Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1863-05-16
Chin:i mud the (hincsc.

The Ohinaman's PHILOSOPHY of life is ap-
parently simple, his fundamental maNims
being two: To do nothing to-day whichcan
be put off till tomorrow, and to do nothing
at all except on compulsion. The golden
rule Of his humanity is, Do unto Others just
US they will be sure to do unto you If they
get chance.
The chinese judiciary is a wonderful in
stitution; it appears to be almost equally
hazardous to be the prosecutor or accused
in criminal trial-thc plaintiff or defendant
in civil cause. One or two instances will
be OF interest The "Chebecnn is the magis-
trate. and he seems to possess power which
is without control, and from which there
is no appeal. The key to his court is ready
money paid into the hands of subordinates :;
the key to his ear is ready money paid into
his own hand. The preponderance of testi-
mony with him means only the weigh. OF
metal brides given by the respective suitors.
On a certain occasion the owner of u junk
borrowed sum of money on his vessel, and
failed to pay when it came due. The lender
made strenuous efforts to collect his bill, and
then reluctantly appealed to the court. The
Secretary was polite, but requested few
dollars before he could open the door to the
"Chebeen's Chamber of Justice the messen-
]
to the magistrate till package of one hut
dred Mexican dollars had been handed to
him. The police officer had worked hard
the day before, was quite worn out, was
wholly unequal to the eXertion of hunting
up the debtor till he had received hundred
dollars. Then the claimant was told to go
and return another day. Three weeks after
wards his debtor was in prison; then began
the defence, which was general denial OF
allegations and charge of forgery. The
plaintiff met this by a fresh payment to the
court, praying at the same time that he
might see the debtor face to face III the pre-
sence of witnesses. At the end of mouth
this interview was granted him, and the
debtor made his appearance with what he
claimed as the genuine seal of the legal IN
strument, this seal was different from the
one on the document in suit and the plain
titf was warned with terribly significant
look that he stood IN delicate situation
To add to the hobble in which the affair
stood, the arrested debtor turned out not 10
be the identical man with whom the clai-
mant transacted his business, though he was
the owner of the junk, and was man OF the
same name. Touching this point, 1t should
be said that all the members of family have
Il way in China of taking the same name,
thus promoting variety OF accidents
Under the circumstances it did certainly look
ms if the plaintiff in this case were indeed in
"delicatc situation" for if he retired from
the contest he would receive beating with
the bamboo, and if he lost his cause he would
be beaten Just as much. So he asked for
time, which he paid for and obtained. Then
a sensible suggestion was made, that the
matter ought to be compromised. Both
parties jumped at the idea, and on the part
of the debtor there was paid to the creditor
about eight hundred dollars, the precise
amount the creditor had paid in bribes to
the court. Some time after the two suffers
met in an opium shop and compared notes
they found that the debtor had been twice
bambooed'in private because he refused to
acknowledge the debt, and had at last agreed
to pay over the whole amount. He sup
posed the money went to the creditor; but
this conversation disclosed the fact that the
Chebeen had pocketed the whole, only re
funding the amount of the suitor's bribes.
This was civil cause. One on the Grim
inal side of the court was no less peculiar
A certain widow woman had daughter o.
fourteen years Sine thought the girl might
be made of some use so she looked about
till she found wealthy merchant, whom
she induced to adopt the child. Afte
awhile, on the strength of her relationship
to the adopted, the mother asked the mer
chant FOR few dollars as a gift. He de