The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-11-02

AL VIM (,afA defy the will of
! + ! !. !
1. E.EassE11ykNY VI 1sA the emperor he
SA4sNNSrsSNHJ1 may take their
ESEa&9XA ~ W heads off, and
ReETN&S IN should they dare
M.4l AN w defy the will of
j. M4Y MN on0o the people the
MfJ HoN ooIlH llemperor may
NJ lllI|l take their heads
Il SI i0N HHlInn off for that The
-9eA = -slsemperor pleases
himself first which is when he wants
to, and his people last, which is when
he has to. Not very easy job to keep
on the right side of potentate who
has two right sides, SO to speak.
\ The world has been for weeks find
ing out just how certain great China
men stand in the Boxer, reactionary
and proforeign reform middle. Plain
~, u Hung Chang and the rest of the
vlceroys waited to see chow the cat
would jump" OF the three peace COM
missioners first appointed by the
throne Ii Hung Chang is the best
known to the world, and he is very ex-
tensively known as a crafty individual
who takes good care of himself. Prince
Ching is known to foreigners in Picking
as notorious trimmer and Just as
likely to be butchering foreigners as
protecting them if he had anything to
make by it, AS for Jung Lu, the first
thing the representatives of the powers
must do is to find out whether or not
| his hands are now red with innocent
i blood.
i The two new commissioners, Chang
Chih Tung and Liu Kun vi, have
shown themselves able and progressive
leaders, but they are Chinese to the
core, old and conservative. Ii Hung
Chang is also Chinese, and Prince
Ching and Jung Lu are Mantchoos.
Against this board of doubtful compo-
sition anyway is Prince Tuan, the
clever Mantchoo, whom the throne
must hope to make the scapegoat for
| the performances Of June and July.
Prince Tuan is, of course, one Of the
imperial family. He is first cousin to
the Emperor Kwangsu, about ten years
his senior, and bears the same relation
to the empress dowager that the en-
peror does-that is, she is the aunt Of
both by marriage, having been the
wife Of their common uncle, Hsien-
flung, who died in 1861. There is rea-
son purely personal to the empress
dowager why Kwangsu and not Tuan
was selected in 1875 to succeed to the
vacant throne. Kwangsus mother was
the sister Of the empress dowager, who
was scheming to retain her position as
regent. Kwangsu was an infant of 2
years, with weak man for father,
While Tuan was then IL, with very
able father living. Tuan's power in
| the capital intrigues may be inferred
from the fact that a year ago his son
| was chosen heir apparent by the impe-
| rial clan.
Should Tuan be loaded with igno-
miny 1t will be very easy after the Chi
nese fashion to dispose of the heir APP
parent and thus save the throne from
| disgrace, but all of this will be but ''the
blood of martyrs in the eyes of the re-
dictionary element, which must be large
| and powerful, since the best men of the
Middle Kingdom hesitated to come out
| squarely and denounce the doings of
| the Boxers.
Tuan's rise to favor at court has been
| rapid In 1893 he was presented to the
emperor and was several times chosen
to represent the Son of Heaven in the
| annual sacrifices at the tombs Of the
imperial ancestors. Next he was ap-
pointed commander of the Bordered
White Banner corps, advanced one
rank in the order Of princes, with the
special title of Prince Tuan. During
the war with Japan he was chief of the
Peking field force, position formerly
held by the emperor's father. Both the
emperor and the empress dowager
! showered favors upon Tuan. He held
military commands and was president
OF the society out Of which grew the
Boxers. He is not the reigning spirit
of the Boxers, but by reason of his
power at court has manipulated them
through cooperation with their real
chieftain, one Nui, man of the people
and the head of one Of the greatest po-
litical uprisings China has seen for
generation, the end of which is not yet
Tuan has cleverly turned the growing
hatred Of the people for the Mantchoo
rulers into hatred of European foreign
ers, and now If the Mantchoo rulers
sacrifice Tuan the Boxer will have an
other congenial job on hand.
The Mantchoo element is represented
in the board of peace commissioners by
Jung Lu, who is called by well posted
| foreigners "as violent and reactionary
as Tuan." He has been viceroy of Pc
chill and therefore subservient to the
court and in four years has risen from
an obscure military command in the
provinces to the most important vice
royship and the highest military COM
mand in the empire. His chief service
to the throne which has thus favored
him has been the crushing out Of the
reform party in 1898. 1t is said that in
order to keep face" the empress dowa.
ger once ordered Jung Lu banished
from the kingdom for ten years, but he
kept right on holding big offices and
drawing big revenues. Jung Lu held