when the latter tries to seize him, than to put his knife into a policeman who tries to take him into custody in the former case it is death in the latter merely an aggravation of the original offence: for they quaintly say a policeman knows what to expect and goes prepared

whereas the man who has been robbed, in the hurry of the moment, goes unarmed to capture an armed ruffian. But here also if the policeman be killed, the capital penalty is extreme and distinctions no longer prevail.

CHAPTER XVI

RELIGION AND OFFENCES AGAINST

RELIGION

SECTION I GENERAL CONSIDERATION

GENERAL CONSIDERATION

There are three recognized persuasions in China, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism and to these may now be added Christianity and Mahommedanism. Further there is the State Ritual (infra). In view of certain misconceptions likely to arise in connection with this portion of the Law, it seems desirable to briefly sketch the position of the first three persuasions and the State Ritual inter se, together with the manner in which the State regards them, and further to indicate the way in which the State has viewed the introduction of other tenets, and

the mode of legal discipline adopted therefor.

Of the three recognised persuasions, Confucianism holds the paramount position. It is upon this philosophical Code that much of the prevailing system of legislation has been based

the effect of the lapse of centuries having merely been to add, if possible, to the cogency of certain of the tenets. The other two persuasions, Buddhism and Taoism, do not receive such mental favour and are indeed tolerated only so far that they do not impinge upon the domain of Confucianism.

Neither of the three above-mentioned forms of religion can be said to be 'by law established' though incidental references to all three appear both in the Code and the Supplementary Laws. There is a ritual, however, to which these words may (but in a measure only) be applied. This is the State Ritual a ceremonial concerning officials only and especially the Head of the State. The procedure consists in the worship of heaven and earth, the sun and moon, and certain natural objects; officials alone take part in the various exercises, and

the ordinary people have no share whatever therein. Many provisions in regulation of the Ritual appear both in the Code and the Supplementary Laws and penalties are, upon the whole, heavy. It should also be added that the law on the point is extremely closely construed, and further that no part of the system is so little subject to legislative alteration.

In addition to Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, it has been the custom for a considerable period to extend toleration to other creeds also; and material alteration has, within the last thirty years, been made in the law to the necessary effect the result in general of pressure from

without.

The manner in which the Chinese Government has usually regarded religious creeds cannot be expressed more aptly than in the words of a well-known writer who states that 'the Government 'tolerates no denomination suspected of interfering 'with its own influence.' This is the key to the law upon the point, showing why the introduction of certain foreign tenets has been from time to time deemed heretical, and the reason for legal

discipline. It may indeed be said that the breach of any particular doctrine per se is not legally punishable what is feared is the introduction of poisonous seed.

It may be pointed out that in regard of the propagation of Roman Catholicism and other tenets, the objections raised thereto at different times have not been trivial or without the Law, but, on the contrary, have been based on strictly legal principles and rules. Of cases where specific religious clauses or laws upon the face of them applied, and have been applied, there S no need to speak. But where no provision exactly applied, and yet it has been sought to enforce legal discipline the case is not so clear. The modus has however been to bring (without straining the meaning), the offence under some other clause as e. g., sedition, ancestral worship, treason. So of Roman Catholicism; the 'immuring of young girls in 'nunneries' is neither more nor less than the offence of kidnapping children; 'paying no worship 'to the dead' is a direct violation of the legal provisions touching ancestral worship; the 'confusion