[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majestys Government.]
AFFAIRS OF CHINA,
CONFIDENTIAL.
[46130]
No. 1.
51
December 20.j
SECTION 1.
Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.--(Received December 20.)
(No. 436.) Sir,
Peking, November 26, 1909. THE dismissal of Tuan Fang, the Viceroy of Chilli, to which reference was made in my despatch No. 434 of the 24th instant, continues to excite much public interest here, and is generally regarded as an outcome of intrigues or divided counsels in the palace. The ostensible reasons for the step as given in the enclosed memorial by the Marquis Li Kuo-chieh, grandson by adoption of Li Hung-chang, are that Tuan Fang allowed photographs of the Empress Dowager's funeral ceremony to he taken within the precincts of the Imperial mausoleum; that he passed in front of the Imperial tablet when the last rites were being performed; and that he had telegraph wires installed in the grounds of the Imperial enclosure to keep in touch with the business of the Viceroy's office at Tien-tsin.
All these charges are, I understand, admitted to be true. Tuan Fang is a great art connoisseur, has some reputation as an Egyptologist, and takes almost an inordinate interest in Western inventions. When in Europe in 1906 as a member of the constitution commission he made a large collection of curiosities, which included such diverse objects as Egyptian mummies, Roman sculptures, and a cinematograph. It was the latter which was brought into use, with such unfortunate results to himself, on the occasion of the Imperial funeral. Although a Mancha of the Manchus by birth and family traditions, Tean Fang has spent the greater part of his life in the provinces, and had apparently come to the conclusion that innovations which were possible in Nanking could be introduced with impunity in Peking even amid the solemnities of an Imperial funeral.
The penalty, however, is so unusually severe as to suggest that there were other causes for his disgrace, and that most commonly assigned is peculation in connection with the funeral arrangements which brought him into collision with personages high in the favour of the Empress Dowager.
Whether the cause of Tuan Fang's downfall or not, there seems to be little doubt that there has been serious friction amongst the ladies of the palace, which appears to be directed against the predominant position held by the Empress Dowager as guardian of the youthful Emperor. Including the Empress Dowager, there are altogether six ladies in the palace who are widows of former Emperors. Of these, one is a very elderly person, the relict of the Emperor Hsien Feng, who died in 1861, three are secondary wives of Tung Chih, who died in 1875, and one is a concubine of the late Emperor Kuang Lísü. The young Emperor, it may be remembered, was to be regarded as continuing the succession both to Tung Chih and to Kuang Hsu, and in the natural course of things the widows of both these Emperors might have expected to be entrusted with the care of the child-Emperor. The late Empress Dowager, however, who had herself been associated in an arrangement of this kind during Tung Chil's minority, provided by her testamentary depositions that the young Emperor should be brought up entirely by Kuang Hsu's consort, the present Empress Dowager, who was her favourite niece. Tung Chil's widows naturally resent their exclusion from the rôle of maternal guardians to the boy-Emperor, and are said to have enlisted the support and sympathy of a large section of the eunuchs of the palace. The Empress Dowager's funeral was selected as a suitable occasion for making a protest, and, after the obsequies were over, Tung Chili's three widows took up their quarters at the Eastern Tombs and declined to return to the palace. There they remain, and a deputation, headed by Duke Tsai-tsê, has been sent to try to induce the recalcitrant ladies to return to the palace.
The incident has caused some scandal and much gossip, and is generally regarded as a symptom of possible trouble in the future.
I have, &c.
[2548 u-1]
J. N. JORDAN.
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