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Article A VISIT TO CANTON. ← Page 7 of 14 →
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A Visit To Canton.
and singularity : but we could see nothing of the Tartar city , sheltered within its high inclosure , except the scaffolding on which the night-watch is kept , and the kind of acropolis which the five-storied pagoda commands , with its graceful tower . Our guide soon drew us away from the attraction of these objectstelling us he had observed that the Chinese
, never molest a stranger as long as he is walking , but immediately collect round him when he stops out of curiosity to observe anything . We were therefore obliged to resume a quick pace , and regained the factories by passing through the faubourg at the southern side of the inclosed town . The Viceroy , who resides at Canton , governs the two
provinces of Kouang-si and Kouang-tong : his jurisdiction extends over 407 , 000 square kilometres , and he is invested with the supreme power over 27 , 000 , 000 souls . China thus contains nine distinct realms , which lie at vast distances from the Imperial City , rendered , still greater by the difficulty of communication . Canton lies at full thirty days' journey from Peking , and , like the capitals of the other eighteen provinces ( of which twd are always under the government of each viceroy ) , is the seat of an administration which has only in
rare instances recourse to the head fountain of authority . Notwithstanding the complete system of delegated power , the great dignitaries of the empire are never known to raise the standard of" revolt , or usiu-p the supreme authority , like the Mussulman pachas . The security of the government is doubtless in part attributable to the mental servility , the
pusillanimous devotion of the mandarins , which tends to extinguish all feeling of manly ambition ; at the same time , the machinery of government is skilfully adapted to prevent or repress any spirit of rebellion . A mandarin is never employed in his native province , and rarely exercises his functions for more than three years . His power is also shared among
several officers , independent of one another , whose concurrence is necessary in all important acts , and who refer to the decision of the court all matters upon which they do not agree . Next in point of rank to the Viceroy , who is surrounded by all the pomp of supreme authority , and whose salary is about . £ 3000 a yearstands the lieutenant-governorthe fou-yuen
, , , , Avhose jurisdiction extends only over one province , but who is quite independent of the governor-general . On the contrary , without the consent ofthe fou-yuen , the latter cannot exercise the wang-ming , or power over life and death , by virtue of which , in urgent cases , a criminal is instantly executed ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Visit To Canton.
and singularity : but we could see nothing of the Tartar city , sheltered within its high inclosure , except the scaffolding on which the night-watch is kept , and the kind of acropolis which the five-storied pagoda commands , with its graceful tower . Our guide soon drew us away from the attraction of these objectstelling us he had observed that the Chinese
, never molest a stranger as long as he is walking , but immediately collect round him when he stops out of curiosity to observe anything . We were therefore obliged to resume a quick pace , and regained the factories by passing through the faubourg at the southern side of the inclosed town . The Viceroy , who resides at Canton , governs the two
provinces of Kouang-si and Kouang-tong : his jurisdiction extends over 407 , 000 square kilometres , and he is invested with the supreme power over 27 , 000 , 000 souls . China thus contains nine distinct realms , which lie at vast distances from the Imperial City , rendered , still greater by the difficulty of communication . Canton lies at full thirty days' journey from Peking , and , like the capitals of the other eighteen provinces ( of which twd are always under the government of each viceroy ) , is the seat of an administration which has only in
rare instances recourse to the head fountain of authority . Notwithstanding the complete system of delegated power , the great dignitaries of the empire are never known to raise the standard of" revolt , or usiu-p the supreme authority , like the Mussulman pachas . The security of the government is doubtless in part attributable to the mental servility , the
pusillanimous devotion of the mandarins , which tends to extinguish all feeling of manly ambition ; at the same time , the machinery of government is skilfully adapted to prevent or repress any spirit of rebellion . A mandarin is never employed in his native province , and rarely exercises his functions for more than three years . His power is also shared among
several officers , independent of one another , whose concurrence is necessary in all important acts , and who refer to the decision of the court all matters upon which they do not agree . Next in point of rank to the Viceroy , who is surrounded by all the pomp of supreme authority , and whose salary is about . £ 3000 a yearstands the lieutenant-governorthe fou-yuen
, , , , Avhose jurisdiction extends only over one province , but who is quite independent of the governor-general . On the contrary , without the consent ofthe fou-yuen , the latter cannot exercise the wang-ming , or power over life and death , by virtue of which , in urgent cases , a criminal is instantly executed ,