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reproofs, so that the Mandarins may be spurred on to greater diligence in the dis charge of their duties, and that the govern ment of the empire might be rendered secure." These powers, it will be admitted, are sufficient to cover every species of fault finding, and it is to the credit of the Chinese government that so long as the censors do not obviously trump up cases, and so long as they conduct themselves with decorum and without arrogance, they find the protec tion necessary to secure them against the consequences of their denunciations. Even when their claims for protection clash with the interests of superior off1cials, they are allowed full latitude to make the charges which they esteem it their duty to bring for ward; and although their recommendations are not in all cases adopted, their represen tations, as a rule, are given effect to, if not directly, yet with equal certainty, by means of the circuitous contrivances common to Chinese official administration. That the duties of the censors are multi farious, the above extracts from the imperial statutes show; and that the powers confided to them are freely employed, is proved by the pages of the " Peking Gazette," where we find that with perfect impartiality the highest dignitaries as well as the meanest subjects of the crown are alike denounced. That the censors do good work by ex posing abuses cannot be denied. In the flood of iniquity that overflows the land, they are powerless to do more than expose here and there some few of the evils which affect the

people of that distressful country. When one reads of such a case as the following, which, affecting as it does the officials of the board of punishments, is of obvious importance, it is gratifying to know that there exists a body of men, who, though they may only bring to light one case of oppression and wrong in a thousand, are yet capable of serving the ends of justice and mercy to that degree. The president of the board of punishments reported to the Emperor that a woman had commited suicide by cutting her throat while being examined as a witness in the judgment hall of the board. Nothing further would have been said in the matter had not Censor Hsi memorialized the throne, stating " that the woman, whose evidence was of a very damaging character, was forced to make away with herself by her judges, who had been bribed to act thus by an influential family implicated in the matter." The edict published in response ordered a strict inves tigation to be made into the circumstances of the case. The unsatisfactory part of such investigations is, that if the accused be either sufficiently wealthy to satisfy the avarice of the commissioners, or sufficiently well con nected to make those officials shrink from bringing a true bill against him, he is apt to escape all punishment, or at worst to be re moved to another post. The censorate is unquestionably and unfortunately a feeble instrument; but it is better than nothing, and until an honest system of administration is introduced into the country, we may well be thankful that it exists.

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