Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-10-13

has no advertisements, no editorials and no
social gossip. The government allows no
comments on its actions and 1t Is a crime
to add to or subtract from its matter In its
republication. The newspaper is made up
of official acts and reports. and such of the
reports as the emperor thinks ought to be
published are looked over by him and he
marks with a red pencil his comments upon
them. These are pasted upon bill boards
outside of the palace, and the scribes copy
them into books, which are sent out each
day. These first copies are the original is
sues of the Picking Gazette. They are beau
ufully engrossed and they command a price
of about a hundred dollars a year. Private
printing firms buy them. and the engravers
make blocks. from which the cheaper copies
are printed Some editions go for thirty
cents a month"; and numbers of Chinese
families club together and buy these cheap
er editions. so that a man may pay perhaps
one-twentieth of cent for reading a copy
of the Peking Gazette. 1 have bound
volume of this paper. which has been trans
lated into English. and / get translations
every week in the English newspapers
which / receive from China. Practically
nothing is as vet given about the Chinese
Japanese war. except that in the issue of
August % it is stated that 1.-The empress
dowager has sent 400 boxes Of cooling
pills to the soldiers in Corea,' and the cour-
iers probably bring the news in on horse
back and retail 1t to the people There is
nc doubt that there is more lying done in
the dissemination of official reports than
can possibly be committed by American re-
nOfterS, ana learn from fek1nS tndt inc
people are kept in entire ignorance of what
is going on in the war with Japan.
In the Dark.
1t is doubtful whether the emperor him
self understands his real situation. He has,
/ venture, never reviewed his own army,
and he knows nothing about military tao
tics. 1t is a common amusement with him
to go out and shoot with a bow and arrow.
and his only experience as to travelling by
railroad has been in n small train of cars
which a French syndicate, who wanted to
get railroad concessions, presented to him.
The tain cost them, 1 am told. something
like ore hundred thousand dollars The
emperor refused to accept 1t as gift, and
sent them back the sum of ten thousand
dollars in order to relieve himself from any
obligation. 1t is now six years since the
present was made, and they have gotten
no concessions. l saw these cars In Tien
Tsin some years ago, when they were on
their way to the emperor. They were car
ried into Picking by water. and his majesty
had track laid in the palace grounds. and
they were run for short time with steam.
This, however. was too fast for his maj
esty, and / understand that he now har
nesses Zip his eunuchs to the engine and
has them whipped right royalty by the
brakemen, he rides through the grounds.
The emperor knows nothing of modern
Civilization and modern warfare. He does
not even know his own country, and did he
possess a great character it would have
been ruined long since by his surroundings.
The Thieving Eunuchs.
This Is the man who is supposed to be at
the head of the great Chinese empire, and
who ought to be directing the war with
Japan. He is, am told, largely governed
by his eunuchs They have been his closest
associates throughout his life, and different
estimates state that he has all the way
from four to ten thousand of these eunuchs
in the palace. Our own minister, Col.
DENLY says that he has actual Information
that there are at least four thousand, and
when you remember that this immense
colony iS scattered over an area not much
larger than that of farm, you will see
that eunuchs are thicker than black5erries
In August. They are graded In different
departments. and each has his own duties.
Those of ordinary rank receive from two to
twelve dollars a month, but they make
fortunes out of squeezing and stealing,
and there Is one eunuch in the palace who
is said to be worth millions. His name is
ri Tsau Ii, and he is the confidential
servant of the old empress dowager. He is
a great office broker, and I heard of in
stances OF his getting hundred thousand
dollars and upward for single Offices and
have no doubt that he divides his profits
with the old empress. All of the officials of
Picking are afraid of him. and though he
began life as the son of a shoemaker he
has more power than many of the princes
his father was a cobbier in the city of
king. but since his son has become so power
full the old man has been elevated to a fat
office, and he has feather in his hat /
saw number of instances myself in Pc
King which gave me an insight into the
stealing OF these eunuchs. The finest of
the silks and embroideries of China are
made for the emperor He has vast silk
looms at Marking. and he has great por-
celain factories in different parts Of China
He receives his satin by the CARLOAD, and
one OF his recent orders, as 1 see by the
Peking Gazette. included thirty-four hun
dred rolls OF silk gauze. five hundred rolls
or brocades, and three hundred and seventy
rolls of satin. He buys his pencils by the
thousand, and paper is carried to Picking
for him by the shipload. He receives MANY
presents, and he can't keep track of all
bis possessions. The eunuchs sneak goods
cut of the palace and hand them G er to
secondhand peddlers, and ] was offered
gowns which were probably made for the
royal harem again and again during nv
stay In Peking, and you can buy fine pieces
or embroidery there with the flye-cIawed
dragon upon them, which is the imperial
coat-of-arms, for a song. Many fine
piece OF porcelain Is smuggled out of the
palaces and sold. and the officials probably
get a squeeze on all orders of goods that
they n AXE for the emperor
just one word more about the eunuchs
Inc laws provide that none but those of
royal blood shall have the right to employ
them, and prir cesses can have thirfv EN-
nuchs. while the nephews of the emperor
are restricted to twenty. Every fifth wear
certain Of the officials of China are re-
Quired to furnish for the use of the palace
eight young eunuchs each,and these princes
are paid three hundred dollars apiece for
them Even the priests who attend to the
worship OF the harem are eunuchs and the
emperor goes no place without them There
were several hundred guarding the roads
when the foreign minister came into the
audience. and the old empress dowager
mas quite a corrs of them.
The Empress DOwnSer
The empress dowager will be sixty wears
old next month. She is said to be a most
remarkable woman, and she has been prac-
ucally the ruler of China for the past gem
Grafton. She was the secondary wife or
the first concubine of the Emperor Hen
Fung, who died along about the time of
the beginning of our civil war and she has
been practically the boss of the harem and
the empire since then. She was at the
head of the empire during a greater mart
OF the kaiping rebellion. She managed IT'S
affairs during its war with France and she
had lttle taste of Russian diplomacy in
her fuss with the car of some wears AGO
she is said to have a mind of her own and
all or the Chinese respect and fear her
she Is n stickier to FORM and she in
slsts that all business shall be done through
the young emperor, though she really di-