it is in strict conformity with the Chinese maxim, that "in enacting laws, rigour is necessary; in executing them, mercy;" although the converse has been of late generally maintained among ourselves.

The next punishment is the Kea, or Cangue, which has been called the wooden collar, being a species of walking pillory, in which the prisoner is paraded, with his offence inscribed. It is sometimes worn for a month together, and as the hand cannot be put to the mouth, the wearer must be fed by others. After this come, in the first place, temporary banishment, to a distance not exceeding fifty leagues from the prisoner's home; and then, exile beyond the Chinese frontier, either temporary, or for life. Tartars are punished by an equal number of blows with the whip instead of the bamboo, and, in ordinary cases, with the Cangue instead of banishment.

The three capital punishments are, 1. strangulation; 2. for greater crimes, decollation; 3. for treason, parricide (which ranks as petit treason), sacrilege, &c. that mode of execution called Ling-chy, 66 a disgraceful and lingering death," which Europeans have somewhat incorrectly styled cutting into ten thousand pieces. The heads of robbers and murderers are publicly exposed in a cage suspended on a pole.

Chinese prisons are very severe, and, as there is no Habeas Corpus Act, the most frequent instruments of judicial injustice are prolonged imprisonments. Nothing tends more effectually to deter from crime than the prospect of incarceration in those miserable abodes, which the Chinese emphatically style Ty-yo, or hell, and the severity of which is increased by the confinement being solitary. Women in ordinary cases enjoy the fortunate exemption of being placed, as criminals, in the custody of their nearest relations, who are answerable for them, and in this manner they escape the further contamination of vice in a

prison. The legal mode of torture, in forcing evidence, is to squeeze the ankles or the fingers between three sticks, tied triangularly; the former being applied to male, and the latter to female prisoners. Oaths are never required, nor even admitted in judicial proceedings; but very severe punishments are attached to falsehood in evidence.

Ten privileged classes are enumerated in the introductory division of the code, who cannot be tried and punished without a special reference to the Emperor. The grounds of exemption (which, as usual, is denied in treason) consist, generally, in relationship to the imperial line, or in high character and station. Throughout cases where the crime is less than capital, any person under fifteen years of age, or above seventy, is allowed to redeem himself from punishment by a fine. A species of king's evidence is permitted in cases of thieving and robbery, with a view to the recovery of the lost goods: in fact, something more than mere pardon is offered; as the accomplice who informs is entitled to the reward attached to the discovery of the criminals. This, however, extends only to the first offence.

The law distinguishes, in most cases, between principals and accessaries before the fact, punishing the latter one degree less severely than the former; and in this respect it differs from our own system, by which accessaries before the fact are punished as principals; after the fact, merely as concealers of what they ought to have revealed. In treason,

however, as usual, the Chinese law punishes both principals and accessaries, and their innocent relations, with a sweeping severity. Where the safety of the Emperor, or the stability of the Government, is not involved, milder and more benevolent traits are frequently discernible in this code. With a view, for instance, to promoting kindred and domestic ties, it

is provided that relatives and servants, living under the same roof, shall in ordinary cases be held innocent; though they conceal the offences of their fellowinmates, or even assist in effecting their escape. This was probably enacted in conformity with that precept of Confucius: "The father may conceal the

offences of his son, and the son those of his fatheruprightness consists with this."—(Hea-Lun, ch. 13.)

The desire entertained and professed by the Chinese Government, that its subjects should be generally acquainted with the laws of the empire, has given rise to something not unlike our benefit of clergy. It is enacted that all those private individuals who are found capable of explaining the nature, or comprehending the objects of the laws, shall receive pardon for all offences resulting from accident (and not malice), or imputable to them only in consequence of the guilt of others, provided it be the first offence, and not implicated with any act of treason or rebellion. A considerable portion of the sixth division of the code is devoted to providing for justice in the administration of legal punishments, and establishing safeguards for the subject. Severe penalties are denounced against officers of Government for unjust imprisonment, delay of justice, cruelty, &c. A species of bail is allowed to minor offenders in case of sickness, and they are exempted, or released from imprisonment, on sufficient security being given for their return. Torture is forbidden to be exercised on persons above seventy, or under fifteen, as well as on those labouring under permanent disease. Women can never be imprisoned except for capital offences, or for adultery. Torture and death cannot be inflicted on a pregnant woman until one hundred days after her confinement, in consideration, we presume, of the infant.

The condition of slavery in China is broadly marked, by the absence of rights and immunities pertaining to

those who are subjects, without being slaves. The law regards the former class with less care, and affords less protection to them, than to their masters. Every offence is aggravated or diminished in its penalty, according as it is committed by a slave towards a freeman, or vice versa. For a slave to kill his master, is punished with lingering death, as petit treason; while the converse of the case is not even capital. We find the same distinctions existing in the early history of Europe, in respect to the comparative personal rights of freemen and slaves. But besides domestic slavery, it seems that for some infractions of the laws, a whole family is sometimes condemned to public servitude, as appears from Section CXL. of the penal code. Personal service, too, is frequently levied by the Government as a species of taxation on the lowest class, or that which has nothing but its labour to contribute. The comparative uncertainty of this, notwithstanding sundry enactments against its abuse, is a great evil; and both our embassies had reason to regret that they were the innocent occasions of much oppression and ill-usage to the poor people who were pressed by the mandarins to track their boats.

Robbery, with the concerted use of offensive weapons, is punished with death, however small may be the amount taken; and if a burglar he killed by him whose house he invades, it is deemed an act of justifiable homicide. An intimation conveyed to the local magistrate of Macao that the English were aware of this part of the law, and prepared to take advantage of it, had the good effect of preventing night robberies, which until then had been frequent. Simple stealing is punished only with the bamboo and with exile, on a scale proportioned to the amount; and there is reason to believe that death is never inflicted, whatever may be the value of the thing stolen. Theft among near relations is punished with