Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-11-18
NUMBER "a

peror. His name is Tsai Feng, ana
he succeeded to the title of his faith
err Prince Chun, in 1891. He is a lieu
tenant general of the plain white BAN
|ner corps, and visited Germany IN
1901 as a special commissioner of the
throne.
Dynasty Will Continue.
If the emperor and the dowager
empress both have died at Pekin at
practically the same time, China has
lost two Manchu rulers whose dynas-
ty has endured for IL generations.
But unless the edicts of yesterday
should be reversed, the dynasty will
be continued in the person OF Prince
Chun, brother of the emperor, and the
princes son, Pu Wei. The dowager
empress has ruled the empire with
will Of iron. Emperor, court and gov
|ernment have bowed down to her, and
to the throne entirely in her own
hands for the purpose of being able
Ito dictate who should succeed to NOM
inal power.
Kuang-Hsu succeeded to the throne
lin 1875. In 1887 the dowager empress
intimated that she considered him fit
to rule, and two years later she mar
ried him to her niece. Nine years
then passed with China or the world
hearing nothing of Importance CON
corning him or his policy as ruler.
In 1898, after the seizure of Kiao-Chou
by Germany, he threatened to abdi-
cate if not given full power. The
dowager empress made pretense OF
turning over the control of the gov
eminent to him and for four months
he was as near as he ever has been
to being the actual ruler of his en-
pire.
| During this period a number of re-
form edicts were issued from the pal
ace and it was evident that plans
were under way for the westernizing
of both the government and the court.
In September of 1898 the dowager EN-
press decided to end his activity.
She suddenly confronted the emperor,
denounced him, took from him the seal
of state, and put him under guard
The emperor's reformer friends
were pursued with fury by the dowag-
er empress, who executed six of them
in Pekin September %. January 20,
1899, the emperor was forced to sign
a decree announcing his own abdica-
ttion and he was kept prisoner by the,
ldowager empress two years. 1t was
believed he should be killed. Foreign
Ipowers made representations on the
subject of his health, which resulted
in his being examined by French
physician attached to the French le-
cation.
Nothing was then heard Of the en-
Iperor until the boxer uprising and the
: Isiege of the foreign legations at
Pekin. He is credited with having in
: Iterfered with the dowager empress to
try and prevent the carrying out of
the decision ito fight all foreign ma
tons on the ground that the making
] make peace an impossibility in the
future, On the day after the relief
of the legations, April Is, the emperor
f fed with the rest Of the court to
, Sian-Fu. He returned to PeRin with
, the court January a, 1902.
: Kuang-Hsu's court duties were dis
tinctly perfunctory and routine. They
: consisted Of appearing at all formal
4 audiences to natives and foreigners,
at the sittings of the grand council,
i and at certain specified religious func-
tions. In the throne room he sat on
a stool or chair beside the throne
chair of the dowager empress and pa
pers were passed to him after having
been inspected by the dowager EN-.
press. 1t is related that on one occa-
sion the presence OF the emperor
bored the dowager empress, and she
in a temper, called to an attendant:
Take that away" referring to the
emperor His majesty overheard this
characterization and when he reached
his rooms began smashing bric-a4brae
in his rage.