Page:Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society - Volume 1.djvu/83

Rh

1. Laud and soothe the virtuous distressed, as virgins; those who suffer death rather than a violation of chastity (or martyrs of chastity); unmarried daughters, eminently dutiful to parents; chaste wives; martyrs to a chaste widowhood; wives eminently dutiful to parents: for these persons request imperial honorary banners, &c.

2. Honour filial duty.

3. Respect the aged.

4. Hold up to view the eminently virtuous.

5. Illustrate the good and charitable.

6. Praise, and encourage to correct and benevolent conduct, village elders, and city constables.

7. Give honorary banners to families, that excel in domestic virtues.

1. Prohibit gaming.

2. Interdict suicide, or making light of one's life. It is the detestable custom of Canton Province, on every slight occasion, for a slight resentment, to commit suicide. And the relatives of the self-murderer view the dead body, as a piece of goods of extraordinary value. They contrive to allege that the deceased committed suicide, in consequence of ill-usage from some rich neighbour, who, to avoid litigation, gives them a sum of money; or, if he refuses, they combine with the police, and commence a prosecution, &c.

When I was at Nan-keung district, in the office of the magistrate, five or six suicides occurred every month, &c.

3. Canton abounding in hills and rivers, it abounds in thefts and robberies, both by individuals, and associated bodies of men—let these be acted against, &c.

4. Vagabond attornies excite litigations, increase and protract them, in numbers infinite, and to periods interminable. The innocent are accused, and the utterly wrong become accusers; they find avaricious and cruel magistrates, and fraudulent police extortioners. Disputes about marriages and lands, are viewed by magistrates as petty affairs, and are given to the