The Portland daily press., 1891-02-23
cHINA's REFoRMiNc EMPEROR.
He VIII Receive the Foreign ministers,
and Is Likely to Make Other Innova-
tlons,

From the Chinese Times.l
The decree which was published last week
ordering arrangements to be made for receiy-
ing the foreign Ministers In audience in the
first moon of next year. the seventeenth of
his Majesty's reign, will have been eceiye
with general satisfaction throughout the
world. The solution Of the long-pending and
apparently unmanageable question could not
have taken happier form, and IL 1t were
permissible to deduce from this one act Of
the Emperor an augury Of the character Of
his reign, we should be tempted to say that
the star of hope had arisen on his country.
The granting of audience removes slur
which has rested for thirty years on the
foreign representatives, and places their re-
lations with the highest officials In light
which is at once clear and defensible. while
1t, at the same time removes from the Inn
perial pathway a stumbling block Of really
DANGEROUS character.
Widespread interest has been shown al
ready in the supposed idiOsyncracies OF the
young Emperor Of China, which have hlther-
to been wrapped up in palace mystery. He
comes Of a hard stock, noted for indepen-
dence of character, and his not very remote
ancestors have evinced special curiosity in
originality in statecraft. There is no an-
tecedent reason, therefore, why his Majesty
should not take personal interest In the
affairs of the empire, external as well as In
ternal. nor why he should not ind certain
satisfaction In cultivating friendliness with
foreign ministers at his court, and thus
real revolution may be silently effected In
the mode of conducting public business.
Tn imperial power in China, hampered
and almost stifed as 1t Is by concentric cir
IL - OfEa fnlo Of do In rauN
array, seems TO be impeded in its administra-
tion by the very 0vergr0wth Of the machinery
which constitutes the instrument of Govern
ment. How Is even an Emperor to break
through these serried ranks; how emanci-
pate himself from the thraldom OF one set
without getting more hopelessly entangled
In the tolls OF another? III there be any
thing In the notion to which we have repeat
edly given publicity that the exclusiveness,
the ins0lence, and even brutality Oh manner
to which foreigners have been subjected
are essentially the outcome of the Chinese
nature combined with Chinese traditions,
and especially Chinese ignorance, there
ought to be a good hope Of better things in
gaining access to the person of the Manchu
sovereign. The recent public acts Of the
sovereign to which we drew atteation last
month appear to be but the prelude TO an
imperial career In which the sovereign in
tends, as his heroic contemporary, the Ger
man Emperor, has, to take the reins OF Gov
iuLO HIS own udOuS anu Iul6 hCCOIu-
Ing to his own perceptions.
Many depressing pictures Of the future Of
this great empire have occupied the columns
Oh the Chinese Times. We have honestly
cast oureye to the north and south. TO the
east and the west. without discovering any
signs OF the coming regeneration OF the Gov
ernment and the social system, and If, as we
believe, some thorough regeneration Is
necessary to the preservation Of the empire,
the outlook Is anything but encouraging.
There seems to be but one ray Of hope,
and this is in the personal initiative of a
| sovereign resolute and strong and with a
long life before him In which to develope
his reforms. 1t may be that such ruler is
| now on the throne, and his proceedings will
| be scanned with very eager interest by both
natives and foreigners.
The new relations which have been estab-
| llshed by imperial decree, and which may
| open door TO the exercise Of healthy and
| living foreign influence. put the Emperor In
| possession Of auxiliaries such as were moi
available to any Of his Maiesty's predeces
/ sOrs.