Chinese Censors. had an illegitimate daughter, who married Mr. Orde, a secretary of the treasury, who was rewarded with a peerage in 1797, and became Baron Bolton, the dukedom having expired with the sixth duke. A big estate is now to be fought for. The claimant, despite his adventures and his or
CHINESE IT has been wittily remarked that under the censorate in China, every off1cial, and even the Emperor himself, is " in the pres ence of a chronic day of judgment." This aptly describes the effect of a system which is one of the many institutions which differ entiate China from the rest of the world. Its conception is so strange that we look with curiosity for some authentic record of its working, and in the pages of the" Peking Gazette," through which the utterances of the censors are alone made public, we find ample and strange materials by which we are able to judge of the functions and the practice of these guardians of the public morals. Their practice, it is true, is not al ways to be admired, but the first thing that strikes the reader of their memorials to the throne, is the extreme boldness of their utter ances. From the highest to the lowest, from the Emperor down to the meanest policeman, all come under their lash, and surprise is naturally excited that in so corrupt an official dom as that of China, men should be found brave enough to hold up the faults and shortcomings of superior officers, in whose hands rests the power of making life a dismal burden to all who come under their ban. Like most institutions in China, the cen soratc is consecrated by tradition, and has been handed down from time immemorial as an outcome of the wisdom of the ancient
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gan grinding, has very wealthy backers, and the son of the third Countess Poulett will have the revenues of the property to draw upon. Some big retainers will be paid and a number of juniors will be well cared for during the trial of the cause celebre, which may last several years.
CENSORS. sages. Certainly at the time when David reigned in Jerusalem the system was in full force, and through all the changes and chances of the dynastic revolutions which have supervened, it has been preserved as a sacred heritage. As at present constituted, the off1ce of censors at Peking consists of two presidents, one a Manchu and one a Chinese, the provincial viceroys and six resi dent vice-presidents, with whom are associ ated the provincial governors. Besides these there are twenty-four supervising censors whose duty it is to revise the decisions of the six boards of government. These all have their headquarters at Peking, while fifty-six detached censors are distributed over the eighteen provinces of the empire, whose duty it is to roam over the country scenting out abuses, and a still further number are em ployed as superintendents of police for the five divisions of the city and suburbs of Peking. According to the statutes of the empire, the censors are intrusted with the duty of supervising the manners and customs of the people, of investigating all public offices within and without the capital, of discrim inating between the good and bad adminis tration of business, and between the deprav ity and uprightness of the Mandarins. To this it is added that "each should take the lead in uttering his sentiments and
