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THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

front.  In  making  provincial  appointments  care  is  always
taken  to  balance  these  parties  ;  and  in  the  general  administration, ­
  exercising  their  functions  at  the  provincial
capital,  an  official  will  seldom  be  of  the  same  party  as  his
immediate  superior  or  his  immediate  subordinate,  while
the  appointments  to  prefectures  and  magistracies  will  be
fairly  divided  between  the  parties.  This,  of  course,  implies
that  the  Emperor  is  able  to  maintain  the  same  balance  of
influence  in  his  Ministries,  apart  from  the  equilibrium  maintained ­
  between  Manchu  and  Chinese.  In  the  provinces
further  equilibrium  is  maintained  by  the  occasional  appointment ­
  of  Manchus,  who  are  above  party,  and  who  number
usually  about  a  fifth  of  the  official  hierarchy.
With  all  these  balances  and  checks  much  more  may  be
left  to  the  local  authority,  and,  so  long  as  the  province
furnishes  its  quota  towards  the  maintenance  of  the  Imperial
Government  and  preserves  a  semblance  of  order,  or  settles
its  disturbances  with  the  means  at  its  disposal,  it  is  left  to
go  its  own  way  and  to  have  a  quasi-autonomy.  But,  whik
these  rights  are  granted  and  direct  governance  is  reduced
to  a  minimum,  there  is  also  an  absence  of  direct  oversight
and  of  holding  the  provinces  responsible  for  the  due  pet'
formance  of  their  duties.  If  a  breach  of  the  Yellow  Rivet
occurs  in  Honan,  the  Honan  authorities  must  attend  to  it  &gt;
but  it  is  no  part  of  their  duty  to  so  direct  the  work  of  re'
storation  that  the  adjoining  province  of  Shantung  shall  not
suffer  ;  that  is  the  concern  of  the  Shantung  authorities
If  a  rebellion  in  Kwangsi  is  held  in  check,  and  the  rebels
cornered,  escape  across  the  Hunan  border,  “  e’en  let  hi#
go,  and  thank  God  you  are  rid  of  a  knave  ”  ;  they  are  the#
the  affair  of  the  Hunan  authorities.  Salt  smugglers  on  the
border  between  Kiangsu  and  Chekiang  have  a  merry  tin#
dodging  back  and  forth  across  the  border,  and  are  brought
to  book  only  on  the  rare  occasions  when  the  two  provinces
loyally  join  forces.  This  will  be  remedied  with  the  further
centralisation  of  power  ;  but  we  are  dealing  with  China  as
it  has  been  and  is.
The  administrative  organisation  of  each  of  the  provinces