The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-06-07
Marriage OF the Chinese Empcrorlhs
Rrialc-.H Her Pedigree. Etc.

eSpOuSe.
June !, 1872.
<,.rr,are or thc Chinese Einpcror--lhe
Britc.He Pedigree. Etc.
Correspondence Of the London Times
Su.scgAI, March 2l.--Tbe Picking GdseHe
orthe nth of March announces that the mar
rage of the Emperor is ut length deinteiy
resolved on. The Expresses !,owascr pun
lish three decrees-the first mn:inS the En-
nrcss-elcct, the second appointing three otlcr
ladies 10 he members Of the llarem. and the
third ordering the Astronomical Board 10
select lucky day in October for the ceieora-
ton OF the marriage. -,
The name Of the lady whom fate anu The
E,npresses have selected for TIL. supreme
honor is Alute. She is n Mongol bydcsccnt
her father, Chung-chi, junior oliicer OF "c
Hanlin College, being son OF oaishaf'sa,
Mongol mandarin who held high ONCE NJ the
beginning of the last reign, and her mothcr,
daughter Of the late Tuanhua, priiicc 0!
Chens. who was prominent member OF the
anti-fSreign party that held sway during the
closing wears of Hienfumg, but was over
thrown by Prince Kung and the Empress IN
November. 1861. One Of the other three
ladies is daughter Of the above SaiSllansa,
and therefore an aunt Of the EmpreSs--rathcr
curious admiXture of relationship. The
other two are daughters Of subordinate OH
Gals of no particular note. =,
The event has political importance quite
ulteriOr. The formal assumption by liiHl III
the rcins Of power cannot he long delayed
after his marriage; and the first question
which he will have to decide Oh his own re-
sponsibility is that OF admitting foreign H.
bassadors to audience. 1t seems to have
been tacitly agreed among western Powers
that they would forbear pressing this clam
until the Emperor's independence from con-
troll should be fully recognized. The epoch
Of marriage in China is generally held to he
the signal for this emancipation; so we miy
anticipate that the question cannot DE longer
deferred than the spring OF 1873.
TO Europeans unfamiliar with the extra
VACANT assumption of n Chinese Emperor
this matter must seem much less import
ant than it really is, for il does involve the
crucial point of our relations. Isolated for
centuries from the rest Of The world know
ing only the weak Kingdom around her hor-
dcrs, over whom her superiority Is I'M
bounded, China has regarded herself AZ the
centre of civilization and power implied III
the term "cenlraI Kingdom" And the En-
peror is OF course rs far above "outsIue~
sovcreigns as China is superior to the nations
over whom they rule. There is only one
Emperor, and the other rulers Of the world
are his vassas. Ambassadors, therefore.
from those rulers are tributc-bearcrs, aud
can only APPROACH his presence as they would
that of a god, constantly kneelng and striking
the earth with their forehead.
1t is easy to conceive that the advisers of
the young Emperor have steadElstly declined
to deal with 4 demand so prcpostcrouS IN
Chinese eyes Us the admission Of foreign am
1,acu IN ON an &c ppn al
of sovereigns equal with their master. All
Conruciandom would have been aShastal The
innovation, and the head of the innoyator
would have been in danger 4 powerful
mandarin might have dared and stecred
through the crisis, but the members Of the
present Government are not individually
powerful, and the instinct Of a Chinaman Is
to staye of rather than grapple with an emer-
gency. The responsibility could not have
been put upon the Emperor, for he was too
young it would have been too patent that
a boy of fourteen or fifteen was acting
under the influence of his ministers but his
Majesty is now seventeen, according to the
Chinese mode Of reckoning, which sets down
q baby rs n year old directly it is born; and
when to the weight Of these seventeen years
is added the dignity Of marriage all ChiEa
will eOncede certain amount of individual
only man who can cut the knot without dnl-
ger to his head, and to him has the solution
Of the problem been left. Whether he will
deal with il intelligcntly or persist i'll DASH
ing his head against the wall remains to be
seen.
The Picking correspondent of the North
China Herald is unfayorably impressed by
the fact that the Empress-elect is grand
daughter of minister who was intensely
inimical to foreigners. at Is said," he
writes, "that the expresses are chosen for
their personal qualities solely but it would
be rash to assert that the selection by the
Empress Regent Of granddaughter of such
u pronounced opponent OF foreigners las
Tuanh,,a to be the future Empress does not
!, necessarily indicate leaning to anti-ioreIgn
views OH the part of the present ruler.''
Time only can show but l suspect that the
influence of great mandarins like Ii Hung
chang will be more potent than that OF the
Empress consort.
l suppose that as a rule the names of Chi
nese mandarins are little interesting, and
convey but indistinct impressions to home
readers but no one who followed the course
Of the civil war, which it was my duty to
sketch in 1861, can have quite forgotten
the name of Ii, then Governor Of this pro-
vince, or that Of his superior, Tseng KWo-tan,
Viceroy of Klangsu, Kiangsi, and Auhwei.
Ii has since been Viceroy Of these provinces
himself, vacated his post to quell the Nien-
fem instruction In Shantung, returned to be
viceroy Of Hupeh and Human, and is now
Viceroy of the metropolitan province of
Chilli, whittier he was called Immediately
afler the Tientsin massacre, in the stead Of
Tseng Kwo-ian, who returned to his old post
ut Nankin. The career Of these two great
nandarins has been intimately associated,
and they were, either individually OF COLES
lively, without doubt, the most powerful
Cinnamon In the Empire.
UNCOMFORTABLE JEwELRY-How LITTLE