The Wichita daily eagle., 1900-08-31
II HUNG 5 HARD JOB
Buffer 'TWixt China and the
Rest of the World.
FOUR TIMES A WINNER
Over Western Craft = Two
Cauc aSians He Admires.


great inter national complication. To.
morrow he nj ~ be stripped of every YES
tige of that authority. The empress
ibeckons to hi h from a remote corner OF
the empire, ives him the robes which
make him sec ond in power only to her.
sends him for tn as the ablest and best
equipped man, the most astute diplomat
in her realm, t % settle a stupendous diff
ficulty, and VIII, n he has successfully per-
formed this mis- sionn her next action says
"Well done, Z; Lrl Ii. You may now go
back to an OBJ. Icure province where you
can do me no possible harm, until again
require your services" Ii goes forthwith
from Pe-Chi-Li. to Canton or somewhere
else. minus his yellow jacket and pea
cock feather.
The empress respect and admiral tion for
her statesman subject, her total depend
ence upon him to deal with complicated
International questions when they arise,
her deep distIust of his real feeling to-
ward her and the present form of gov
ernment make his position a peculiar
and contradictory one. During the China
japanese war Ito replied to China's over
lures for settl ement: I'VE will not nego-
tate with :rour government except
through Ii Hung Chang, and his author
ity to act must beNcomplete" There was
no other way put of the difficulty, and
Ii was sent, and he appeased the Japa-
nese government by giving them Formo-
sa. His enemies at court accused him of
disloyalty because he did not make bet
ter bargain, or one less humiliating to
China. Imperial censure was not ex-
pressed, however. Earl Ii has again been
summoned to Peakin, and asked to play
the role of m ediator between his govern
ment and the foreign powers now in
the capital to rescue their representa-
tives. There is no way of shirking the
duty which the empress desires to i'm
pose upon him. And if he does not ac-
complish it wisely and well it may cost
him the head which has guided his coun-
try out of so many difficulties in the
past. He well knows the value of tempor-
izing, as the festirka lente policy has
stood by him under four emperors. The
question is, will it serve him with his
fifth sovereign? Retween Scylla and,
Charybds he stands, one arm extended
in entreaty to his empress to quell her
riotous subjects and the other as il to
implore the army of the foreigners to
stay their march and their vengeance
In his unique position interest cannot
fail to center on Earl Ii, who is in MANY
respects one Of the most remarkable men
of modern times. He is a political enig-
ma. He has never yet been out -gener-
aled. Barring the Chino-Japanese treaty
which was made an excuse by his ene-
mics to dim the lustre of his career he
has confessedly come out on top in every
diplomatic rub with the agents of other
nations. He stands midway between two
civilizations six thousand years apart.
He has never deigned to learn a Euro
pean~ language or to adopt European
manners and customs, and he contem-
plates our modern civilization from his
ancient historical heights as the evanes-
cent creation of a day. But he has cul-
tivated a broad enough vision to take in
the aims and purposes of the newer civ
iliZation, and he is the one man in the
empire whose mind is prepared to cope
with foreign schemers. As a pure Chi
nese he does not love, neither does he
hate, the foreigners any moro than he
loves or hates his Manchu empress or the
boxers. He sees wherein are the good
and the had in all three and seeks to
utilize what is best for his particular
purpose. The foreigners are welcome as
paid instructors or guests, but not as
masters. He has established military.
naval. torpedo. telegraph, railway and
medical schools within the empire. and
yet is looked upon as the greatest man
among them by a people so averse to
change. His enemies are legion, but the
old Chinese proverb says: ''The size of a
tower is measured by its shadow, and A
great man by the number of his enc
mics"
Ii Hung Chang is accounted by his
friends a great diplomat. sagacious. able
and unselfsh. BY his enemies he is con-
sidered schemer. INSCRIPTIONS. crafty
and mercenary. with a ruling passion for
power As a matter Of fact he has done
much for his country's progress. and no
step forward had been marked by ropu-
lar outbreak. because he does not forget
To teach the process of creeping in show
ing the Chinese how to walk in modern
ways
A survey Of the career OF Ii Hung
Chang from his boyho0d to the present
day shd<ys that the remarkable promises
of his early youth have been fulfilled.
As a student. soldier. Vicerov and dip
lomat. he has met with almost unmeas-
ured success. 81 was born the same wear
as General Grant he answers to any
one asking his age. proudly coupling his
name with that n man who. with Cor
don. he considers the greatest he has ever
known. The date OF LIS birth. therefore
is 1872. The place IS the village Of Hwei
Ting, in the province of Ngau Wei. in the
Yang-tse valley. not far from Nankln
Il was the son of parents who belonged
u the literary class. They We're amh!-
uouS for their dve sons. Of whom Ii
was the second, and sent them 20 the
best schools within their means. Young
Ii soon distinguished himself at the vii
lage school by feats Of memory and pen
manship A. i years Ct aSe he passe1
his first examination and took his bac-
calaureate degree in Ngan King. the
provincial capital Some years later hs
passed his second examination, securing
the masters degree in the famous com
pound Al Eco Chow, over whose gates IS
written; Let none but able scholars en-
Ter here AT Pekin, whithe- all students
must 80 for IL. L passed his third and
nnal examination. acquiring ma doctors
degree and a Mands-in's button OF The
fourth grade. Then he became a member
o. the noted Han Lin college. and settled
down to a literary and bureaucrafic nse
ne vas next hsaVd Of as 3 full-fiedged
general When the Tai Ping rebellion
broke cur he modified and Ted the local
militia With such success that tie viceroy
Of his province placed h.u, II c.mrsna |
Oh a division ~ he -zs,T