Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/468

456 CHINA a great number of clerks ; but no board is en- tirely independent of the others in its acts. An institution peculiar to China is the censor- ate (tu-cha-yuen, i. e., all-examining cpurt), whose duty it is to examine all official acts of the ministry and cabinet, to institute inquiries, raise objections to such measures as they deem detrimental to the best interests of the country, and even to stop them entirely. They are bound to give a hearing to every subject who has cause to complain of any act of govern- ment. The office, in its practical working, is somewhat similar to that of the tribunes of the people in ancient Rome, and may be considered a substitute for popular representation. At least, the privilege of reproving even the doings of the emperor has often been exercised by the censors with candor and plainness. The admin- istration of the vassal states and foreign affairs is separate from that of the empire proper. It is intrusted to the li-fan-yuen, usually called the colonial office. Since the treaties of 1858 a separate office for the transaction of business with the western states has been established ; it is known as the tming-li yamen. The prov- inces are divided into prefectures or depart- ments (/), each containing an average popu- lation of 2,000,000; the prefectures into dis- tricts (cAai-V), and the districts into hien or sub-districts. The larger provinces are ad- ministered each by a governor general (teung- tu) or viceroy, while of the lesser ones there is but one viceroy for two or three. Each prov- ince has besides a governor. At the head of the departments are intendants of circuit, at the head of the districts magistrates, and at the head of the Men petty officers who are charged with the enforcement of order, the col- lection of taxes, &c. Special imperial commis- sioners (kin-chai) are constantly sent to all parts of the empire to take a general surveillance. Governors general are appointed for three years ; their powers are limited by those of a provincial cabinet, consisting of the governor, the military commandant, the provincial treas- urer, and the chief justice of the province. According to the "Red Book" there are 8 governors general, 15 governors, 19 treasurers (2 in Kiangsu), 18 provincial chief justices, 17 literary chancellors, 15 military commandants, and 1,740 intendants or magistrates. The number of petty subordinate officers is im- mense. The whole forms the most stupendous bureaucracy in existence. The municipal gov- ernment of Peking is a part of the general government. All public offices are open to those who have been successful in the liter- ary examinations, without any distinction of birth, nationality, or creed. The salaries of all public officers are comparatively low, and hence corruption prevails among them. While governors general sometimes make millions of dollars in this way, even the pettiest subordinates may make their hundreds and thousands. Yeh, being questioned how much he paid to his secretaries, replied that their salary was 100 taels ($140) a month, but that they made three or four times as much by perquisites. The ordinary salary of a gov- ernor general is 20,000 taels, of a lieutenant governor 16,000, of a treasurer 9,000, of a pro- vincial chief justice 6,000, of a military gover- nor 4,000, of a general 2,400. The revenue of the central government cannot be ascertained by foreigners with any degree of accuracy, but it is much less than might be supposed. The estimates vary from $180,000,000 to $440,- 000,000, and even the latter amount would only be at the rate of a little over $1 for every inhabitant. The taxes are partly paid in kind and partly in money, thousands of canal boats being constantly employed to carry the rice and grain collected from the farmers to Peking. According to Dr. Medhurst, $42,327,954 land taxes in money, and $12,692,871 in grain, are sent to Peking, while $38,273,500 in money and $105,689,707 in grain are kept in the provinces. This, with the revenue derived from customs and transit duties, which is set down by Dr. Medhurst at not over $1,974,- 662, would give a total taxation of $200,958,- 694. But there are other sources of revenue, such as the duties on salt, license money, stamp tax, government monopolies, mining, pearl fishery, the manufacture of gunpowder, &c. China has no public debt. Extra- ordinary sources of revenue, resorted to when necessity demands it, are sales of office and honors, temporary increase of duties, and con- tributions from the rich. The laws of China are collected into a general code (Ta tsing Huh Zi, i. e., statutes and rescripts of the great pure dynasty), and arranged under seven heads, viz. : general, civil, fiscal, ritual, milita- ry, and criminal, and those relating to public works. In theory this code might be consid- ered as a sort of constitution of the empire, but in practice the high provincial officers fre- quently supersede it by issuing edicts upon matters that have been provided for already by law, or by reviving some old law, or by forced and arbitrary application of existing laws to special cases. The edicts are placarded in the cities and towns, and the more impor- tant ones circulated in pamphlet form. How- ever excellent many of the written laws may be, their execution is by no means such as to give the people at large the benefit of them. Innumerable cases of judicial murder, extor- tion, and crime are reported in the Peking " Gazette," and the code recognizes cases of oppression and tyranny in which open rebel- lion of the subjects against the officers of the government would be justifiable. The cruelty of the tortures by which the magistrates some- times seek to obtain confessions almost sur- passes belief. The treatment of prisoners, who are caged like wild beasts, is barbarous in the extreme. Flogging (from 10 to 300 blows), transportation, perpetual banishment to remote provinces, slavery (hard labor), and death are the legal punishments of crime ; im-