Five years in China : from 1842 to 1847. With an account of the occupation of the islands of Labuan and Borneo by Her Majesty's forces / by Lieut. F.E. Forbes.

  • Frederick E. Forbes
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Five years in China : from 1842 to 1847. With an account of the occupation of the islands of Labuan and Borneo by Her Majesty's forces / by Lieut. F.E. Forbes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/430 page 5
    them. They never intermarry, except that the em- peror now and then takes a Chinese wife, but the mother of his heir must be a Tartar. In all other ranks that I have seen, but little jealousy is shewn; the Chinaman unemployed by government is as ready to give as to ask for infor- mation, and however poor he may be, will vacate the best, or if he has but one, the only chair in his house, and bring out the best fare that his establishment can afford on the entrance of strangers. Under the despotic sway of the Son of Heaven, the subject enjoys a fair portion of liberty, and more happiness than falls to the lot of most nations. The empire is as one family, and if the Imperial Father sometimes visits severely the error of a member of it, yet is he slow to exercise his au- thority ; and though death be the penalty that the law awards for many offences, capital punish- ments are extremely rare; and the bent of the legislation aims at providing against the ills of humanity, by relieving its wants, and preventing rather than punishing crime. For this purpose education is general, arts are encouraged, gigantic undertakings are completed for facilitating trade, agriculture is held in honour, and every pos- sible means adopted for feeding the people and preventing or alleviating famines, which, with-
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3