The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-04-20

EVENTS IN
FAR CATHAY
Recent Edicts Of the
Dowager.
A CATHARINE OF CHINA
More Piracy Near Canton Railway
Matters travelling Digni-
taries III Hung Chang,

HoNGKoNG. March 24.-The Hong
kong Weekly Press says;
We give below the text Of the I'm
perial Edict of the 9th inst against
the Hanlins. We are indebted 10 the
North China Daily News for the trans
lation and comments:
"a We have received a memorial
from the Chancellor of the Hanlin
Academy and his colleagues, denouno-
ing the conduct of certain members Of
this learned body of literates. The
HanlinsC Compiler, Kuei Tu (Manchu) Is
charged with having pocketed Govern
ment money granted to him to encour-
age international commerce; q task
which, up to the present moment, the
accused Compiler can show nothing
for. thereby wasting the public funds.
The said Kuei Tu Is hereby handed to
the Board of Civil Appointments for
the determination OF an adequate pen
atty. The Hanlin Compiler, Chou Hsi-
en-. now on leave OF absence, at his
home lin SoOchow) Is charged with
having been boastful and arrogant In
conduct and speech, regardless of the
dignity due to his high rank. He Is
hereby commanded to send In his resig-
nation and he Is further ordered to be
placed under the strict surveillance of
the local authorities of his native town.
The Hanlin Compiler. Chen Ting, a
native OF Human, Is accused of being
crafty,lo and false; man addicted to
unorthodox and pernicious doctrines.
A book, of which he was the author,
commenting on the government, is
charged with containing many treas
enable ideas. He Is hereby ordered to
be cashiered. and the Hanlin Academy
Is further commanded to hand the ac-
cused to the Board of Punishments to
be sent under guard to his native prov
ince, the Governor of which shall i'm
prison him for life in the provincial
Jail. The same sentence In hereby
awarded the Hanlin graduate, WI,
Shihtsao "a native Of Yunnan) whose
nature is charged with being the same
as the cashiered Hanlin Compiler
Chen Ting aforesaid. With reference
to. the Hanlin Compiler Shen, Pong who,
after making his extraordinary and
crazy charges against Jung La and
Kang YD left Picking for his native city
of CHI angshu (near Soochow) and who
has been reported by acting Viceroy Lu
Ch'uan-lin to have already been arrest
ed, we hereby command that the said
Shen P'eng be also imprisoned for life
in the provincial jail in Soochow. The
three Hanlins last mentioned especial
ly deserve their punishment owing to
their disreputable and ungentlemanly
conduct. Finally we command the
Chancellor OF the said academy to care
fully watch the conduct and characters
of the other members of the academy
and denounce such as deserve to be
punished.
The Empress Dowager.
The failure OF her long contemplated
coup of the New Year has not imprOv-
ed the temper of the Dowager TIE Hsi,
and condition which may be best de-
scribed as a reign of terror prevails
through the Empire. Seen far above
the ignoble crowd of paralyzed satel-
lites who form her ministers, the figure
of the woman TIE Hsi stands out as
that of some savage but noble beast OF
prey. surrounded by a hungry pack of
parasites, whom one roar of the grand
er beast is sufficient to send packing in
mortal terror. If, however, the physi-
cal aspect of the Dowager Empress be
that of beast of prey, her mental at
titude is on a similar level; and she
has been recently seeking to extend
her instinct of terrorism into quarters
where, from the nature OF, the case, It,
must recoil on herself. She has taken
stock of the craven crowd Of intriguers
who constitute the bureaucracy OF Chi
ma. From them she knows she has
nothing to fear; they have been SO ac-
customed to be led that they have for
gotten how to think for themselves;
besides, they are ready to sympathize
with her in her reactionary policy, more
especially in her hatred to foreigners
and foreign institutions, for have they
not In their own persons felt the bitter
sting of the foreigner, who would de-
prive them of those little perquisites of
Office which ever since the days of the
Master himself have ever appertained
to the holder? The dislike of the for
eigner, which was at first mere senti-
ment, has lately grown into a halluci-
nation, which haunts the Empress
waking, and disturbs her sleeping
hours; and 1t Is sufficient that any one
OF her retinue should have had deal
ings, however innocent. with an out
lander. especially II that outlander be
an Englishman, to incur her enmity
and become a marked man. The case
of Weng Tung-ho Is a marked instance
of this peculiar phase OF mind, which
shows how unbalanced has become her
intellect. Weng was the teacher OF the
late Emperor, and in his day was
known for his conservative proclivi-
ties. He was man faithful to the
Chinese ideal of answering integrity,
and was personally attached to his
young charge. He reminds us in some
respects of the story OF Wo K'o-tu. the
censor who displayed his devotion to
the young Emperor Tung-chi by sacri-
fclng himself on the Imperial grave. in
despair OF amending the slight cast up
on the memory OF his beloved master
in leaving him without an heir. For
his devotion to Tung-chis successor,
the still more unfortunate Kwang-hsu.
Weng has had to undergo the hate OF
the Unsuitable Tze-hsi and not only he.
but all who were In any way connect
ed with the unfortunate boy Emperor.
II is one OF the characteristics OF this