of circuit, who have other functions in addition. The excise, or commercial department, is underkientuh, or superintendents, but the details of these three branches vary considerably in different provinces. The officers of the excise, either in the interior or on the coast, are made amenable to their superiors in the province, but their functions are exercised in an irregular manner; for the collection of the revenue is a difficult affair, and mostly entrusted to the local magistrates.
The military government of a province includes both the land and sea forces. It is under atítuh, or commander-in-chief, of which rank there are in all sixteen, twelve of them commanding one arm alone, and four controlling both land and sea forces. In five provinces thefutaiis commander-in-chief, and in Kansuh there are two. Above thetítuh, in point of rank but not of power, are placed garrisons of Manchu Bannermen under atsiang-kiun, or general, whose office is conferred, and his actions directly controlled, by the captains-general in Peking; he has jurisdiction, usually, only in the city itself, the principal object of the appointment, apparently, being to check any treasonable designs of the civil authorities.
The duties and relations of these various grades with one another require some further explanation, however, to be understood. The three officers,tsungtuh,futai, andtsiangkiun(if there be one), form a supreme council, and unite in deliberating upon a measure, calling in the subordinate officer to whose department it particularly belongs, and to whom its execution is to be committed, the whole forming a deliberative board, though the responsibility of the act rests with the two highest officers. By this means the various members of the provincial government become better acquainted with each other’s character and plans, though their intercourse is much restricted by precedence and rivalry. In the provincial courts civilians always take precedence of military officers; the governor-general and Banner commander, governor and major-general, the literary chancellor and collector of customs, rank with each other; then follow the treasurer, the judge, and other civilians. The authority of the governor-general extends to life and death, to the temporary appointment to all vacant offices in the province, to ordering the troops to any part of it, issuing such laws and taking such measures as are necessary for the security and peace of the region committed to his care, or any other steps he sees necessary. Thefutaialso has the power of life and death, and attends to appeals of criminal cases; he oversees, moreover, the conduct of the lower civilians.
Next in rank to thepu-ching sz’andngan-chah sz’, who always reside in the provincial capital, are the intendants of circuit, who are located in the circuits consisting of two or three prefectures united for this purpose. They are deputies of the two highest functionaries, and their delegated power often includes military as well as civil authority, the chief object of their appointment being to relieve and assist those high functionaries in the discharge of their extensive duties. Some of the intendants are appointed to supervise the proceedings of the prefects and district magistrates; others are stationed at important posts to protect them, and those connected with foreign trade at the open ports have no territorial jurisdiction.
SUBORDINATE PROVINCIAL AUTHORITIES.
Subordinate to the governors, through the intendants of circuits, are the prefects or head magistrates of departments, calledchífu,chíchau, andting tungchí,i.e., ‘knowers’ of them, according as they are placed overfu,chau, ortingdepartments. It is the duty of these persons to make themselves acquainted with everything that takes place within their jurisdiction, and they are held responsible for the full execution of whatever orders are transmitted to them, all presenting their reports and receiving their orders through the intendants.
The practical efficiency of the Chinese government in promoting the welfare of the people and preserving the peace depends chiefly upon these officers. The people themselves are prone to quarrel and oppress each other; beggars, robbers, tramps, and shysters stir up disorders in various ways, and need wise and vigorous hands to repress and punish them; while all classes avoid and resist the tax-gatherer as much as is safe. The proverb, “Achífucan exterminate a family, achíhiencan confiscate a patrimony,” indicates the popular fear of their power.
The subdivisional parts of departments, calledting,chau, andhien, have each their separate officers, who report to thechífuandchíchauabove them; these are calledtungchí,chíchau, andchíhien, and may all be denominated district magistrates. The parts of districts calledsz’are placed under the control ofsiunkien, circuit-restrainers, or hundreders, who form the last in the regular series of descending rank—the last of the “commissioned officers,” as they might not improperly be called. The prefects sometimes have deputies directly under them, as the governor has his intendants, when their jurisdiction is very large or important, who are calledkiunmin fuandtungchí,i.e., ‘joint-knowers.’ The deputies of district magistrates are termedchautungandchaupwanfor thechíchau, andhienchingandchufufor thechíhien; the last also have others calledtso-tangandyu-tang,i.e., left-tenants and right-tenants.
Besides these assistants there are others, both in the departments and districts, having the oversight of the police, collection of the taxes and management of the revenue, care of water-ways, and many other subdivisions of legislative duties, which it is unnecessary to particularize. They are appointed whenever and wherever the territory is so large and the duties so onerous that one man cannot attend to all, or it is not safe toentrust him with them. They have nearly as much power as their superiors in the department entrusted to them, but none of them have judicial or legislative functions, and the routine of their offices affords them less scope for oppression. Nor is it worth while to notice the great number of clerks, registrars, and secretaries found in connection with the various ranks of dignitaries here mentioned, or the multitude of petty subordinates found in the provinces and placed over particular places or duties as necessity may require. Their number is very large, and the responsibility of their proceedings devolves upon the higher officers who receive their reports and direct their actions.
The common people suffer more from these “rats under the altar,” as a Chinese proverb calls them, than from their superiors, because, unlike them, they are usually natives of the place and better acquainted with the condition of the inhabitants, and are not so often removed. The fear of getting into their clutches restrains from evil doings perhaps more than all punishments, though the people soon complain of high-handed acts in a way not to be disregarded. One saying, “Underlings see money as a fly sees blood,” indicates their penchant, as another, “Cash drops into an underling’s paw as a sheep falls into a tiger’s jaw,” does the popular notion how to please them. Each intendant, prefect, and district magistrate has special secretaries in his office for filing papers, writing and transmitting despatches, investigating cases, recording evidence, keeping accounts, and performing other functions. All above thechíhienare allowed to keep private secretaries, calledsz’ ye, who are usually personal friends, and accompany the officers wherever they go for the purpose of advising them and preparing their official documents. Thengan-chah sz’have jailers under their control, as have also the more important prefects.