New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-30

aries who sympathized with him. anu who hiIcu
foreigners with murdcrous bitterness Inc LIN
peror left his son. child less than SIN years Vi
age. in charge of Board OF Regency CONSISTING
OF eight conservatives. headed by Prlnce isai'
To the liberal party in Pekin this Doaru meant
DEATH: it was particularly omlnous 10 iii"oo
Kunc, who in the absence OF lilenfung' iau peen
| the real ruler at Picking. and managed 'he ",'"-
| cult business Of putting into ehect treaties '"d'
| revolutonized wholly the Chinese view OF Things
IL the conservatives could have kept the young
Emperor at Jehol they might have carried ou'
their plan which appears TO have peeh cAac'S
| the one that was carried out except that 'heS
! were the victims, whereas they had hoped 10 w
| the victors. In short, every member OF the boaIu
| If Re,ents was beheaded This brought
| about mainly by Prince KunC, with whom the
act was one of self-prcservation. and by two
| women one the principal widow OF the ola
Emperor. and the other the mother Of the boy
| who had lust come to the throne. Doubtless
these women felt that they were the proper guar
dans of the imperial child and that they had
been uniustly deprived Of authority At all
| events it was by their influence that tho young
| sters first imperial edict became dismissal OF
| IIienfungs Regents. That there was bargain
between Prince Kung and the two Expresses
| seems to have come out very clearly IN the
| formation of a new Regency The learned men
Of the Uanlin College easily hit upon the prcc-
| cdents for the proclamation Of Isl An, Hen
mncs principal widow, and Isl Ths, the mother
of the young Emperor, and the two entered upon
an administration which outlastcd the young En-
perors life.
If Prince Kung supposed that the two Regents
were to be as docile always rs they were AT hrsf'
| he soon learned his mistake. In an edlct Issued
by them in 1865 he was degraded for having
.ovc,rated his own importance" He re-
| instatcd about month later, but whereas he had
formerly hoped ito be supreme and TO rule UNI
controlled from this time forth he waH cont mi
to be their minister and adviser. on terms similar
TO those that would have been applied to any
! other official But there were some other aspects
of their rule which showed that the morality OF
| the highest classes had changed bnt little since
| the DAYS of the poisoner Liuchi. When the young
| Empcror Tungche attained the proper az" III
| 1873 he began TO reign alone oStenslby
1 though there were Indications that the Regents
mad By no means rclinauishcd ti'ir an-
| thority. A year so later the emperor uNu
| and the two Empresses instantly reasscrted 'h'h-
selves. lunches widow Ahluta became practl-
| cay prisoner. The motive OF TINS was 10.
difficult to guess. Had Ahlutas child h'ppch"'
| to be a son he would have been the legal En-
peror. as we'll as the heir by direct descent ana
she herself cculd not have been excluded IRON
| a prominent share in the government 10 inc
| Fmnrcss Dowagcrs one child the throne
| mattered no more than another: but II was Il
question of the first importance that Ahluta
sbould bc set ON one side In such an atmosphere
tborc is often grievous peril to the lives OF IN
convenient pcrsonagcs. Ahluta sickened and died.
IIer child was never born. The charitable gave
ber crcdit for having refused fcod through grI"i
for her husband. Tungchc. The septic II hS'""''
IN the details Of her illness with scorn Tor Tie
vain efforts obscure the dark deeds oil ah"'iph'
In their extreme anxiety 10 reaiize '"'ir """ wv
;,s and ,t the saline time not 10 injure the CON
stitution the two Emprcsscs had Deem "niig'u ~
resort to "a plan that could only have pccn su2-
cest,d by desperation. For the first time SINCE
the Manchu dynasty occupied the throm' IL WIS
nrctsarv 10 depart from the due Inc o s"'cs'''''
and 10 make the election of the sovereign n'''"I
Of individual fancy or favor instead of one OF
;nhe,itonco The choice OF the EmprcsSs Tell
upon Tsai Tien. the son of Prince Chun or u"
SavcntI, Prince As he was Of TOO tend y an age
IN rue for himself his nomination served the pur-
,oscs. nj tl,e two Empre>s,s an their ANY TIN"
KING who thus entered upon second caSc VI
undisputc power
Apropos offhe release from the ten and salt taxes,
one of the few thoroughly popular edictS cr'dl'',
to "A woman ruler in China. II may hc r'hha' h'''
that in spite of the wonderful CONSERVATISM u
,ho NATHAN projectors Of social and fiscal reform,
md avon nersons who would in the West b,
called socialist agitators, have been familiar Cd
ccts in the Middle Kingdom al intervals ever
sjnce the mythical period. The mythical "rlo'
was itself the golden age OF parental imperiaish'
when the ruler. not merely III theory, a. al pre-
emf. but in fact, was responsible for the we'll
IL
the Prince to provide for everything. 1t was one
Of these shad0wy Emperors Of the far past WHO l.
said TO have banished the inventor OF rice brandy
Ent II was more than even a dcmgOd cOnld achieve
% Danish the brandy after il had once been IN
vented The stories that relate to the early ana
questionable period Of Chinese nationality are
among the strongest proofs that the imperial
idea that Of absolute power invested III one man.
is the most elementary thought OF the people
They have conception OF practical government
~ consonant with human equality. IL IS Doubt
full if they have ever had such an idea since
China became an independent political organism
and if Mr. Lacoupcrie were right in deriving
Chinese civilization from the Euphrates Valley
with its long-lived and fierce despotisms, it would
lie certain that tribal liberty was unknown
to the Chinese as such The nearest approach to
il was long periods Of fcudal rule ana OF
provincial insurrection Emperors die Or
abdcatc dvnastes fade away 10 moth
ingn.ss: but beneath them all is that
vast. motioness popuacc, Whose mani
fest conception of government is that of deity
impcrsonated on earth No Republic could create
a stronger faith that the right man will appear at
the right time than is characteristic of this race
which has been impcrahst ever since history be-
gan: the only difference lies in the notion Of the
cuaIitjcs that constitute the right man in the
ripbt place On this point Oricntas and West
crnors seem likely never 70 agree. That all gov
crnmrnt is for the people the Chinese understand
thoroughly that it can bc by the people is to
them practically, if not theoretically. inconcciva
tLa :,r.an.: n inGLi tLer., tLn