Page:China- Its State and Prospects.djvu/90

 of China, unless we consider all that is sent to the capital and expended in the provinces, as being alike drawn from the labour of the people, and devoted to the service of the state. Thus the revenue of the Chinese empire will appear to be as follows:—

This revenue, when divided amongst 361,221,900 persons, amounts to three shillings and three halfpence per head: and if that only which is sent to Peking be reckoned, namely, £15,206,378, it will not amount to much more than ten pence per head. Some persons may doubt, how a government over so great a country can be maintained for so small a sum, and how a people under an arbitrary rule can be let off with such insignificant imposts; particularly when in a free country like our own, and in a time of profound peace, each individual contributes upwards of two pounds, annually, as his share of the public burthen. But it must be remembered, that China has few or no resources beyond itself, that her foreign commerce is limited, and compared with the population insignificant, that comparatively few subsist by manufactures, and that almost all the inhabitants are dependent on agriculture. In a country, therefore, where the consumers fully equal the capabilities of the soil, and where every production is hastily devoured by a needy