Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-25
visers acquitted themselves creditabIy
through II ALL
breaks With Prince hung.

to break with Prince Kung. That polite
parsonage had adroitly contrived to play off
the gentle eastern empress against the mas
terful western one with the natural result
o. making the latter as anxious to get rid
OF her brother-in-law she had been Of
the council of regency. The assumption OF
power by the Emperor Tung-Chih in 1873
aVerted conflict betweeh his mother and
uncle. and probably left the empress dow
ager with freer hand to control affairs
than she had before. The son appears to
nave inherited some of his mothers charac-
teristlcs, without any of her strength. He
relgned but two years, dying as was be-
ieved. from the result of his own excuses
With the disappearance of Tung- Chin
from the stage the role OF his mother would
appear to have been definitely Terminated
There was certainly no legal pretext under
which she could continue to administer the
anairs OF China. But, in the words Of our
Blackwood authority. her appetite had
grown by what 1t fed upon. She had now
fourteen years schooling in statecraft and
she resolved that. per fas aut nefas reign
VINO might. she would govern" The fact
tnat thsre was no other competent ruler in
sight. either within the imperial circle or
outside of it. doubtless helped her ambition
In any case, she was able to usrrp with
out question the right to nominate the heir
to me throne. and this she did by adopting,
on behalf of her husband. who had been
dead fourteen years second son In the
persen or her sisters child. This infant
was accordingly proclaimed .mperor ,Inder
the style or kuang Hsu and his name has
been used during the last twentv-three
years chiefly to sign the edicts of his in,nc-
rlous aunt. The eastern empress died at an
opportune moment, leaving the western en-
press thereafter to be known as the empress
dowager and in undSputed possession OF
the held. There was only Prince Kuny TO
be reckoned with. whose sen was the. legal
heir to the throne. The two whose rela-
tlons mad at first been extremely intimate
mad become mortal enemies. and after the
master stroke of the empress in 1879 they
hnr ,,t,,
text was found in 1854 for degrading and
Diminishing the prince from his ,fIiccs. 1t
was on the younger brother of Euny who
wa, Was ALSO the father of the emperor. that
the empress doWager was supposed to lean
curing the minority of Kuang Hsu But
th!s was merely concession to the re-
qurements of prestige and legality: her
real right hand during this period was Iii
Hung Chang 80
Resolved Into Factions,
In time the emperor came of age but his
aunt and adaptive mother was so little dis
posed to give up the rens of power that
she compelled him to enter into a nrivate
treaty whereby in making over to him full
powers, she specifically reserved to herself
certain articles. twenty-five in number, and
she Is said to have retained in her possess
sion most important seal. without which
the emperors authority could never be
complete. Be this as 1t may, there inevita-
Oily grew up an cmperors party and a dow
ayers party, the former attracting To If
most or the progressive minds among the
ruling caste. and the latter standing by tn.
old ways and obStina:ely maintaining the
old traditions. 1t had not been always 90,
because. In 1889. the empress dowager and
LII hung Chang stood for railroad construc-
ton and the introduction of other western
IDEAS into the empire. But the new party
OF progress went so very much further than
they We're prepared to go that by the very
necessity OF the case the conservatism of
China found itself embodied in those who
Upheld the authority Of the emperors aunt.
me conflict between the two came to a
head in 1888. and 1t became a question
whether the empress and her friends should
have to fly for their lives or should reduce
the advisers of the emperor to that neces-
sty. In September, 1S!,S. a decision was
very promptly reached by the empress
dowager. and, having first possessed her
self of the military force of the capital or
what amounted to the same thing. having
seen 1t transferred to trustworthy hands,
she compelled the emperor to sign a decree
ordering his own deposition. This was
dated September 90 1895 and in addition 10
the order deposing himself the emperor was
made to appoint his aunt regent of the
empire. 1t was feared at the time that
she had made away with her nephew and
for weeks. if not months, after 1t was as
sumed that she was merely awaiting a IA
vorable moment TO announce his death.
But she contentcd herself with reducing
kuanG Hsu to a condition of innOcuous
desuetude and had him confined on small
island in the palace grounds. with no avail
able means of communicating with the
shore except with her consent.
Even this isolation. however did not APP
pear to be sufficient I, give the dowaser
empress a feeling Of perfect security, and
on the oath of January last, a week before
the Chinese New Year. al ediCt was issued
announcing the emperor's ahdication of the
throne in favor of another juvenile proteGc
of the lady who proposed To reign as long
h,-
unexpected, but il had some very uneX-
pected results Among them was the awak-
ening of a genuine public opinion in China,
and the filing of protests from all parts of
the empire against the contemplated act.
There is nothing quite astounding in the
recent history of a paradoXical people as
the immediate submission of the empress
dowager and her kitchen cabinet 10 the
veto of a number of scattered officials. mer-
chants and gentry throughout the empire.
The fact that some of those who protested
We're Immediately branded traitors and
orders issued for their arrest does not serve
to make the mystery any palmer. The fact
remains that this notable blunder of
the empress dowager has to some extent
created public opinion in China. an opinion
which If disregarded would very evidently
have led to revolution.
RefOrmers Lost Their Heads.
The sanguinary disposition of the en-
press dowager had full opportunity to dis
play itself when the emperor abdicated two
years ago. Six of the reformers who had
been held responsible Tor this too precipi-
tate method of reorganizng the govern
ment of the empire lost their heads, and
some 300 others were marked out for
slaughter The numbers of the prescribed
have been considerably swelled by those
who got up the petition against the en-
peror's dethronement. That this was de-
liberately planned does not admit Of
doubt, though the empress dowager did
leave herself the loophole, by means of
which she escaped the consequences of her
own somewhat rash design. The child who
was selected to succeed the present eni-
peror, and who is still his official success
sor, was designated the heir of Tung
Chin, the emperor who died twenty-five
years ago, and not of Kuang Hsu. by this
action it was proposed to blot out the lat
ter from the list Of emoerors of China,
and the year beginning with the 31st Of
last would have been known as
the first year Of whatever dynastic title
should be selected for the six-year-oli son
of Prince Tuan.
That the empress dowager yielded to the
pressure of public opinion in matter
which she had resolutely set her mind is
evidence enough that China is by no means
the inert mass that some people believe 1t
to be, and is also evidence that the present
disorders could be very readily cured were