The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-25
THE EMPEROR OLE CHINA.


II the American Indians were to pick
out name for the Emperor of China
1t would in all probability be Young Man
Afraid-of- His-Aunt; for 1t is quite evident
that he is afraid of her. and with good
reason. The aunt in question, of course,
is the Dowager Empress, who is the real
ruler of China, as she has been for many
years. For about ten years the "Son Of
Heaven" has been nominally at the head
of the government of the Flowery King
dom, but actually he has fewer pleasures
and privileges and less power than the
meanest of his 4OO,0OOOOO subjects. The
coolies in the rice fields have the privilege
of enjoying the free air and the sunshine
and of thinking and acting for their own
comfort. His majesty, however, is held
by Chinese customs to be a sacred person,
and he is treated pretty much as a pre-
cious jewel is cared for. He is wrapped
up in fine silks and packed away in a
box, where vulgar eyes cannot behold him,
and where the sun and the winds cannot
commit sacrilege by shining upon and
blowing on him.
The poor young fellow-he is now 26-
has not so much as a name, and he must
walt until he dies before he can have one
He is called Kwang-Hsu, but that merely
means succession of glory" having ref
erence to his exalted position in life Aft
er he dies a suitable name will be Sc
lected for him, and he will be canonized
and worshipped along with the hundreds
of his predecessors whom he has followed
in the succession of glory Kwang-H su's
accession to the throne was a sort of roy
al accident. He was not in the direct line
does not make any difference in China
When the former Emperor, his first cou-
sin, died, the Emperors mother elected"
the present Kwang- Hsu, her nephew, to
take his place. 1t is suspected that she
pitched upon him because he was not a
very promising child intellectually, and
she calculated that with him on the throne
she would be able to run things as she
pleased. Whether or not she has done it
is shown in the fact that for the third
time in ten years she has been request
ed by the Emperor to assume the reins
of government.
few years ago when the Emperor had
reached a suitable age, it was decided by
the court that he should marry And
then, for the first time, his majesty show
ed a little disposition towards pluck and
independence. He proposed that he should
himself select his first and second wives he
would leave the court to pick the nine
ty-eight others. 1t really seems that a
man ought TO be allowed to have a .
per cent. voice in his future happiness. But
the Dowager Empress would not permit
even that. She suffered the mandarins
to parade their loveliest daughters-and
some of them the prettiest little almond
eyed beauties in the world-before the ad-
miring Kwang-Hsu, and permitted him to
select and fail in love with two of them.
But at that point she entered her veto.
She told the "Orb of Day" and Source
of Power that she had niece whom she
had picked out to be his first wife and
Empress, and that IL he did not marry her
forthwith she would know the reason why
The Emperor protested feebly, but short
~ agreed, and the niece was produced.
to be fact does not appear, but they as
sert that the niece was a horribly ugly
and lll-tempered creature but, withal. a
very shrewd person, and that she and her
aunt the Dowager, have kept the misera-
BILE Emperor in stew ever since.