New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-05-22
CHINA AB0LISHESTORTURE
Epoch Making Edict Issued bu the
old Empress Doscager.

But little attention seems to have been nai6
either here or IN Europe 10 recent epoch making
edct issued in the name Of the Emperor OF S,ht,a
by his aunt and adaptive mother, the wonderful
old Empress Dowager, who is the real Lady Para
mount Of the Celestial Empire L is nothing more
or less than decree abolshing judicial torture in
China. Not only the appallingly cruel forms Of
death replaced by civilized methods Of capital nun
ishment but the practice OF extorting confessions
OF guilt by means OF torture IS likewise henceforth
strictly prohibited. IT is unnecessary N recanit,
late here the frghtful and almost inconceivable
sorms Of barbarity which have been practised by
the authorities in China for thousands Of wears
past, in the name Of the law such as for instance
the dread ling chi. subJecting a convicted Grim
!nal 10 thousand slicings from the executoner's
knife before the infection of the death blow Every
book written about China, whether by missionaries
iaymen or ordinary tourists, has pages OF blood
curding description on the subject But the fact
that the Empress Dowager Of China should have
Put Al end thereto is a wonderful reform which
viii go further toward winning for her the good
viii Of the civilized world and oblivion for the
cruelty and remorselessness Of which she formerly
was guilty than any other phase Of her eutocratic
rule Of China
Different opinions prevail as to the nature of the
influences which have been at work to induce the
sep,uhgenarian Empress (vho but two years ago
caused the American college bred native editor Of
g Shanghai newspaper TO be hogged to death In the
courtyard Of her palace at Peking) 10 inaugurate
this radical change in the time honored methods OF
Chinese justice. Some ascribe it 70 her Japanese
advisers who since the Russian reverses have 40
qUired enormous amount OF prestige and weight
at the court OF Picking. Others again, inclined
70 believe that il is the extraordinary development
q her personal intercourse with Europeans and
Americans since the Boxer insurrection five years
HEo which is esponsibIe for her transformation.
Il must be remembered that for nearly ten
months she lad the young American woman who
painted her portrait (Which is in this country
living with her IL the palace, and that for three
years past she has had among her ladies-in-wait-
1ng and maids Of honor the two Partisan educated
Daughters Of the former Chinese Minister 10 France
and OF his American wife. Then, too, she has made
q point Of frequently inviting the wives Of the
foreign Ministers 10 visit her at the palace, and
has also received all the European royal per
sonages who have been Picking. among the num-
Der being Princess Rupert, wife Of the heir pre-
Furnptiye 10 the throne of Bavaria There have
also been exchanges OF letters and gifts between
herself and European sovereigns. and all these
things have probably contributed TO cause this
EYant-eyed seniramis OF the Orient TO deter
mine 10 relieve herself in the eyes of the Western
world Of the tmputauons OF barbar!ty with which
she realized she invested.
Only 90 powerful ruler as the Empress could
have brought about such a reform as the abolition
Of torture involving. ss 81 does. the reversal of
Chinese procedure and practices that have been
ii use for thousands OF years; and, when one re-
fleets upon the appalling cruelty and the horrible
suffering 70 which she has now put an end. one is
disposed 20 forget and forgive all the evil that she
has wrought during the fifty years OF her pre-
dominant sway in China even her participation IN
the Boxer instruction and wholesale murder OF
Christians and TO allow her to go down into the
grave in the odor OF sanctity.