St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-08-24
The Late Empress Regent OF China


knowledge of the great personaggTes ss 81
the far East filters slowly to the GOV,
though there is apparently no gooo l isa
Not he fairly complete Every Western
nov maintains competent representatives
Of the Asiatic courts, the press has ape
correspondents, and every Eastern caPl'al
;s visited by intelligent travellers, anu
Knowledge of Oriental rulers should Do AZ
full as that of European sovereigns. DOUBT
less it is in some quarters, but, save III
the event of war, it is never made puolio,
and the veil of mystery that envelopes
them and the statesmen who do their olu-
ding is still SO heavy that the world hardy
regards them as having dlstlnc' perso!
alifv OF no sovereign, perhaps, IS bhis
more true than of the Empress-hegeh'
Tsze Chi, who, in February last, surren-
dered control of China to the emperor
Kwangsu. and who, as one OF the aoles'
rnlers of the worlds history, should DO
better known than Maria Theresa or Catn-
arina IT. For more than aquarter OF
century. she guided the destinies OF the
worlds greatest empire, commanded inc
allegiance of ne-fourth of the Worios
nonEIation and overcame difficulties before
which the greatest statesmen Europe mas
nroduced would have stood appalled,.
For uDon no sovereign in the world, per-
hans. is a greater task laid than that borne
nv an Emperor of China-that OF maj ar
bitter of 800, 600, 900 of people-liable from
their intense conservatism, to as INTENSE
outbursts of rebellion, and spread over
territory in which appalling disasters are
sipgularlv frequent. He has not only W
govern this vast mass without the iallA'aiy
machinery of Western rulers, ana 70 SAL
isfy it's demands as if he were practlcally
omnipotent, but to regulate the most cor
runt official class in the world, and TO re-
| sict the permanent and intermittent threats
| of attack on the northern and southern
frontiers of the Empire. More than ALL
he has to keep constantly in mind that ne
| is a Mantcheou and so to vast mass OF
his subjects, a foreign emperor, and to SO
| solidify the tenure of his race and dynasty
| that no instruction may overthrow 1t.
Such position would tax the ability OF
a Gar, but for twenty eight years the EN-
nress Tsze Chi has so ruled that not only
| Is the DYNASTY more securely intrenched
! than ever, but the empire is more united
| at home and vastly more powerful ABROAD
| than when as girl she began her long
reign. Instruction has disappeared, the
loosely connected provinces that make up
the Empire have been more closely &C.
mented, the treasury from conoltlon OF
confusion and fraud has been so restored
that it's credit now equals that OF Euro
mean State, and the Mussulman sects, g.
| permanent m mace, have been dissolved.
| Attack has been so successfully met Ihat
| Kasbgar is now Chinese province, RUSSIA
has been forced from huldJa, ana france
stopped at Tonquin, while In Europe the
REPRESENTATIVES of China are ACCORDED all
the privileges of those of first class
power, which Western nations must nesi-
tate to affront. All this is woman's
work q woman. too, of whom the civilized
world knows nothing. and OF whom 1t Will
probably be said that there was nothing to
know-tbat she stood as a. mere figure
head for group of able statesmen around
her. But this explanation leaves out OF
sigbt the essential fact that there must De
final personal referee, and that the MS
} tory of Asiatic countries shows that as the
rulers have been strong or weak, the
countries have been strong or weak also
If statesmen are wise, somebody must Sc
Iect them, reconcile the antagonlsms, form
ulate policy and allow no departure IRON
/, It. and that somebody must exercise IRE
, sistible power or the statesmen woulc
, quarrel for supremacy and tie people anc
: the army revolt. That Tsze Chi exercised
such power is evidenced by the fact tina
in 1865 she deposed the strongest states
man insthe Empire, Prince hung, because
he .'overrated his importance, y and hat
the sentence been death instead OF deposl
Q ton, there would have been no resistance
offered it. Doubtless it will be said tina
: a woman who had never been outside tn
] palao, park had not the knowledge to St
7 rule, bu> the Sultan of Turkey reigns des
; politically over his dominions, though hi
o knowledge has been picked up within tn
r walls of harem. An intelligent woman
f of strong will and with absolute power
g has as many ways of obtaining informa
e ton as has Pope secluded in the Vatican
s and the fact that Tsze Chi has guided a.
). empire for a generation is not, after all
s more wonderful than that the world ma
# known nothing of her.-1he INTERIOR.