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the Palace and her experiences while painting the portraits of Her Majesty. The Times for instance had written of the Empress-Dowager :— "Some one has said she has the soul of a tiger in the body of a woman, and Miss Carl found the old lady shrewd and tempestuous." Miss Carl, on the contrary, found her a charming hostess, considerate of the comfort of those around her and readily sympathising with sorrow, Miss Carl saw her under all circumstances. "at audiences, and in private, in anxiety and sorrow and in joy." Again: "She was too great a lover of Nature in all its phases to be cruel and heartless, and I am convinced she is genuinely kind. She apparently greatly admired Intelligence, and goodness always seemed to appeal to her. She was ever a fascinating study, and her maguetic personality was full of charm. I found her thoroughly human and perfectly womanly.”
A PEN PORTRAIT.
She
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND almost no opportunity of seeing them in their true light. She was a good physiognomist, but | one cannot always trust to physiognomy. was in habit of giving all who surrounded her a certain amount of latitude, until they came to rely on her favour and revealed themselves in their true light to her. Then she would quickly suppress them or cast them aside. This often seemed cruel and heartless. She sometimes would take another's estimate.of a character which she had favourably judged, for, of course, there is a great deal of jealousy and intrigue among her entourage, and she was influenced by reports that she heard; for she was obliged. in order to form an opinion, to listen to the gossip of the Palace. Her own penetration, however. would generally come to her aid and, in the end, her judgment would right itself.
She had strong prejudices, and often allowed herself to be deceived by the favourites to whom she had given her confidence. After several preliminary trials of their character, and when she thought she had arrived at a proper estimate of it, she was an easy victim. These favourites could then act with impunity, and she was some. times made the dupe of their schemes. Thus Ministers, courtiers, friends, and attendants, who had once thoroughly established their posi. tions with her. could often get the advantage of her and impose upon her natural acumen.
A perfectly proportioned figure, with head well set upon her shoulders and a fine presence; really beautiful hands, daintily small and high bred in shape; a symmetrical, well-formed head, with a good development above the rather large ears; jet-black hair, smoothly parted over a fine, broad brow; delicate, well-arched eyebrows; brilliant, black eyes, set perfectly straight in the head; a high nose, of the type the Chinese call "noble," broad between the eyes and on a She could be most sarcastic, sometimes cruelly line with the forehead an upper lip of great so, but I generally found there was come reason firmness. a rather large but beautiful mouth for her sarcasm. She was very impulsive and with mobile, red lip, which, when parted over had her share of temper. but there was
When she was her firm white teeth, gave her smile a rare any unladylike display of it. charm; a strong chiu. but not of exaggerated angry her voice was never raised; it simply lost firmness and with no marks of obstinacy. Hed its silvery sweetness and took the quality of I not known she was nearing her sixty-ninth sone ordinary metal. and she was always quiet year, I should have thought her a well-preserved and well-bred.
never
woman of forty. Being a widow, she used no From what I saw of the Empress Dowager, it cosmetics. Her face had the natural glow of seemed to me she would not brook interference health, and one could see that exquisite care and in the accomplishment of a design she had set attention were bestowed upon everything con-her heart upon-that she would not hesitate even cerning her toilet. Personal neatness and an at crushing an individual who stood in the way excellent taste in the choice of becoming colours of the realization of some plans she had fixed upon. and ornaments enhanced this wonderfully youth. But her judgment was so good, she did not ful appearance, and a look of keen interest in decide upon a thing unless she felt it was her surroundings and remarkable intelligence absolutely imperative to carry it out. crowned all these physical qualities and made au unusually attractive personality.
AS A RULER..
Where has
When the young Prince Adalbert of Prussia received in special audience by their was Majesties, on his visit to Peking, he was accom. panied not only by the German Minister and his staff, but by a number of officers as his personal escort. This made an unusually large number I have been told of presentations necessary. that at the audiences of the Diplomatic Corps, where only gentlemen were present, the Em- press Dowager had a sort of shyness and did not show the same ease of manner as when she received the ladies.
But at this audience of the
As for tact and social savoir, she is remarkable. I never knew any one to possess these qualities to a greater degree. At her first audience to She had the good of China at heart and was foreigners, Sir Clande MacDonald, in reporting really a patriot; in fact. I observed more patrio-it, spoke of the Empress Dowager as a kind tism, more National pride among the people I and courteous hostess, who displayed both the saw at Court, than I ever noticed elsewhere in tact and softness of a womanly disposition." China. I feel convinced the Empress Dowager Lady Susan Townley says of her: has strong National feeling and really loves her she learned the ease and dignity with which country, and is as patriotic a Chinese as there she receives her European guests?" These is in China. When there were internal troubles, opinions of her social tact, so far as I could are held by all the members of the or exterior complications, she seemed to be learn. really worried and to grieve, as if it were a per- Foreign Legations in Peking. sonal thing. She made mistakes, of course, and grave ones, but when it is remembered that her knowledge of what takes place "outside," come, entirely from the reports made to her, that she has no opportunity of seeing things for herself, it seems wonderful she does not make more.
Last winter a new scheme of taxation, by which the revenue would be largely increased and which taxation wond be scarcely felt by the people, was presented to Their Majesties for consideration. Her Majesty soon grasped the entire scope of the scheme and thought it good and feasible; but though the payment of the young Prince she became interested in talk- heard one of the foreign indemnity made it imperative to increase ing with him, and I the revenue by every means possible, she hesi- gentlemen who was present say it was the first tated over the inauguration of this new scheme. time he had seen Her Majesty thoroughly at fearing it might give the officials a new oppor-ease at one of the audiences to the Diplomatic tunity to oppress the common people, for it is not the laws that oppress the people in China. This is done by the officials who enforce them. She evidently realized this power that the officials have of "squeezing" the people, and she wished to be assured of the manner in which this taxation woud be enforced before she gave her consent to the scheme. At the first presen- tation to her of this plan of taxation, she re- peated several times, "I fear it may harass the
The proclamation of the death of an Emperor people; we cannot harass the people; they have of China is usually made about ten days enough burdens to bear." She was not so partilar after the event, during which time arrange- about not harassing the Officials, for they were ments for the succession have been completed. called upon all over China to make great contri- Then the people must go into mourning for a tions to the Imperial Treasury for the purpose hundred days, an injunction which is, in the of assisting in paying the foreign indemnity. cities at least, strictly observed. During this Notwithstanding her penetration of character, period no weddings are allowed to be celebrated, her naturally good judgment, she made mis-and no festivities of any kind are allowed. takes in her appreciation of those who surround. The Regent and Emperor must ed her, but this was not strange, for she had mourning for three years.
Corps, and that on that day she was perfectly charming, seeming to take the liveliest interest in questioning the young Prince, and convers- ing with him in a motherly way, and that he then realized to its full extent her wonderful charm and her great social instinct.
THE MOURNING.
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[November 23, 1908
There are no nocession or coronation cere- monies, the simple announcement of the name the new Emperor being all that marks the change.
of
THE SITUATION AT PEKING.
NEWS FROM JAPAN. Our Tokyo correspondent telegraphed on the 17th inst.
Sensational rumours of tragio occurrences at the Court of Peking are reaching Tokyo from Japanese newspaper correspondents, but in view of the promptness with which Prinos Chan and his colleagues have assumed the government the Japanese Foreign Office does not anticipate any trouble.
RUMOURS OF IMPENDING TROUBLE.
Our Canton correspondent says that serious trouble is anticipated in Peking as it appears that Prince Tuan claims the Throne for his son, Pa Ch'a, who was proclaimed Heir Apparent when the late Emperor Kwang Hsu was tem porarily dethroned by way of extinguishing his enthusiasm for reform. It is rumoured that Prince Tuan is marching on Peking with a large body of soldiers fro.n Manchuria, whither he was exiled on account of the Boter trouble.
DEATH-BED EDICTS.
A series of Edicts issued by the late Emperor and the late Empress Dowager were published on Sunday, and are given in our Chinese issue (the Chung Ngoi San Po),
peace
the
The first, signed by the late Emperor, states that as he had been educated and brought up by the Empress-Dowager he had done all he could under Her Majesty's command to promote the welfare of the people. This year he had asked Her Majesty, on account of the state of the country, to take measures for the reform of the administration with a view to the education of the people, the cessation of quarrels with the Christians, to erect colleges, to promote com- merce and to so revise the laws as to give to the country a Constitutional Government in order to promote the
and happiness of Edict goes on the people. The
to say that Her Majesty Empress-Dowager had agreed to all this. The welfare of the people had always been his heartfelt desire and in times of distress caused, for instance, by floods, he had always desired to do what he could to alleviate the sufferings of the people. But since the arrival of Autumn his illness had become serious, and, conscious that he could not recover, he had asked the Empress Dowager to allow Prince Chan's son to succeed him as The Edict describes the child as Emperor. clever and says he will be able to protect the country, All officers, civil and military, are commanded to do all that is in their power to carry out the commands of all the Ediots which have been issued by the Throne, for the welfare of the people; and His Majesty expressed the hope that his sincere desire, that the country should have Constitutional Government nine years hence, would be realised. Finally
His Majesty commands that the mourning for him shall be limited, according to former custom, to 27 days.
An Edict issued in the name of the Empress Dowager directa certain Officers of State to make the necessary preparations for the funeral. All the Officials named are Imperial clansmen (Manchus) with the single exception of H. E. Yuan Shih Kai, who is a Chinese.
Another Edict, issued in the name of the late Empress Dowager, relates the fact that the Emperor, like his predecessor, was childless, and announces that the Po-ye, the son of Prince Chun, had been appointed as the successor of the Emperor Tung Chih, as well as of Kwang-
Hsu.
A further Edict by the late Empress-Dow- ager_proclaimed Prince Po-ye as Emperor, and Prince Chan as Regent during the Em- peror's minority, adding that the Regent would consult with herself (the Empress Dowager) as to the conduct of the business of the State until the Emperor attained to full ago (16 in China).