sentences of the provincial officers. For extraordinary offenses, such as robbery attended with murder, arson, rape, breaking into fortificatious, violence by banditti of one hundred persous, highway robbery and piracy, the offenders may be beheaded immediately. In general, the execution takes place, before reporting the case to the emperor. "No capital execution shall," according to section 1, appendix 5 of the Code, "take place during the period of the first or sixth moons of any year; and in the event of any conviction of a crime in a court of justice during the said intervals, for which the law directs immediate execution, the criminal shall, nevertheless, be respited until the first day of the moon next following." The reason for this law is not very apparent. We have no means. of ascertaining the number of capital executions in a year throughout China, because the offenses which demand immediate execution of the offenders in the provinces are not always reported in the Peking gazette or not translated from it. The annual executions are, however, occasionally given together with a few provincial capital punishments, from which, and the attendant circumstances, we may form a tolerably correct opinion of Chinese justice in its extreme rigor. On the 2d of March 1817, there were twenty-four men beheaded at the usual place of execution outside of the south gate of Canton, and on the 6th, eighteen more. "Executions, comprising numbers as large as these," adds* the reporter, are very frequent in this place, and excite little or no attention. The government does not give publicity to the causes of the public punishment of so many malefactors; the daily paper coldly mentions that they were beheaded, and that the execution had been announced to the governor." The death-warrauts signed by the emperor in October of the same year, were nine hundred and thirty-five, of which one hundred and thirty-three belonged to the province of Canton. These are for minor offenses such for which the execution of the capital sentence is deferred until the autumn, be it passed at what period of the year it may. The gazette of June 1817, mentions‡ that two persons of the imperial clan, who had been convicted before a court of being concerned in the rebellion of 1813, were sentenced to a slow and ignominious death, which was comminuted by the emperor to strangling. He ordered that they should be put to death at the tombs of their forefathers, that the spirits of the deceased might witness the punishment infliced, for the dishonor they had brought on the family. Some other persons who had been concerned in the same rebellion, but were not probably of the blood imperial, suffered§ the extreme pealty a few months later. The whole family of a magistrate, who had caused another to be murdered as already mentioned,|| excepting his youngest son, were decapitated in the same year, and his three servants, whom he employed to commit the murder, were ordered to be cut into ten thou Indo. Gleaner, May 1817, p. 16. Indo. Gleaner, May 118. p. 8. Indo. Gleaner, Oct. 1818. P. -134. ¶ Indo. Gleaner, Oct. 1818; p. 186. sand pieces before the grave of the deceased, and their hearts taken out and offered up as an appeasing sacrifice. The youngest son was to be put in prison until sixteen years of age, when he was to be beheaded also. In the province of Honan, in 1819, an only son who had been mad several years,* cut his father to pieces in one of his paroxysms of insanity, for which he was put to the slow and ignominious death. In Fuhkeën also, several of the farmers demurred about paying their taxes, either from the amount levied being illegal, or some other cause the ringleader was sentenced, with the emperor's sanction, to be strangled, and the others subjected to various lesser punishments. Seven criminals were decapitated on the 26th of December 1819‡ at Canton, for what offenses does not appear, and ten more in December 1822§ for robbery at Whampoa. The number of capital convictions for robbing in bands at Chaouchow in the eastern part of this province was so great in 1821, and removing the convicts to Canton for execution so expensive, that the fooyuen proceeded, with the imperial warrant, to carry the sentence into effect there. The autumnal death-warrants signed by the emperor in 1826 were five hundred eighty-one; of which Canton shared fifty-one, Kwangse twenty-five, and Szechuen thirty-four. The Canton executions were ordered to take place within forty days after the date of the signature. Nine persons were ordered for execution, for crimes not specified, which had been tried before the emperor. The Peking gazette of 1826 mentions** that a Tartar soldier who killed his mother, had been given over to the privileged tribe to which he belonged, to be punished as they might direct. In cases of rebellion the emperor causes those who are found guilty to be punished with great severity. A rebel leader in Turkestan in 1827, was put to slow and ignominious death with seven of his brothers, and twenty-five followers; punishments which, according to the imperial report, "gloriously evince the laws of the land and cheer men's hearts." Eleven rebel chiefs with one hundred and sixty of their followers shared‡‡ the same fate in Turkestan a few months later. A young woman aged nineteen years was cut to pieces in Canton for poisoning her mother-in-law: her husband was compelled§§ to witness the execution. He shed tears at the sight, for which he was sentenced to wear the cangue a month and receive fifty blows, on the ground that he shewed less feeling for his mother than for his wife. A dog butcher was murdered by his nephew about the same time, for which the latter was decapitated. The execution of two men for rape, and three women for crimes not mentioned, took place on the 14th November, and * Indo. Gleaner, Oct. 1820, p. 407. Indo. Gleaner, Oct. 1820, p. 435. Indo. Gleaner, April 1822, p. 308. Mal Observer, Feby, 13th, 1827. # Mal Observer. March 25th, 1828. + Indo. Gleaner, July 1890, p, 346. Indo. Gieaner, Ap. 1822, p. 310. M. S. Tranlation by Dr. Morrison. tt Mal. Observer, Jan. 29th, 1828. SS Mal. Observer, May 6th 1828. of seven men for river piracy, on the 19th December 1827.* The total of executions in Canton this year were one hundred and ninety-nine, of which one hundred and thirty-five were immediate, that is, put into execution without reference to the emperor, sixty-one received the imperial warrant, and three were the slow and ignominious death for offenses not mentioned. The Cautou Register in reporting two executions in January 1828, remarks: "at these executions it is usual for the military officer, called the Kwangchow heě, to attend. The person who now holds that office, however, considers executions so commonplace, that he declines to go in person, unless five criminals and upwards are to be put to death." Three men were beheaded for murder and robbery on the 26th of February, and two for piracy ou the 4th of March,§ all by imperial order. Executions are almost daily taking place later in the year, according to the official gazette,|| but the crimes are not stated. The autumnal warrants signed by the emperor in October of this year, were 789. The mode of doing it was as follows: He first took the provinces on the SW. corner of the empire, Yunnan, Kweichow, and Kwangse, and marked off ninety names for execution within forty days from the date of the signature. It appears that in Yunnan, there is some territory lately occupied, which they call new regious." Three persons belonging to it received sentence of death. The next day, one hundred and eleven persons of the single province of Szechuen were condemned to be executed within forty days. In this way, his majesty during successive days marked off from ninety to one hundred names each day. The shortest period allowed for places near the court, was four days. Five persons were tried before himself and condemned: who they were does not appear. The condemnations were sent by express to the provinces,** and the executions take place the day after their arrival. In the autumn of 1829, the emperor marked off five hundred and seventy-nine names of criminals for execution, of which the single province of Szechuen had one hundred and four. The rest are not specified. There were six state criminals tried before the emperor. We find no record of the autumnal executions in 1830, and they were remitted‡‡ altogether in the following year on account of the emperor attaining his fiftieth year; but the indulgence did not extend to cases in which the provincial governments may inflict immediate death, without obtaining the imperial sanction. Many cases of the execution of criminals in Canton in these years and more subsequently may be found noticed in the Repository. These executions are performed in the most public manner.§§ says the latter authority, and are of very frequent occurrence, amounting to many hundreds, * Mal. Observer, Aug. 26th, 1828. Canton Register, Feb. 18th, 1828. Canton Register, March 22d, 1828. ** Canton Register, Feb. 2d, 1829. #Canton Register, Nov. 1st, 1831. *VOL. IV. NO. VIII. 49 † Mal. Observer, 21st Oct. 1828. Canton Register, March 15th, 1828. ¶ Canton Register, Nov. 15th, 1828. tt Canton Register, Jan. 19th, 1830. gg Chinese Repository, vol. 1, p. 291. and some say from one to two thousands annually. They are noticed in the court circular in the most summary manner, and sometimes even without mentioning the names or the number of criminals: it is simply stated that, such and such officers reported "the execution of the criminals was completed." The Canton Register of the 24th January 1833 tells us, governor Loo ascended the judgment-seat last Sunday, under a salute of artillery, "had three prisoners brought in before him, examined them, condemned them, asked himself as fooyuen (he was filling that office at the time in addition to his own) for the imperial death-warrant, granted it to himself as governor, had the three men handed away instantly and executed. Since that he has granted the same deathwarrant to execute in prison, about a hundred associate banditti or persons accused of that capital crime." On referring to the Repository* we find recorded in the same year, seventeen executions on the 28th of May; twenty-three for piracy on the 23d of August ;† and sixteen on the 25th of November,‡ one of whom was a priest of Budha. Another decapitation of a Budhist priest will be found recorded in the present year.§ ART. IV. Suggestions with regard to employing medical practitioners as missionaries to China, by T. R. Colledge, Esq. [More than once we have had the pleasure of presenting to the public, brief notices of efforts made by Dr. Colledge, in the practice of the healing art, to benefit the people of this country. (See vol. 2, p. 270, and vol. 3, p. 364.) By his kindness we are now able to add a record of his opinion on the expediency of employing medical practitioners in China. The results of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Macao convinced us that there are no better means than the medical and surgical practice, to make the Chinese understand the feelings which Christian philanthropists cherish towards thein. An experiment of this kind is now making in Canton, where within the period of six weeks we have seen more than four hundred and fifty invalids receive medical aid froin the hands of a foreigner. In early times the heralds of the cross were miraculously endowed with knowledge and power to preach and to heal; but the age of miracles is past, and years of laborious study are now requisite to prepare men well for either of the two professions in question. We know it is as Inuch more important to cure the maladies of the mind than those of the body, as the one is more valuable than the other: still it is the duty of those who would follow the example of "the teacher sent from God" to do both. so far as there is opportunity: here, then, the question arises, shall the two professions be united in the same person? Rarely, we should think. A division of labor is required, and especially since the number of preachers is so small in comparison with the work to be accomplished. When an individual unt Chinese Repository, vol. 2, page 192 Chinese Repository, vol. 4, page 199. * Chinese Repository, vol. 2, p. 48. : Chinese Repository, vol. 2, p. 336 dertakes the two, he will always be under the temptation of neglecting one of them, there being in either enough and more than enough to occupy all his tine and strength. In special cases, however, it may be necessary and therefore best that the duties of the two professions be performed by one and the same person. There is an unbounded, and very important, work which we ought to do for the bodies of our fellowmen. The good which medical practitioners can do in this respect is alone enough to demand their utmost efforts; while, irrespective of all this, the good they may accomplish in preparing the way for the promulgation of the gospel-by often inculcating its first principles and by always exemplifying it in all their deportment,-will also abundantly compensate them for all their toil. In this view of the subject, medical practitioners seem called on to engage in this work,-for the support of which too, the rich may gladly contribute of their abundance. They should be good men, every way equal to those who preach the gospel, and when one undertakes the two he should be so qualified that neither profession shall be reproached thereby. To those who are able to minister to the necessities of the blind, the sick, and the lame, we recommend the careful perusal of the following communication.] THE Chinese have always shown themselves more sensible to what affects their temporal or personal interests, than to any efforts which have been made to improve their moral and intellectual condition. This must necessarily be the case with a people whose more refined and exalted mental powers are but partially developed; and it has ever been found, wheu any favorable result has crowned the labors of those who have sought to improve the condition of such a people, that it has been effected rather by doing good works among them, that is, by administering to their wants, by relieving their bodily sufferings, in a word, by bettering their temporal condition, and thus engaging their attention, and gaining their respect, than by any direct appeal to their moral feelings; for with a people of this description the present is every thing, the future, nothing. Still they are capable of reasoning; and observation has convinced me that the only way by which they will be led into the course of reflection which shall result in the end so much desired by all who have their interest at heart, will be by exhibiting among them the virtues of charity and humanity, then leading them gradually to the comprehension of the motives and principles from which these virtues spring. Those who seek to convert, must first gain their confidence by rendering themselves useful. When in the acts of those who shall devote themselves to this great work, this people shall find no selfishness, and that for the benefits rendered no benefit is asked in return, the question in the minds of some, if not of all, will naturally arise ;—why do these men thus devote themselves for our good? This then is the moment to impress on their minds that there are hopes to be realized, rewards to be gained, beyond the world which has hitherto bounded all their thoughts and wishes. Notwithstanding all that has been done hitherto by those selfdenying men who have devoted their lives to the work of enlightening and reforming the Chinese, but little has as yet been attained; and one great cause, in fact, the principal one, of the slowness of their progress has been the impossibility of awakening in the minds |