"Prisons must be healthy, clean, and well-ventilated, having divisions for the separation of prisoners according to the circumstances and nature of their crimes. Rights of property are guaranteed in their fullest sense. . . . No kind of labour, cultivation, industry, or commerce, may be prohibited, if not opposed to the public morals, security, and health of the citizens. . . . The secrecy of letters is inviolable. The postal authorities are strictly responsible for any infraction of this article. Rewards conferred for services rendered to the State, both civil and military, are guaranteed, as well as the rights acquired by their bestowal, in conformity with the law. Public officers are strictly responsible for the abuses or negligence of which they are guilty in the discharge of their duties, or for which their subordinates could not be fully responsible. Every citizen may present appeals, complaints, or petitions, in writing, to the Legislative authorities, or report to them any infraction of the Constitution, with a demand that the authors of such infraction shall be held personally responsible. The Constitution also guarantees public relief. Primary instruction is gratuitous for all citizens. There shall exist colleges and universities, in which the elements of science, literature, and art shall be taught. The constitutional authorities cannot suspend the Constitution, and the guarantees of personal rights, save in the cases and circumstances specified in the following article. In case of insurrection or hostile invasion, if the security of the State require the suspension for a given period of certain of the forms which guarantee personal liberty, provision may be made therefor by a special law. Nevertheless, if the Assembly be not at the time in session, and if the country runs imminent danger, the Government may take the same step as a pro

visional and indispensable measure, on the condition of suspending it as soon as the urgent necessity on which it was founded shall cease. It must in every case forward to the Assembly, as soon as it has met, a report of the arrests and other preventive measures which it may have ordered; and all the authorities which shall have received injunctions to carry them out shall be responsible for the abuses which have been committed."

Education

and

Elementary education is controlled by the General and Provincial Assemblies. In certain Provinces it has been made compulsory. The Religion. annual education vote from the public Treasury is about £60,000, of which a considerable portion is devoted to high schools and colleges.

The State maintains the Roman Catholic bishops and priests, and grants small subsidies to the few religious communities outside the Establishment. There is an archbishop of Bahia, and eleven bishops.

&c.

The Revenue estimated for 1887 was Revenue, £13,632,000, and the Expenditure £14,466,000. There has been a yearly deficit for many years past, and the Public Debt now approaches £94,000,000. In 1887 the customs tariff was made considerably more stringent.

CHINA.

The Absolute Monarchy of China (capital, Pekin) occupies a vast territory on the east of Asia, extending from north of the Sea of Japan to the north of Hindostan. The southern frontier is formed by Hindostan, Burmah, Siam, and French Indo-China. The northern Russo-Chinese

boundary begins at Possiet, on the Manchurian coast, and is marked chiefly by rivers for 2,000 miles to the westward, and then by mountain ranges to the Himalayas. China is stated to be spending about a quarter of a million annually in strengthening this line.

The area of the nineteen provinces of China proper is estimated at 1,297,999 square miles. The dependencies of Manchuria, Mongolia, Thibet, Jungaria, and Chinese Turkestan, bring up the total to 4,179,559 square miles.

The population of China proper is estimated at nearly 383 millions-an average of 234 to the square mile. The population of the dependencies aforesaid brings up the total to over 404 millions.

The number of foreign residents in 1885 was registered as 6,698, of whom 2,534 were British subjects, chiefly domiciled in Shanghai.

China has been wont to make large claims Suzerainty. of suzerainty which could not in all cases be strictly maintained. On this subject a Japanese diplomatist, M. Arinori, Minister in Britain up to 1884, laid down what seems to be a correct estimate of the position of China in regard to her more distant protectorates. It is, according to M. Arinori, one of the fictions of Chinese foreign policy that States which are in reality independent are nevertheless in some mysterious way dependent upon China. "Tonquin, the Loo-Choo Islands, Corea, and Siam, form the outermost circle of so-called dependencies. There is an inner circle, such as Mongolia, Thibet, &c., over which China does exercise sovereignty; but they are quite distinct from the four first-named territories. In these four Chinese suzerainty is purely nominal. In the Loo-Choo Islands Japan ignored the claims of China, and although China was

very sore she did not go to war on that account. Neither did she go to war about Tonquin. In the case of Corea the Chinese have allowed the Coreans to negotiate treaties with foreign Powers, thereby virtually waiving the claims upon which they formerly insisted."

China has within the last half-century made a notable advance by the adoption of the international law of Europe, by the conclusion of commercial treaties with all the Great Powers, and by participation in the diplomatic system of the western nations with whom she has been brought in contact. The Chinese consider that their diplomacy during the past few years has been highly successful. They have limited the victories of France in Tonquin; and they have obtained the retrocession by the French of a cathedral overlooking the imperial grounds in Pekin, which had offended the susceptibilities of the court. From Great Britain they have secured the decennial embassy from Burmah, as well as an arrangement whereby the importation of opium is to be charged with a duty of £15 per cwt. They have rather strengthened their position in Corea, and have maintained (as they think) a dignified and yet a conciliatory attitude in the face of Japanese aggression.

GOVERNMENT.

The reigning dynasty of China came from Manchuria, about the middle of the seventeenth century. The succession to the throne is hereditary, though not of necessity from father to son. The Emperor, with the assistance of the Grand Council, and the Han-lin, or Sacred College, appoints his successor, who must be a Manchu of imperial blood-a son, or a nephew, or even a cousin, but in any case the descendant of an Emperor. The present Hwang-ti, or

Emperor, by name Kwang-su, is the cousin of his predecessor. He was three years old when nominated by the dowager Empress and the Council, and a scandal was caused by the fact that nephews of the previous Emperor were passed over in his favour.

The power of the Crown in China is despotic. The Emperor is head of the (Confucian) religion, presides over the Sacred College, and conducts the chief ceremonials. He is the fountain of promotions and honours, which are distributed annually in great numbers, as the result of competitions not confined to intellectual proficiency, but including also a selection for physical prowess, virtue, and prudence.

Besides the Grand Council, which is a general Council of Notables, summoned as occasion requires, and the Sacred College already named, there is the Nei-ko, or Executive Council, which usually includes two Manchus of high rank, two Chinese, and two members of the Han-lin.

Under the direction of the Emperor and the Executive Council there are seven Departments :-(1) Public Works; (2) Public Revenues; (3) Ceremonies-which is legislative, or at any rate expository of the public laws; (5) Criminal, having a judicial authority; (5) Civil, which superintends the appointment of functionaries and the conduct of the public

service; (6) Military; and (7) Naval. To these may be added the Yamen, or Board of Foreign Affairs. Each of the Departments has a Manchu and a Chinese President, with two Vice-Presidents of each race.

The Board of Censors, or Tu-cha-yen, which in its composition bears witness to the same compromise between Manchus and Chinese, serves in some degree as intermediary between the Emperor and the Departments. A Censor attends each meeting of the Departmental board.