New-York tribune., 1909-01-24
THE LATE EMPRESS OF CHINA.

THE LATE EMPRESS OF CHINA
Truth becomes stranger than fiction. history
more fascinating than romance. when the late
f55nipress IN DoWager of China is the biographer's
lleihe- FOR Isu HSi was of those massive
world figures -demiurges of Fate one might per-
maps term them-whom the ancients We're wont
10 WoFshlp and the modernS willing to i'm
lnortallze- As Hibernian admirer of hers once
remarked we have 10 go back to very ancient
tlrnes for a parallel to Tsu Hsi. and even then
We! We 40 nor ma one sketch of the main
episodes of her living and striving her reverses
ana trlumphs, painted in colors sufficiently deep
YET 1althtul TO the tones of history, would stir
the souls of 1mpreSSible readers with strong
emotions For, despite many serious defects of
mind and soul Tsu Hs was not only a com
manding personality in her a. ge and country but
she was also endowed with some of the sterling
qualities of absolute greatness Like the green
leaf of the lotus that sprouts up from the slime,
she raised herself aloft by innate worth, tact
and will power from nothingness 10 a dizzy
height where she maintained herself for forty
years IN spite OF the rigorous prohibition Of her
countrys laws and the stern disapprovaI of her
coVntrys enemies Alone she fought the battle
or lndlViduality against a nation of four hundred
millions of living men and myriads of the dead.
And by dint OF energy. resourcefulness and per
severance she scored signal victory over them
all
Tsu Hsi an artistic nature endowed with
the rare gift Of seeing things as they are and
with the power of winnowing the lighter from
the Weightier facts and thinking both into order
and clearness> She had also the secret-rnost
precious 10 sovereign-of touching the right
sad. which she wanted to produce And men,
the most serious-lke Ii Hung Chang and Yuan
Shl hal-thrilled to her magic touch. She an
pealed with ALMOST equal force to the nobler
and to the baser human instincts. and it must
be added. with equal readiness. for the qualms
or moral scruple never stung her. the be-aH and
end-all of her nature lying wholly within tho
realm OF the real. To ner British critics she
has, rightly or wrongly. been an object of bitter
lnVectve- They cannot forgive her for silencing
hWang Su. and setting back. as they think
liberal progress in China History may dispei
tills impression by showing that the result and
perhaps also the aim OF her policy was to fur
ther progress whereas kwdng Sus rash haste
might have led to dnarchic dissolution And
history will add that Tsu Hs was a reformer
to the end of the chapter. Thus last year she
forDade the consumption of opium. abolished the
practice OF footbinding, put Mandchus and Chi
nese on q footing OF equality, authorizing mar
rlages between them. and adopting the prinCiDle
OF race parity, even in the Council of State TO
which she appointed three Cinnamon and threa
Mandchus- She also proclaimed the principle Of
obligatory instruction, and granted provincial
autonomy as a stepping stone 10 a constitution
Nay. she did away with absolutism by bestowins
upon her subjects constitution which is TO be
embodied in political institutions after the Ianse
of nine years Surely Chinese Gladstone
could have accomplished more than ths-E J.
Dillon. In The Fortnightly Review.