Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-12-14
PARTIES IN CHINA
Interesting Facts from a Noted
Chinese Leader.
I..sp Aaairs of the Barbarian eo-
pise Cemmunicated by Oas 81
the kiagdom's Pro.
gPsssive Asa.

gssssive Mes.
The following extracts from . mem.
orandum prepared last autumn Tor an
English friend by the Chinese reform.
er, Ksng Yu Wei. will be read with
interest at the present juncturs. ssys
the London Times-
"In order properly to comprehend
the inner affairs of the Chinese en-
pire, the drst thing needfni IL rightly
to distinguish the different parties In
China. The empress dowag~r holds
on to tho old ways: her party 10
known as the 'empress' party Tho
emperor and his friends who d~airo
reform are known as the '~mp~ror's
party Then there Ii n third party.
known Us the middle party which 10
chiefly concerned with its own in
,sr.sts and dares not interfere in
politics. Nins-tenths Of the people
and officials are comprised In this
party.
9Th. empress downger. notwith-
standing that she is the head of the
ruling party. possesses few or no
friends ontsiie Of official circles and
the Yam-ns- Otherwise her influence
is small. Her iniimai-s are all Man
ehus. Yung In. appointed by her
commander In chief; kRngwel. special
commissioner for the collection af AL
iItIonai revenues from the provinces:
Prince Tuan. Sun Yu. I,wai.ta-pu. etc.
The only clever man among them Ii
Sung Lu: the rest ar. d-nscly igno-
ran, and care for nothing hut wealth
and official rank. OF the high mill
iary officials. Tnng- F.. n.Siang belongs
TO the empress party and Saan.shi-
Kai To the .mp-ror's. All the re-
maind~r may bc said to belong To the
middle party. Thus ! am right In
saying that the -mpr-ss' party are
few In number. although At the mo-
m~ni their power IL great.
The middle party. on the other
hand. Is spread thr"urhou, tho whole
empire. The majority ar- In their
heart of hearts devoted to the en-
p-ror. admirinI his Intelligence and
r~c;iiadr. and these are alarmed and
angry at the empress usurpa,ion.
They know how irnoran; sh. Is and
what a dissniuic life she has led for
tho las, ~ years. and ,ha, tho weak.
uFAh wilma - thFRrlN to Hrf
nIsd--ds. Hut tho high officials arc
TOO old: they sis biinkIng In the ,wI.
light. no; daring To act. but leaving
success or rnin To come. as the en-
pcror or the etnprrss gains the upper
Hand.
-Eninra as the rtnp-ror's party is.
&c; they arc the real rcfdrn-rs: both
officials and people. they long for re-
form and nrw methods. bnt while tho
empress party hold the power. they
are In dread Of severe punishment.
~ the time as the coup i'ciat tho
empress falsely asserted ihs, the -,n.
prrnr's party was planning r-toii.
she prohibited newspapers. Killed aud
drove out hundreds nf r-fnrm-rs and
.Niicd numbers Of high officials to the
frontiers. Siy Of the r-fnrm-fs cN-
.cu;cd wcr- high metropolitan off,
riAis. one a member of the grand
~pnnril and one whom the emperor
had nominated TO b. prime minister:
all WEIR tho ~mp-rur's personal
friends: they wrr- bch-ndci without
trial. while hundreds of smaller Of.
hcisi~ and thousands Of The common
people were prescribed Thcsr meas.
Hrrs were carried out In order 4. clip
tho .mpcror's wings. Why wcr- all
these leading men willing to associ.
ate themselves with the reform par.
iy7 The answer is ,ha, they wcr-
hyai subjects. anxious to save their
country and deserve the cmpcror's
brurroirncc. You have only TO read
The Chinese newspapers. Ko.wcn.pao.
published in Ticnisin: Su.pao. pub.
fishc,i in Shanghai: Chi.hsin.pao. pu,,-
Fshcd in Macao: Ching.ni.pao. pub
Eshc,i at Yokohama: n.nan.pao.
published at Singapore-,hcsc are all
published under foreign protection
and so arc able to speak the truth:
they one and all sympa,hi,c with the
party of reform. The Japanese news
papers all take the same view: their |
criticism is independent. The en-.
press iovagrr IL a liccn,ious old won.
an. She is not the cmpcror's real
mother. and she had no hesitation in |
deposing him So "a To retain her rn,s-
sr. Hut she was wrong In takinr.
yunr Lu's advice TO deposc the en-
peror and place the power In his
tSun1 Lu'sl hands. As soon n. he
rot control Of the northern troops
vunH Lu threw OF the mask and did
what he wiifcd. and the empress lives