cotton and silk piece-goods; and a third of metals, wax, stationery, and all such articles as are sent from the provinces as tribute.

To the office of the board of revenue, deputypresidents, a superintendent of the mint, another of the manufacture of cash, and numerous assistants, are attached. A committee, consisting of two vice-presidents and other officers, examines into the annual receipts and expenditure, the provisions for the military, the transport of grain, and the condition of the granaries. This court is again divided into four other departments; the first of which attends to the receipt of money and rice; the second to the transportation of revenue; the third to the expenditure; and the fourth to the supplies furnished to the public servants, and illustrious foreigners while at court.

Connected with the board of revenue there is also a treasurer in each of the provinces, who has under him a number of officers for the collection of revenue, somewhat after the manner of the Board of Excise in England, which has its collectors, supervisors, and common excisemen, in certain districts throughout the kingdom.

The lands of the peasantry of China are all rated, and a careful census of the population taken. In order to facilitate the collection of taxes, every village is divided into five and ten famillies; and the grain is either received at the public offices, or gathered by revenue officers. When collected, it is transported from the Heën and Foo to the public granaries, and either used in the province, or sent part to the capital, and part to a neighbouring district to supply the wants of the military. After it is delivered, the provincial treasurer

gives in his account to the governor, and he forwards it to the board of revenue.

In no branch of the administration in China does there appear to be so much fraud and deception practised, as in the collection of the revenue. Notwithstanding the board has the power of punishing mandarins for embezzlements, the public money is frequently squandered, additional sums are extorted, and the meanest tricks are resorted to in order to embezzle even a few taëls; and the law proves insufficient to meet the evil. It is applied with vigour, but still the evil not only exists, but increases in magnitude. The rule among the Chinese appears to be, that a man should cheat when he has the opportunity.

The board of revenue watches over the weights and measures, as well as the revenue of China. The weights are nearly the same throughout the empire, but measures vary considerably, and especially those of quantity. In this department similar difficulties are encountered as in the collection of tribute, the same rule of cheating being observed by the Chinese universally. Their ideas of right and wrong are so perverted, and the natural bent of the human heart being to selfishness and unrighteousness, it follows, that each one endeavours to impose upon the government and his neighbours. It is true the pages of Confucius inculcate the duty of paying tribute to the emperor, and of acting towards neighbours in the same manner as they would wish to be treated by them; but his precepts have little practical influence upon this idolatrous people. A man, to be restrained from evil, must have the fear of God before his eyes, and a dread of the eternal conse

quences of sin. With these the Chinese are utterly unacquainted. Their dread is only of the laws of the realm; and if these can be evaded successfully, they neither fear its terrors, nor the consequences of evil-doing. Hence arise the fraud and deception practised in the payment of tribute to the government, and in dealings with their neighbours.

BOARD OF RITES.

This board has the same number of presidents and vice-presidents as the preceding. It is subdivided into four chambers; the first of which is charged with maintaining the rules of etiquette, the second with the order of sacrifices, the third with the duties of visitors and guests, and the fourth with the rules of festivities and rejoicings.

1. The Chamber of Etiquette.—In this chamber there are two deputy-presidents, four assistants, and two directors. Under its control, also, is a subordinate department, which attends to the mint. The duties of its members are to superintend public audiences; the ceremonials of the classical repast, or symposium of the literati; the ceremony of the emperor ploughing the field, and the regulations pertaining thereto; laws of precedence; ceremonial of marriages; rituals of the schools; ceremony of visiting; ceremony of the military; ceremonial of public rejoicing; ritual of sacrifices; ceremonial of burial; ceremonies for admitting barbarian tribute-bearers, and various other ceremonies, on which it would be tedious to dwell. As for the ceremonies themselves, they consist of repetitions of genuflexion, prostration, and rising and falling down on the face, so as to

knock their heads on the floor. This is at least the custom in audiences, where a host of slaves, gorgeously dressed, crouch in chequered rows before the emperor, and adore him as a divinity. Scarcely one word is heard among them, except the voices of the masters of the ceremony, who give the word of command for particular movements, as an European officer does to the soldiers under him; and all this is done amid the unmusical sound of the Chinese gong.

2. Chamber for regulating Sacrifices. - The number of officers in this chamber is nearly the same as in that of the preceding department; and their duties consist in attending on joyful and solemn occasions. Sacrifices are of three kinds, the great, middling, and inferior, and each officer has peculiar rites, formalities, and victims to superintend; and these are manifold.

3. Chamber of mutual Intercourse.-In this chamber there are four interpreters' offices, and a variety of other establishments. They are established for the accommodation and entertainment of illustrious foreign guests. Thus the officers belonging to this establishment are charged with attending to their supplies during their stay at court. Nor is this a trifling duty; for the concourse of ambassadors at the court of China is greater than at any other. All the princes of Mongolia, Tibet, Sungaria, Kokonor, and other central parts of Asia, either appear in person, or send their envoys, to acknowledge their allegiance to the great king.

4. Chamber for arranging Festivities.-Connected with this chamber are two deputy presidents, one assistant, two directors, and various

controllers, managers, and clerks. Their duties are to arrange the imperial banquets, which are given in great state; and when it is considered that the guests are frequently numerous, and that they are placed, like the dishes before them, according to rule, this will not appear a trifling matter. It is the duty of these officers, also, to furnish rations to the Mongol and other foreign visitors immediately connected with the court.

5. The Board of Music.-In connexion with the board of rites there are a number of musicians, who are present at every ceremonial. All these are celebrated for their skill in music, according to the taste of the Chinese, though their performances are most discordant to the ears of Europeans. At the sacrifices, in the court, and at public festivals, their music is accompanied with vocal harmony, which adds very little to the effect. On these occasions the musicians are placed in regular order. Thus, those who play the drum and the fife are turned to the left, with their faces to the west; and those who perform on flutes, organs, and guitars, to the right, with their faces toward the east. When they strike up, or stop, the ceremonial either changes or ceases; and the scene is altered, as though a drama was being performed; and this is the case both on joyful and solemn occasions. Musicians are in requisition at every ceremony; even the dead are buried amidst the sound of the trumpet and the beating of the inharmonious gong.

THE MILITARY BOARD.

This board consists of two presidents and two vice-presidents, who have, in conjunction with the commanders of the household troops, the