The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-02-13

FoB the Westminstsr Repte,c.
There is "A young man in Pekin who would
no trembling just now in his skin IL he we're
only able TO realize properly the danger that 10
threatened to him and bis empire by some Of
those very kind friends who have como to him
dono Jerentcs. lie is the Emperor KuanR Hau,
systematically known. among other outrage
Gus titles, as the Son of Heaven and Brother Of
the Sun. He is the most secluded monarch on
earth. When he appears in public, which IL
very rarely, mating is hung up in front Of ell
the houses, and strips of cloth are stretched
across the alleys and side streets through
which the imperial procession must pass. He
Is Invariably accompanied by n vast retinue Of
soldiers and an army Of courtiers. and the man
who peeps around the corner or has his eyes
fastened to q hole In the mating is liable TO DO
blinded by a bullet or an arrow. When he Ia al
home he is carefully hidden away in the centre
of a big Tartar city (which is in the centre of
tho Chinese city, at Pekin, and you have to
go through three sets Of walls-simply an I'm
possible task for a European v~isitor-beforo
you approach the building in which he 10 kept,
guarded by eunuchs. First, there are the inn
mense walls of the great Tartar city. which are
sixty feet thick and as tall as q London fat.
These inclose n large area filled UP with tie
houses Of Tartars and Government buildings,
which run round a space the middle Of which is
~" II Tx hhlpSiihl Wy. 1hlh u " nlku
wall OF gray bricks about six miles In circum-
ference, and 1t includes the outside palaces,
the pleasure grounds, and the temples Of the
sacred city. The Emperor is kept inside this.
and his exclusive quarters are known as the
Purple Forbidden City. The walls Of this last
pen are rigidly guarded. They inclose the
quarters OF the Emperor. his family. the ladies
OF the :royal harem, and the thousands of
eunuchs who make up the servonts, and in
.I,,l- L-.II.--. H. --.. III
are arranged round the sides OF a ridge of pal
aces running from the north to the south. The
Emperor himself lives in the northwestern part
Of the pen, and the Empress Dowager has a pal
nee near by. In another part Of the Enclosure
Is the hall OF literary abyss, or the imperial
library. and in this the Cabinet officers (about
IS a huge city, credited with 1,5OO,O 900 inhabit-
ants. but apart from the eunuchs, the toadies,
den City, 1t is doubtful IL 5000 OF this vast
number have ever set eyes upon the monarch.
and among Europeans and Americans 1t 10 only
the Ambassadors who are permitted to gaze
upon his august countenance.
Though he is generally credited with the pos
him to smash the brio. a-brac of his apartments
ruling go no further than doing what he is told
to do. He is kept In order-ancestor worship
% oG5gE the S old EEm n9,as 4 bo owe SereS wbo m9rai eSGS
runs the state show, and who is influenced
iesReh Of d hyY whin ta weTsins thrS fssflns a t ah9
sometimes by that bacEstairs palace Intrigue
which works through the favorable medium OF
which means The Ilustrious succession-has
been under the old lady's thumb since he was4
T'ung,chi. She supervised his education. She
picked out his wives for him.. and she makes
walk chalk in her presence. OF course she took
her own friends when she selected his wives,
Gals and girls that Il he had a Will OF his own
he wouldn't know how to, use It. The Empress
Dowager, who has bossed the Tsunsii,Yamen
the secondary wife Of the Emperor Hsien Fung.
She was at the head Of the empire during, a
managed its affairs during its war with France
and she has had more than one taste Of Russian
own. and all of the Chinese respect and fear her,
She Is a stickler as to form, and insists that all
peror, though she really directs what he Is 70 do.
She i, even more secluded than the Emperor.
net Ministers, her practice is to sit behind Q
screen while they talk at her through it-unless
'' Th "si E sSms1a'n ls 81 s!rG lesn TO u sSK So sa1% and un.
healthy. His features are Tartar as contradis-
bft eISg 'ss or From one cni sSosia t Know Tsif bnt Srd 5smiIy
does not, Tartar. He does all his business, at
night and he sleeps In the daytime. He begins
Night mig T9 brea aR%Ht When 1h 1nf he m fsceiVs, f his c q %lss
Ministers. who. on being ushered into his pres
seven.faced "Ko.tou"-that Is. BUM their
heads again and again on the floor, They also
thing about and Connected with Kaang Hsu Is
fegui la / by ia law Gn even to d his meals reals Accord As. s.
placed before him daily thirty, pounds of meat
In a basin and seven pounds boiled into soup:
h hoe sAf Eat e ANDY and ba i.G@an sed Fl he sR RSs the a P PiSht 20 %
order two sheen. two fowls and two ducka.
While wiit y MS n's drink So for The he day day Is restricted tr ct to the
FIVE parcels Of tea, 1t is probable thar his real
diet is diffsre1ti but these are the regulation
not on the menu the board having charge of tho
imperial table has to be consulted. 1t is more
exalted situation and his power: He has been
hemmed in and fooled ALI his life; He know9
the recent war, next to nothing Of modern war
fare. He has never reviewed, and Is not capa-
amusement is to shoot with a bow and arrow.
II ne ever had In him the makings OF a Char1c-
his Il mode Of life and his surroundinsss
The supreme bodies which. by the grace Of
have the direction OF the couutry's affairs. are
the Grand Council, the Ministry Of War, and
the Tsuns,licIaHMe The first, which is erro.
to our Cabinet, and consists of five members
Prince Kung, the Emperor's uncle. whose prin.
stormy scenes: shih TO, better known to us az
affairs and hates all foreign barbarnns;"
Weng Tung.ho. the Emperor's private, tutor,
tho barbarians, though he is credited with hav.
Ing taken, to the study CT foreign affairs since
who gained his high Office by presenting the
Emperor, for the purposes OF the late war. with
n. large sum OF money, which he had no doubt
obtained by e~NtOrtion of one kind or another,
and whose appreciation of modern conditions
in warfare may be judged by the fact that he
prefers bows and arrows to guns. and has Or
dered that those OF his companies which arc
provided with the murderous rife shall use
clay bullets, so as to save the expense OF leaden
ones; and Chen Ying-pu, President of the Board
Of Works, who j. stnsularly free from Irrju.
experience has never brought him into proper
contact with them. The Ministry OF War con.
ststs OF Prince kung tPresident, Prince Ching
Lu. With two OF these gentlemen we have al.
ready made acquaintance. Prince Ching II
KuaIRI was promoted from the third TO tho
second order Of princes four years ago. He has
held many offices in the capital, among others
that OF President Of the Tsung Ii Ysmen. to
which he still belongs, and ID reported to be .
fair minded man relatively, that Ia. for he
has never been far from home. Jung Lu Is .
Manchu, and airs advanced views which are
crude. His lengthy connection with tho War