962 



CHINA 



13. Religion. Buddhism, or the religion of Fo, is professed by the greater part of the in- 

 habitants. The religion of Confucius, or the doctrine of 

 the learned, is the religion of the best educated part of the 

 Chinese and Coreans ; the emperor is himself the patri- 

 arch, and each magistrate solemnizes its rites within the 

 limits of his jurisdiction. The learned are in general pro- 

 fessors of this creed, without, however, entirely renounc- 

 ing the forms and usages, belonging to the other modes of 

 worship. There is a colony of Jews in China, and there 

 are some Roman Catholics, the converts of the missiona- 

 ries, formerly tolerated here. The temples of Buddha, 

 who is called Fo in China, are filled with all manner of 

 images, and many of the rites and ceremonies struck the 

 Roman Catholic missionaries, from their remarkable re- 

 semblance to those of their own church. Pontifl's, pa- 

 triarchs, whose spiritual jurisdiction extends over a certain 

 province, a council of superior priests, by whom the pon- 

 tiff is elected, and whose badges of dignity resemble those 

 of the cardinals, convents, male and female, prayers for 

 the dead, auricular confession, the intercession of saints, 

 fasting, kissing of feet, litanies, processions, bells, and 

 beads, and holy water, burning of incense and tapers, con- 

 stitute some of the features of Buddhism in China. The 



temples in China are low buildings, usually containing numerous images, and inhabited by priests 

 and beggars ; the pagodas are lofty edifices containing no images, nor tenants. 



14. Government. The supreme authority is vested in the emperor, who is styled the son 

 of heaven ; the crown is hereditary in the male line. His power is limited by the rights of 

 certain magistrates, and all officers must be appointed, according to established rules, from the 

 learned. These form three ranks, which depend solely upon the capacity of the candidate to 

 undergo certain examinations. There are no hereditary dignities, except that of princes of the 

 blood, descendants of Confucius, and one or two others, but the ancestors of a person of dis- 

 tinguished merit are often rewarded by titles of honor for the services of their descendant. 



The laws are couched in the simplest language, and promulgated with the utmost possible 

 publicity, that none may be ignorant of them. The punishments are the bastinado, the pillory, 

 banishment, hard labor, and death. The common punishment is the bastinado, which is in- 

 flicted by a lath of bamboo, and sometimes so severely that it occasions death. It is in con- 

 stant activity and is inflicted for the smallest offence, when it is considered a paternal correction, 

 and the culprit thanks the judge for the care thus bestowed upon his morals. The kangue 

 is a movable pillory or frame, weighing from 60 to 200 pounds, and fastened about the neck, so 



Chinese Pagoda. 



allow you toexport both beyond seas, without theslightest 

 feeling of grudge on our part. Never was imperial good- 

 ness greater than this ! 



"Now, if ye foreigners had a proper sense of gratitude 

 for such extraordinary goodness, ye would hold the laws 

 in dread ; and while ye sought to profit yourselves, ye 

 would abstain from injuring other men. But how happens 

 it, on the contrary, that ye Xake your uneatable opium and 

 bring it to our central land, chousing people out of their 

 substance, and involving their very lives in destruction ? 

 I find, that by means of this noxious article, you have been 

 fraudulently imposing upon the Chinese people now up- 

 wards of several tens of years, during which time the un- 

 just wealth ye have reaped exceeds all calculation ; this 

 IS a circumstance sufficient to rouse the general indigna- 

 tion of mankind, and which the laws of heaven can with 

 difficulty scarce pardon. 



" Formerly the prohibitions of our empire might still be 

 considered indulgent, and therefore it was, that from all 

 our ports the sycee leaked out as the opium rushed in ; 

 now, however, the great emperor, on hearing of it, actu- 

 ally quivers with indignation, and before he will stay his 

 hand the evil must be completely and entirely done away 

 with. 



" Respecting our own subjects, he who opens an opium- 

 «hop, or who sell*; opium, is immediately put to death; 



and it is also in agitation whether or not to the mere smok ■ 

 er may not be accorded the extreme penalty of the law ; 

 and ye foreigners, who come to our central land to reside, 

 ought in reason to submit to our statute, as do the natives 

 of China themselves. 



" Our Chinese empire covers many tens of thousands 

 of miles in extent, every sort of produce is there heaped 

 up and running over, we have no occasion to borrow any 

 thing from you foreigners ; but I fear, that were we to 

 stop the intercourse, the plans for doing business (and ob- 

 taining profit) of every one of your countries would at 

 that moment come to an end ! Ye foreign traders, who 

 come from distant countries, how is it, that you have not 

 yet found out the difference between the pains of toil and 

 the sweets of ease The great difference betwixt the 

 power of the few and the power of the many 



"Do not indulge in idle delay and expectation, which 

 will only lead to a vain repentance. A special edict. 

 Taukwang, 19th year, 2d moon, 4th day. ]8th March, 

 t839." 



" Simultaneously with the above a proclamation to the 

 hong merchants was issued, recapitulating the frauds and 

 evils of the opium trade, severely rebuking them for con- 

 niving at it, and for their defence of foreigners, and threat- 

 ening them with death to some of their number, if they 

 should fail in prompt and impliril obedience." 



