398
PEKING CANARDS.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
with ample funds without adding materially, if at all, to the burden of the genera! body of taxpayers.
[May 15, 1909. commenced to show some of the hereditary genius of the founders of the Imperial line of T'sING, and TSE HI was determined that Not only on this Boxer Indemnity ques-
at whatever cost the thing should not be tion has somebody been "flying kites" in repeated; so having got rid of T'UNG Chi, Peking. Many times lately we have seen every care was taken to emasculate, body references to alleged negotiations with the and soul, the young sovereign. Bodily the British Minister with a view to secure the trial seems to have been successful, and the retrocession of Weihaiwei. There is no unfortunate boy lived a life which can more truth in these reports than in the others best be described as a living martyrdom. to which we have alluded. We may also Mentally there was that within which all doubt the report that the President of the her efforts could not be altogether re- Waiwupu is negociating with the British pressed, and, like his predecessor, the Minister for the opening of a Chinese C n-youthful monarch, on arriving at years sulate in Hongkong. That is a very old of discretion felt the instinct of his aspiration and the Chinese Government must race too strong for his feeble body. be well acquainted with the fact that it Unfortunately, the counsellers whom he has been consistently opposed in the Colony. called about him, though like himself There is no need of a Chinese Consul here, patriotic and unselfish, were not men of where the interests of the native population sufficient mental grasp to tackle the difficul- are adequately looked after by the Protector ties of the case, and in an evil hour for of Chinese. Over thirty years ago the himself and his country the young Emperor community almost unanimously objected to confided his hopes to YUAN SHI KAI. It is the establishment of a Chinese Consulate by no means clear that YUAN intentionally here on the ground that the power betrayed his master: He was probably which a Consul would gain over the local sufficiently sagacious to see that with the Chinese population would constitute a tools he had selected the work of reform veritable imperium in imperio and subject could not be carried to a successful issue, the native community to an intolerable and stated his apprehensions to the DOWAGER system of official espionage and to the iu- REGENT.
woman of TSE HI'S satiable rapacity of a corrupt mandarindow. character a hint was suficient. She had Time has done little to weaken these objec- never permitted any considerations of right tions and it would be the height of folly to
or wrong to disturb her resolves however give any countenance whatever to the sanguinary, and the present attempt to re- proposal which has now been revived. duce her authority to insignificance called for immediate action. The counsellors of
THE LATE EMPEROR OF CHINA.
(Daily Press, May 11th.)
(Daily Press, 10th May,) Some days ago we published a Chinese telegram conveying the surprising inform- ation that at a meeting held at the United States Legation in Peking the Diplomatic Corps had decided to recommend the Powers concerned to accede to China's desire for an interruption of the Boxer indemnity payment for some years, by way of enabling her to put into execution the numerous projects of administrative reform to which she is pledged. The information with regard to international affairs which finds its way from time to time into the Chinese newspapers is notoriously unreliable, even though it may appear to emanate from official quarters; and so, notwithstanding that the terms of the particular announce. ment to which we are now referring were definite and precise enough to appear con- vincing, it seemed to us that excellent reasons existed, if not for frankly disbe lieving the report, at least for hesitating to accept it until confirmation was forthcoming from the other side. We now know that the report bad no foundation in fact, and must be regarded rather as a clumsy ballon d'essai. We can almost bring our- selves to believe that there exists in Peking some agency for di-seminating as accom- plished facts what are merely the pious aspirations of the Wai-wu-pu. The Chinese public had been previously prepared for the announcement with regard to the Boxer indemnity by the circulation of reports that since the United States had given practical proof of her sympathy with China by re- mitting the balance of the indemnity ,due to her, the Governments of Great
His Late Imperial Majesty of KWANG SU Britain and Germany were not unwill- could scarcely have been the recipient of ing to follow the example of America funeral honours more suitable to his life to the extent at least of making sub-than those that have been accorded to him. stantial reductions in the amounts due to them. It is quite possible that H. E. TANG SHAO YI, who was sent as a Special Ambassador to the United States to return the thanks of the Chinese Government for America's generosity, and has since had a rov- ing commission iu Europe, has been sounding the Governments concerned on the subject, but we may well doubt whether his efforts in that direction have met with the smallest success. No sufficient reasons are apparent why the Governments should acquicsce in a proposal of the nature outlined. If the present resources of the Chinese Government are strained, it is a good argument for carrying out without further delay a thorough reform of her fiscal system. Considering the size and resources of the Chinese Empire, an obligation to pay to the Powers an indemnity of £67,500,000 in annual instalments spread over a period of forty years need not be as onerous as it is represented to be under the present chaotic financial administration. Moreover, looking at the suggestion from China's point of view, it is highly probable that the reforms she desires will come sooner under the strain of meeting these annual payments than if the Powers agreed to temporarily release China from her obliga- tions. So far as Great Britain is concerned, it can hardly be said that of late China has given ber much encouragement to show any prodigious generosity. Be that as it may, it seems to us that the most dignified attitude for China is to give up this forlorn hope, and courageously face the prospect of faith fully discharging her obligations. There is a valuable old proverb which declares that "where there's a will, there's a way." Given the will, all competent observers agree that a way may be found in China along lines of sound reform to provide the Government
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the young Emperor who had advised her relegation to private life were barbarously exterminated, with but one exception who contrived to escape; and there is little doubt that it was her ärst intention that the Emperor should follow; but here even in her rage, she saw that some discretion was ne- cessary. She had not a substitute emperor, in fact, at hand; there had been difficulty about the choice of TSAI TIEN, and the nation looked askauce, as being of the same generation as T'UNG CHI, he could not per- form the correct ancestral sacrifices; and no one of the next generation was as yet available to put in his place. Besides, the Foreign Powers were looking on suspiciously and none knew better than Tse Hi where the money supposed to be spent on the defences of the land had gone. Some had even hinted that the death of the Emperor might lead to the capture of Peking, and with the capture of Peking, the destruction of the Manchu line. The Emperor was spared his life indeed, but, except life, everything that could make life endurable was rigorously excluded, and the remainder of his life may best be described as a living death.
Without losing in magrificence, extraneous ceremonies of late origin seem to have been rigourously tabood, while in accordance with all the acts of his late Majesty, China has emphasised her intention of entering the comity of nations by inviting as honoured guests at the ceremonies, the Foreign Powers to send their special repre- sentatives. It is to the credit of the Regency that the whole of the pageant has been carefully organised, and without sacrificing Anything of the essentially Chinese complexion of the state ceremonies, every care has been taken to conform in details with European etiquette. The result cannot but be gratifying to all concerned, Chinese as well as European, if for nothing more than that, the ceremonies have gone far to show that there is nothing so incon- sistent between the two civilisations of the East and the West but that by judicious These facts, well known to all residents rounding of apparent discrepancies, the two in Peking, though not officially recognised may be found to perfectly blend. In the by the Legations, went far to add a human present instance there is in addition a interest to the ceremony to which the various strong common bond between the two. foreign Governments had sent their special Whatever we may think of the momentary representatives, and it was felt by all that wisdom of the changes attempted by his late though the young Emperor had really died Imperial Majesty, no one bas ever called in a martyr for the country he loved so well; question the entire honesty of purpose the work of reform was still only in the which instigated them, nor the far-sighted- most embryo state, and that China needed ness of the young mouareh in recognising all the countenance and assistance that her that without an entire change of method, foreign friends could afford her. Whatever China was doomed to extinction as an was the immediate cause of the death of the empire. This grasp of the political situation Emperor, regarding which owing to the was all the more wonderful, that of set pur-strangeness of its surroundings many sinister pose the late EMPRESS DOWAGER bad done rumours, none of thein more than wild her best by surrounding the young Emperor guesses, have been current, the broad fact while yet a mere chi'd with the vicious remains that up to the moment of his society of eunuchs, to extinguish any death the late Emperor was practically remaining spark of characte. Nearly as a prisoner in his own palace, and the real bad had been the upbringing of his unfort-moving spirit was the imperious lady, the unate predecessor T'UNG CHI, but T'UNG Empress Dowager, who literally stood Car on arriving at years of discretion had behind the Throne, and compelled him to