GOVERNMENT AND LAW. 



91 



functions by a Council of State, and a Cabi- 

 net or Ministry, divided into seven depart- 

 ments, under six Ministers, viz. : Of the In- 

 terior ; of Foreign Affairs ; of Worship and 

 Colonization ; of Justice and Public Instruc- 

 tion ; of Finance ; of War and Marine ; of 

 Industry and Public Works. The Council of 

 State consists of five members nominated by 

 the President, and six members chosen by the 

 Congress. 



Local Government. For the purposes of local gov- 

 ernment the Republic is divided into Provinces, presi- 

 ded over by hitendents ; and the Provinces into Depart- 

 ments, with Gobernadores as chief officers. The Depart- 

 inentr constitute one or more municipal districts each 

 with a council or municipality of 9 members, inhabit- 

 ants popularly elected for three years. The police of 

 Santiago and of the capitals of departments is organ- 

 ized and regulated by the President of the Republic at 

 the charge of the national treasury. 



Religion.- - The Roman Catholic religion is main- 

 tained by the State, but according to the Constitution 

 all religions are respected and protected. .There is one 

 archbishop and three bishops. For 18i>8 the amount of 

 subsidies to the clergy and for building and other pur- 

 poses was 578,888 pesos. Civil marriage is the only form 

 acknowledged by law. 



Instruction. Education is gratuitous and at the 

 cost of the State, but is not compulsory. It is di- 

 vided into superior or professional, medium or second- 

 ary, and primary or elementary instruction. Profes- 

 sional and secondary instruction is provided in the 

 University and the National Institute of Santiago, and 

 in the lyceums and colleges established in the capitals 

 of provinces, and in some departments. In the Uni- 

 versity the branches included are law, physical and 

 mathematical sciences, medicine, and fine arts. The 

 number of students inscribed for the study of these 

 branches in 1897 was 774. The number of studentsat the 

 National Institute in 1897 was 1,278. There are 2 ly- 

 ceums for girls in Santiago maintained by Government. 

 There are, besides, provincial colleges, normal, agri- 

 cultural, and other special schools. At the seats of the 

 bishops there are seminaries under ecclesiastics where 

 instruction is given similar to that in the Government 

 colleges. There were, in 1897-, 1,321 public primary 

 schools, with 109,058 pupils, and an average attendance 

 of 65,507, and 2,268 teachers. There were also 411 private 

 schools, with an attendance of 18,052. The National Li- 

 brary contains over 86,000 volumes of printed books, and 

 24,04S manuscripts. Other educational institutions are 

 the Pedagogic Institute, the National Conservatory of 

 Music, the National Observatory, School of Arts and 

 Trades, Institute for Deaf Mutes, and public museums. 

 In 1897 the cost of higher instruction to the State was 

 2,000,000 pesos ; the cost of maintaining the elementary 

 schools was 1,920,200 pesos : and the total cost of instruc- 

 tion supplied by the State, including buildings, pen- 

 sions, books, etc., in 1897, was 5,633,021 pesos. 



Justice. There arc, in addition to a High Court of 

 Justice in the capital, six Courts of 'Appeal, Courts of 

 First Instance in the departmental capitals, and subordi- 

 nate courts in the districts. 



CHINA. 



The laws of the Chinese Empire are laid 

 down in the Ta-ts'ing-hwei-tien, or " Collected 

 Regulations of the Ts'ing dynasty," which 

 prescribe the government of the State to be 

 based upon the government of the family. 



The supreme direction of the Empire is 

 vested in the Chun Chi Ch'u, the Privy Coun- 

 cil, or Grand Council. The administration is 

 mider the supreme direction of the Nei-ko or 

 Cabinet, comprising four members, two of 

 Mauchu and two of Chinese origin, besides 

 two assistants from the Han-lin, or Great Col- 



lege, who have to see that nothing is done 

 contrary to the civil and religious laws of the 

 Empire, contained in the Ta-ts'ing-hwei-tien 

 and in the sacred books of Confucius. These 

 members are denominated " Ta-hsio-shih," or 

 | Ministers of State. Under their orders are the 

 Ch'i-pu, or seven boards of government, each 

 i of which is presided over by a Manchu and a 

 Chinese. These boards are: (1) the board 

 of civil appointments, which takes cognizance 

 of the conduct and administration of all civil 

 officers ; (2) the board of revenues, regulating 

 all financial affairs ; (3) the board of rites and 

 ceremonies, which enforces the laws and cus- 

 toms to be observed by the people ; (4) the 

 military board ; (5) the board of public works ; 

 (G) the high tribunal of criminal jurisdiction ; 

 and (7) the admiralty board at Tientsin, es- 

 tablished in 1885. 



Independent of the Government, and theo- 

 retically above the central administration, is 

 the Tu-ch'a-yuen, or board of public censors. 

 It consists of from 40 to 50 members, under 

 two presidents, the one of Manchu and the 

 other of Chinese birth. By the ancient cus- 

 tom of the Empire, all the members of this 

 board are privileged to present any remon- 

 strance to the sovereign. One censor must be 

 present at the meetings of each of the Gov- 

 ernment boards. 



The Tsungli Yamen, or Foreign Office, was 

 created by a decree of January 19, 1861, and 

 comprises among its members all those of the 

 Council of State and six other officials of the 

 highest rank. It controls not merely the mat- 

 ters with foreign nations, but also those insti- 

 tutions in which foreigners form part of the 

 working staff, such as the Maritime Customs, 

 and Peking University. 



The present sovereign, reigning under the 

 style of Kwangsii, is the ninth Emperor of 

 China of the Manchu dynasty of Ts'ing, which 

 overthrew the native dynasty of Ming, in the 

 year 1644. There exists no law of hereditary 

 succession to the throne, but it is left to eacli 

 sovereign to appoint his successor from among 

 the members of his family of a younger gene- 

 ration than his own. The late Emperor, dying 

 suddenly in the eighteenth year of his age, did 

 not designate a successor, and it was in conse- 

 quence of arrangements directed by the Em- 

 press Dowager, widow of the Emperor Hien- 

 Feng, predecessor and father of T'ung-chi, in 

 concert with Prince Ch'un, that the infant 

 son of the latter was made the nominal occu- 

 pant of the throne. Having become of age 

 the young Emperor nominally assumed gov- 

 ernment in March, 1887. In February, 1889, 

 he undertook the full control, but on Septem- 

 ber 22, 1898, an Imperial edict was issued 



