ON ITEMS OF CHINESE ETHICS AND PHILOSOPHY. 69 



foundation of the law that has prevailed in China evev since, from 

 the burning of the books to the present time. 



As regards the non-existence of a public ministry, a grand central 

 department, in connection with state tribunals, there is this to be 

 said, that in China every magisterial tribunal is competent to the 

 administration of almost every law. The country is governed by a 

 vast hierarchy or great bureaucratic system, the centre of which is of 

 course Peking. Beyond the frontiers of China Proper we find what 

 we may describe as military governments, of which we have not now 

 time to say more. China Proper itself is divided into eighteen 

 pi'ovinces. The higher officers of these we denominate Governors, 

 Commissioners of Finance, of Justice, and Intendants of Circuits. 

 Within the province are subdivisions, the larger of which we 

 call departments, while the lesser subordinate to these are styled 

 districts. This is roughly the provincial administration. The 

 magistrate of the district is judge of first instance, as the Fi-ench 

 would call him. There are nearly 1,500 of these districts that the 

 Empire is cut into, and every complaint, be it civil or criminal, 

 before it can be tried elsewhere has first to go before this Magis- 

 trate, who is Coroner and Collector of Revenue, Registrar of 

 Land Tenure, and, in short, the common centre of duties that, in 

 western countries, Ave should suppose it would require ten or 

 twenty departments to discharge. A petitioner must appear in 

 that officer's court before he goes to the Prefect to complain, and 

 that officer's decision, except in very minor cases, must be referred to 

 the Prefect. Cases of certain gravity the Prefect sends up to the 

 Criminal Commissioner, and eventually up to the Governor of the 

 Province. Any very grave case is referred by the Governor of 

 the Province to the different departments at Peking. You may 

 say that the Empire is over-spread with a net-work of tribunals 

 for the administration of the law, all of them dependent with 

 more or less directness upon the Central Government. 



I see it is stated that in some instances the audience, the 

 persons assembled in court, are consulted. I confess I never 

 heard of such a proceeding as that. It is the farthest thing 

 from probable that a mandarin would do more than, perhaps, 

 dramatically appeal to his audience ; but the people are not 



