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History of the Ming Dynasty.
Nov.
never been so populous and so well cultivated as at present, and that the riches possessed by the nation are now four times as large as
then.
The machinery of government adopted by the Ming was in its principal features retained by the Mantchous. The personal house- hold of the emperor appears to have been much larger that at pre- sent, but on the other hand the retinue of the imperial relations was nothing to what it is now, when more than six thousand royal princes and princesses are to be found in the precincts of the palace. The Ming emperors sent these scions into the provinces, and thereby oc- casioned much trouble. What would have become of China, if the Mantchous had adopted the same plan! Nothing proves so much the profound prudence of the foreign rulers, than their abstaining en- tirely from favoring their own race, and keeping the hereditary no- bility near the imperial abode under the surveillance of the monarch himself.
As early as the reign of Hungwú, an account was made of the productive industry of each family, which was made to pay an in- come tax, and also to furnish a certain number of men either for the military service or the forced labor of the state. They were allowed to commute this demand by a certain sum, and the average annually paid was three taels per household. After Hungwú was firmly seat- ed on the throne, these taxable families amounted to 16,500,000, notwithstanding the long war carried on against the Mongols. But they decreased under his successors, so low at one time as nine mil- lions, a conclusive proof of the deteriorating state of the country. In this system of taxation the Ming princes were as clever as were the ministers of Lewis XIV., and we presume, that Colbert might even have learnt much from them.
We are told that Hungwú appointed the harbors of Ningpo, Tsiuenchau (Chinchew), and Kwangchau for the reception of vessels coming to bring tribute from distant countries, (people who inno- cently supposed they merely came to "catch a little profit" in the way of trade), and who were therefore permitted to carry on com- merce. Some of these tribute-bearers were also allowed to set up a shop to the capital. These regulations underwent many successive alterations, and foreign trade was at one time confined to Fukien province.
The emperors ordered that every article of consumption must be brought to court from the provinces. Thus there were districts bound to furnish the tiles for the imperial buildings, others the iron, cop-
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