i46 



(' II IN A. 



4. Ho-p**> r collector of the euttvmi, in office pe- 

 > ^~. - ^' culur to the two province* of Quang-ton and Fokicn. 



Those four mandarin* are taken always from the mem- 

 ber* of tome of the supreme tribunal* at Pekin. 



N'fran-sha-ssc, chief criminal judge. 

 fi. Tao-yc, or inlcndant of two citic* of the first or- 

 der. 



7. Tching-tchoo-kao, or president of examination*, 

 who it always tent from Pekin. 



8. Hio-yuen, or inspector of schools, also sent from 

 Pekin. 



9. Yen-ytien, or inter. Jant of the salt-works. 



10. Y-tchoorn-tao, or intendant of ports, the ship, 

 ping, and boats. 



1 1. I'in-pee-tao, or inspector of troop*. 



1 .'. Tun-tiao, or intendant of the high-way*. 



IS. Ho-tao, or inspector of rivers. 



14. Hay- tan, or inspector of the tea-coasts. 



15. Tehee- foo, governor of a city of the first order. 



16. Tchee-tcheoo, governor of a city of the second 

 rder. 



17. Tchee-hien, a governor of a city of the third order. 

 IS. Eul-foo, or sub-governor. 



Eul-ya, assessors or assistants to the governors. 



20. Nan-hay, or head of police, with his assistants. 



21. Shooy-ko-tse, receiver of the duties from mer- 

 chant* shop*. 



22. Se-yu, keeper of prisons. 



2S. Shooy-ta-she, chief of the custom-house. 



24. Koo-ta-she, inspector of the magazines. 



25. Y-tcheng, inspector of the posts in the city. 



86. Hio-tcheng, inspector of the schools in a city. 



Each of these mandarins has a council or tribunal, un- 

 der hi* command, called Ya-men, or assistants. The 

 (mailer towns and villages have, in like manner, their re- 

 spective magistrate* ; and the whole number of civil 

 mandarins in the empire are calculated by different wri- 

 ter* at different amount*, of which the average is about 

 10,000. 



jjjjj,^ There are at Pekin five military tribunals, called Oo- 



undarias. foo, which comprehend the five classes, into which all 

 the military mandarins are arranged. 



1. Heoo-foo, or rear-guard. 



2. Tso-foo, or left-wing. 



3. Yeoo-foo, or right-wing. 



4. Tchong-foo, or centre-corps. 



5. Tiicn foo, or advanced guard. 



Each of these classes have at their head a president, 

 and two assessors or assistants, taken always from the 

 most distinguished officers ; and they are ail subject to 

 a supreme tribunal named Jong-tching-foo, whose pre- 

 sident is one of the highest grandees of the empire, and 

 to whom are attached a civil mandarin as colleague, and 

 two assistant*. This tribunal watches over all the offi- 

 cer* and soldiers of the court, but, in matters of import- 

 ance, is itself subject to the civil tribunal called Ping- 

 poo. 



The names of the Tartar military mandarins, and the 

 number of men under the immediate command of each, are, 



Tsiang-kiun, equivalent to a general ; 3000. 



Too-long, to a lieutenant-general ; 1000. 



Koo-shan, to colonels. 



T tang-ling, to lieutenant-colonels of cavalry. 



Fang-yu, to captain*. 



Hiao-kce-kiao, to lieutenant*. 

 :ie*e military mandarins. 



Tee-too, commander of the troops of a province; 4000. 



Tchong-kiun, hit lieutenant-general, whose station is 

 M the centre of the army ; 3000. 



Tsong-ping, geaernls ; 3006. R< 



Foo-tsiang, marshals of the camp. """ . ~ 



Tsang-tsiang, commander of brigades. 



Yeoo-kee, colonel!. 



Sheoo-pey, lieutenant-colonels. 



Tsicn-tsong, captain*. 



Pa-tsong, lieutenants. 



Pe-tsong, centurions, or commander* of a hundred men. 



The number of military mandarins, including the cen- 

 turions, is between fifteen and twenty thousand ; but 

 they are greatly inferior in influence to the civil of- 

 ficers. 



It is scarcely possible to give adistinct account of the RELIGION. 

 religion of China, and to class its numerous superstitions 

 under appropriate heads. It is indeed pretended by some 

 writers (Father Amiot) on the subject, that the an- 

 cient religious system of the Chinese has continued un- 

 changed amidst all the corruptions, which have been graft- 

 ed upon it during many successive ages; that this sys- 

 tem is found to agree, in its most essential parts, with that 

 of the Israelites, before the giving of the law by Moses ; 

 and that it may be traced back, by meant of regular 

 traditions, even to the renewal of the human race, by 

 the grandsons of Noah. It is affirmed, on the contrary, by 

 an intelligent traveller of our own country, (Mr Barrow) 

 that the primitive religion of China no longer exists, or 

 exists only in a most corrupted state ; that there is at 

 present no national, nor scarcely any state, religion, in 

 the empire ; and that the articles of faith are as various 

 as the modes of worship. All that we can attempt, there- 

 fore, amidst these discordant opinions, is to present our 

 readers with a short view, first of the principal religious 

 systems, which have been introduced into China at dif- 

 ferent periods, as far as can be ascertained from their 

 own historical records ; and next, of their present reli- 

 gious observances, as far as these have been described by 

 later travellers in that country. 



All accounts of the religious opinions and ceremonies 

 of the Chinese, previous to the time of Confucius, are 

 mixed with fable, and full of uncertainty. Indeed, a* 

 their best existing historical documents must be regarded 

 as his productions, and are at least ascribed chiefly to 

 his pen, by the Chinese themselves, none of the allusion* 

 to religious practices, which are to be found in the ear- 

 liest periods of their history, can be considered as rest- 

 ing upon any authority, more ancient than his. But as 

 the Chinese affirm the greater portion of their canonical 

 book Shoo-king to have been composed, long before the 

 age of Confucius, and to have only been restored by hi* 

 labours ; we may proceed upon this idea, and consider 

 the tenets expressed in this work, as the ancient religion 

 of China. 



In this view of the subject, their primitive creed seems Primitive 

 to have contained the general doctrines of theism with re- religion, 

 gard to the Supreme Being, whom they worshipped un- 

 der various names, such as Tien or Kien, heaven, Shang- 

 tien, tupreme heaven, Shang-tee, supreme Lord, and 

 Hoan-shang-tee, sovereign and supreme Lord. This Su- 

 preme Being they regarded as possessed of all natural 

 and moral perfections, as exercising a minute and judi- 

 cial providence over mankind, as rewarding virtue and 

 punishing vice, even in this life, as sending calamities to 

 warn and reform the offender, and as ready to relent, 

 and pardon him upon his repentance. The first worship 

 instituted in honour of the Sha.ig-tee, consisted in prayers 

 accompanied with sacrifices or gifts, offered upon some 

 natural eminence, or artificial mount, or merely in the 

 open fields, upon an altar called tan, composed of a round. 



