The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-11
THE STORM CENTRE
 OF THE WORLD
tBy Dr. R. warren conant.)
 ARTICLE K.
The Government of China, its Weak
 ness and its Strength.

|
 The Government of China, its Weak
 ness and its Strength.
 Theoretically the Government of China
 Is benevolent paternaIism, practically | lt is multiform despotism. The nominal
 head of the nation Is an Emperor. to
 whom anyone may appeal; the real head
 Is at present the Dowager Empress, who | rules absolutely but not legally.
 Under the Emperor there should be an
 chus and two Chinese, with two oG assist
 ants from the Han-lin or Great College.
 The duty of the latter is to see that
 tons of the Sacred Books of confucius. l The Regulations are the laws of the Em- plre. contained In fifty volumes entitled
 The Collected Regulations of the T'sing l influential General Council, composed of | the highest dignatafies. and dischaTg sing
 2 large variety of important functions. | Its formation Is comparatively recent;
 and Its sittings are every day.
 1 Under the Cabinet are seven Boards of
 civil appointments; of revenues: of rites | admirality; of public works; and of high There is peculiar body called the | Board of Censors. consisting of fifty. and l having two presidents, one Manchu and | one Chinaman. Any number of this board l Is legally privileged to present any re- monstrance he thinks best to the En- | peror. About this time they probably do l not think 1t best. One censor must al- ways be present at any meeting of the seven department boards.
 The recent events in China have caused the general reader to become familiar with ths name of the Tsungi Yamen. This
 Is the Chinese ToEeign ofiice which which was was | only of ali foreign relations, but also of | all institutions in China wherein foreign l CTS have any part; such as the Maritime l Customs, through which the import du- 1 ties are collected and which Is directed l by an Englishman, Sir Robert Hart; also
 the Picking College. in which foreigners | teach
 The abolition of the Tsungn Yamen is one of the demands made by the Powers In the present negotiations. This Is not incompetents, who know no language but their native tongue, and are as pro- foundly ignorant of foreign nations as
 have never visited even the provinces of
 their own country. and most of them
 have never been out of sight Of their na-
 determine the destiny of a great Empire
 world.
 rulers s are tho the Governors of provinces, or or
 Viceroys. Responsible to the Emperor only. they have practically absolute pow of tSe Each is ssssted by
 council and numerous officials. There are eight provinces, and how vast Is the power and opportunity of each Vice :. roy is best imagined by a comparison
 with our States.
 The largest province is that of Szechu- an, in the interior, covering SI geo square miles and containing 6S,000,O00 inhabi-
 tants. This is larger in area than any State except Texas, 262 900 square miles; but Texas has only 1000, 900 Inhabitants. One next largest State is California, lSS.- 600 square miles, and only S65. GOO people. The most populous State Is New York, with population of 5000 900.
 what vast opportunities for good or evil are possessed by the Chinese Viceroys, and no one accuses or suspects them of any altruistic weakness The position of Governor Is more sought after than any position in the central government, and 1t Is easy to guess the reason. Besides extortion, the Governors enjoy a military independence analogous to that of the old feudal barons of Europe. They main tain their own troops, and the stability of the throne rests upon their loyalty. During the recent disturbances there was some discussion in European and Ameri- southern Viceroys seccdlng from the rest and declaring their adhesion to some oth- CT member of the royal family.
 The present head of the Government | Is such by usurpation. The rightful Elm peror is-giving his name in full-Tsait'- | len Kwang su, born Aug 2, 1s12 son of | Empress. He came to the throne nom- 1 lnally in 1887 Kwang su is the ninth Emperor of the cba aachT nysded cSina from the north, overwhelmed the Chinese dy- | nasty of Ming, and set up their own gov | ernment in 1644 A. D. This explains the | chu cities, and the bipartisan character | of the boards above mentioned.
 But Kwang su is not the son of the | of succession in China. The rule is that | each Emperor shall appoint as his sue cessor some member of his family of | the last Emperor died suddenly without | appointing any successor, leaving an op- | portullty of which the Empress Dowager |
 After she had ruled sss Regent for Sev- eral years, she allowed Kwang-su to as- | sume full power in February Of 1888 But | with the foreign devils reform notions; he was in favor of putting China abreast | of the world In all things. This was a | tolerate for moment. Although sixty | years of age, she understood perfectly | what to do, and she did it-in September of k9S Kwang-su resigned the royal |
 Since that time the Dowager has run | things to suit herself Jan. 24. 1900, de- | son of Prince Tuan, as Emperor, This dsposed Kwang-su, but 1t re- | mains to be seen whe ether he will stay | form f' party W % which has has been % gre greatly | strengthened by the victories of the AL | lies and the defeat of the conservative | party of the Empress This last puppet l Emperor, Pu Tsing, Is only 14 years old. |
 To a foreigner, the political status of ! the Chinese Government Is difficult to | It rests partly on fear, part | ly on religious reverence. The Emperor | Is at the same time the all-powerful sov- l ereign and the high priest of his people. | He has many t'tles-The August and | Lofty One The Wise and August One, | The Son of Heaven and 90 on. He claims | to be the chosen vicegerent of Heaven to | pIes of the earth-a sort of oriental pope. | He is the head of all religion. the source l of all power. the dispenser of all mercy, | ail his officers. The whole Empire is his | and whatever he does is right. |