226 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



at a stroke of the vermilion pencil are ennobled countless past 

 generations, while the last of the line remains unhonoured until 

 he goes over to the majority. Between the Emperor, "patriarch 

 of his people," and the people themselves, however, 

 riJc1a^ anda ~ tnere stan ds an aristocracy of talent, or at least of 

 Chinese scholarship, the governing Mandarin 1 class, 

 which is open to the highest and the lowest alike. All nominations 

 to office are conferred exclusively on the successful competitors 

 at the public examinations, so that, like the French conscript 

 with the hypothetical Marshal's baton in his knapsack, every 

 Chinese citizen carries the buttoned cap of official rank in his 

 capacious sleeve. Of these there are nine grades, indicated re- 

 spectively in descending order by the ruby, red coral, sapphire, 

 opaque blue, crystal, white shell, gold (two), and silver button, or 

 rather little globe, on the cap of office, with which correspond the 

 nine birds manchu crane, golden pheasant, peacock, wild goose, 

 silver pheasant, egret, mandarin duck, quail, and jay embroidered 

 on the breast and back of the State robe. 



Theoretically the system is admirable, and at all events is 

 better than appointments by Court favour. But in practice 

 it is vitiated, first by the narrow, antiquated course of studies in 

 the dry Chinese classics, calculated to produce pedants rather 

 than statesmen, and secondly by the monopoly of preference 

 which it confers on a lettered caste to the exclusion of men of 

 action, vigour, and enterprise. Moreover, appointments being 

 made for life, barring crime or blunder, the Mandarins, as long 

 as they approve themselves zealous supporters of the reigning 

 dynasty, enjoy a free hand in amassing wealth by plunder, and 

 the wealth thus acquired is used to purchase further promotion 

 and advancement, rather than to improve the welfare of the 

 people. 



They have the reputation of being a courteous people, as 

 punctilious as the Malays themselves ; and they are so amongst 

 each other. But their attitude towards strangers is the embodiment 



1 A happy Portuguese coinage from the Malay mantri, a state minister, 

 which is the Sanskrit mantrin, a counsellor, from mantra, a sacred text, 

 a counsel, from Aryan root man, to think, know, whence also the English 

 mind. 



