Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-25
CHINA'S EMPRESS DOWAGER
SKETCH OF LIFE AND CHARACTER
OF A REMARKABLE WOMAN.
Weight of Evidence Stamps Her as
rlciOus and Sanguinary.''
From the New York Times.

beHDy, mas Deen severely taken to task
by the Shanghai press for his reference to
the empress regent of China as one of the
great women of the world, who will go
down to history as the compeer of Cathe
rine, Elizabeth and Victoria. The colloca-
ton was somewhat lacking in congruity,
but the most serious offense taken at
the mention of the name of Victoria in this
connection. One paper found it difficult
to characterize in the terms 1t deserved
''such an inexcusably impudent statement
as that made by Colonel DENLY 1t ac
quilted him of any intention to insult the
queen. but added that his mind was of so
sluggish a character that when he wrote
the sentence quoted he probably did not
see what it implied. Americans resident
in China wrote in approval Of these criti-
cisms. and altogether the attempt of the
ex-minister to make an admirable historic
character out of the redoubtable old lady
who is at present engaging the attention
OF the world was not a success among the
community which may be supposed to be
best informed on the subject.
On behalf of Colonel DENLY. however. 1T
should be stated that others have found
reason to praise the empress dowager.
The judicious DIR. Martin. who resided for
forty-five years in China missionary,
and as one of the professors of the I'm
perial College, wrote a book based on his
experience, in which he says that among
China's expresses there are not many to
compare with the Dowager TsZehi. He
calls her representative woman, one care
fully educated and full of sympathy for the
dlstresScs of her people, and not less dis
tinguished for patriotism than for human
ity.
When some Ingenious historical investi-
gator undertakes to rehabilitate the char
acter of the empress dowager, who Is
more likely to be bracketed with Messalina
than with Queen Victoria. he will doubtless
derive much comfort from the testimony of
Colonel DENLY and DIR. Martin. Meanwhile.
the weight of evidence seems to be on the
side of the Shanghai view, which stamps
her as Ignorant. timid. self-willed ava
ricious and sanguinary," of unbridled pas
sions. and most royalty unconventional in
her general mode of morality. The pro-
scribed reformer. kangYu-Wei. on whose
head the empress dowager has set a very
large price, may not be regarded as an alto
gether unprejudiced witness. but 1t Is worth
noting that he accuses the old lady of
taking daily delight in licentious pleasure,
and says that she does not read books. is
quite ignorant of all foreign affairs. and
that, therefore, when requested to found
colleges, build railways. open mines. con-
struct machinery. encourage commerce and
foster agriculture, she resolutely refused
to grant anything. She prefers to permit
foreign nations to invade us rather than
exert herself to oppose them. But this Is
If one held out a sword, handle first to
ones enemy"
The Empress Many Names.
iIiS truly NoIlrtll- WHO
enjoyed for at least generation the dis
tinction of ruling over a fourth of the hui
man race, and who is held in awe by Chinese
and Manchus of all ranks and conditions.
has a name formidable her position.
DR.. Martin gives 1t follows: TsZehi Tona-
yu Kangi Chaoyu Chuangcheng Shokung
Chinhien Chungsih. The photography does
not follow the accepted standard. but how
ever spelled the name Is not likely to pass
into general use. AS to the origin of the
owner of this sesquipedalion visiting card.
authorities differ. "A Manchu and born of
a noble house says the ex-professor of
the Imperial College. by race and birth a
Chinese. and not Manchu at all-risen
from the obscurity and questionable
rality of a singing girls life" say the
ribald journalists of Shanghai and Hong
kong.
empress dowager one of the secondary
wives of the Emperor Hsien Feng, who fed
from Pekin to Mongolia the approach
of the Ang!o-French troops in 1860. The
emperor died at his hunting lodge. in Jeho
after having made Will in which he be-
Gueathed the guardianship of the heir pre-
sump;ive to the throne to his first WIFE,
the legal empress. and to the secondary
one, who was the childs mother. The con-
tidence of the emperor had evidently been
reposed in the first or legal wife, who was
a woman of great gentleness and purity of
character. In Difference TO the fundamental
law of the dynasty, that no woman and no
eunuch should ever reign rule in China
the emperor in his will nominated a coun-
Gil to act during the minority of his infant
son, afterward the Emperor Tung Chin.
AT the death of Hsen FenS the present
empress dowager was twenty-seven years
old 1t did not at all suit either her diSpo-
sition or her plans for the future to have
the whole power of the empire pass into the
hands of the council of regents while she
devoted herself to domestic duties She ac-
cordingly proposed to Prince Kung the
brother Of the late emperor. to suppress the
council and set up the two expresses in its
place. leaving the prince himself, however.
to be the real executive and de facto ruler
of China. AS an illustrton of how the
same event may strike different narrators
and incidentally showing how greatly the
point of view may modify any judgment of
the career and character of the empress
dowager, here are two accounts given by
what must be deemed competent authori-
ties of the coup d'etat engineered by Prince
kung.
DIR. Martins Account.
First, the suave and cautious Dr. Martin:
"Sushun and Toanhoa, two princes of
the blood, taking possession of the infant,
conciliated the ladies by proclaiming a re-
gency in their name and bringing the new
emf error back to Pekin. Prince Kung
was an obstacle to their ambition, and he
was marked for destruction; but, acting on
the advice Of his father-in-law, the astute
cd Kweiliang. he was too quick for his
q,
The imperial ladies. grateful for deliver
ance from the self-constituted guardians
of their son, proclaimed him Icheng-
Wang, or joint regent"
Second. the cynical old China hand, who,
from time to time, adorns the pages of
Blackwood's Magazine with luminous COM
ments on Chinese affairs:
Prince kung yielded to the seduction
and thus became accessory to the viola
ton of the dynastic law-of what other
law, human divine, it is needless to par
ticularize. The dilatory Chinese can be
prompt enough on occasions, as has re-
Gently been seen. and Prince Kung took
the first opportunity of executing the plot
Matched by his sister-in-law. The regents
were returning from the obsequies of the
deceased emperor when Prince Kung
launched trumped charges against them Of
neglect of certain funeral rites, and had
them arrested on the road and executed
BY this summary violence the two en-
presses We're securely established as re-
gents. with Prince Kung as chancellor of
the empire
The two expresses lived in separate
buildings in the great inner city of Pekin,
and, from the position of their respective
palaces, the one was known as the east
ern and the other as the western en-
press. The latter title belonged to the lady
now under consideration, whose stronger
and more INSCRIPTIONS character very
soon asserted itself In the direction of af-
fairs. She was Loyalty supported by Prince