But the results were nothing much to boast of after all. Half a century after the death of Keen-lung, the account of the state of China, given by writers notoriously friendly to the Manchus, is lurid indeed. The corruption of the public service, we are told, had gradually alienated the sympathies of the people. Conscience and probity had for a time been banished from it. The example of a few men of honoured capacity served but to bring into more prominent relief the faults of the administrative class as a whole. Justice was nowhere to be found; the verdict was sold to the highest bidder. It became far from uncommon for rich criminals sentenced to death to get substitutes procured for them. Offices were sold to men who had never passed an examination, and who were wholly illiterate, the sole value of the office lying in its being a tool for extortion. Extortion and malversation ran to extraordinary lengths. In Kia-king's early years, when the minister Hokwan was condemned and executed for peculation, it was found that the fortune he had amassed amounted to eighty million taels--more than twenty-six million pounds sterling. The officials waxed rich on ill-gotten wealth, and a few accumulated enormous fortunes. But the administration went on sinking lower and lower in the estimation of the people, {262} while, of course, its efficiency was getting steadily crippled. Now, the peculiar Civil Service of China is at once the strength and weakness of the Empire. It needs to be made to toe the line very strictly by a stern and upright and ever alert Imperial master. Keen-lung himself knew its weak spots, and more than once thought of finding drastic remedies for them. But when questioned on the matter, one of the ablest and most honest of his ministers maintained that there was no remedy. 'It is impossible; the Emperor himself cannot do it--the evil is too widespread. He will, no doubt, send to the scene of disturbance and complaint mandarins clothed with all his authority; but they will only commit greater exactions, and the inferior magistrates, in order to be left undisturbed, will offer them presents. The Emperor will then be told that all is well, while everything is really wrong, and the poor people are being oppressed.'