laws," but as a usual thing not susceptible to the truth of the saying : " Let every man sweep the snow from before his own doors, and not trouble himself about the frost on his neighbor's tiles." When he is degraded in rank an official loses " all save honor; " the thing honor does not annoy one much in Tien Chu, 1 where bribery among officials is punished according to the amount taken. The Blue Book of Chinese officials is red. This "Complete Record of the Girdle-Wear ers" appears quarterly in four volumes, 12mo. There are two extra books of Army and Banner Men. The usual orders of Court are sent to the provinces in script, but ex traordinary events are printed on yellow pa per, with dragons in the margin. " Standing laws " are carved in black marble; ordinary proclamations of the provincial mandarins are bill-boarded, and sometimes close with : "Tremble hereat intensely," or "I will by no means eat my words." Mandarins knowbetter than to oppress their people beyond a certain point, for section CCX. of the Code provides that any official driven from the cap ital city and seat of government shall suffer death. Every mandarin of the nine ranks,— and mandarins are properly only such offi cials,—must possess a literary degree. Lower officials have no rank, may be natives of the provinces where they serve, and can be put entirely out of government employ at any time. Bribery, known as " covering the eyes," or "opening the back door," is a science among the Chinese. The high ranks set days for receiving "favors of esteem." Funds for charity, and "appropriations" (New York has heard of such things), are " charged" with both "principal" and "interest." An 1 A name for China which implies its heavenly char acter. 2 " The eight banners comprising ' all living ' Manchus and descendants of the Mongolian and Chinese Soldiery of the Conquest "— Things Chinese.
unusually generous subscriber may receive a peacock feather (a baronetcy), and titular ranks are sold for a fair price. However, it is only fair to say that literary achievement carries the candidate along without check. It is among the low class officials that the open palm is most apparent, for military police and officers' servants receive no salary and are expected to make up the deficiency as best they may. Chinese officials have been called experts in misappropriation and peculation. If an officer cannot subdue robbers, he makes a little financial arrangement with them, and horse thieves have been known to bring their "goods" to market, and even obligingly to sell stolen property to the owners thereof. The effect upon the people of all this ex tortion is a general callousness to suffering in others and a thorough distrust of official dom. Since a man is responsible for the do ings of his neighbors, and a village for the crime of one of its citizens, fires are allowed to proceed undisturbed, and dead bodies to rot where they fall. During the first war with England many officers killed themselves for fear of punishment when they saw that they could not carry out orders; and not so long ago Chinese interpreters in Canton were held responsible for the actions of for eigners. In South China the people incline to form clans, which cause constant trouble to the Government. Robbery and dakoity are present in all the provinces. Taxes must be squeezed out. There are three grand orders of manda rins — civil, literary and military, with nine classes to an order. Passing reference has been made to the nine classes. Members of these have been entered in the Red Book and accepted as "expectants," or "candidates," by the Government at Peking; so that by no means every official is a mandarin. Each class is divided into a first and second divi sum, without difference in the uniform. The
