The Washington bee., 1899-03-25

~ 4.
this fact we refer to few of the steps
! taken by His Majesty during the
/ months of June. July and August.
On June Is. 1S9S. the Emperor issued
4 decree commanding the establish
ment of a university at Pekin." On
the 20th he ordered the Tsungli Va
men 10 report on the necessity of "en-
cOraging art. science and modern agri-
! culture" On the 23d he abolished
the literary essay as prominent part
OF the examination" On the 26th the
Ministers were censured for their de
lay in reporting on the proposed Pekin
university" and it was ordered that
THE I.u-Han Railway should be ex-
pedited.''
On July he commanded the eStab-
| lishment of agricultural schools in the
provinces to teach the farmers i'm
proved methods Of agriculture. On the
9th the Emperor ordered the Introduc-
ton Of patent and copyright laws
On the 9th the Board of War and the
Foreign Office were ordered to report
on the proposed reform in the military
examinations. On the 9TH special re-
wards were promised TO inventors and
authors" On the 14th the officials
were ordered 10 do all in their power
TO encourage trade and assist mer-
chants. On the 29th the establishment
of school boards was ordered in every
city in the Empire.
On August the Bureau of Mines
and Railways was established. with
Wang Wen-Shao and Chang Yun-huan
as high commissioners. On the 10th
Jung Lu and Liu Kunyi were directed
TO consult on the establishment of
naval academies and training ships"
On the 14th the Ministers and provin-
cial authorities We're urged to assist
the Emperor in his work of reform"
On the 22d it was ordered that schools
should he established in connection
with the Legations abroad for the
benefit of the sons Of Chinese living
in foreign countries
For more than Il year previous TO
the issuing of these DEGREES the Young
Emperor had been purchasing every
book on religion. science. government
and general education that had thus
far been published i'm the Chinese Ian
guage. Two years before he had been
daily reading portions OF the Scrip
lures. -Four years earlier he had be-
gun the study OF the English language.
No pains were spared to secure every
thing that would be helpful TO him i'm
the present crisis. When we consider
that all this was done by young man
who has been brought up in a conserv-
alive country. by old conservative
women. and in opposition 10 their
wishes. we can but wonder what he
might have done with fair opportun-
tiles and national and domestic SYM
pathy. What now has the Empress
Dowager done: She has deposed the
Emperor kuang Hsu and has him at
the present moment in close confine-
nent. and has forged an edict placing
herself on the throne She has be-
headed or banished his eunuchs and
has executed five OF the brightest
Young men OF her empire for no other
reason than that they were in favor of
reform. She has burned all the books
which the Emperor bought and ban
shed the ehnuch that bought them for
him. She has IN inordAlate love for
spending money. In 1887 1t was de-
ciie,I Ia set aside thirty million tapIS
for the creation of 4 navy. After pro
vidinC for the payment OF five hattIa-
ships. she appropriated The remainder
in the repair Of the Eho Park Gardens.