The age-herald., 1898-09-24
By the Chinese Minister at Washing
 ton, Mr. Wu Ting Fang.
TRIUMPH OF NO FOREIGN NATION
Essential Purpose of Imperial Edict Was to Strengthen China Hers elf in Hour of fNeed-Celestial En-
 pire Will Remain Intact.

Minister. Mr. Wu Ting Fang, today re- ceived a cable dispatch from the Chinese foreign office at Pekin giving the text of the edict issued by the emperor yesterday in which, owing to the critical condition of Chinese affairs, he calls back to power the Empress Dowager and commits to Ter hands the direction of the vast affairs of the empire. The edct freely translated from the cipher cable is as follows;
 Now that China is disturbed and there is need that all business should be well done, we, the emperor, agitated from morn ing to evening for the welfare of all affairs and fearful lest errors may occur, observ-. ing from the beginning of the reign of Tung Chi that the Empress Dowager had twice given instructions to the emperor, each time with signal ability and success, so we now, considering the important in- terests of the empire, have begged the Elm press Dowager to give to the emperor the benefit of her ripe experience and her in- structon.
 The Dowager Acc oded
 "The Dowager Empress has been pleas ed to accede to this request. Therefore it is to the good fortune of the whole em- pire that this suspicious event is brought dDOul- iOudy luS I1oWd8Sl I1iiiPA S'9 conducts the business in the imperial apartments, and on the Sth day of the pres ent month, Chinese calendar (meaning to- day, English calendar), we will take all the princes and ministers to perform the ceremony in the Chin Chung palace Let the Yamen (foreign ofIice) prepare, that the ceremony may be performed with fit ting honors."
 The Chinese minister was seen at the legation today and talked freely concern ing the edict He said there was ho se- crecy about it, nothing to indicate that it was a triumph of one foreign element over another, and that its essential pur- pose was to strengthen China herself at time when serious foreign problems were presented. It was quite natural, he sad, that the Dowager Empress should be call- ed to the aid of the emperor, owing to dy- nastic reasons.
 The present dowager has survived three dynasties, beginning with that of Emperor Hsen Flung. She was the second wife of the emperor and bore him son, Tung Chai, who on the death of his father, became emperor The latter was an infant ruler, and the mother then and now dowager em- press, directed for him the vast affairs of
 
 On his death without issue the dowager elected her nephew, Kwang Hsu, to be- come the emperor, and his reign is now in progress. He was a child when he took the throne twenty-four years ago, and up to nine years ago the dowager directed affairs for him, acting much as the queen regent of Spain acts for the boy king. It is this dowager empress who is now recalled to the active assistance of the emperor. This, the Chinese minister points out, is a natural move toward the strengthening of the hands of the emperor, giving him that same aid which the dowager empress gave while the emperor and his predecessor were in reign.
 The minister says he considers the move not favorable to any power. It's effect, he says, will be toward strict impartiality in Chinas treatment of Russia, Great Britain, Germany France, the United States, Japan and the world at large During the former regency of the empress she had shown a