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form a high opinion of the present REGENT, as an amiable young ruler who places the good of the State far in advance of his own private pleasures. But this amiability may be carried to such an extreme as of itself to become a danger; and this we believe to be the present predicament. This weakness of initiative is especially marked in the failure of all the well-meant schemes for the reform of those abuses which are gnawing into the vitals of the Empire. This is exhibited strongly in the manner in which the recent Viceroy has been got rid of, and still more in the feeble manner in which the attempt has been made to cast the odium of a most disgraceful and disreputable trans- action on to the shoulders of the present Dowager Empress Yu LUNG. It is known to most of those intimate with the affairs of the Court that the present Dowager Empress, widow of the late Emperor KWANG HSU, is physically unequal to the strain that would be entailed by active participation in the work of administration. It is, therefore, in the last degree inadvisable that she should be tempted into sporadically interfering in affairs of State, and more especially in the choice of high officials; it is, therefore, extremely unlikely that the actual Regent should have invited her interposition. When, however, we come to look into the affair of the dismissal, the very first name that appears in connection with the pretended "charges" is that of a younger official bearing the very ominous name of LI. The name of Li bodes no good to the present administration, and the official who has put his name forward in connection with the present scandalous incident is a grandson of the LI (LI HUNG CHANG) who figured so largely as the subsidised betrayer of his country to Russia; and whose shuffling with
Russian Minister to the then.
the Court of Peking was really instrumental in bringing on the Russo-Japanese war, which has practically resulted in the loss to China of her Manchurian provinces, over which she has to all intents and purposes lost the control. This chip of the old blocke who has assumed the lead in the intrigu | that brought about the fall of H. E. TUAN FANG, is known as LI KEOCHI. Now, any- one who has had any experience of Chinese statecraft is quite aware that the inner reason for the supersession of any individual in high office is never put forward as the ostensible cause. We may, therefore, cease to wonder at the childishness that would dismiss an officer because he had a photo graph taken, or because he supported a telephone wire on the branches of a tree, however sacred. The real causes are much deeper, and indicate serious danger for the Administration, if not for the Empire. TUAN FANG was known to be a man of culture and of thought. He had made himself liked and respected by both Chinese and foreigners with whom he had come in personal contact. In the discharge of his official duties his personal honour had never been called in question; and he had per- sonally kept himself aloof from all the intrigues that are the standing disgrace of the present administration. To men of the school of the late LI HUNG CHANG such conduct is little short of criminal, as it would leave no scope for those peculiar arts by which L1, the prince of intriguers, came to be one of the richest men in the world. It need excite, then, but little wonder that all those who favoured the doctrine that office was made for man, and that the holder' had the divine right of the enjoyment of all its possible perquisites, should to a man find themselves personally aggrieved by the promotion of a man whose career had hither to been a protest against those doctrines.
[December 6, 1909.
to beat a dog. The dog has already been condemned without a hearing; that is no matter, he has to be beaten, and the choice of weapons is perfectly immaterial.
Such is the present position of the Regency in Peking, the regency of Prince CHUN stands on the same pinnacle of instability as the royalty of King MANUEL. What insur- ance association would care to accept the risk of either ?
THE LORDS AND THE
CONSTITUTION,
(Daily Press, December 3rd). Grave issues, we are told, are raised by the overwhelming vote by which the House of Lords has refused to pass since it challenges an the Budget, appeal to the country, not merely on on the the principles of the Budget, but existence of the House of Lords and the Constitution." In the first place, in the words of Mr. BALFOUR, the rejection of the Budget means bringing" the whole of the executive machinery of the country to a standstill"; in the words of Mr. ASQUITH it means
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"financial and administrative chaos profound and far-reaching, fraught with injustice to individuals and danger to the State, and carrying in its train conse- quences which he would be a bold man to forecast or forsee.” That way revolution said Mr. AsQUITH in his speech lies," at Birmingham a couple of months ago, involving, as I venture to predict it will, issues far wider, far deeper, than the mere right of the House of Lords to meddle with Mr. ASQUITH added that the finance." Liberal Party were not only ready but anxious, not only anxious but eager, to take up the challenge. To-day's telegram tells us that the Premier, before going House of to the country, invites the Commons to declare that the action which the Upper House has taken is a breach of the Constitution and a usurpation of the rights of the House of Commous. are big words, and we think the Premier will find considerable difficulty in justifying them. The preamble of the Finance Bill embodying the Budget proposals reads as follows:-
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND TUAN FANG had been sent abroad ona roving commission to discover how it was that China, from being in the forefront of the nations, had fallen so miserably as to have become a byeword for inefficiency and dishonour. It was his misfortune that in the quest he found in all the nations of Europe a sharp line drawn between public and private emolu- ments; and that office, instead of being a perquisite, was looked upon as a trust. He, moreover, found that those countries where this principle was carried out to its legitimate conclusion were of all the most powerful and respected, and the conclusion he had to draw was that the system that prevailed in China, to an extent unknown elsewhere, of treating the revenues attached to an office as the private property of the possessor, was really at the root of the present condition of decay which he felt in the very atmosphere he had daily to breathe. It is quite true that TUAN FANG has never been an innova tor: constitutionally, he would have prefer red that reform should have come from conviction of the people themselves, but here knowledge itself was a crime. He knew from personal experience that affairs were rotten, and he felt that in their remedy lay the only hope for his country. LuJUNSIANG and the other leaders of the party of reac tion knew this also, but their knowledge was centred in the loss of perquisities; this was a tangible issue, the condition and well-being of the Empire was a thing too remote for consideration. TUAN FANG, they had reason to suspect, was disposed to second the REGENT in his efforts towards financial reform; and so, disguise the fact as he would, was a real enemy to the cause. Such has been the reasoning of the reactionaries, and they readily saw that to be successful, action must be prompt. One of the out- ward visible signs of adherence to the Party has been the cult of the Dowager Tsi HI; and the aim of Lu and his adherents has been by all outward measures to emphasise the fact in her funeral ceremonies. This gave them the opportunity of at once ex- pressing their admiration of her reactionary belittling the tendencies, and also of memory of the late Emperor; this has been the true " innardness" of the display at the fane of a woman, whom personally not one of the crowd who joined in the ceremonies either loved or respected. But it would not do to parade these opinions openly; public opinion had not yet been "educated" up to the point; and here was the dilemma. was at this moment that one of the junior Censors came to the rescue. It was ominous that he bore the name, and was indeed a descendant, of the man who, above all others, is responsible for China's present degrada tion. China is not the only country where party ranks before patriotism, and he had come forward with a definite charge which the public conscience, carefully trained for the purpose, could ostentatiously accept
Nothing more is necessary to clearly TUAN FANG had committed a breach of the principles of Feng-shui. In the Roman establish the fact that the House of Empire in its most rotten days as Lords does not exist merely for the rotten, in fact, as China of to-day purpose of automatically registering the ever the most efwill of the House of Commons on finan- a charge of impiety was fective means of getting rid of some public cial questions; it clearly is entitled to man whose superior virtue had cast an denounce, and refuse its assent to, the
any.
other pro- unpleasant shade over some popular vice; financial as much as on Lr KEOCHI's shoulders was cast the role posals the House of Commons may submit are unable to of playing the ignominious part of public for its approval, and we
exercising the powers accuser. It is not necessary to pre-suppose perceive how in that any individual in the plot cared one jot clearly given them in the preamble of the or tittle about the principles of feng shui, or Finance Bill they have become guilty, in whether the spirit of TSI HI were hurt or Mr. ASQUITH's words, of a breach of the otherwise by TUAN FANG's crossing the Constitution and a usuration of the rights route of the procession in his chair. TUAN of the House of Commo.is. FANG as a possible reformer, and as a friend of the REGENT, had already been condemned by the Party; any stick will do well enough
བ་ ། །
It
Most Gracious Sovereign, We, your
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1 hese
ajesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled towards raising the necessary supplies to defray your Majesty's public expenses, and making an addition to the public revenue, have freely and voluntarily resolved to give and grant unto your Majesty the several duties herein-after mentioned; and do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, BY AND WITH THE ADVICE
AND CONSENT. OF THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL, AND COMMONS, IN THIS PRESENT BY THE AND. PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED,
AUTHORITY OF THE SAME.
Of this Finance Bill it may be said that no legislative proposal of the House of Commons has received so much attention