CHINA. 
491 
before the great tribunal allotted for that purpofe > and 
the ul'ages of the empire, which fuppofe the Sovereign to 
be endowed with every principle of humanity, require 
that he (hould formally confult his council, to know whe¬ 
ther he can, without danger to the ftate, avoid ordering 
the fentence to be executed : thus exercifing the powers 
of the Britilh monarch, in cales of life and death. In- 
Itances are reported to have happened where an offender 
has been allowed to hire another perfon to undergopunifh- 
ment in his room. The .law, of which the maxims are 
rational and juft, does certainly not allow it, though the 
difpenfers of it may ; and the piety of a fon may, more 
in China than eifewhere, impel him to fuffer pain to fave 
a father from it. 
In the adminiftration of the vaft revenue of the hate, 
the opportunities of committing abufes are not often 
negle&ed, as may be inferred from the frequent confif- 
cations to the emperor, in confequence of l'uch frauds, 
It is indeed affirmed, that much corruption and oppref- 
fion prevail in moll of the public departments, by which 
confiderable fortunes are acquired, notwithftanding the 
modicity of the public Hilaries. With refpeCt: to the 
allowances made by the emperor to the principal officers 
of government, revenue, and jultice, it is to be obferved, 
that, though in each city there is a chief judge appointed 
exprefsly for trying criminals, all civil fuits are decided 
by the principal or fubordinate governors of the places 
where they ante, without any particular eltablilhment of 
legal judges, appointed apart and independently for 
that purpofe. The influx of filver from Europe into 
China, within the thirteenth century, has occaiioned 
fuch an increafe in the prices of all articles of confump- 
tion, as greatly to alter the proportion between the fixed 
falaries of the feveral officers of government, and the 
ufual expences of their refpe&ive Rations. The follow¬ 
ing table exhibits the fixed falaries of the civil eftablilh- 
ment of the prefent Chinefe government, as given by fir 
George Staunton : 
A Lift of the chief Civil Officers Of China, dftinguijhing their 
Number, Station, and Salaries. 
Tahels. 
Eleven tfon-toos, or viceroys, over one 
or more provinces, falaries - - 20,000 
Fifteen foyens, or governors, under 
him, of each province - - - -16,000 
Nineteen hou-poos, or fifcals, the chief 
officers of revenue ----- 9,000 
Eighteen an-za-tzes, or prefidents, of 
the criminal tribunal - - - - 6,000 
Eighty-fix tao-quens, or governors, 
prefiding over more than one city 
of the fir ft order, and their depen¬ 
dencies --.- 
One hundred and eighty-four fou- 
quens, or governors, only of one 
city of the firit order, and its de¬ 
pendencies -------- 
One hundred and forty-nine kiou- 
quens, or governors, of a city of 
the fecond order ------ 
One thoufand three hundred and five 
fien-quens, or governors, of a city 
of the third order. 
Seventeen fiou-jous, or prefidents, 1 
of lcience or examinations - - f 
One hundred and i'eventeen clio- I 
tos, or infpeCLors-general - - J 
3,000 
2,000 
1,000 
800 
3,000 
Total. 
220,000 
240,000 
171,000 
108,000 
258,000 
368,000 
149,000 
1,044,000 
402,000 
2,960,000 
The order and adminiftration of the jails in China, are 
laid to be remarkably good. The debtor and felon are 
confined in feparate places, without being permitted to 
approach each other, as it is thought both impolitic and 
z 
immoral to aflbeiate guilfr with imprudence or misfor¬ 
tune, by a promifcuous imprifbnment. The two {'exes 
are likewife kept carefully apart. Confinement for debt 
is only temporary ; but if, after the delivery of all a 
debtor’s property to liis creditors, the demands agaiult 
him are ftill unfatisfied, he is liable to wear a neck-yoke 
in public for a certain period, in order to-induce his fa¬ 
mily, if able, to difcharge the debt, and thus put an end 
to the difgrace. If his infojvency had been incurred by 
gaming, or other improper conduct, he is fubjeft to cor¬ 
poral punifhment, and exile into Tartary. The empe¬ 
ror’s debtors, if fraudulently fuch, are ftrangled; if 
merely by misfortunes, their wives and children and pro¬ 
perty of every kind are liable to be fold, and themfelves 
lent, to the new fettlements in Tartary, at the difcretion 
of the emperor. 
The prodigious populoufnefs of China may be ac¬ 
counted for from divers caufes; one of which, and no ; t 
the leaft material, is, that the people are leldom dimi- 
niftied by the calamities of war. No private foldiers, and 
only a few officers, natives of the ancient provinces of 
China, were engaged in the conqueft of Weftern Tartary, 
or in the Thibet war. Celibacy is rare even in the mi¬ 
litary profeffion among the Chinefe. Accidents fome- 
times of extraordinary drought, and lometimes of excef- 
five inundations, occafionaliy produce famine in parti¬ 
cular provinces; and famine difeafe: but there are few 
drains from moral caufes, either of emigration, or foreign 
navigation. The number of manufacturers, whofe oc¬ 
cupations are not always favourable to health, and whole 
refidence in towns expofes them to irregularities, bears 
but a very finall proportion to that of hufoandmen in 
China. In general, there feems to be no other bounds 
to Chinefe populoufnefs, than thofe which the neceffity 
of fubfiftence may put to it. Thefe bounds are certainly 
more enlarged than in other countries. The whole l'ur- 
face of the empire is, with trifling, exceptions, dedicated 
to the production of food for man alone. There is no 
meadow, and very little pafture; nor are fields cultivated 
with oats, beans, or turnips, for the fupport of cattle of 
any kind. Few parks or plealure grounds are feen, ex¬ 
cepting thofe which belong to the emperor. Little land 
is taken up for roads, which are few, and never unnecef- 
farify wide ; their chief communication being by water. 
There are no commons, or lands, fuffered to lie wafte by 
the negleCt, or the caprice, or for the fport, of great pro¬ 
prietors. No arable land lies fallow. The foil, under a 
hot and fertilizing fun, yields annually, in mod inftances, 
double crops, in conlequence of adapting the culture to 
the foil j and of fupplying its defeCts by mixture with 
other earths, by manure, by irrigation, by careful and 
judicious induftry of every kind. The labour of man is , 
little diverted from that induftry, to minifter to the luxu¬ 
ries of the opulent and powerful; or in employments of 
no real ufe. Even the foldiers of the Chinefe army, ex¬ 
cept during the fhort intervals of the guards which they 
are called to mount, or other occafional lervices which 
they perform, are rnoftly employed in agriculture. The 
quantity of l'ubftftence is increafed alio, by converting 
more, f'pecies of animals and vegetables to that purpofe 
than is uiual in other countries; and even in the prepa¬ 
ration of their food, the Chinefe have economy and ma¬ 
nagement. In raifing and collecting manure for the land, 
Chinefe induftry feerns to iurpal's every other part of the 
world ; and it is to them an objeCt of the utmoft attention. 
In this bufinefs the old and deqrepid are employed, and 
little boys capable of no other labour. They rummage 
every ftreet, road, river, and canal, and all'o pick up in 
balkets the ordure of animals, and oft'als of every kind 
which can anl'wer the purpofe of manure. Wherever 
this is deficient, they unite various kinds of earth to¬ 
gether ; if the earth be too compaCt or adhefiye, they mix 
with it land ; if too loofe, clay or loam, until the foil be¬ 
comes fit for the intended purpofe of vegetation. Their 
induitrv is fuch in the fouthern provinces, that the gen- 
•• " tkmen 
