DETAILS RESPECTING COCHIN CHINA. 
HI 
a kind of minister of finances charged with ail that concerns the 
royal treasure and the imposts. The 3rd, bo /e, directs and pre¬ 
sides over ceremonies according to ancient customs. The 4th, 
bo pink, regulates military affairs, like our,minister of war. The 
3th, bo kinky takes cognizance of and punishes capital crimes. The 
6th, bo com/y is our minister of public works, hut he has wider 
functions. There is no minister for foreign affairs. For the ma¬ 
rine, they have only a superintendent. The mandarins who preside 
in these different departments are far from having the same power as 
onr ministers in Europe. They are obliged to report to the king all 
matters belonging to their office, even the most minute; and they 
must conform in all things to his advice, or rather to his orders. 
* 
The power of all the officers of Government is so restrained 
and so limited, that they arc always in uneasiness and dread of 
being found in fault, and of losing their places. The duration 
of their administration in the same post, does not go beyond three 
or four years. They cannot exercise any important functions in 
the quarter where their parents reside. They cannot lake a wife 
nor buy lands in the country submitted to their jurisdiction. If their 
father or mother happens to die they obtain leave of absence for at 
least six months, in order to fulfil the duties which a son owes to his 
deceased parents. Any one can accuse the mandarins before a great 
tribunal erected for this purpose and called Tam phap ; justice is 
there done in all the complaints brought against them: thus a ma¬ 
gistrate has every right to felicitate himself, if he goes out of office 
without being accused. 
The Cochin Chinese have nearly the same laws, and the same 
mode of punishment as the Chinese. They understand military tac¬ 
tics better than the Chinese, and have beat them many times. They 
have even some knowledge of European tactics which French 
officers taught them formerly. They have no cavalry, but they 
have elephants and a very well appointed artillery. At present they 
make muskets better, according to their taste, than those they can 
buy from Europeans. The soldiers only wear their uniforms when 
they form the cortege of the king or of great mandarins. This uni¬ 
form consists merely of a frock ornamented with red or blue bands. 
The Cochin Chinese soldiers in spite of their cowardice, are however, 
I think a little less faint-hearted than the Chinese. 
