Bismarck daily tribune., 1911-12-28

SA~AA ~~~ASS'
against the throne schemed to divide
the entire empire between them, and
one Of them finally entered Pekin with
an immense force of armed soldiers
and ragamuffins Of all kinds. the gates
of tine imperial city having been
opened to him by treacherous
eunuch named Lii, whereupon the dis
tracted emperor committed suicide.
The commander of the rebels on
the frontier of Manchu Tartary, on
hearing the news, immediately con-
cluded peace with the Tartar and join.
ed hands with them in dispossessing
the usurper. The Manchus, latter de-
feating the usurper's forces advanced
on Pekin; but before their arrival
there the rebels set fire to the i'm
perial palace and cleared out of the
the city, but scarcely had they vacua-
ted it before the fierce Manchus at
tackled them and a general slaughter
ensued. AS tine Chinese had now Sc
cured their object, they asked the
Manchus to retire but the latter re-
fused to do so, and proclaiming their
ow leader the emperor, established
a new dynasty.
There were, however, many loyal
adherents to the old royal family,
and they made brave stand, headed
by the civil and military mandarins.
and they selected a member of the
imperial race to asccn nd the throne;
but their efforts were fruitless, for
the Tartars were now according to
Chinese historian "myriads upon
countless myriads in numbers"
The Manchus therefore, established
their rule, and with a most remark
able tactfulness got matters down to
peace basis, confirming the man.
darins in power--or in Office, which
after all, meant the same thing and
granted general amnesty to all who
lay down their arms. Conciliatory
methods were adopted everywhere,
and in course of time the country
became reconciled TO the new regime
Here and there We're signs of op-
position, but they died out. and finally
the shaved head and pigtail--symbol
Of tartar sovereignty became more
and more adopted. Even in this de-
tail of outward appearance, the new
rulers showed themselves wise, for
they did not compel the subjugated
Chinese to cultivate the queues, but
they forbade actors, boatmen, BARRIERS,
nd iv,o tn
absence denoting a lack Of respecta-
bility in the individual without them,
the "respectable" Chinese found them
selves in a dilemma, and finally grew
and wore the pigtails.
For upwards of a century after.
wards the Manchus were noted for
their successes n war, and their most
celebrated ruler, K'len Lung, who be.
came emperor in 1885, marched an
army into Iii, which he turned into a
Chinese province and then added
Eastern Turkestan to the vast do
mains Of his big empire. He also
invaded Burma twice and once he at
tackled Cochin China Still his war
against the rapacious Gurkhas was
one of the most successful of his many
military undertakings, for his gener,
ais marched 10000 soldiers into Ne.
paul, within so miles of the then
British frontier 8, and having con-
quered the Gurkhas they received the
submission Of the Nepaulese and &C.
quired an additional hold over Thibet
l may add that it was during these 60
eventful years that commerce be.
tween the outside world and Canton
the only Chinese port then open to
foreign trade-attained important di.
mensions
When the emperor, Hien-Feng, died
in 1861, he left the throne to his son,
the illfated T'ung-Chi, under the
care and tutelage of the Infamous
dowager empress, Tsi.An, who played
such a prominent part in China's his
tory until her apparently mysterious
death three years ago at the hands OF
the eunuch LII, who has always been
credited with being the means of the
untimely death of his emperor. Ii Is
the murderous scoundrel who, at the
instance of his 'blood-tnirsty mistress,
Tsi-An, threw into a we'll and bat
tered to death the wife Of T'ung- Chi,
with stones because she had the te-
merity to denounce as untruthful a
foul lie told by Tsi-An against the
young emperor.
The career of the empress-dO Owager
is long and ugly record of intrigue,
passion, audacity, and merciless
cruelty, the masterful nature of this
one-time female coolie of Canton MAX
ing her admittedly more than match
for all foreign ambassadors and for
the most inscriptions statesmen in
china, except Lii Hung Chang, by
whom she was dominated until his
death. The war with Japan in 1894
when the Nipponese destroyed her
fleet and whipped her armies, and the
Boxer TROUBLES" in 1900 are within
the memory of all of our readers as
Two of the most important events in
The last years of the reign of this in
famous woman-the Chinese Gather
me de Medici.