A viceroy, though wielding an unlimited authority within his own domains, was never in a position to mobilize' at any given moment the fall strength of the pro army nominally under his jurisdiction, unless he had first won the sympathy and support of his other junter colleagues. His military authority had never been expressly described; he could without question dominate could not discharge or trans for him. At any rate he could exer-Jcise no. jurisdiction over the governor, an officer directly responsible to the Throne, in whose appoint ment, transfer or dismissal he had voice whatsoever. He and the the governor had equal prerogatives, each could impeach tke other for misconduct and malfeasance in office. In addition he had a Tartar-General with his Manchu troops usually stationed in-the same with himself, to reckon with. Unless Peking gave him authority, he could not make a military move against any person inasmuch another officer, the provincial treasurer, happened to have the control of the exchequer. The whole system was one of checkmating each other without placing predominating power in the hands of, any one person.
China too, had undergone her share of hardships of feudalism, so) it had never been the policy and aim tributed all along the Grand Ca and other waterways perform essentially a police duty, 'The only shadow of a supreme command in the Imperial Army fisted in the form of a Ministry at Peking—the Board of War. 'This board was as a rule, presided over civilians—highly' non-technical men, who would be lost when on horseback, and who had never handled a sword in their lives, Its duty was more or loss of an advisory and ministerial nature. All ulti decisions lay in the hands of the Em }peror as the Supreme Commander nny [empire failed, until too late, to a} in-chief of the Imperial Army, The
preciate the importance of technique in military. science. ming.
'This combination of circumstan; made the Imperial Chinese Army a. mockery and proved to be a source! of weakness making them totally' unfit and unequal to undertake military operations of any kind, Military Expenditure The empire was never known to keep accurate statistical records of any kind, so it is impossible to state the strength of its army at any given period. "Information unearthed from some historical archives showed that the 28th year of Kang-Hsi (1689) there were 694414 men stationed' in China proper with a most modest} military expenditure of Tls. 13,633, 900 for that year; in The 20th' year of 'Kien Lung (1764) China bad 637,823 soldiers, excluding the Manchu troops in the metropolitan, areas; and in the 60th year of Kien 'Long' (1785), the total was reduced to 599,814 in view of the long period peace which she had, As in the ease of civil service, military officers, not, pri inspections take place every five years under the same rales governing promotions and degradations in both instances, All reports relating thereto were kept in the archives, of the Board of War. The Manchu troops were of course under the control of the Manchu generals in which the Chinese commanders had nothing to do.
Armament and Pay weapons in vogue inds (1) knives and rds, of which there were 13 var-ictics of different names, shapes and lengths; (2) spears of 49 different} kinds, (3) firearms of 22 kinds and (4), miscellaneous weapons of 28 Varieties amongst which were! shields made of rattan, clubs, war-axes, ete: Under the heading of firearms were fiid-picees. the heaviest ones ranged between 560 and 7,000 catties (a catty is equal to' 16 ounces) and the lighter ones were that was bad and vile—"No_ good iron is to be forged into nails nor will a good man become soldier, It is indeed distressing that such has been the natio to vindicate himself record has not been to his This combination of el nees, some of which was lberately created by the ancient rulers of China for their own selfs motive, has left indestructible marks on the mind of the soldiers, and has produced a tendency to demoralization, Here is a real pro. bern for solution, Not until this done can China be a united country,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.