The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-16


 She wore the MaEchu garments but her speech was Chinese.
 Feared By All.
 Tsze Hsi An was dominating to the last degree, and magnetic and seemed to be all-seeing to her courtiers, who stood as if on eggs in her presence. She was the atrical in public, exhibiting the stage training she had acquired in private Her officials did not hesitate on occasion to speak of her fierce temper, her Tartar character, and to refer to her as a ter rible woman"
 Among the populace she was feared and hated, principally becnJse of her treat ment of the Emperor, for whom the en- frightened and the common people had sympathetic liking. She was commonly referred to by the sobriquet "the old Buddha."
 She was a law unto herself She vio- lated the constitution of the dynasty that forbids a woman ruler, and broke the sacred customs given by the sages.
 Terrible Career.
 Age did not seem to have embttered her at the close of strictly terrible career, although the past decade had intensified her sanguinary record. She entered the palace as an inferior concubine and au- thority came to her by virtue of fecundity She became the mother of an Emperor and her political career began with the wholesale beheading of princes in 1861, by which she established her son on the throne A slaughter of reformers and others took place 37 years later, following the coup detats in 1898. Two years after this she deliberately, upon advice. set about slaughtering all Christians and foreigners, giving 100000 taels from her Yrixy fTI0d Qr5 nnf yr1or + But even with this it is said of her reign that it has been free from the blood thirstiness that characterized the reigns of her predecessors
 Two nominal Emperors succeeded to the title held by her husband, and she was responsible for both.
 Nephew On Throne.
 She put her son, Tung Chin, on the throne, and upon his sudden death en- throned the son of her dead husbands brother. The later was the late Emperor, Kuang Hsu. Him she dethroned in 1900 and made Pu Chun, son of Prince Tuan, heir apparent, without authority, as the succession in China is only rightfully de- termined by the Emperor. Pu Chun again she degraded, in obedience to the mandate of the allies, because his father was the leader of the Boxers, restoring Kuang Hsu.
 As to political wisdom her talents ap- peared to be strictly limited to the mar row field of the palace This ground she knew we'll But in the realm of interna- tional politics hers was long record of waywardness and lack of knowledge.
 The greatest of her political acts was the coup d'etat of 1898. In this she showed her power, combining craftiness and cour- age. She stopped to the role of reformer that she might conquer, and when she had perfected the disguise, she slaugh- tered the reformers and incarcerated the Emperor, keeping him a prisoner for near ly two years. Following this she cham pioned the Boxer war, which proved to be the greatest stain upon the empire that it has had under the Manchus.
 The whole nation is now thrown into mourning, the rites attending which are of a stringent character.
 For 100 days the court and people of rank wear white, trimmed with white fur this being the mourning color in China. For the same period the men ab- stain from shaving, while the women lay aside the favorite ornamental head dress. The foreign troops have taken measures to safeguard the interests of their respec- tive countrymen here. The British guard has been increased 50.