The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-02
TALES or /. CHINESE EMPEROR
Great Nation Powerless In the Hands Of
Empress and IA Hung Chang.

forward 90 its final fifth act. TeIe-
grams come and go from Pekin to Eng
land. yet who can say whether the
young emperor is alive or dead? No
foreigner Is allowed To penetrate into
the forbidden city. and short of some
foreigner seeing him whom could we
believe?
His predecessor. Tung Chi. passed
away In the course Of a palace onvul
sion. Shor of escaping in disguis to
the protection Of the British fleet IL IN
difficult to see how the present emper-
or could possibly find safety anywhere.
fnd how could we expect him, palace
oorn and bred, To- have energy for such
n Hight? On great state occasions. when
alone he mas gone abroad to offer wor-
ship at the Temple Of HEAVIER In ac-
cordance with the most ancient ritual
still In unbroken use. the roads nave
been remade before his passage win
dows barricaded and all people hidden
to keep within doors.
There are few things hat appeal
more to the Imagination than these
progresses OF the emperor OF China.
Tremendous outlay, crowds accom-
panying him, both before and behind.
and not an eye to see the gorg eols
spectacle. Can we conceive what the
jubilee procession would have been with
all the on-lookers removed? IL IS thus,
and thus alone. the emperor OF china
mas so Tar moved about.
He has also been brought up ~ a
great-aunt. who has never Intended him
to be of vigorous character. She u
be a very able woman to have retained
power since 1861. when Hen Flung died,
and she. Tsze Chi. together with the ell
der Tsze An, became regents. ms
the more so because she appears gen.
orally detested by the Chinese people,
who accuse her Of caring for nothing
hIf on IN Hing md money. She does not
seem suspected Of having brought
about the death of her husband, but
the two expresses together are sup
posed to have brought about the death
of the late Emperor Tung Chi when lie
was 20. in 1875. and to have removed his
younger brother. also inconveniently
near to coming of age. They then Sc
lected as heir to the throne the young
est son of the youngest brother.
In 1881 Tsze An died, and since then
Tsze Chi has held the power alone TIL
now. when the present emperor, having
nominally been emperor for p years.
has tried to take the reins and at once
been forced to abdicate. What more IL
may nave been found convenient TO
force him to do we do not know. He
has been described by one OF the few
Europeans who have seen him I'm off-
cial audience as endowed with prefer
natural dignity. and yet of so melan-
GnOlN n cast OF COunltndi't IA W sou-
den those who do but see him. The
Chinese report him well disposed. but
given to violent fits of temper. Some
say an epileptic.
Anyway the Empress Tsze Chi still
rules over China, the country one
would least expect to submit to "A wo-
man. women there being esteemed of
neither use, comfort nor ornament, but
merely necessary evils.
1,hara ~ Wild Gtnriag current QhOnf
the empress of China-that h studies
boxing. that she is half an English
woman. that she is anyway not the
child Of her reputed parents. Needless
to say, these are but told in whispers,
and never i'm "a room where some N
might be listening behind the door or
through the partition.
Whatever the empress has done In
the way of wrong or violence has so
far always been done with the help If
Ii Hung Chang. and both alike have
grown rich. Both are hated. both are
feared. But who Is to withstand them,
for the Whole Chinese people are with
out arms? There is no carriage of arms
permitted in China. When a German
died i'm the interior three years ago,
so impossible was IL to find any means
consistent with law of sending his three
guns to his consul at the coast. That
the officials had in the end to curry
them. so as TO save further trouble.
And il is owing to this want OF arms.
enforced by the power of the foreign
customs with an Englishman at its
head, that Il may now fare so badly
with the whole party of progress.
Through this foreign assistance they
may all be cut off and their party de-
stroyed as the Tai Ping rebellion
against the devastating Manchu 'ule
was put down, thanks to armed English
Interference. Nations rightly strug-
Cling to be free" do not always meet
with sympathy IN England. When
their home Is i'm the far East. who un-
derstands their needs, their aspirations?
II only remains for the empress and
Ii Hung Chang to succeed In getting
the one incorruptible vfceroy, Chang
Chi TunC. into Pek.n. and to all APP
%pearances the ~hardworking. frugal. pa
tient Chinese people will be powerless
in their hands. Chang Chi Tung. we
see by telegram. Is to Pek-
I'm. He was summoned in June. Re
delegated his authority, left his provin-
cial capital Of WuChang. and even get
as far as Shanghai. But a riot broke
out at Shaszi. All foreigners there 4
been driven out Of their burning hous-
es. his presence was required, and he
turned round and went back again.
Possibly another riot will break out
now, or Chang Chi Tunc's always frail
health will forbid travel ]. is difficult
to believe he will in any Ease trust him
self within the walls of Pekin.
OF all strange characters this of
Chang Chi Tung seems the stangest.
As small and puny as his rival Ii Is
tall and massive. he IL reported to have
killed his wife, and ever since then To be
so haunted by her ghost as never to
/ venture to lie down I'm he'd.
So the great viceroy, but frail old
man. has cushions always kept in read
mess by obsequious attendants, and
drops to sleep for a few minutes when
ever he can. sitting in his chair. his at
tendants meanwhile suffering all the
agonies OF atiru inseparsble from the
service OF n sleepless master. He is re-
spected everywherc for being poor. in
spit OF the high office he has held. yet
uin the finance OF any province he
administers by his gigantic undertake
!ngS. He Is reunited TO dislike foreign