CHIN A. 
4i4 
dence of the viceroy. There are Tome alfo in cities of 
inferior note, which are appropriated for the ufe of thofe 
mandarins who enjoy places under government. Bridges 
have been multiplied in China in proportion to the num¬ 
ber of its canals and rivers: they con,ift of three, five, 
or feven, arches; the centre is from thirty to forty feet 
wide, and railed very high, that barks' may e.tfily pafs 
••without lowering their malts. 
Agriculture is the principal refource of the Chinefe, 
who confider it as the firlt and molt honourable of all 
prcfeffions. The people are allowed to ufe a portion of 
the grain of every crop, for the purpofes of brewing and 
diftillation ; but, if the harveft happens to be bad, an or¬ 
der is ilfued for the l'ufpenfion of thefe operations. The 
Chinefe emperors do not coniine themfelves to the-pub- 
lifliing of regulations refpefting agriculture, but they en¬ 
courage it by their own example; of this the celebrated ce¬ 
remony, in which the emperor tills the earth with his own 
hands, has been often mentioned, and may be coniidered 
us a proof. This ceremony is as follows : Spring begins 
in China always in the.month of February, but not re¬ 
gularly on the fame day. This epocha is determined by 
the tribunal of mathematics. That of ceremonies an¬ 
nounces it to the emperor by a memorial, in which every 
thing neceffary to be done by the prince on that occafion 
is mentioned with the moll: Scrupulous minutenefs. He 
firlt names twelve of the mod illuitrious perfons in his 
court to accompany him, and to hold the plow after he 
lias performed his part of the ceremony. Thefe are al¬ 
ways three princes of the blood, and nine prefidents of 
fupreme courts. This feitival is preceded by a facrifice 
which the fovereign offers up to the Chang-ti, or fupreme 
being. The emperor prepares lvimfelf by three days fad¬ 
ing ; and thofe who are to attend him lubmit to the fame 
regulations. The place where the emperor od’ers up the 
fpring facrifice, is a fmall mount, within the city of Pe¬ 
kin, fifty feet in height, called Sien-nang-iait, or mount 
of agriculture; this elevation is exprelsly prefcribed by 
the rules of the ceremony, and cannot be difpenfed with. 
The emperor, who facrifices under the title of fovereign 
pontiff - , invokes the Chang-ti, and prays for abundance 
in favour of his people. He then defcends, accompanied 
by the princes and prefidents, who ate to put their hands 
to the plow along with him. The ground let apart for 
this purpofe is contiguous to the mount. Forty labourers 
are ielefted to yoke the oxen, and to prepare the feeds 
which the emperor mud low. Thefe. feeds are of five 
different kinds, - and fuch as are coniidered as the mod 
ufeful and neceffary, viz. wheat, rice, millet, beans, and 
another fpecies of millet, called by the Chinefe cao-leang, 
or lofty corn. Thefe are brought to the fpot in magni¬ 
ficent boxes, carried by perfons of the molt didinguifhed 
rank. The emperor takes hold of the plow, and turns 
up feveral furrows. The princes do the fame in fuccef- 
fion, and after them the prefidents. The fovereign then 
throws into the earth the five kinds of feed before-men¬ 
tioned, after which four pieces of cotton-cloth, proper 
for making dreffes, are dillributed to each of the labourers 
who affifted in yoking the oxen, and who prepared the 
feeds. This ceremony certainly drikes the minds of the 
labouring people, and greatly contributes to encourage 
their indudry. 
We cannot judge of the Chinefe peafantry from thofe 
of Europe; elpecially in what relates to the advantages 
acquired by education. Free-fchools are very numerous 
in every province of China, and many of the villages are 
not deditute of this-advantage. The fons of the poor are 
there received as readily as thofe of the rich, and their 
duties and dudies are the fame ; the attention of the maf- 
ters is equally divided between them ; and from the mod 
obfcure lource talents often fpring, which afterwards make 
a confpicuous figure on the grand dage of life. Indeed, 
nothing is more common in China, than to fee the fon of 
a peafant governor of that province in which his father 
long toiled in cultivating only a few acres, 
a 
The Chinefe have been fevefely reproached, and with 
jud reafon, for permitting new-born infants, at the will 
of thofe who gave them being, under a pretence that 
they cannot maintain them, to be configned to a cruel 
and premature death, by leaving them in the dreets and 
publiS highways, or by plunging them, as loon as they 
come from the womb, into the next adjoining river. Yet 
it feems that this favage cudom was never fahftioned by 
law, though tolerated by the government. It mud have 
been the mod dire neceffity which led to this unnatural 
and fhocking aft, when nrit-it wa9 committed. It is re¬ 
conciled, by the idolatrous worfliippers of Fo, as a facri- 
fice or holy offering to the fpirit of the river in which the 
infant is thrown, ufually with a gourd fufpended from 
its neck, to keep it from immediate drowning. Female 
infants are, for the mod part, chofen for this cruel lacri- 
fice, became daughters are coniidered as more intimately 
belonging to thofe families into which they paf s by 
marriage, while the fons ufually continue the lupport 
and comfort of their own. Thefe infants are ufually ex- 
poied immediately on the birth, or before the features 
become fo animated as to c;itch the affeftions rifino- in a 
parent’s bread. A faint hope is generally entertained, 
that they may yet be preferved from untimely death, by 
the vigilance of thofe who are deputed by the govern¬ 
ment to look for and colleft thefe miferable objefts, for 
the purpofe of providing for fuch as are found alive, and 
for burying thole, at the emperor’s expence, which might 
have expired. The miffionaries are likewife zealous in 
this humane work. They haften to baptize all they find 
alive, whom they provide for and educate at their own 
expence, and bring up in the Chridian religion. One 
of thofe pious fathers, who was not inclined to exagge¬ 
rate the evil, acknowledged to fir George Staunton, that, 
in the city of Pekin alone, about two thoufand infants 
were annually expofed in this inhuman manner, and of 
which a great number unavoidably perifhed. 
Nothing feems to be neglefted in China that has any 
relation to government; even the gazette is an efiential 
part of the political conditution. This gazette is printed 
at Pekin, and is circulated throughout every province of 
the empire. It contains an account of all thofe objefts 
to which the attention of the government is direfted; 
and adminidration enter into the minuted details ; grant 
fuccour in proper feafon; reward with liberality; and 
punifh with judice. Nothing is inferted in this gazette 
which has not been lubrnitted to the emperor, or which 
has not come immediately from him ; and inevitable 
death would be the confequence to any one who fltould 
infer.t any thing falfe in this miniderial paper. 
No law, or fentence, as before obferved, can be of 
any force until the emperor’s feal is affixed to it. This 
leal is about-eight inches fquare, of fine jafper, a pre¬ 
cious ftone highly valued in China. The fovereign only 
is entitled to have a feal of this lubdance. Thofe which 
he gives to princes are made of gold ; thofe of the vice¬ 
roys and great mandarins, of filver; and thofe of inferior 
mandarins, or magidrates, mud be made of lead or cop¬ 
per; and their fize is larger or fmaller, according to the 
rank which they hold as mandarins, or in the tribunals. 
The authority of inlpeftors lent into any of the pro¬ 
vinces, is confirmed alfo by the feal of the emperor. The 
duty of thefe deputies is .to examine into the conduft of 
governors, magidrates, and private individuals; and if 
any of them think it his duty to fummon the viceroy be¬ 
fore his tribunal, this great man, with all his import¬ 
ance, is obliged to attend. Has a fuperior behaved ill to 
an inferior magidrate; the former becomes the prifoner 
of the infpeftor; and, until he has declared himlelf from 
every imputation, lie i is fufpended from his office. The 
viceroy, on the contrary, his permitted to enjoy his, un¬ 
til the infpeftor’s report is made to the emperor, which 
generally decides his fate. 
The emperor himfelf fometimes thinks proper to dis¬ 
charge the duty of thefe infpeftors in lome of the pro¬ 
vinces 5 
