Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. IV.pdf/10

 by an official who has two, or, in one case, three provinces under his rule, and governors below him to conduct the affairs of each province.

Thus Li-hung-chang is Governor-General of Peichihli, the province in which Peking lies. Tseng-quo-fan (who is but lately dead) was Governor-General of Kiang-su, Ngan-kwui and Kiang-si, while Jui-lin is Governor- General of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si. Of the officers just referred to the first is a Chinese, and is an assistant Grand Secretary; the second also a Chinese, and the third, of Manchu blood, are both Grand Secretaries. The GovernorsGeneral and Governors have each a small body of troops at their disposal, but they do not command the naval or military forces of the provinces. In particular places, generally the provincial capitals, as well as in the maritime and inland frontier provinces, permanent Manchu garrisons, under Manchu officers of very high rank, are established. In Canton, Chang-fang, brother-in-law to the Princess Kung, commands the Manchu garrison, whereas the Chinese forces of the province are under a separate general officer, after whom comes a series of subordinates, with ranks as numerous as those of our own army if we count from ensign to major-general. These officials all draw pay, but the troops or constabulary assigned to them exist principally on paper.

The civil functionaries play a part that is much more real. A province is divided into a number of districts, each about the size of a small English county, and officered by magistrates and assistant magistrates, with the occasional aid of the literati and people of character and substance. A group of districts forms a department, and this is ruled by a prefect, or sub-prefect. A number of these departments again makes up a circuit, of which there may be two, three, four, or five in a province. There are again under-intendants, but the working officers are the prefects and magistrates, the bulk of the work falling more especially on the latter. Add to the above list a commissioner of finance, who is also a sort of dean of the civil establishment, one of criminal justice, one of the commissariat, and one of the salt revenue (the latter with a large staff to help him), and you have, without pretension to minute accuracy, a fair risume of the machinery by which the government of China and its dependencies is supposed to be carried on.

The Board of Foreign Affairs holds its meetings in the Tsungle Yamen, which corresponds to our English Foreign Office. This new department of Chinese administration sprang out of the close and important treaty relations now existing between China and Western nations. Its creation was one among the train of events which followed the ratification of the treaty of Tientsin, in 1858. Up to that time all foreign diplomatic correspondence had been conducted through the Colonial Office to which I have already alluded, and, in consequence of this circumstance, the great powers were practically placed on a level with native dependencies. An able writer in the New York Herald claims for Mr. W. Reed, at that time American minister to China, the credit of having been the first to protest against the indignity offered to his nation by classing it with such lands as Corea and Lewchew. Be that as it may, the establishment of the Tsungle Yamen, in 1861, was an important and startling concession on the part of the Chinese, more especially when we consider that its members are ministers of the highest rank in the Empire, and as it implied a permanent recognition of the independent sovereignty and equality of the treaty powers. Prince Kung presides over this council, and is ably supported by the following members : —

Wen-siang, a Manchu, born at Mukden in 1817. He ranks next to Prince Kung on the Board of Foreign Affairs, and has held the position since 1861. He is also a member of the Grand Council, President of the Board of Civil Service, and member of the Imperial Cabinet (plurality of offices is, therefore, by no means disapproved of in China). His rare intellectual powers (Sir F. Bruce pronounced him one of the strongest minds he had ever encountered), coupled with his long experience in the functions of high office, cause Wen-siang to be looked upon as the most influential statesman in China. Formerly he was esteemed exceptionally liberal in his views, but of late years he has discovered symptoms of a reactionary tendency. His portrait is given in No. 2.

Paou-keun (No. 5), a Manchu, and member of the Grand Council, is one of the Presidents of the Board of Finance. He is now sixty-five years of age.

Cheng-lin (No. 4) is the youngest member of the Foreign Board, being not yet more than forty-five. Three years ago he, occupied for a short time, the post of superintendent of trade, vacated by Chung-hau during his mission to France.

Shen-kwe-fen (left figure in group, Plate 1), President of the Board of War, and member of the Grand Council, is a Chinese, fifty-six years of age. He was lately governor of the province of Shensi, where he distinguished himself by an effort to suppress the growth of opium.

Tung-sean, Chinese President of the Board of Finance, is a celebrated scholar, and the author of numerous works, notably one of an historical and topographical character. His last publication (a treatise in forty-eight volumes) on the Hydrography of Northern China, was iust issuing from the press when I left Peking. Tung-sean (central figure in group, Plate r), is sixty-one years of age.

Maou-cheng-he, a Chinese, is fifty-six years of age, and President of the Board of Works. Formerly he held the position of First Vice-President of the College of Censors (right figure in group, Plate 1.)