The chief officers in the civil departments of government, independent of the ministers and the different boards in Pekin, according to the statement of Tchou-ta-gin, with their salaries and allowances reduced into silver, will be seen from the following table, which, with that of the military establishment, is published in the appendix to the authentic account of the embassy by Sir George Staunton; and as they differ very little from the court calendar published in 1801, and as I have occasion to make a few remarks on them, as well as on that of the population, which will be given in a subsequent chapter, I have not hesitated to introduce them into the present work.
| Quality. | Number. | Salaries in ounces of silver. | Total. |
| Viceroys over one or more provinces | 11 | 20,000 | 220,000 |
| Governors of provinces | 15 | 16,000 | 240,000 |
| Collectors of revenue | 19 | 9,000 | 171,000 |
| Presidents of criminal tribunals | 18 | 6,000 | 108,000 |
| Governors of more than one city of the first order | 85 | 3,000 | 258,000 |
| Governors of one city only of the first order | 184 | 2,000 | 368,000 |
| Governors of a city of the second order | 149 | 1,000 | 149,000 |
| Governors of a city of the third order | 1305 | 800 | 1,044,000 |
| Presidents of literature and examinations | 17 } | 3,000 | 402,000 |
| Inspectors general | 117 } | ||
| Total oz. | 2,960,000 |
The inferior officers acting immediately under the orders of these, and amounting to many thousands, together with the salaries and expences of the different boards in the capital, all of which are paid out of the public treasury, must require a sum at least equal to the above; so that on a moderate calculation, the ordinary expences of the civil establishment will amount to the sum of 5,920,000 ounces, or 1,973,333l. sterling.
Some idea may be formed of the numerous appointments, and the frequent changes in administration, from the circumstance of the Court Calendar, or red book, being published every three months making four tolerable large volumes, or sixteen volumes every year.
The fatherly attention, the wise precautions, and the extreme jealousy of the government, have not been considered as alone sufficient for the internal and external protection of the empire, without the assistance of an immense standing army. This army, in the midst of a profound peace, was stated by Van-ta-gin to consist of eighteen hundred thousand men, one million of which were said to be infantry, and eight hundred thousand cavalry. As this government, however, is supposed to be much given to exaggeration in all matters relating to the aggrandisement of the country, and to deal liberally in hyperboles, wherever numbers are concerned, the authenticity of the above statement of their military force may perhaps be called in question. The sum of money, that would be required to keep in pay and furnish the extraordinaries of so immense an army, is so immoderate that the revenues would appear to be unable to bear it. If the pay and the appointments of each soldier, infantry and cavalry one with another, be supposed to amount to a shilling a day, the sum required for the pay alone would amount to 33,000,000l. sterling a year!
To come nearer the truth, let us take the calculation drawn up by Lord Macartney from the information of Van-ta-gin.
| Rank | Number | Salaries, oz. | Total |
| Tau-ton, | 18 | 4000 | 72,000 |
| Tsung-ping | 62 | 2400 | 148,800 |
| Foo-tsung | 121 | 1400 | 157,300 |
| Tchoo-tsung | 165 | 800 | 132,000 |
| Tchoo-tze | 373 | 600 | 223,800 |
| Too-tze | 425 | 400 | 170,000 |
| Sciou-foo | 825 | 320 | 264,000 |
| Tsien-tsung | 1680 | 160 | 268,800 |
| Pa-tsung | 3622 | 130 | 420,370 |
| Commissaries of provisions of first rank | 44 | 320 | 14,080 |
| Commissaries of provisions of second rank | 330 | 160 | 52,800 |
| Total | 1,974,450 | ||
| 1,000,000 infantry, at two ounces of silver each per month, provisions included | 24,000,000 | ||
| 800,000 cavalry, at four ounces each, provisions and forage included | 38,400,000 | ||
| 800,000 horses, cost at twenty ounces each, 16,000,000 oz. the annual wear and tear at 10 _per cent._ will be | 1,600,000 | ||
| Uniforms for 1,800,000 men once a year, at four ounces | 7,200,000 | ||
| Yearly wear and tear of arms, accoutrements, and contingencies, at one ounce per man | 1,800,000 | ||
| 73,000,000 | |||
| —————— | |||
| Total ounces | 74,974,450 |
And as no allowance is made in the above estimate for the expence of artillery, tents, war equipage, nor for vessels of force on the different rivers and canals, the building and keeping in repair the military posts, the flags, ceremonial dresses, boats, waggons, musical bands, all of which are included in the extraordinaries of the army, these may probably be equal to the ordinaries; thus the whole military establishment would require the sum of 149,948,900 ounces, or 49,982,933l. sterling.
The disposal of the revenues will then stand as follows:
| Total amount of the revenue | - | £. 66,000,000 | |
| Civil establishment- | £. 1,973,333 | ||
| Military ditto- | 49,982,933 | ||
| __________ | 51,956,266 | ||
| __________ | |||
| Surplus, being for the Emperor's establishment | £. 14,043,734 | ||