The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-10

another The drouth in China is already
bringing about a political opinion, at least
that may have some practical results. It
Is thought chat the gods are very angry
over the Emperor's forced abdication and
The DoWager Empress urSurpation of au-
thoriiy 1t is declared that If the EN-
peror were on the throne and had gone up
10 the temple himself, as he has always
been delegated to do in such solemn crises
as this, his prayers would have been an
swercd long ago.
The Emperor Kuangsu, now a prisoner
in some one of the palaces within The For
hidden City, as as poweriess as he was a
year ago not only to offer official prayers
for rain. but to take even the smallest
part in the ordering of public affairs. He
| is still quite young and is chidless He
was described to me by gentleman who
accompanied one of the ambassadors TO
| the palace, as official interpreter just prior
| 10 his forced abdication, The palaces, seen
from the city walls, are very imposing,
| their roofs of imperial yellow tile embow-
cred among the trees, but hike most
| things Chinese, distance lends euchaut-
ment to the view. My informant said
| that the court through which they passed
| were dusty and dirty, with various kinds
| of debris blowing about The Chinese, I'M
| like the japanese, do not cover their floors
| with mats; they are paved with either
| brick or stone and are made the general
| catch-all. Everything is thrown upon il,
| even in the houses of the wealthy, rem
! rants Of food and litter of all sorts, in ad-
! ddtion to this, the Chinese, nine out of
| every ten of whom suffer with catarrh,
| spit uDon the floor continually. The Ems
| peror $ palace was no exception to the
| rule; the stone floor was far from clean
! and everything was scattered about in
! great disorder There were, of course, in
| the midst of all this the beautiful carved
| screens and tables. and costly cabinets
! flied with the rarest porcelain, old bronze
| and chisnice, with hangings of embroid-
cred silk, and Chinese stoves of polished
| brass, in which charcoal is burned.
The Emperor himself, who by the way,
has seventy-two wives, is slender and eff
| Terminate in appearance, with somewhat
| oval face regular features and dark, eX-
| DressiVe eyes But he gave evidence of
| physical and intellectual feebleness. The
| Empress dowager was then literally the
| power behind the throne, since she sat be-
| hind the Emperor, concealed by curtain
| from view, but able, as 1t may well be be-
| lieved, to both see and near the foreign
| ers" A great deal of nonsense has been
| written about this exalted parsonage, who
| no longer behind the throne, now sits
| upon it, practically, at least 1t has been
! told of her that she was at one time
| slave, but by her marriage was exalted to
| the position of wife of one of the emper-
| ors. Heinfung She is, in reality, wo-
man of very high birth, and of this there
can be no mistake in China, where the
| descent is kept as accurately and abso-
| lutely as was the custom among the Is
raelites She came from one of the south 4
ern provinces and is not the mother, but
the aunt, of the present Emperor. During
his minority she was made regent-a ca
pacity in which she had also served the
state during the minority of his predeces-
sor, the short-lved, vicious Tungchih, who
died from the results of dissipation. She
then acquired a taste of absolute authori-
ty, which she did not lose, apparently,
even after the accession of kuangsu. For
the third time she holds the reins of gov
ernment-the real autocrat of the Empire,
and ruler over nearly one-third of the
population of the globe. But, as | have |
said, she is of honorable and ancient line |
age, a woman of remarkable will and |
character, as her marvellous career has |
proved. She is, as might be supposed, con-
servative to the last degree-eastern SUI |
perstition and conservatism finding their |
strongest adherents among women who |
are uneducated and ignorant, and who |
are towards because of their ignorance, |
fearing not only tie actual evils of life |
but supernatural malevolence, as well,fear |
of which priests and charlatans . take /
ready advantage The most that can be |
said against the Dowager Empress so |
far as the Chinese proprieties are con- |
cerned, is that she once went upon the |
street of her native town unattended and |
bought cakes at a shop, a most immoral |
and shameless proceeding, measured by |
Chinese standards.
1t may not be generally understood that |
the law of succession in China is peculiar, |
like everything else in this strange coun- |
try. The eldest son does not inevitably |
come to the throne. The Emperor is sup |
posed carefully to study the character Of |
his male children, and he selects as the |
fun rulg hat mo hOF1 o considers
by ma tural endowment. talent mind and |
character as best adapted to the high Of |
fee One of the Emperors was the four |
tenth son of his father-rather' refiec- |
ton upon the imperial family, since its |
head had to run down the list to No. II |
discardng thirteen before ne could select |
one worthy to sit upon the dragon seat"
There are many difficulties in the way of |
succession which do not exist in other en- |
pires or monarchies In case the En-
peror dies childless, no one of ilis uncles' |
or of his fathers generation can rule, |
since that would, as DIR. Williams has stat
ed Involve the worship Of a lower or
younger generation by an older one" No |
one is eligible who already has a relative |
holding a high office, nepotism being re- |
garded by the Chinese with high dsfavor. |
SO marked is this popularity that no man |
can appoint relative to office, nor can
he hold office in a district in which a
relative may be already employed in the |
public service; nor can an official marry |
the daughter of resident of the town or |
district within his jurisdiction. In naming
Kuang Su, the present ruler-an Emperor
in name only-all these things had TO he
borne in mind and the choice was finally
made by the Empress Dowager and the |
Princes entitled by reason of their high
rank to act with her. The young heir
apparent was a yonng infant at the time
he was thus chosen. II may be said fur
Their of the Dowager Empress that, In a
country where even women of the high
est rank are ordinarily illiterate, she was
well educated according to Chinese IDEAS.
She was the second wife of the Emperor |
Hienfung by whom she bore a son.