though great power is professedly delegated to the supreme courts. The emperor possesses the substance of power-they only the shadow.

THE CENSORATE.

From the despotic character of the government of China, one would hardly have expected to have met with an establishment of this nature. Yet such is the fact. Two presidents, a Tartar and a Chinese, and four assistants, with various subordinate officers, constitute this court at the capital; and it is their duty, like the censors of Rome, to exercise strict surveillance over the emperor, the magistracy, and the people. But here the analogy between the censors of Rome and China ends. In that republic they could exercise their functions without danger. Whether they reproved, remonstrated, advised, or demanded a redress of grievances at the hands of the magistrates, they were safe. And so it is understood by the law that they are in China. It states, that their advice, how contrary soever to the will of his majesty, shall not endanger their lives. But the fact is otherwise. minds of despots can ill brook restraint; and there are cases on record, in which the censors of China have suffered for the faithful performance of their duties. Hence this court is altogether changed from its original constitution. Its members, terrified from the path of duty, instead of defending the innocent, and boldly asserting the national privileges, have become the cringing flatterers of the emperor. They have even been such willing tools in his service, as to propose measures for enslaving the people. Notwith

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standing, as custom allows them to speak boldly, they sometimes plead, vituperate, and remonstrate. But here the matter ends. Their pleadings, vituperations, and remonstrances, like all other documents, are placed on record, and there remain unheeded and forgotten. The emperor still acts by the impulse of his own will, and his censors, therefore, exist only in the name. They are a perfect " nihility;" for they neither possess the power of restraining the despotism of the monarch, nor of checking vice among the people.

THE COURT OF REQUESTS.

The court of requests was instituted for the purpose of inspecting all papers, before they are placed in the hands of the great ministers. The chief duty of its members is to see that these papers do not exceed a certain length, or contain one superfluous character. They must also take care that they are worded according to a prescribed rule, and that the characters are properly raised, since on this latter peculiarity the rank of the individual spoken of is known. Moreover, according to an ancient custom, there are officers at the court of requests, in waiting at the gate, to receive accusations upon a given signal. These are either received in writing, or orally, and they are compelled to transmit them immediately to their superiors, on pain of severe punishment.

THE HAN-LIN, OR NATIONAL COLLEGE.

Han-lin College, literally "Pencil Forest Hall," was instituted to perpetuate a system of instruction, for the purpose of upholding the laws of the

empire. It has two presidents, styled learned. directors of the hall, a Tartar and a Chinese, the former taking the precedence in rank. There are also twelve officers, six of each class, called "learned readers;" the former of whom read sacred books to his majesty, together with a number of other readers and expounders, divested of the title. There are, likewise, many employed in selecting, revising, correcting, and arranging materials for publication. All national works are edited under the direction of this body, and the names of the superior officers are inserted in the prefaces. Other members, from their designation, appear to discharge the duties of superintending proclamations, while others assist at the classical repast, which the emperor gives in the palace. These latter deliver orations, recite epigrams, poems, eulogies, etc., for the entertainment of the emperor and his guests. The orations, however, are not delivered with that pathos which the great master of Grecian eloquence, Demosthenes, pronounced to be the soul of speaking. They are merely read as essays, or as school-boys read their lessons. Connected with this college is the historiographer's court, and another court of a subordinate nature, called the Chen-sze-foo, the duties of which are the same as those of the national college. The historiographers' court consists of twenty-one members, chosen from the national college; and four of these are always in attendance on the monarch to record his words and his actions, like the recorders of the courts of antiquity, of whom we read in the sacred writings. It is their duty, also, to examine the manuals of

prayer, which, together with all proclamations, and the rituals used on festivals, are composed by the Han-lin doctors. The preparation of these documents is a matter of no small importance. Their wording should be accurate, and not a sentence admitted which is unclassical.

It is the professed object of the imperial government to select ministers of state from Hanlin College, according to their degree of literary attainments. For the institution is not a seminary of instruction for the youth of the nation, but a senate to test literary attainments, and confer honorary degrees, which often prove a passport to the most lucrative and influential posts in the empire. Hence so much importance is attached to the acquisition of these degrees, that vast efforts are made by scholars to pass the examinations with credit. Those who have more money than learning, even purchase these honours, in order that they may obtain high office in the empire. Many of the most learned members of the college, however, spend their lives within its walls, in literary ease. All eminent classical scholars are, by virtue of their attainments, members of the institution; and the descendants of philosophers and sages, such as Confucius and Mencius, are members by birthright.

In the estimation of the Chinese, the Han-lin are the most learned men in the empire. All their learning, however, resolves itself into that found in their canonical books. Natural history, universal geography, and the elementary sciences generally taught in our schools, are utterly unknown. To be learned in the law of the Chinese ancients

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is all their aim, and all their desire. are so proud of these attainments that they carefully preserve them from the multitude, in order that they may retain their superiority. Their one endeavour is, to keep the mass of the people in that state of ignorance in which they have been for ages, that they may enjoy the sole privilege of expatiating upon the knowledge of the ancients. Hence the labour and the learning of these Chinese academicians have never influenced the taste of the public. They have issued the lumber of antiquity in folio compilations, answering to those of the middle ages; but this is the sum of the benefit they have conferred upon their country. Nor is it to be expected that they will ever prove beneficial to China. Judging from the past, they will remain secluded for ages yet to come, and leave the task of enlightening their countrymen to foreigners. The emperor may

boast that the Chinese will one day enlighten "barbarians;" but the case will be reversed. It will fall to the lot of those whom he deems "barbarians," to instruct the Chinese in all really solid learning, and especially in that knowledge which appertains to salvation.

OFFICE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

This office has charge of the external relations of the empire. It is constituted in the same manner as the six supreme boards, but the officers are all Mantchoo and Mongol Tartars. The purpose for which it is chiefly instituted is to control the Mongol tribes. It has to regulate their frontiers, their tribute, their appearance at Pekin, and the contingent of their troops, etc. But the