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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
THE COURT'S RETURN AND THE | provided, of course, that the Chinese Go- | imagine.
FUTURE.
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Now that the Chinese Court is fairly embarked on its travels eastward, may be worth while to hazard speculation as to its future movements and more especially those of His Majesty the Emperor KWANG HOU. It is not by any
[October 21, 1901. The great distance from the vernment is not presently allowed to rebuild central and southern provinces, the incon- the Taku forts. But the Manchu officials, venience of residence in a city ill adapted though they have felt the strong hand of for the accommodation of so numerous a the Western, have also made the to them Court, and the sense of banishment from convenient discovery that the foreigners are the ordinary seat of power, must all have divided and are held apart by mutual conspired to render the stay of the Imperial jealousies and divergent interests. When Court at Hsian-fu very far from comfort- it is sought to enforce Treaty rights, they able. Yet to move from a position of com. will offer passive resistance, obstruction, parative inaccessibility like Hsian-fu seems and procrastination, believing that the pres- to have been a wrench to the Empress sure applied will be feeble owing to the Dowager, who evidently dreaded very much rivalries of the Powers, and the old game of the possibility of falling into the hands of playing them off one against the other and the Powers. Even now Her Majesty does dangling contracts before the eyes of the not feel sufficient confidence in the per- greedy will go on merrily as of yore. This manence of the settlement arrived at, "ap- is what the mandarins probably countparently, to proceed direct to Peking, and upon; it is what we have only too good she has elected therefore to make Kaifeng reason to fear; but we will hope, neverthe- the headquarters of the Court for the less, that counsels of commonsense may present. prevail in the Legations, and a decided stand be made against any such attempt to lower foreign prestige and damage foreign interests. It certainly is not the real interest of any Power to play into the hands of the Chinese Government in matters affecting foreign trade or enter- prise, and if the foreign Ministers will only resist the temptation to secure so-called special advantages and
firm in their adherence to the general pact to enforce the faithful execution of Treaty stipulations by the Chinese Government, they will in the end reap more solid advant- age than any paltry contract or concession could afford. The difficulty is to bring all the foreign Ministers to one mind, and then to keep them convinced of the desir- ableness of sustained unity in the presence of a shifty and treacherous Oriental Govern- ment. The veteran LI HUNG-CHANG, Who is a past master in the art of sowing divisions among the Ministers, is rapidly failing in health, and will probably soon be removed from the arena, but his policy and teachings are likely to remain, and should be provided against. After the lessons we have had during the past two years, it might well be thought that the necessity of union was a point that required no insistence among foreigners in the Central Kingdom.
stand
(Daily Press, 12th October.) It is greatly to be feared that, with the evacuation of Peking by the foreign troops, all remembrance of the lesson it was hoped was being taught to vain, egotistical China will rapidly fade into the very thinnest of dreams. As we have often pointed out in this column, the Chinese Government and Chinese officials are adepts in perverting -facts and persuading the populace that a defeat is really a victory for Celestial arms or Celestial guile. The reverses suffered by the Chinese troops at the hands of foreign troops, the precipitate flight of the Imperial Court from the Metropolis, and its occupa- tion by foreign soldiers can all be ingeni- ously shown to have resulted either from natural causes or to have been at the express pleasure of the Emperor for reasons of State, which perhaps it would be pronounced needless to enter upon. That this anti- cipation was not far-fetched or wide of the mark has been already proved very forcibly from Chinese sources.
means certain that the Emperor, A native correspon- dent of a Shanghai contemporary, writing
who is still practically a prisoner in the from Peking on the policy of the Manchu
hands of the Empress Dowager and her dynasty, openly says that if the foreign
supporters, will be allowed to extend his Powers think that the fighting last year
journey beyond Kaifeng. From time to and for a portion of the current year
time statements have been made to the succeeded in striking terror into the bearts
effect that while the Imperial Court with of the men now in power and inspired a
the Empress Dowager will remain at Kai- wholesome dread of the foreigner in the
feng the Emperor KWANG HSU will be per- masses living in the interior, then, indeed,
mitted to proceed to Peking, but there has they will be greatly disappointed. The
never been any official confirmation of the Manchu officials, he says, are doing all
report. A German journal, the Lokalanzeiger, they can to induce the people to believe that
publishes some letters addresed by the although the Allies may have been successful
Emperor to Prince CHUN, in one of which at first at Tientsin and Peking last year,
His Majesty announced that it is his their successes were but temporary and
intention to hold a review at Woosung next. partial, and that they were eventually com-
spring. This may be true, so far as the pelled to evacuate the capital, and the man
expression of the intention is concerned, darins point to the full re-establishment of
but the Emperor was perhaps reckoning Government control there as irrefragable
without the host on this occasion, proof of the statement. The flight of the
possibly by choice overlooking the trifling Imperial Court to Hsianfu they calmly
circumstance of Her Majesty the Empress explain away as a "tour of inspection
Dowager's consent being necessary. over the north-western provinces, following
doubt it is intensely galling to the un- the precedent established by CHIN SHIH-
fortunate young sovereign to reflect that he is monarch in name alone; that he HUANG, the first Emperor of the Chin dynasty, who in B.C. 221 first formed
(Daily Press, 16th October.)
can do nothing of his own initiative, and the whole of China into one Empire. The After repeated reports that the Chinese must perforce remain under the tutelage correspondent goes on to say:-"There | Imperial Court was about to leave Hsian-fu of the old woman who has for so many had never been any such tour made and as many contradictions thereof-until years exercised arbitrary power in his name. by the present dynasty, and so the the public had lost all interest in a matter It is therefore readily conceivable that in Empress Dowager, taking advantage of which seemed so uncertain---the announce writing to his brother, who has for a season "the disturbances in the North, embraced ment came at length that their Majesties at any rate escaped from the Empress "the opportunity to make a tour of inspec- had really started for Kaifeng on the 6th Dowager's apron string, he should also "tion of the Yellow River. The very auda- instant. This date had been fixed upon, declare his resolve to get free and act for "city of such a declaration of the Manchus," after much consideration by the Empress himself. But it is to be feared that this he goes on to remark, “makes it look like Dowager, and permission had been granted per.eetly innocent and laudable desire on "truth in the minds of the ignorant people by her to H. E. SHENG YUN, Governor of the part of the Emperor to exhibit himself "in the interior, who actually firmly believe Sheusi, to accompany the Imperial party to to his subjects and see something of the it to be so. Finally, to make things look the new capital. General MA AN-LIANG, country beyond the narrow limits of Peking, "all the more natural, the interdict of the who was in charge of the troops at Hsian-fu, will be baulked by the Government. To foreign Powers on literary and military was ordered to take command of the Body- begin with, it is improbable that the Em- examinations in Peking for five years on guard-mostly Kansuh veterans-and in- peror will be allowed to leave the Imperial "account of the Boxer attacks last year on structed to escort the Court to Kaifeng. Court, when it is established at Kaifeng, foreigners in the Imperial Prefecture of The migration, now going on, will entail until at least the Empress herself is ready "Shuntienfu (as Pcking and vicinity is term- very heavy expenses. Preparations on a to return to Peking, and when that time ed) is completely ignored, and the masses huge scale have to be made in advance for arrives he will be watched most jealously. are made to believe that owing to the dis- the accommodation of the Court and retinue The Empress Dowager knows only too well "turbance in the capital last year all the at each halting place. The number of per- that her power is secure only so long as she Imperial Examination Halls in Peking were sons composing the Court, and its train is can control the movements and retain pos session of the person of the Emperor. She entirely destroyed by the enemy," and the very large, and the Bodyguard is quite a Empress Dowager is accordingly considering small army. They will pretty well eat up must be well aware that the people generally the feasibility of holding these metropolitan the supplies of provisions en route, and their are waxing impatient at the continued examinations in some other province. Thus passage through the country will doubtless seclusion of the Son of Heaven and are are the people misled and the prestige of, be regarded with anything but rejoicing by anxious that he should again assume the the corrupt Manchu Government upheld the inhabitants. The evacuation of Peking reins of power. Only the other day a In these circumstances the new dispen- by the foreign troops has no doubt had its lengthy memorial emanating from the liter- sation seems likely to prove very little due share in finally inducing the Empressary classes and gentry of the Two Kwang improvement on the old régime. The Lega Dowager to commence the return journey was sent to the Chinese plenipotentiaries tions will, it is true, be better guarded and to the Manchu capital. The sojourn at at Peking urging in very strong language the approach to the capital kept open, Hsian-fu has not been too satisfactory, we the wish of his subjects in these provinces
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