CHINA. 
45 ° 
mark of collateral princes 5 and the names of their 
children are regiftered in a red book. The emperor alone 
determines the fur names of princes of the reigning 
branch. When the princes* and princelfes of the lalt 
clafs have attained to the age of fifteen, they prefent a 
petition to the emperor, requeuing permiffion to marry. 
Princes of the direft line may omit this formula ; but, if 
they are defirous of being connected by marriage with 
any of the Mogul or Kalka princes, they mult firft ob¬ 
tain the emperor’s eonfent. The rank even of the em¬ 
peror’s fons, except of his immediate fuccefi'or, dimi- 
nilhes one degree every generation. At the feventh, 
the eldelt of thefe branches only has a title to wear the 
yellow girdle; the reit find themfelves funk to the rank 
of plain citizens. «An hereditary fovereignty pafles, with 
all its rights, from one eldelt fon to another, unlefs the 
pofl'eflbr forfeits his title by being guilty of fome crime. 
In fucll a cafe, the .emperor appoints to the fuccefiion, 
cither one of his younger brothers, or a coufin; but 
thefe mult be chol'en from the fame branch, as the lawful 
branch cannot be deprived of this right, unlefs all thofe 
are condemned who compofe it. Whoever infults any 
prince of the imperial family, who is decorated with the 
yellow girdle, is put to death vrithaut remilfion. But 
this is not the cafe if the prince has omitted or negledted 
to put on his yellow girdle : the affair then becomes a 
cafe between citizen and citizen; and the aggrdfor ef- 
capes with a baflinading. 
Another equitable tribunal, no lefs peculiar to China 
than the two preceding, but betterknown than either is the 
Tribunal of Hiftory, Han-lin-y-ven. Itiscompofed of the 
greateft geniufes and of men of the molt profound eru¬ 
dition in the empire; to this tribunal is entrufted the 
education of the heir apparent to the throne, and the 
compilation and arrangement of the general liiltory of 
the empire. This laft part of their office makes them 
formidable even to the emperor himfelf; for his attempts 
to opprels, or feduce them, would be configned to hif¬ 
tory, in fpite of all his efforts to the contrary. From this 
body are generally chofen the calao, or mandarins of the 
firft clafs, and the prefidents of the fupreme tribunal's. 
The Chinefe have taken rnoft of their civil laws from 
their canonical books of morality, and filial piety is their 
bafis. Some decrees of the emperors, refpefting the ob- 
fervance of certain ceremonies, which cuftorn has efta- 
blifhed, form the reft of the code. Every mandarin, 
tvho is a governor of a province or city, is obliged, twice 
a month, to inftrudl the people affembled round him, and 
to recommend to them the obfervance of the following 
articles. 1. You muft putin praftiCe the duties prefcribed 
by filial piety, and obferve that deference which is due 
from a younger to an elder brother. By thefe means 
only can you learn to fet a proper value upon thofe ob¬ 
ligations which nature impoies on all men. 2. You muft 
always preferve a refpe&ful remembrance of your ancef- 
tors ; hence will refult conrtant peace and union in your 
family. 3. Let harmony and concord reign throughout 
every village: by this, quarrels will be banifhed, and 
law-fuits prevented. 4. Let thofe who cultivate the 
earth, and breed (ilk-worms, be efteemed and refpefted, 
you will then want neither grain for your nourifhment, 
nor clothing to cover you. 5. Let frugality, tempe¬ 
rance, modefty, and prudent economy, become the ob¬ 
jects of your refle&ion, and regulate your condudf. 6. 
Let the public fchools be carefully maintained ; and, 
above all, let youth be inftrufted early in the duties of 
life, and formed to good morals. 7. Let every one at¬ 
tend to his own buiinefs, and to the duties of his office : 
they will then be better difcharged. 8. Let religious en- 
thufiafts be carefully extirpated as loon as they (pring 
up;, it might be too late afterwards. 9. Let the terror 
of the penal laws be often held up to the people. For 
rude and untradlable minds can be reftrainecl by fear 
only. 10. Endeavour to acquire a perfect knowledge 
of the rules of civiiity and politenefs: thefe tend to 
maintain concord, n. Let the education of childrerft 
and particularly of younger Ions, be the principal objedt 
of ybur attention. 12. Avoid Hander, and abttain from 
malicious accufations. 13. Conceal none of thofe cri¬ 
minals who, on account of their crimes, have been ba- 
niftied from fociety, and condemned to a wandering life : 
by concealing them, you become their accomplices. 14. 
Be pundtual in paying the duties and taxes impofed by 
the prince : this will free you from the opprelfion of 
thofe who colledl them, and from vexatious lawfuits. 
15. Be careful to adt in concert with the magiftrates of 
the diftridt to which you belong, and to fecond their ef¬ 
forts in difeharging the duties of their office: by thefe 
means, they will be enabled to detedf the guilty, and to 
prevent robbery and theft. 16. Reftrain every fudden 
emotion of paffion; and you will avoid many dangers. 
From the manner in which thefe ordinances are deliver¬ 
ed, it is evident that the fovereigns of China give even 
to their laws and regulations the form of maxims and 
precepts. Every law in Europe is preceded by a pream¬ 
ble, letting forth the reafon of enabling it; but in Chi¬ 
na the law invariably precedes the explanation of the 
motive. 
Their laws concerning marriage, are very extenfive. A 
Chinefe can have only one lawful wife; and it is necef- 
fary that her rank and age Ihould be nearly equal to 
his own; but be may have feveral concubines, without 
any formality whatever, except firft paying to their pa¬ 
rents, if they have any, a certain fum of money, and en¬ 
tering into a written engagement to treat their daughters 
well. Thefe concubines are totally dependant on the 
lawful wife, their children are confidered as hers; they 
addrefs her as mother, and give this title to her only. 
After her death, they are obliged to wear mourning for 
three years, and to abfent themfelves from public exa¬ 
minations, but the death of their natural mother fub- 
jedts them to the obfervance of none of thele regulations. 
A widower, or a widow, may enter a fecond time into 
the matrimonial ftate without paying much attention to 
any of the preceding regulations. 
A widow who has children becomes abfolute miftrefs 
of herfelf: her parents can neither compel her to marry 
again or to remain in a ftate of widowhood. Widows 
do not enjoy the fame privilege when they have no male 
children. The parents of their firft hufband can again 
place them in marriage, without their eonfent, or know¬ 
ledge. They are authorifed by the law to do this, to in¬ 
demnify themfelves for the money they have colt their 
former liulbands. This, ftridtly fpeaking, is felling them: 
however, if they are left with child, this traffic is fuf- 
pended ; and it cannot take place if they bring forth a 
fon. To this law there are two exceptions: the firft 
when the parents of the widow affign her a proper main¬ 
tenance, and reimburfe thofe of the deceafed liuftund ; 
the other, when the widow embraces a religious life, and 
becomes a bonzefs. 
Divorces are granted in China, in cafes of adultery, mu¬ 
tual diflike, incompatibility of tempers and difpofitions, 
indiferetion, jealoufy, ablolute difobedience, fterility, or 
hereditary and infedfious difeafes. A hufband cannot 
fend away or feli his wife, until a divorce has been le¬ 
gally obtained. If this regulation is not ftridHy ob- 
lerved, the buyer and feller become equally culpable. 
If a wife, acknowledged as lawful, withdraws from her 
family, the hufband lues; fentence is pronounced, and 
he may fell the fugitive, who by this lentence ceales to 
be his wife, and becomes his flave. The law prote&s 
alfo the wife who is abandoned by her hufband. If he 
abfents himfelf for three years, (he is at liberty to lay 
her cafe before the mandarins, who can authorife her to 
take another hufband, but if fhe anticipates their con- 
fent, fhe is expofed to the moft rigorous puuifhment. 
If a young woman has been betrothed to a young man, 
and if prelents have been given and received by the pa¬ 
rents of the intended liufband and wife, that young wo- 
maa 
