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Men and Things in Shanghái.
APRIL,
The
a dozen of his men sustained slight wounds, but no life was lost. Thus baffled, the magistrate of Küyung reported to his superior, the prefect of Kikogning fú, who on the following day sent forth and seized two of the poor permmatita, who, when examined by the prefect, told the truth regarding the extent of their distress and their inability to pay the taxes, &c. profect thereupon read them a lecture, and forthwith reported to his supe- riors, the governor general and governor at Nanking; and finally, these high raffic.orm, after mondíng communications back, warning both the magistrates and the people, reporte i the case by memorial to the emperor. Thus ends the tragedy, as have ended thousands of others, in mere words. However, it is In this way, principally, that the popular voice is made to reach the throne.
Vor populi, vox Dei:
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the pagan monarchs of China say, i min wei tien "the people are to Heaven" and so they have no other alternative, but to listen and to Folos, when the clamor of the people has become loud as the noise of thunder.
Pustmaster generala exist in each of the governments of the Chinese em- pirms – Thisan provincial governments extend sometimes to only a single pro- kinne, and sometimes to two or three. For each of these governments there is a distinct department for the conveyance of government dispatches; and ho such of these departments there are two officers called li táng, one stationed at the Capital and one at the seat of the provincial government; the called
tls we in wallout King ting 京塘 the other Sang ting 省塘,
or
mutropolitan postinmster and provincial postmaster; the former is, I believe, in connection with and under the control of the Board of War; the latter is stationed near, and is subject to the orders of the provincial authorities. Thus, for the government of the Liảng Kưáng, one will have his headquar- ters in the city of Canton and the other in Peking; so for three provinces constituting the government of Liang Kling, one is posted at Nanking and the other in Peking. Between these extremes, in each case, a distinct line ot posts is formed with all the necessary appendages of houses, horses, &c. &o,—all supported by the governinent solely for its advantage, and not for the people.
By this system, some fourteen or fifteen days are ordinari- ly required for imperial edicts to reach Shanghai from the capital; the edict announcing the demise of the late emperor and the succession of the new monarch, issued on the 14th of the 1st moon, Feb. 25th, did not reach this city till the 1st of the 24 moon, March 14th. What a contrast this to the modern rate of dispatch on the other side of the globe!
These postmaster-generals, like most of the other public servants of the emperor, hold their office for a term of three years; but there seems to be this peculiarity in regard to their appointment: they are selected from the second and third ranks of military graduates, kūjin and tsinsz'; when the term of holding office is about to terminate, the provincial authorities issue a proclamation, inviting such of those military graduates, who are by law eligible to the office of li-tang, to present themselves for examination at the provincial court, where, out of the whole number of candidates, two are to be melected, one for Peking and one for the provincial capital. Two pro- clamations of this kind have recently been issued by the magistrate of Shanghai, one dated in the 12th moon of the last year, the other on the 9th day of the 1st moon of this year. In this second, it is stated that no can- didates having appeared at the provincial court, this is issued to hasten forward those who wish to secure this office. The necessity of having to be thus urged would seem to indicate that the postmaster-generalship is not very lucrative, or at least not one much sought for by the military gra- duntos.” Perhaps the responsibilities connected with it, render the office an ubject not much coveted.