The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-11-30
: HISTORICAL
; DEPARTMENT.
e-e-a-a-o-a-o-o-o-a-a-a-a-o-e
Ii HUNG CHANGES LIFE.
His Love for Grant; His Methods in
War and in Peace.
CKansas City Starr

War and in Peace.
CKansas City Starr
When Ii Hung Chang was in Amer
lea in 1896, his first official act was to
visit the tomb of General Grant and
place a wreath on the grave of the
man who said: In my trip around
the world 1 met three great men; Bis
marck, Gladstone and Ii Hung Chang.
The Oriental member of this trinity
held other views. During his visit tc
! England he met Mr.. Gladstone and
Lord Salisbury. He summed up his
opinion of the two in this way:
Your Lord Salisbury is a man who
says little and means much. Your Mr.
Gladstone is man who says much and
means little"
OF Grant. he said:
General Grant and l have suppress
ed the two greatest rebellions known
| in history"
The rebellion he referred to was the
! Tai Ping movement to overthrow the
Manchu dynasty. 1t was started by a
disappointed farmer who had failed to
pass the civil service examination, and
| had then dreamed he was divinely
| commissioned to be emperor of China.
| About 10000, 900 lives were lost in the
suppression of the instruction. Ii
Hung Chang commanded the imperial
| forces, which included Chang Shing
Kun (the ever victorious army under
| Ward the American, and later under
! the irascible Chinese Gordon.
When Lii Hung Chang visited the
| United States his name appeared on the
| -egister of the liner st. Louis as am
)assador, Senior, Guardian of the Heir
! Apparent, Prime Minister of State and
| Earl of the First Rank with the title
! of Suy." These were all the titles he
| had at the time, but at the outbreak
Of the Chinese-Japanese war they were
more numerous and signified that he
was general manager of the army and
navy and of the Chinese domestic and
foreign affairs. The war was disastrous
to his reputation in the empire, but it
brought him fame abroad. Few people
who had not followed affairs in the far
east closely had ever heard of Lii until
the news was cabled that the emperor
had ordered one of his buttons cut off.
This was followed by the edicts depriv-
ing him of his peacock feather and his
yellow jacket. The matter threatened to
become an international scandal The
viceroy's clothes were a subject for
universal gossip.
The terms of peace which the dis
credited official secured from victorious
Japan brought him into further promi-
hence with the western world and for
the last six years he was the only ORR
entail whose every move had been
cabled to the nations of Europe and
America. This aged man-he was near
ly so years old-was the main reliance
of the Manchu dynasty which he faith
fully served, though he was of pure
Chinese blood.
In view of the present crisis in China
it is an interesting fact that when
Bishop E. r. Hendrix of the Methodist
church, South, returned to Kansas City
Jour years ago from the far east. he
brought this message from Ii Hung
Chang:
Say to the American people for me
to send over more men for the schools
and hospitals, and 1 hope to be in a
position to aid and protect them More
are needed. More are needed"
Ii Hung Chang was a tall, power
fully built man, with a military goatee
and a moustache. His height was six
feet two inches and he weighed close
TO 200 pounds. In his youth he had
remarkable strength and in old age
ne carried himself with a soldierly
bearing. His eyes were large, black
and penetrating; his skin wrinkled and
yellew. His correct habits of life have
often been commented on. "Flowery
paths are not long," is one of his say
nese classics. Then he became a men,
Der of the Hanlin college, which stands
in China for what the academy repre-
sents in France. Like Bismarck, and to
a far greater degree than the German,
he has been a soldier.
Everything was done possible by Earl
Ii in the race of tremendous opposi-
ton. On one occasion he put expensive
machinery in the Kai Ping coal mines
to furnish fuel for the navy and the
CIa, arin i0h official ut
Pekin protested to the emperor and
asked, for the viceroy's punishment for
sacrilege. The extraction of coal by
machinery, he complained, disturbed
the bones of the emperOr'S ancestors in
the cemetery forty miles away from
the mines. At another time an official
asked that Lii be punished on the
ground that his introduction of foreign
arts and. appliances had angered the
imperial dragon. The dragon had con-
seduently sent rains to cause floods,
which had resulted in great loss of life.
These two incidents are vouched for by
a former acting minister of the United
States at Pekin.
doctors, for paralysis of the face, the
native manager of his coal mines as
sured him that a poultice made from
leaves of a tree that had been struck
by lightning would prove efficacious.
me poultlce was dppned, out some
poisonous leaves were used and Lis
cheek. badly swollen, was again put
in charge OF foreign doctors.
After the Japanese war his life was
a series of ups and downs. Degraded
for the Chinese defeat, he was restored
TO rank and sent to make terms with
the conquerors. In Japan he
was wounded by a would-be assas-
sin. Then, after two years of retire.
ment he was sent to st. Petersburg to
represent his government at the coro-
nation of the ear. He returned home
through several European capitals, at
which he was received with great con-
sideration. AS his steamer entered New
York harbor it was received with a
salute by the North Atlantic squadron
and President Cleveland went to New
York to receive him. Two years ago
he was sent as viceroy to Canton, os-
tensibly to put down the pirates, but
possibly to remove his influence from
Pekin. At the age Of IS he was again
put forward as the buffer between the
forces of the white and yellow races.
Aren't you afraid of the reform
ers?' asked the friend.
No" answered the practical poll
tician; mot so long as they devote
their energies to reforming one another