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cepted belief among foreigners that the Mandarins and native officials of every rank, from the Imperial Council down, are corrupt. The stranger constantly hears one word used, which is most insignificant, and has a world of meaning; that word is “squeeze.”
The government of this country is patriarchal. The Emperor is called the “Son of Heaven,” and exercises supreme control over the whole Empire, because Heaven has empowered and required him to do so. But with this power is imposed the obligation to treat his people with leniency, sympathy and love. He lives in unapproachable grandeur, and is never seen except by members of his own party and high state officers. In governing such an immense realm the people understand that he must delegate his authority to a large number of officers, whom they regard as his agents and representatives. When they consider themselves injured or oppressed by these officials, they do not blame the Emperor, but sometimes rise in rebellion against their immediate rulers, upon whom they wreak fearful vengeance, and then appeal to their great father to appoint more merciful officials in their place.
The method of collecting the revenue is peculiar, and unlike any civilized nation of the West. The empire is divided into eighteen provinces, and some of them larger in extent and with four times the population of New York or Pennsylvania. Each of these is ruled by a Viceroy. The provinces are sub-divided into departments, governed by Tou-Tais. The departments are again sub divided into districts, under Mandarins of various grades. There is no system of uniform taxation which bears equally upon all parts of the empire. The Supreme Council signifies to each Viceroy how much money ie required from his province, and the Viceroy in turn notifies each Tou-Tai, and so on down to the Mandarins, who must collect it from the people as best they can. It is one grand system of “squeeze,” from the apex of the pyramid to its base. Each official pays over to the next higher in rank the sum absolutely demanded, which he must do at the peril of his head, and putting the surplus, if any, in his own pocket. Under such a system the people who form the base of the pyramid are often subjected to intolerable exactions, and if the Chinese were not the most patient and long-suffering race upon the face of the
