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Inclosure in No. 1.
Report by Mr. Seeds respecting the Reception of the Diplomatic Body on offering theu condolences to the Prince Regent before the Biers of the late Emperor and Empress Dowager.
PUNCTUALLY at 9 o'clock on the morning of the 21st November Sir J. Jordan and the members of the Legation staff whose privilege it was to accompany lis Majesty's Minister were borne off in official chairs along the road leading to the Forbidden City, where the Diplomatic Corps were to present their condolences to the Prince Regent before the biers of the late Emperor and Empress Dowager. According to the rule laid down by the Wai-wn Pu, no foreign Minister was to be accompanied by more than two members of his staff, but, in graceful recognition of His Majesty's Minister as the Representative of the King of Norway, an exception was made in favour of the British Legation, and Sir J. Jordan alone among the foreign. “ Chefs de Mission was attended by a suite of four, comprising Mr. Campbell, Chinese Secretary; Mr. Addison, Second Secretary; Mr. Mayers, Assistant Chinese Secretary; and the writer of this Report.
Outside the eastern gate of the Forbidden City were drawn up the usual misvel- laneous assortment of Chinese soldiery, who presented arins in their own inimitable manner as the chairs were carried through their lines. Having crossed the first court- yard, the chairs were met at the entrance to a narrow passage by exceedingly perturbed officials, who hurriedly lined the cortège along the wall in order to clear the road for a procession which could be seen slowly advancing down the lane. At its head marched coolies carrying mysterious burdens carefully shrouded in silk cloths of Imperial yellow; immediately after these, surrounded by a white-clad suite, and supported on either side by a high official, walked a Manchu lady, her eyes fixed on the ground and her thickly powdered face set in an expression of ceremonious grief. Not till later were we told that, owing to our unexpectedly early arrival, we had had the honour of seeing the present Empress Dowager, widow of the late Emperor, on her way to carry out certain religious observances in connection with the obsequies of her departed spouse.
The great inner courtyard where the chairs finally came to a halt presented a picture such as would have satisfied the most romantically-minded Occidental that ever came to the Far East in search of memories of a barbaric past. Here were row upon row of ponies and camels whose heads peered patiently out from under their yellow trappings; along the walls, ruinous in parts, it is true, but on the whole bright with green and yellow tiles, were ranged the tents of the camel-drivers much the same as they might have appeared on the Mongolian plains, while lines of Chinese carts and chairs, all draped in the Tmperial colours, completed the illusion and made of the whole scene a representation, as it were, of the temporary encampment of some nomadic chieftain. Immemorial custom alone required the presence of this multitude of carts and beasts of burden; they had not been collected in order to serve any practical purpose, but were to stand idle in the courtyard, day after day, as pompons witnesses to the greatness of the deceased Emperor. For the rest, the vast inclosure seethed with a crowd of officials, clad in the regulation mourning garb, black hat and white sheepskin cloak worn with the fur outwards, in contrast to whom the so-called "hereditary bondsmen," with their lilac coats and green sashes, supplied a brilliant note of colour, which even their doubtful cleanliness could scarce impair, while the all too numerous faces of the repulsive eunuch class showed that the new régime had not yet grappled, as had been hoped, with the chief curse of the Imperial Palace.
After being regaled with tea and cigarettes in pavilions specially erected for their reception, the Diplomatic Body were escorted by a flock of officials to the great hall where the late Empress Dowager had been wont to receive foreign ladies in audience, and where her body was now awaiting its final removal to the last resting-place amidst the Imperial tombs. The enormous gates of the ball were flung wide open, letting in a flood of light over the catafalque and its richly embroidered hangings of yellow silk. Immediately in front stood a small altar table supporting candlesticks and other religious vessels of a severely plain design; on each side of the bier low screens were so placed as to inclose a semicircular space barely large enough to contain the little band of foreign diplomatists as they stood just within the entrance, but no attempt had been made to shut out the imposing background afforded
by the pillars and walls of the building, the magnificent decorations of which shone out undimmed by any such dismal trappings as accompany funeral ceremonies in Western countries. Through the openings between the screens could be seen, in (defiance of all rules of etiquette hitherto observed, highly interested groops of Court ladies, whose heavily powdered faces rivalled their mourning rohes in white- ness. To the right of the Diplomatic Body, close to the bier, stood the Prince Regent, indistinguishable from any other Chinese of high rank in his plain black hat and white fur coat-a delicate-looking young man, whose highly nervous manner and gentle expression strangely recalled the late Emperor. Prince Ch'un accompanied by Prince Ching, looking singularly aged and feeble, Na-t'ung, and Yuan Shih-k'ai, whose vigorous appearance satisfactorily gave the lie to the rumours lately current attributing to him various forms of violent death.
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In accordance with the prescribed ceremonial, the Spanish Minister, as doyen of the Diplomatic Corps, after bowing thrice to the bier and once to the Prince Regent, read out the following speech :-
"Monseigneur,La force mystérieuse et invisible qui dirige nos destins et contre laquelle il n'y a ni défense ni lutte possible a fait disparaître du monde des vivants Sa Majesté l'Impératrice Douairière, cette femme admirable, intelligente et de baut caractère, qui avait voué sa vie à étudier et satisfaire les besoins de la Chine.
"J'accomplis le triste devoir de manifester à votre Altesse Impériale combien est grande la part que le Corps Diplomatique prend au chagrin de la Famille Impériale devant la disparition à jamais de l'Impératrice Douairière."
After this address had been translated into Chinese, the Prince Regent, whose fingers were trembling with nervousness, produced, out of the recesses of his sleeve, a paper from which he read his reply, translated by his interpreter into French as follows:--
"Nous remercions vivement vos Excellences des preuves de touchante sympathie qu'elles nous donnent dans ce deuil national en venant saluer la dépouille funèbre de notre Auguste Souveraine feu Sa Majesté l'Impératrice Douairière. Nous sommes très sensibles aux condoléances qui nous sont exprimées; elles monteront jusqu'à l'âme de Son Anguste Majesté, qui est au ciel.
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'C'est avec une grande tristesse et une vive reconnaissance que nous adressons à vos Excellences nos sincères remercîments.'
The Diplomatic Corps then retired backwards out of the hall, keeping their faces turned to the bier and bowing as they went.
After a short interval, the foreign diplomatists followed the Prince Regent to the main audience hall, where the body of the late Emperor was lying, and where a similar ceremony was gone through. Following is the text of the speeches delivered :--
The Spanish Minister: "C'est dans le silence de la tristesse que nous nous approchons du cercueil qui contient la dépouille mortelle de votre auguste frère pour vous dire combien est grande, profonde et sincère la douleur que le Corps Diplomatique éprouve devant ce malheur. Plus qu'une espérance, le jeune Empereur, que nous regrettons tous, était une réalité pour le bonheur de son peuple, qu'il chérissait. C'est à lui qu'il a donné sa dernière pensée, et c'est en se souvenant de son futur bien-être qu'il a exhalé son dernier soupir.
"Le Corps Diplomatique ici réuni souhaite que le temps, qui est le baume qui assoupit toutes les douleurs, puisse assoupir le vôtre.”
The Prince Regent: "Nous sommes très touchés des condoléances que vos Excellences ont bien voulu nous adresser, et de la preuve de sympathie qu'elles nous donnent en devant saluer la dépouille de notre Auguste Souverain feu Sa Majesté l'Empereur.
Cette preuve de sympathie si aimable, si touchante, nous touche; non seulement nous, mais elle touchera jusqu'à l'âme de Son Auguste Majesté, qui est au ciel.
"C'est du fond du cœur que nous adressons à vos Excellences nos sincères remerciments."
The catafalque covering the Imperial coffin resembled that which hid the bier of the Empress Dowager, being a plain rectangular erection about 9 feet high, overlaid
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