The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-14
D0uager Empress Is Also RG- ported In Serious Condition
 In Chinas Capital
WEAK RULERS LIFE ENDS
 AND DYNASTY TOTTERS
If the Emperor and Empress Are Both Dead 1t Means a New Era In is- tory of China and Breaking
 Away From Tradition.

Pekin, November 13.-The Emperor of China was reported dead at o'clock this afternoon. It had, however, been impossible to secure official confirma- tion of this announcement up to 6 o'clock this evening. His majesty was transferred to the death chamber at o'clock in the afternoon. At that hour he was still breathing. Two imperial edicts were issued from the palace this afternoon in quick succession. The first makes Prince Chun regent of the em- pire and the second appoints his son, Pu Wei, heir presumptive
 Simultaneously with the removal of the Emperor from the winter palace to the death chamber in the forbidden city, the members of the grand council assembled in the palace. The Dowager Empress was present at this meeting and is reported to have swooned.
 At 4:3o this afternoon a palace of ficial of high standing said the Emperor was still alive.
 All the government offices are de- serted. The palace is crowded with of ], ficials.
 Emperor's Brother.
 Prince Chun is brother of the Elm peror His name is Tsai Feng. and he succeeded to the title of his father, Prince Chun, in 1891. He is a lieuten- ent general of the plain white banner corps and visited Germany in 1901 as special commissioner of the throne This last illness of the Emperor as- sumed serious aspect fortnight ago. It was then declared that he was suf- fering from d grave intestinal com plaint. He has consistently refused to accept western medical attendance, all though medical men attached to the legations here have stood ready to give their services.
 His majesty has been suffering for 10 years past from chronic nephritis, which recently became complicated with diabetes and sciatica. It was ad mitted yesterday thar his brain was affected. The members of the grand council have been in close attendance at the palace for 10 days. Statements officially gazetted that his majesty was in conference with the councillors were absolutely untrue and were made for the purpose of misleading the public.
 Feeble Ruler.
 The death of the Emperor of China, if il is true, brings to an end the reign of .s sovereign feeble in mind and body, who has been dominated all his life by the aIl-powerful influence of the Dowager Empress. Kuang Hsu's reign will be completely lost in the rule of the Elm press.
 The Emperor was born in 1870. His suc- cession to the throne was one of the many arbitrary and illegal acts of the Dowager Empress, who adopted him into the succession from a generation the same as that of his predecessor, although the constitution of the Manchu dynasty and precedent provide that the success sion shall go to the next following gener- ation.
 Kuang Hsu was 1 years old when made \ Emperor, and his reign is third In point / of duration in the history of the dynasty, k'Ang Hsi and Ch,Ien Lung each having Ieigned and ruled 60 years.
 The question of the succession has aSi- tated the imperial family since the au- Iumn of 1907, when it was perceived that the health of the Emperor was very near ly undermined. In January of 1900 the Dowager Empress adopted Pu Chun, son of Prince Tuan, the Boxer chieftain, heir apparent, but she disinherited him in No vember. 1901, at the behest of the allied powers. Since then the matter of an heir apparent has been in abeyance, ani the Dowager Empress, in whose hands the power of election was, gave no clue to her puprose of determination.
 Empress a Manchu.
 The Dowager Empress is, and the Elm reror was Manchu, in other words foreigners in China, and under the ban of Chinese patriots and an increasing anti Manchu party which has sought the sup pression of the dynasty and the restora- ton of Chinese emperor to the throne. 1t has been freely predicted that the de- mise of the Emperor would be followed by an attempt at coup d'etat, but the imperial edicts mentioned in the dispatch from Picking appear to have forestalled any immediate action of this kind. Kuang asu was son of a brother of the hus- band of the Dowager Empress.
 The dramatic occurrences of today at the Chinese capital, if the cabled reports that the Emperor is dead and the Dow ager Empress dying. are correct, draw at tention .o two striking figures in Chinese bistory--the weakling Emperor of China, dominated all his life long by a stern woman, who .usurped his power and his position; and the Dowager Empress her. self woman of sanguinary record, re- lentless, cruel and ambitious. whose de- mise renders impossible the fulfllment of the intrigues of her old age-still to reign over China after the death of Kuang Hsu
 Succession to Throne. If the Emperor and the Dowager Elm press both have died at Picking at prac- tically the same time, China has lost two Manchu rulers, nominal and the other actual. But unless the edicts of today should be reversed the dynasty will be continued in the persons of Prince Chun, brother of the Emperor, and the Princes 3-year-old son, Pu Wei The H Dowager Empress has ruled the empire H with 8 will of iron. The Emperor, the M court and the government have bowed M to her and she has kept the matter of M succession to the throne entirely in her \ own hands for the purpose of being 
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