378 



CHINA. 



low. Political questions agitate them n > more 

 than religious ones. Patient, nay slavish, in thfir 

 pursuit of this phantom of happiness, they are loyal 

 aiid quiet citizens as long as government does not 

 mar their plans. They will endure the greatest 

 indignities, and submit to the loss of their whole 

 property, if they are afterwards only allowed to 

 amass a new fortune. Not satisfied with hanker- 

 ing after money during this life, they have estab- 

 lished a rate of exchange beyond the grave, and by 

 burning paper laid over with very thin tin plates, 

 they confidently hope that the asker will take the 

 value of dollars in the next world. Wealth, long 

 life, and male children are with those people the 

 summits of human happiness; for in the possession 

 of these objects, they hope to find perfect content- 

 ment. The government, also, has imprinted its 

 stamp upon the Chinese character. In every de- 

 spotic country the minds of the people become 

 cringing and adulatory, and being borne down by 

 main force, they are obliged, while defending them- 

 selves from oppression, to have recourse to deceit, 

 and sundry disingenuous practices. Whether they 

 are to remain peaceful, is no longer a question. 

 They worship the rod that strikes them : the very 

 nerve of noble enterprise is cut by their masters. 

 They are a tame, a pusillanimous nation, filled with 

 trembling and cunning, and formidable to their 

 rulers only by dint of their numbers. The consti- 

 tution of the government, so convenient to those 

 who rule, and so irksome to those who obey, 

 prompts parents to practise tyranny in their domes- 

 tic circles. Thus despotism is the order of the 

 day. Lest, however, the nation should become 

 altogether indifferent about the constitutions of the 

 country, the government has wisely assigned to the 

 people a share in the administration, by raising 

 talent without respect to nobility. This gives a 

 strong impulse to the acquisition of knowledge; all 

 strive for it; and the number of readers in China 

 is far greater than in any other country in Asia, 

 Japan except ed." 



The founders of the Chinese empire, and their 

 immediate descendants, are always spoken of as 

 deliyhting in mild punishments; but, as plunder, 

 and rapine, and commotion, prevailed, severer pun- 

 ishments were had recourse to such as banish- 

 ment and the loss of life. Revolt, or attempting 

 the life of the emperor, crimes of the greatest 

 kind, were punished by strangulation, and slowly 

 mutilating the body ; exterminating the whole kin- 

 dred, not excepting infants; or sawing asunder the 

 offender ; the wearing of the congque, or pillory, 

 during life ; and solitary confinement. During the 

 Han dynasty, at which time the criminal code was 

 revised, the ancient punishments, especially that 

 of exterminating a whole family, consisting some- 

 times of several hundred persons, for the crime of 

 one ambitious man being considered as unneces- 

 sarily severe, were for ever abrogated, by an act of 

 government. The ancient punishments for the 

 ten capital crimes, have of late years been a source 

 of profit to the painter ; for pictures drawn on what 

 is termed rice-paper have been imported into Eu- 

 rope, as confirmatory of the barbarism and cruelty 

 of the present race of Chinese judges and manda- 

 rins; but the fact is, these cruel punishments have 

 long since ceased to exist. Anciently for treason, 

 murder, and adultery, the prisoner and witnesses 

 were subject to torture, in order to compel them 

 to confess all they knew, and their depositions 

 were laid before the emperor and the judicial 



board at the capital, before punishment was in- 

 flicted. The Chinese lighter writings often detail 

 instances in which the friends of the accused have 

 succeeded in defeating the undue influence of the 

 magistracy, by appealing in person before this 

 board; and such magistrates have consequently 

 been degraded and imprisoned. The practice of 

 torture to obtain confession, can now hardly be 

 said to exist. The Gm-chS-ttze, or provincial 

 judge, who ranks next to the viceroy, has not tin- 

 power of punishing a person capitally, except for 

 piracy and a few other heinous crimes, but must 

 report all cases to the emperor, and wait the deci- 

 sion of the Pekin board ; he can transport, im- 

 prison, levy fines, and punish by bastinadoing, 

 congque, &c. The magistrate being always in 

 court, a culprit is no sooner taken, and his accusers 

 in attendance, than he is put on his trial. If it he 

 a light offence, and he is unable to pay a fine, he 

 is laid on the floor, and the punishment of lilau-n 

 inflicted with a long flat bamboo. If the punish- 

 ment is not excessive, the culprit rises and walks 

 home, and the following day he is able to follow 

 his employment. For a corresponding offence in 

 this country, a person might be imprisoned a month, 

 to the injury of his connections and family, but in 

 China the whole affair accusation, trial and pun- 

 ishment is gone through in a few hours. 



The following scale of punishments is taken 

 from the Chinese penal code ; it shows the man- 

 ner in which punishment is increased according to 

 guilt. Ten blows with the bamboo was anciently 

 the lowest punishment ; it is now repealed to four 

 blows, and so of th'e others, the last column being 

 the repealed code, viz., 



The first 1 _ nm : n flO blows'! f 4 blows'! 



The second J ': 20 blows of ft blows are to 

 The third ^ ,,*. . J. 30 blows which < 10 blows ^ be in- 

 The fourth { Lf * blows onl y I '* blo "' s ' "'''t''' 1 - 

 The fifth J ment of 1.50 blowaj 1.20 blowsj 



The second degree or division of punishment, is in- 

 flicted \yith the larger bamboo, and is subdivided 

 in the following manner. 



nomin- T CO blows! f20 blowsl 



nil v R I blows of I 25 blows are to 

 >m nish 1 8 blows j> which <{ 30 blows }. be in- 

 'ntof ?" b ! ow8 i on| y j 35 blows I flictod. 



The first 

 The second 

 The third 

 The fourth 

 The fifth 



llOO blows 



140 blowsj 



with thn bamlKio, 

 reduced as above. 



The third division in the scale of punishment is 

 that of a temporary banishment to any distance not 

 exceeding five hundred lee*, with the view of 

 affording an opportunity of repentance and amend- 

 ment. Of this species of punishment there are 

 also five gradations, namely 



n year, and 60 blows 

 I 1 \ year, and 70 blows 

 Banishment for 4 2 years, and 80 blows 

 ] 2J years, and 90 blows 

 (_3 years, and 100 blows. 



Perpetual banishment, the fourth degree of punish- 

 ment in order of severity, is subdivided as follows, 

 and is reserved for cases wherein even for consider- 

 able offences, the life of the criminal is spared by 

 the mercifulness of the laws : a hundred blows with 

 the bamboo, and perpetual banishment to the dis- 

 tance of 2000, 2500, or 3000 lee. On reaching 

 their destination, the banished offenders may follow 

 their callings, but they are required once a week, 

 or once a month, to appear before the magistrate 

 of the place, and report themselves. The fifth 



Ten lee are usually estimated to be equal to three ereo- 

 graphical miles, but the proportion yaries a little in the differ- 

 ont provinces of the empire. 



