TRANSLATOR's PREFACE.
IN undertaking the work which is now submitted to the eye of the Public, the translator was not unconscious of the difficulties and disadvantages he would have to contend with in so novel an attempt. He was however encouraged to proceed by the persuasion that the work was in itself amply deserving of the labour which it might be necessary to bestow upon it; that the intrinsic value, the unquestionable authenticity of the materials, and the general importance and curiosity of the subject, would fully compensate those particular defects and imperfections which, in an undertaking of this nature, were foreseen to be unavoidable, and, upon the whole, make amends for the too concise and almost obscure brevity of the text, in some places, its tedious and uninstructive prolixity in others, and its general unsuitableness for translation into an English idiom. Under all circumstances he flattered himself, that a faithful version of the Fundamental Laws of the Penal Code of China might, with the addition of some supplementary matter, not only prove interesting as far as regards its immediate subject, but likewise afford a more compendious and satisfactory illustration, than any other Chinese work that could have been selected, of the peculiar system and constitution of the Government, the principles of its internal policy, its connection with the national habits and character, and its influence upon the general state and condition of the people in that country.
