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  • June 30, 1852
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The Freemasons' Quarterly Review, June 30, 1852: Page 35

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    Article A VISIT TO CANTON. ← Page 8 of 14 →
Page 35

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

A Visit To Canton.

without awaiting a confirmation of the sentence from Peking . The command of the armed forces is intrusted to a Tartar general , who provides for the defence of the city . The administration of the finances is confided to the director-general of the customs , the receiver-general of the taxes , and the inspector-general of the salt-mines ; that of justice is under

the criminal judge , who is only assisted by the other authorities of the province in cases of capital punishment . These are the functionaries on whom the charge of the viceregal government devolves , and under their control the administration of the department and districts is carried on . Each department is placed under the jurisdiction of a civil

magistrate , who exercises functions analogous to those of a French prefet , but with more extensive privileges . Each district has its own magistrate ( a kind of sous-prefei ) , who , like the magistrate of the department , is invested with powers at once judicial and executive . The department in which Canton is situated is divided into fourteen districts , in each

of which the magistrate nominates an officer , who has the police and the duty of raising the taxes . These officers are of a very subordinate rank , rarely decorated with the "button , " and men whom the magistrate subjects to the bastinado without ceremony . In the country , however , whenever any public works are to be undertaken , or any grave affair to be decided , these officers preside at the council of the elders , who direct the deliberations .

The administration of affairs in China is , as we have seen , little complicated ; 14 , 000 mandarins suffice to govern a population of 361 , 000 , 000 : but this simplicity of organization , by accumulating enormous prerogatives in the hands of one individual , is attended by those evils which are inherent in a despotic administration , —the venality of justice , and the

most odious exaction- in levying the taxes . The sentence in the courts of justice is in a manner piit ' up to the hammer , and the decisions of the law are in- the hands of the highest bidder . An income-tax is levied upon all Chinese from the age of twenty to sixty , and there is also a tax on the products of the soil equal to from a tenth to a thirtieth part of the harvest

, according to the quality of the land * These taxes , however , are almost invariably doubled or tripled by the cupidity , of the mandarins . The Chinese have not recourse to insurrection to remedy social evils or injustice ; they are of too peaceable a nature . In the south , however ; there has been at all times less clispo-

“The Freemasons' Quarterly Review: 1852-06-30, Page 35” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 9 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fqr/issues/fqr_30061852/page/35/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY MAGAZINE AND REVIEW. Article 1
MASONIC IMPOSTORS. Article 7
THE REVELATIONS OF A SQUARE. Article 9
THE MARQUIS AND THE MASON'S WIDOW. Article 23
A VISIT TO CANTON. Article 28
FORGIVE AND FORGET. Article 41
"ITS PRECEPTS ARE ETERNAL;" OR, THE PRACTICE OF A FREEMASON'S DAUGHTER. Article 42
KIND WORDS. Article 49
THE MASONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. Article 50
NOTES ON SOMNAMBULISM. Article 64
Obituary. Article 73
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 77
THE CHARITIES. Article 85
ROYAL FREEMASONS' GIRLS' SCHOOL. Article 89
GRAND CONCLAVE OF MASONIC KNIGHTS TEMPLAR, Article 95
THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE. Article 97
METROPOLITAN. Article 103
PROVINCIAL. Article 104
SCOTLAND. Article 128
IRELAND. Article 129
INDIA. Article 131
AMERICA. Article 131
FOREIGN. Article 133
LITERARY NOTICES. Article 134
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 139
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Page 35

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

A Visit To Canton.

without awaiting a confirmation of the sentence from Peking . The command of the armed forces is intrusted to a Tartar general , who provides for the defence of the city . The administration of the finances is confided to the director-general of the customs , the receiver-general of the taxes , and the inspector-general of the salt-mines ; that of justice is under

the criminal judge , who is only assisted by the other authorities of the province in cases of capital punishment . These are the functionaries on whom the charge of the viceregal government devolves , and under their control the administration of the department and districts is carried on . Each department is placed under the jurisdiction of a civil

magistrate , who exercises functions analogous to those of a French prefet , but with more extensive privileges . Each district has its own magistrate ( a kind of sous-prefei ) , who , like the magistrate of the department , is invested with powers at once judicial and executive . The department in which Canton is situated is divided into fourteen districts , in each

of which the magistrate nominates an officer , who has the police and the duty of raising the taxes . These officers are of a very subordinate rank , rarely decorated with the "button , " and men whom the magistrate subjects to the bastinado without ceremony . In the country , however , whenever any public works are to be undertaken , or any grave affair to be decided , these officers preside at the council of the elders , who direct the deliberations .

The administration of affairs in China is , as we have seen , little complicated ; 14 , 000 mandarins suffice to govern a population of 361 , 000 , 000 : but this simplicity of organization , by accumulating enormous prerogatives in the hands of one individual , is attended by those evils which are inherent in a despotic administration , —the venality of justice , and the

most odious exaction- in levying the taxes . The sentence in the courts of justice is in a manner piit ' up to the hammer , and the decisions of the law are in- the hands of the highest bidder . An income-tax is levied upon all Chinese from the age of twenty to sixty , and there is also a tax on the products of the soil equal to from a tenth to a thirtieth part of the harvest

, according to the quality of the land * These taxes , however , are almost invariably doubled or tripled by the cupidity , of the mandarins . The Chinese have not recourse to insurrection to remedy social evils or injustice ; they are of too peaceable a nature . In the south , however ; there has been at all times less clispo-

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