The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-10-31

cilors that he wants his on faults and shortcomings pointed out, and that the censors must not be afraid to cr1ticise him. He has also put up outside his resi- dence & petition box which is accessible to all classes of people.
 He proposes to establish a newspaper here as the Chinese organ of the central government, and also to give medals to the editors of the other Chinese papers who prove to be beneficial to the country and to society. He has changed the old custom by which the Manchu officials called themselves slaves in addressing the throne. They will in the future use the expression your minister's" He is also playing the part of Haroun al Raschd in going about Pekin incognito gathering information first hand on what the peo- pie think of his administration. He has ordered the censors to keep watch of and report all wrongs; and, on the whole, is proving himself to be live, up-to-date figure in the government.
 Prince Chun's Devil Cart.
 The prince regent now goes about in a fine closed carriage or brougham, with his outriders in livery going along in front and behind. He has given up the Chinese cart since his trip abroad, and like most of the high officials he now has as good an outfit as you will see in Lon- uOH UT fdTlS. ADOuI IDe Il11e that the prince went to Berlin there was only one broueham in Pehin, and the official who owned 1t was looked upon as a reaction ary by his fellows. They called his car riage a "devil cart" and sneered at him for aping the ways of foreigners. Of late the "devil cart has become common; and now there are scores of landaus, dog carts and other stylish equipages owned by high-class Chinese. Pel1in is stead t,,,ra roller is making its way into the other cities of the empire. The fact that the prince uses brougham is causing others to purchase them.
 The Passing of Yuan Shih kai.
 The ablest official in China has now gone into retirement. I refer to Yuan Shih Kai, the old protege of Ii Hung Chang. the strong friend of the foreign CTS during the Boxer rebellion and the man who has done more to further west ern civilization than any Chinese now liv- ing. Yuan Shih Kai saved the life of the great dowager and during her latter days he was her premier and confidential ad- wiser. The old lady appreciated the fact that he took his life in his hands when he refused to do the behests of the late emperor. when the latter had demanded that Yuan advance his modern army to the capital and put her in prison. He was at the top of his power when she and the emperor passed away, and every one thought him to be the man for the hour. The foreigners were so convinced of this that they objected to his dis missal. Nevertheless, Yuan was put out of office within a few weeks after the death of Kwang Su. and it is claimed that this was because of an edict which the latter wrote in his death throes. An other theory is that Yuan Shih Kai ac- tually took the life of the late emperor when the empress dowager was dying, for fear that he would lose his head if Kwang Su remained on the throne. As to the truth of this no one knows except the highest officials and Prince Chun. It Is safe to say that, a man like Yuan Shin Kai,. when his own death was in question, would hardly hesitate to remove even an emperor to save his head.
 The Kind of a man Yuan Is. I heard a story last night which illus trates the character of Yuan and confirms this opinion. It relates to a rebellion which broke out while he was viceroy of Chill, and when the foreigners were still holding Tientsin. The situation was delicate and Yuan wanted to show that he could control his own people. His capital was at Pao Ting Flu, and the village, which had rebelled. was off at the other side of his province He or dered the soldiers to march to that quar- ter and round up the mob, and if they did not submit to wipe them from the face of the earth. The villagers refused to put down their arms, and the soldiers, , as per directions, slaughtered them with than an hour. The day after this an