CHINA.
REIGNING SOVEREIGN AND FAMILY.
Kwang Sü, Emperor of China, is the son of Prince Ch'un, the seventh son of the Emperor Tao Kwang, hence he is cousin to the late Emperor Tung Chi, who died without issue on the 12th day of January, 1875, from small-pox.
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The proclamation announcing the accession of the present sovereign was as ollows:-" Whereas His Majesty the Emperor ha ascended upon the Dragon to be guest on high, without offspring born to his inheritance, no course has been open out that of causing Tsai-Tien, son of the Prince of Ch'un, to become adopted as the on of the Emperor Wêng Tsung Hien (Hien Fung) and to enter upon the inheritance of the great dynastic line as Emperor by succession. Therefore, let Tsai-Tien, son of lih Hwan, the Prince of Ch'un, become adopted as the son of the Emperor Wên sung Hien, and enter upon the inheritance of the great dynastic line as Emperor by uccession."
The present sovereign is the ninth Emperor of China of the Tartar dynasty of a-tsing, "The Sublimely Pure," which succeeded the native dynasty of Ming in the ear 1644. There exists no law of hereditary succession to the throne, but it is left > each sovereign to appoint his successor from among the members of his family. 'he late Emperor, dying suddenly, in the eighteenth year of his age, did not designate successor, and it was in consequence of a palace intrigue, directed by the Empress lowager, widow of the Emperor Hien Fung, predecessor of Tung Chi, in concert with rince Ch'un, that the infant son of the latter was made the nominal occupant of le throne.
GOVERNMENT AND REVENUE,
The fundamental laws of the empire are laid down in the Ta-tsing-hwei-tien, or Collected Regulations of the Great Pure dynasty," which prescribe the government the State to be based upon the government of the family. The Emperor is iritual as well as temporal sovereign, and, as high priest of the empire, can alone, ith his immediate representatives and ministers, perform the great religious cere- onies. No ecclesiastical hierarchy is maintained at the public expense, nor any iesthood attached to the Confucian or State religion.
The administration of the empire is under the supreme direction of the "Interior uncil Chamber," comprising four members, two of Tartar and two of Chinese igin, besides two assistants from the Han-lin, or Great College, who have to see that thing is done contrary to the civil and religious laws of the empire, contained in the -tsing-hwei-tien, and in the sacred books of Confucius. These members are nominated "Ta-hyo-si," or Ministers of State. Under their orders are the Li-poo, six boards of government, each of which is presided over by a Tartar and a Chinese. ey are:-1. The board of civil appointment, which takes cognisance of the conduct d administration of all civil officers; 2. The board of revenues, regulating all ancial affairs; 3. The board of rites and ceremonies, which enforces the laws and stoms to be observed by the people; 4. The military board, superintending the ministration of the army; 5. The board of public works; and 6. The high tribunal criminal jurisdiction.
Independent of the Government and theoretically above the central administra- n, is the Tu-chah-yuen, or board of public censors. It consists of from 40 to 50
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