C H 
have the inf]re£lion of the troops. The fixth, tun-tien- 
hao , have the care of the highways. Tire feventh, or bo- 
tao, have the fuperintendance of the rivers; and the 
eighth, fliled bai-taa, that of the fea-coafls. In fhort, the 
whole adminillration of the Chinefe empire is entrufted 
to the mandarins of letters; from among whom are chofen 
the governors of provinces, of cities of the (lift, fecond, 
and third, clals, and the prefidents and members of all 
the tribunals. The homage which the people pay to 
every mandarin in office, is nearly equal to that paid to 
the emperor. For as it is the received opinion of the 
Chinefe, that their monarch is the father of the whole 
empire, lo it is their opinion that the governor of a pro¬ 
vince is the father of that province, and that the man¬ 
darin who is governor of a city, is alfo the father of that 
city. 
The mandarins of arms are never indulged with the 
Ifnalleft fhare in the government of the ftate; even the 
Inipedtian of the troops, as we have before obferved, be¬ 
longs to a clafs of the mandarins of letters : however, to 
be admitted to the rank of mandarine of arms, it is alio 
aieceflary to have palled through three degrees. Strength 
of body, agility in performing the different military ex- 
ercifes, and a readinefs in comprehending and executing 
orders, are all that is required; and in thefe conlilt the 
various examinations which candidates are obliged to 
undergo before they can be admitted to that rank. The 
mandarins of arms have alfo tribunals, the members of 
which are feledted from among their own chiefs. The 
principal of thele tribunals is fixed at Pekin, and is com- 
pofed of five different clafl’es. The firft, named Heou- 
fou, formed from the mandarins of the rear-guard. The 
fecond, called Tla-fou, formed of the mandarins of the 
left wing. The third, named Yeou-fou, formed of the 
mandarins of the right wing. The fourth, called Tchong- 
fou, compoled of the mandarins of the advanced main- 
guard. The fifth, called Tfien-fou, confifls of the man¬ 
darins of the advanced-guard. Thefe are lubordinate to 
a fupreme tribunal of war, likewife eftablifh'ed at Pekin, 
called Iong-tching-fou, the prelident of which is one of 
the great lords of the empire, whole authority extends 
over all the officers and foldiers of the army. This pi e- 
fident has a mandarin of letters, who is a fuperintendant 
of arms, for an afieflbr. He has alfo for counsellors two 
infpeftors named by the emperor. When thefe four per- 
fons have agreed upon any meafure, their relblution mud 
be fubmitced to the revilion of another fupreme court, 
called Ping-pou, which is entirely of a civil nature. And 
fuch is the.jealoufy occafioned by military power, that 
the Ping-pou lias under its jurifdidion the whole militia 
pf the empire. 
The power of the chief mandarin of arms in the field 
is equivalent to that of our commanders in chief. Under 
him he has a certain number of others who aft as lieute¬ 
nant-generals ; 1 other mandarins difcharge the. duty of 
colonels; others that of captains; and others that of 
lieutenants and enfigns. There are reckoned in China 
between, eighteen and twenty thoufand mandarins of war: 
their number confequently is fuperior to that of the 
mandatins of letters; but the importance of the latter 
makes them confidered as the peers or principal nobility 
of the empire. 
The military eflablifhment of China, according to fir 
George Staunton, amounts to a million of infantry, and 
eight hundred thoufand cavalry. Of thefe troops, efpe- 
cially the cavalry, by far the greateft part are Tartars, 
who have a higher pay than their Chinefe fellow-foldiers. 
The principal officers of confidence in the army are Tar¬ 
tars alfo. None of either nation are received into the 
fervice, but fuch as are healthy, (hung, and lightly. The 
pay and allowance of-a Chinefe horfeman are three Chi¬ 
nefe ounces, heavier than European ounces, and three- 
tenths of an ounce, of filver, and fifteen meafures, or ra¬ 
tions, (the weight not mentioned,) of rice every month. 
A 1 artar horlemaa feven fimilai^ ounces of filver, and 
N A. 447 
twenty meafures of rice, for the fame period. A Chinefe 
foot-foldier has one ounce and fix-tenths of an ounce of 
filver, and ten meafures of rice; and a Tartar of the fame 
dei'cription has two ounces of filver, and ten meafures of 
rice, every lunar month. The emperor furniflies the 
arms, accoutrements, and the upper garment, to all the 
foldiers. Befide their ordinary pay and allowances, they 
all'o receive donations from the eirtperor on particular 
occafions; as, when they marry, and when they have 
male children born. On the death of their parents, they, 
obtain “ a gift of confolation ;” as do their families when 
the foldiers themfelves die. A military life feerns much 
more the bent of a Tartar, than of a Chinefe. The hardy 
education, the rough manners, the aftive fpirit, the wan¬ 
dering difpofition, the loofe principles, the irregular con¬ 
duct of the former, fit him better for the profeflion, prac¬ 
tice, and purfuits, of war, than the calm, regulated, do- 
meftic, moral, habits of the latter. It was the finking, 
contrail between the fupinenefs and inaftivity of a Chi¬ 
nefe emperor, compared with the high fpirit and intre¬ 
pidity of the invader his country, which begat the pro¬ 
verb, that “ he had caught a Tartar.” 
At every review their arms are carefully infpe&ed; 
and if any of thefe are found in bad condition, or in the 
lead rulled, the negleft is puniflied by thirty or forty 
blows with a Hick, if the culprit be a Chinefe: or with 
as many ladies, if he be a Tartar. Befldes the fuperior 
officers of thefe troops, whom we have already mention¬ 
ed, there are twenty-four captains-general, and as many 
colonels of horfe, created by the Tartars, as a kind of 
infpe&ors appointed to watch over the condudl of the 
Chinefe officers. 
Though there is reafon to believe that the invention, 
of gunpowder and the ufe of artillery is very ancient in. 
China, yet it appears to have been totally loll about the 
beginning of the feventeenth century. Three or four 
ancient cannons were to be feen at the gates of Nan-kin 
but not a fingle Chinefe at that period was to be found, 
who knew how to ufe them. In 1621, when the Portu- 
guefe city of Macao made a prefent of three pieces of 
artillery to the emperor, it was found neceffary to fend' 
three men alfo to load and fire them. The Chinele were 
then made fenfible that artillery might be employed with 
great fuccels againfl feme Tartars, who, having advanced 
as far as the bottom of the great wall, had been quickly 
difperfed by the three cannons fent from Macao. The 
mandarins of arms therefore gave it as their opinion, that 
cannons were the bell arms they could ufe againll their 
enemies; but the difficulty was in procuring them, as 
the Chinefe fcarcely knew how to point and fire a great 
gun; and much leis the art of calling them. F. Adam 
Schaal, a Jefuit mifllonary, however, rendered them this 
fervice. And fome time after, fatlierVerbiefl, another Jefuit 
miffionary, undertook, by order of the emperor, to cafl a 
new fet; and, it is faid, that he railed the Chinefe artil¬ 
lery to the number of three hundred and twenty pieces ; 
he alfo taught them the method of fortifying towns, of J 
conftrudling fortrelfes, and of erefting other edifices, ac¬ 
cording to the rules of modem architefture. The JefuitSj,. 
for the moll part, were not only zealous miffionaries, but 
their zeal was united with talents which procured them 
admiffion to the center of an empire, tili that time fhut 
againfl every llranger. 
There are reckoned in China more than two thoufand 
places of arms, divided into fix different, claffes ; viz. fix 
hundred of the firft; five hundred and upwards of the 
fecond ; three hundred of the third; about an equal, 
number of the fourth ; an hundred and fifty of the fifth ; 
and three hundred of the lall. To thefe may be added 
about three thoufand towers and caflles, difperfed through¬ 
out the whole empire, all of which are defended by gar- 
rifons. The fortreffes of China derive their principal 
flrength from their fituation, which, in general, is well 
chofen. They have, befides a rampart, a brick-wall, tow¬ 
ers, and a ditch filled with water. Nature hath fortified,. 
