proposed. The permanence of Chinese institutions is believed, by those who
know best, to result from the influence of the literary class. Literature
is naturally conservative; the tone of the literature studied is eminently
conservative; and the most intelligent men in the empire are personally
interested in the continuance of the institutions under which they hope to
attain position and fortune.

The highest civil offices are seats at the great tribunals or boards, and
the positions of viceroys, or governors, of the eighteen provinces.

The boards are:--

Ly Pou, Board of Appointment of Mandarins.
Hou Pou, Board of Finance.
Lee Pou, Board of Ceremonies.
Ping Pou, Board of War.
Hing Pou, Board of Criminal Justice.
Kong Pou, Board of Works,--canals, bridges, &c.

The members of these boards, with their councillors and subordinates,
amount to twelve hundred officers. Then there is the Board of Doctors of
the Han Lin College, who have charge of the archives, history of the
empire, &c.; and the Board of Censors, who are the highest mandarins, and
have a peculiar office. Their duty is to stand between the people and the
mandarins, and between the people and the emperor, and even rebuke the
latter if they find him doing wrong. This is rather a perilous duty, but
it is often faithfully performed. A censor, who went to tell the emperor
of some faults, took his coffin with him, and left it at the door of the
palace. Two censors remonstrated with a late emperor on the expenses of
his palace, specifying the sums uselessly lavished for perfumes and