CHINA AND ITS TRADE. 557 



himself celebrated in his daily Gazette. He seldom departs from 

 the established laws of his ancestors, who as implicitly followed the 

 decrees of their progenitors through ages ; but if these enactments 

 interfere with the will of the reigning monarch, a sufficient excuse to 

 have them set aside is seldom wanting. From the throne down- 

 wards peculation and tyranny universally prevail. Several female 

 members of the imperial family intermarry with Mongul chiefs, to 

 bind the unruly tribes by ties of blood, and are pensioned for life 

 from the Chinese treasury. All law proceedings are carried through 

 a multitude of channels previous to receiving the emperor's assent. 

 The capabilities of every functionary of the state is measured not by 

 the superiority of his attainments, but by his intimacy with the 

 writings of Confucius. All business is done by precedent, and the 

 tendency of the people is to remain as their forefathers. No con- 

 servaties like the Chinese. 



The government, or rather its head, employs an extensive police 

 through all classes, so that the minutest action is observed and com- 

 mented upon ; every man believes his neighbour a spy, and conse- 

 quently mutual distrust prevents an interchange of kindly feeling 

 to a considerable extent. The standing army of the celestial empire 

 is nominally more than a million, and the naval force numerically 

 enormous. But cowardice is the principal characteristic of the 

 Chinese belligerents, who are totally unacquainted with scientific 

 warfare on either element. The soldiery resemble the ancient 

 janissaries of the Ottoman empire, and are not solely dependent on 

 their valour for the wherewithal to support life. So accommodating 

 are the criminal laws, that a man who commits an error deserving 

 of death is allowed to be hanged by proxy ! 



Theoretically every plebeian in the empire has the premiership in 

 perspective ; but, though there is no hereditary nobility, exalted sta- 

 tion is seldom achieved without wealth. An absence of truth is com- 

 mon to almost all Asiatics, but the Chinese are particularly distin- 

 guished in this respect. Like most cowardly people, they are despotic 

 when they can be so with impunity, and their capacity to endure 

 punishment is equal to their alacrity in enforcing it. Coarse in their 

 enjoyments, they are unaffected by the sight of distress. They are 

 incapable of mental pleasure in this life, nor do they anticipate it in 

 the next. To have enough to live on without toil, and to be the 

 parents of male children, is all they desire ; their ambition is satisfied 

 by the exercise of any sort of official employment ; and their pro- 

 verbial industry ensures them against the horrors of ennui. Filial 

 piety is their greatest virtue ; hospitality is not rare, nor are they 

 strangers to the courtesies of life. Women are regarded with true 

 Eastern contempt, though intellectually they are equal to the sterner 

 sex, were they afforded the means of cultivating their faculties. Con- 

 jugal fidelity is generally pretty well adhered to on both sides, 

 though the marriages are for the most part conducted by negotiation, 

 the bridegroom seeing his wife for the first time on the wedding day. 

 Drinking wine out of each other's cups renders the ceremony binding 

 for life. Second wives and concubines are allowable. Infanticide is 

 perpetrated by the husband only ; and the pretence made use of on 



M.M.-No. 107 ^C 



