to the extreme poverty of the people which, in seasons of scarcity and
famine, compels them to take by violence the means of subsisting life,
which otherwise they could not obtain. To this cause may be referred the
origin of almost all the commotions recorded in their history, through
some of which, when the calamity became general, the regular succession
has been interrupted, and even changed. We were told, however, by our
Chinese attendants, that certain mysterious societies did exist in some
of the provinces, whose chief object was to overturn the Tartar
government; that they held secret meetings, in which they gave vent to
their complaints against Tartar preponderancy, revived the memory of
ancient glory, brooded over present injuries, and meditated revenge. If
even this be the case, the present state of society is little favourable
to their views. Nor indeed would a revolution be a desirable event for
the Chinese themselves. It could not fail of being attended with the
most horrible consequences. The Tartar soldiers would be tired with
slaying, and millions that escaped the sword must necessarily perish by
famine, on the least interruption of the usual pursuits of agriculture;
for they have no other country to look to for supplies, and they raise
no surplus quantity in their own.
In order to prevent as much as possible a scarcity of grain, and in
conformity to their opinion, that the true source of national wealth and
prosperity consists in agriculture, the Chinese government has in all
ages bestowed the first honours on every improvement in this branch of
industry. The husbandman is considered as an honourable, as well as
useful, member of society; he ranks next to men of letters, or officers
of state, of whom indeed he is frequently the progenitor. The soldier in
China cultivates the ground. The priests also are agriculturists,
whenever their convents are endowed with land. The Emperor is considered
as the sole proprietary of the soil, but the tenant is never turned out
of possession as long as he continues to pay his rent, which is
calculated at about one-tenth of what his farm is supposed capable of
yielding; and though the holder of lands can only be considered as a
tenant at will, yet it is his own fault if he should be dispossessed. So
accustomed are the Chinese to consider an estate as their own, while
they continue to pay the rent, that a Portuguese in Macao had nearly
lost his life for endeavouring to raise the rent upon his Chinese
tenants. If any one happens to hold more than his family can
conveniently cultivate, he lets it out to another on condition of
receiving half the produce, out of which he pays the whole of the
Emperor's taxes. A great part of the poorer peasantry cultivate lands on
these terms.
There are, in fact, no immense estates grasping nearly the whole of a
district; no monopolizing farmers, nor dealers in grain. Every one can
bring his produce to a free and open market. No fisheries are let out to
farm. Every subject is equally entitled to the free and uninterrupted
enjoyment of the sea, of the coasts, and the estuaries; of the lakes and
rivers. There are no manor lords with exclusive privileges; no lands set
apart for feeding beasts or birds for the profit or pleasure of
particular persons; every one may kill game on his own grounds, and on
the public commons. Yet with all these seeming advantages, there are
rarely three successive years without a famine in one province or
another.
As in the Roman Empire examples were not wanting of the first characters
in the state glorying to put their hands to the plough, to render the
earth fertile, and to engage in the natural employment of man; as,
In ancient times the sacred plough employ'd,
The kings and awful fathers,
So, in China, the Emperor at the vernal equinox, after a solemn offering
to the God of Heaven and Earth, goes through the ceremony of holding the
plough, an example in which he is followed by the viceroys and governors
and great officers in every part of the empire. This ceremony, though,
in all probability, the remains of a religious institution, is well
calculated to give encouragement to the labouring peasantry, whose
profession, thus honourably patronized, cannot fail to be pursued with
more energy and cheerfulness than where it receives no such marks of
distinction. Here merchants, tradesmen, and mechanics, are considered
far beneath the husbandman. So far from obtaining the honours attendant
on commerce in the ancient city of Tyre, "whose merchants were princes,
whose traffickers were the honourable of the earth"--or the ancient
immunities granted in Alfred's reign, by which an English merchant, who
had made three foreign voyages by sea, was raised to the rank of
nobility, the man who, in China, engages in foreign trade is considered
as little better than a vagabond. The home trade only is supposed to be
necessary, and deserving the protection of government. It allows all
goods and manufactures, the produce of the country, to be interchanged
between the several provinces, on payment only of a small transit duty
to the state, and certain tolls on the canals and rivers, applied
chiefly to the repairs of flood-gates, bridges, and embankments. This
trade, being carried on entirely by barter, employs such a multitude of
craft of one description or other, as to baffle all attempts at a
calculation. I firmly believe, that all the floating vessels in the
world besides, taken collectively, would not be equal either in number
or tonnage to those of China.
Foreign trade is barely tolerated. So very indifferent the court of
Pekin affects to be on this subject, that it has been hinted, on some
occasions, and indeed serious apprehensions have been entertained in
Europe, that they were half disposed to shut the port of Canton against
foreigners. The treatment, indeed, which strangers meet with at this
place, from the inferior officers of government, is of itself sufficient
to exclude them, and such as could only be tolerated in consideration of
the importance of the trade, and especially in the supply of tea; an
article which, from being about a century ago a luxury, is now become,
particularly in Great Britain, one of the first necessities of life.
The taxes raised for the support of government are far from being
exorbitant or burthensome to the subject. They consist in the tenth of
the produce of the land paid usually in kind, in a duty on salt, on
foreign imports, and a few smaller taxes, that do not materially affect
the bulk of the people. The total amount of taxes and assessments which
each individual pays to the state, taken on an average, does not exceed
four shillings a year.
With such advantages, unknown in most other countries, and such great
encouragement given to agriculture, one would be led to suppose that the
condition of the poor must be less exposed to hardships here than
elsewhere. Yet in years of scarcity many thousands perish from absolute
want of food. And such years so frequently occur in one province or
another, either from unfavourable seasons of drought or inundations, the
ill effects of both of which might probably be counteracted by proper
management, or by an honest application of the sums of money voted for
the purpose out of the public revenue, that government has seldom been
able to lay up in store a sufficient quantity of grain to meet the
necessities of the people in seasons of general calamity; and they have
no other relief to depend on but this precarious supply, seldom
administered with alacrity, on account of the number of hands it has to
pass through. This leads them to commit outrages against their wealthier
neighbours. There are few public charities; and it is not a common
custom to ask alms. I did not observe a single beggar from one extremity
of China to the other, except in the streets of Canton. Nor are there
any poor-laws griping the industrious husbandman and labourer, to feed
the lazy, and to feast those who have the care of them; no paupers of
any description, supported from funds that have been levied on the
public. The children, if living and, if not, the next of kin, must take
care of their aged relations; and the parents dispose of their children
in what manner they may think best for the family interest. As several
generations live together, they are subsisted at a much cheaper rate
than if each had a separate household. In cases of real distress the
government is supposed to act the parent; and its good intentions in
this respect cannot be called in question; whenever it appears that any
of its officers, through neglect or malice, have withheld grain from the
poor, they are punished with singular severity, sometimes even with
death.
Another great advantage enjoyed by the Chinese subject is, that the
amount of his taxes is ascertained. He is never required to contribute,
by any new assessment, to make up a given sum for the extraordinary
expences of the state, except in cases of rebellion, when an additional
tax is sometimes imposed on the neighbouring provinces. But in general
the executive government must adapt its wants to the ordinary supplies,
instead of calling on the people for extraordinary contributions. The
amount of the revenues of this great empire has been differently stated.
As the principal branch, the land-tax, is paid in kind, it is indeed
scarcely possible to estimate the receipt of it accurately, as it will
greatly depend on the state of the crop. An Emperor who aims at
popularity never fails to remit this tax or rent, in such districts as
have suffered by drought or inundation. _Chou-ta-gin_ gave to Lord
Macartney, from the Imperial rent-roll, a rough sketch of the sums
raised in each province, making them to amount in the whole to about
sixty-six millions sterling; which is not more than twice the revenue of
the state in Great Britain, exclusive of the poor's-rate and other
parochial taxes, in 1803, and which gives, as I before observed, if
reduced to a capitation, the sum of about four shillings for each
individual, whilst that of Great Britain, by an analogous computation,
would amount to about fifteen times that sum. I should suppose, however,
that a shilling in China, generally speaking, will go as far as three in
Great Britain.
From the produce of the taxes the civil and military establishments, and
all the incidental and extraordinary expences, are first paid on the
spot where they are incurred, out of the provincial magazines, and the
remainder is remitted to the Imperial treasury in Pekin to meet the
expences of the court, the establishment of the Emperor, his palaces,
temples, gardens, women, and princes of the blood. The confiscations,
presents, tributes, and other articles, may be reckoned as his privy
purse. The surplus revenue remitted to Pekin, in the year 1792, was
stated to be about 36,000,000 ounces of silver, or 12,000,000_l._
sterling. It is a general opinion among the Chinese part of his
subjects, that vast sums of the surplus revenue and such as arise from
confiscations are annually sent to Moukden, the capital of Mantchoo
Tartary; but this should appear to be an erroneous opinion founded on
prejudice. Notwithstanding the enormous wealth of _Ho-tchung-tang_, that
filled the Imperial coffers, the present Emperor found it necessary the
same year to accept an offering, as it was called, of 500,000 ounces of
silver, or 166,666_l._ sterling, from the salt merchants of Canton, and
sums of money and articles of merchandize from other quarters, to enable
him to quell a rebellion that was raging in one of the western
provinces. He even sent down to Canton a quantity of pearls, agates,
serpentines, and other stones of little value, in the hope of raising a
temporary supply from the sale of them to foreign merchants. The Emperor
of China, therefore, has not so much wealth at his disposal as has
usually been imagined. He even accepts of patriotic gifts from
individuals, consisting of pieces of porcelain, silks, fans, tea, and
such-like trifling articles, which afterwards serve as presents to
foreign embassadors, and each gift is pompously proclaimed in the Pekin
gazette.
The chief officers in the civil departments of government, independent
of the ministers and the different boards in Pekin, according to the
statement of _Tchou-ta-gin_, with their salaries and allowances reduced
into silver, will be seen from the following table, which, with that of
the military establishment, is published in the appendix to the
authentic account of the embassy by Sir George Staunton; and as they
differ very little from the court calendar published in 1801, and as I
have occasion to make a few remarks on them, as well as on that of the
population, which will be given in a subsequent chapter, I have not
hesitated to introduce them into the present work.
+---------------------------------------+---------+----------+-----------+
| | |Salaries | |
| Quality. | Number. |in ounces | Total. |
| | |of silver.| |
+---------------------------------------+---------+----------+-----------+
|Viceroys over one or more provinces | 11 | 20,000 | 220,000 |
|Governors of provinces | 15 | 16,000 | 240,000 |
|Collectors of revenue | 19 | 9,000 | 171,000 |
|Presidents of criminal tribunals | 18 | 6,000 | 108,000 |
|Governors of more than one city of the | 85 | 3,000 | 258,000 |
| first order | | | |
|Governors of one city only of the | 184 | 2,000 | 368,000 |
| first order | | | |
|Governors of a city of the second | | | |
| order | 149 | 1,000 | 149,000 |
|Governors of a city of the third | | | |
| order | 1305 | 800 | 1,044,000 |
|Presidents of literature and | 17 } | | |
| examinations | } | 3,000 | 402,000 |
|Inspectors general | 117 } | | |
| +---------+----------+-----------+
| Total oz. 2,960,000 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The inferior officers acting immediately under the orders of these, and
amounting to many thousands, together with the salaries and expences of
the different boards in the capital, all of which are paid out of the
public treasury, must require a sum at least equal to the above; so that
on a moderate calculation, the ordinary expences of the civil
establishment will amount to the sum of 5,920,000 ounces, or
1,973,333_l._ sterling.
Some idea may be formed of the numerous appointments, and the frequent
changes in administration, from the circumstance of the Court Calendar,
or red book, being published every three months making four tolerable
large volumes, or sixteen volumes every year.
The fatherly attention, the wise precautions, and the extreme jealousy
of the government, have not been considered as alone sufficient for the
internal and external protection of the empire, without the assistance
of an immense standing army. This army, in the midst of a profound
peace, was stated by _Van-ta-gin_ to consist of eighteen hundred
thousand men, one million of which were said to be infantry, and eight
hundred thousand cavalry. As this government, however, is supposed to be
much given to exaggeration in all matters relating to the aggrandisement
of the country, and to deal liberally in hyperboles, wherever numbers
are concerned, the authenticity of the above statement of their military
force may perhaps be called in question. The sum of money, that would be
required to keep in pay and furnish the extraordinaries of so immense an
army, is so immoderate that the revenues would appear to be unable to
bear it. If the pay and the appointments of each soldier, infantry and
cavalry one with another, be supposed to amount to a shilling a day, the
sum required for the pay alone would amount to 33,000,000_l._ sterling a
year!
To come nearer the truth, let us take the calculation drawn up by Lord
Macartney from the information of _Van-ta-gin_.
+-----------------------------------------+--------+-----------+---------+
| | | Salaries, | |
| Rank | Number | oz. | Total |
+-----------------------------------------+--------+-----------+---------+
|Tau-ton, | 18 | 4000 | 72,000|
|Tsung-ping | 62 | 2400 | 148,800|
|Foo-tsung | 121 | 1400 | 157,300|
|Tchoo-tsung | 165 | 800 | 132,000|
|Tchoo-tze | 373 | 600 | 223,800|
|Too-tze | 425 | 400 | 170,000|
|Sciou-foo | 825 | 320 | 264,000|
|Tsien-tsung | 1680 | 160 | 268,800|
|Pa-tsung | 3622 | 130 | 420,370|
|Commissaries of provisions of first | | | |
|rank | 44 | 320 | 14,080|
|Commissaries of provisions of second | 330 | 160 | 52,800|
|rank +-------+-----------+----------+
| Total 1,974,450|
| |
|1,000,000 infantry, at two ounces of silver each } 24,000,000 |
| _per_ month, provisions included } |
| 800,000 cavalry, at four ounces each, } 38,400,000 |
| provisions and forage included } |
| 800,000 horses, cost at twenty ounces each, } |
| 16,000,000 oz. the annual wear and } 1,600,000 |
| tear at 10 _per cent._ will be } |
|Uniforms for 1,800,000 men once a year, at four } 7,200,000 |
| ounces } |
|Yearly wear and tear of arms, accoutrements, and } 1,800,000 |
| contingencies, at one ounce _per_ man } |
| 73,000,000|
| --------------|
| Total ounces 74,974,450|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
And as no allowance is made in the above estimate for the expence of
artillery, tents, war equipage, nor for vessels of force on the
different rivers and canals, the building and keeping in repair the
military posts, the flags, ceremonial dresses, boats, waggons, musical
bands, all of which are included in the extraordinaries of the army,
these may probably be equal to the ordinaries; thus the whole military
establishment would require the sum of 149,948,900 ounces, or
49,982,933_l._ sterling.
The disposal of the revenues will then stand as follows:
Total amount of the revenue - £. 66,000,000
Civil establishment - £. 1,973,333
Military ditto - 49,982,933
__________ 51,956,266
__________
Surplus, being for the Emperor's establishment £. 14,043,734
which accords pretty nearly with the sum said to be remitted to Pekin in
the year 1792.
It will appear then that if the revenues be admitted as accurate, and I
see no just reason for supposing the contrary, they are more than
sufficient to meet the expences of so apparently an enormous
establishment. If, however, the King of Prussia, the Monarch of a small
indistinguishable speck on the globe, when put in comparison with the
empire of China, can keep up an army of one hundred and eighty or two
hundred thousand men, I can perceive nothing either extravagant or
extraordinary in supposing that a Sovereign whose dominions are eight
times the extent of those of France, before her late usurpations, should
have ten times as great a force as that of the King of Prussia. It may
perhaps be asked in what manner are they employed, seeing the nation is
so little engaged in foreign war? The employments for which the military
are used differ materially from those among European nations. Except a
great part of the Tartar cavalry, who are stationed on the northern
frontier and in the conquered provinces of Tartary, and the Tartar
infantry, who are distributed as guards for the different cities of the
empire, the rest of the army is parcelled out in the smaller towns,
villages, and hamlets; where they act as jailors, constables,
thief-takers, assistants to magistrates, subordinate collectors of the
taxes, guards to the granaries; and are employed in a variety of
different ways under the civil magistracy and police. Besides these, an
immense multitude are stationed as guards at the military posts along
the public roads, canals, and rivers. These posts are small square
buildings, like so many little castles, each having on its summit a
watch-tower and a flag; and they are placed at the distance of three or
four miles asunder. At one of these posts there are never fewer than six
men. They not only prevent robberies and disputes on the roads and
canals, but convey the public dispatches to and from the capital. An
express sent from post to post travels between the capital and Canton in
twelve days, which is upwards of one hundred miles a day. There is no
other post nor mode of conveying letters for the convenience of the
public.
A great part then of the Chinese army can only be considered as a kind
of militia, which never has been, and in all human probability never
will be, embodied, as a part of the community not living entirely on the
labour of the rest, but contributing something to the common stock.
Every soldier stationed on the different guards has his portion of land
assigned to him, which he cultivates for his family, and pays his quota
of the produce to the state. Such a provision, encouraged by public
opinion, induces the soldier to marry, and the married men are never
removed from their stations.
It will not be expected that men thus circumstanced should exhibit a
very military appearance under arms. In some places, where they were
drawn out in compliment to the Embassador, when the weather happened to
be a little warm, they were employed in the exercise of their fans,
instead of their matchlocks; others we found drawn up in a single line,
and resting very composedly on their knees to receive the Embassador, in
which posture they remained till their commanding officer passed the
word to rise. Whenever we happened to take them by surprize, there was
the greatest scramble to get their holyday dresses out of the
guard-house, which, when put on, had more the appearance of being
intended for the stage than the field of battle. Their quilted
petticoats, sattin boots, and their fans, had a mixture of clumsiness
and effeminacy that ill accorded with the military character.
The different kinds of troops that compose the Chinese army consist of
Tartar cavalry, whose only weapon is the sabre; and a few who carry
bows.
Tartar infantry, bowmen; having also large sabres.
Chinese infantry, carrying the same weapons.
Chinese matchlocks.
Chinese Tygers of war, bearing large round shields of basket-work,
and long ill-made swords. On the shields of the last are painted
monstrous faces of some imaginary animal, intended to frighten the
enemy, or, like another gorgon, to petrify their beholders.
The military dress varies in almost every province. Sometimes they wore
blue jackets edged with red, or brown with yellow; some had long
pantaloons; some breeches, with stockings of cotton cloth; others
petticoats and boots. The bowmen had long loose gowns of blue cotton,
stuffed with a kind of felt or wadding, studded all over with brass
knobs, and bound round the middle with a girdle, from which the sabre
was appended behind, hanging with the point forwards, and on the right,
not the left, side as in Europe. On the head they wore a helmet of
leather, or gilt pasteboard, with flaps on each side that covered the
cheeks and fell upon the shoulder. The upper part was exactly like an
inverted funnel, with a long pipe terminating in a kind of spear, on
which was bound a tuft of long hair dyed of a scarlet colour.
The greatest number we saw at any one place might be from two to three
thousand, which were drawn up in a single line along the bank of a
river; and as they stood with an interval between each equal to the
width of a man, they formed a very considerable line in length. Every
fifth man had a small triangular flag, and every tenth a large one; the
staffs that supported them were fixed to the jacket behind the
shoulders. Some of the flags were green, edged with red; others blue,
edged with yellow. I never saw the Chinese troops drawn out in any other
way than a single line in front; not even two deep.
The Tartar cavalry appear to be remarkably swift, and to charge with
great impetuosity; but the horses are so small and are broken into so
quick and short a stroke that the eye is deceived. Their real speed, in
fact, is very moderate. Their saddles are remarkably soft, and raised
so high both before and behind, that the rider cannot easily be thrown
out of his seat. The stirrups are so short that the knee is almost as
high as the chin. They have very little artillery, and that little is as
wretched as it well can be. I suspect it is borrowed from the
Portugueze, as the matchlock most unquestionably has been.