In August Prince Kung hastened to Jehol, the object of his journey, and indeed the journey itself, being kept the closest secret. The members of the Tsungli Yamen were observed to be preoccupied, and even the genial Wansiang could not conceal that they were passing through a crisis. Not merely was Hienfung dying, but it had become known that he had left the governing authority during the minority of his son, a child of less than six years of age, to a Board of Regency composed of eight of the least intelligent and most arrogant and self-seeking members of the Imperial family, with Prince Tsai at their head. The Emperor died on the 22nd of August. A few hours later the Imperial Decree notifying the last wishes of the ruler as to the mode of government was promulgated. The Board of Regency assumed the nominal control of affairs, and Hienfung's son was proclaimed Emperor under the style of Chiseang ("the auspicious omen"). In all of these arrangements neither Prince Kung nor his brothers, nor the responsible ministers at the capital, had had the smallest part. It was an intrigue among certain members of the Imperial clan to possess themselves of the ruling power, and for a time it seemed as if their intrigue would be only too successful.

Nothing happened during the months of September and October to disturb their confidence, and at Pekin the routine of government continued to be performed by Prince Kung. That statesman and his colleagues employed the interval in arranging their own plan of action, and in making sure of the fidelity of a certain number of troops. Throughout these preparations Prince Kung was ably and energetically supported by his brother, Prince Chun, by his colleague, Wansiang, and by his aged father-in-law, the minister Kweiliang. When at the end of October it became known that the young Emperor was on the point of returning to Pekin, it was clear that the hour of conflict had arrived. At Jehol the Board of Regency could do little harm; but once its pretensions and legality were admitted at the capital, all the ministers would have to take their orders from it, and to resign the functions which they had retained. The issue clearly put was whether Prince Kung or Prince Tsai was to be supreme.

REGENTS ARRESTED.

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On the 1st of November the young Emperor entered his capital in state. He was driven through the streets in a carriage, with Tsi Thsi, the Empress Dowager, or the principal widow of Hienfung, and the Empress Tsi An, another of Hienfung's widows, occupying seats in the same carriage; but no European actually saw the cortège, because Prince Kung had asked Mr. Bruce and the other ministers as a favour to keep their suites at home until the procession reached the palace. A large number of soldiers, still dressed in their white mourning, accompanied their Sovereign from Jehol; but Shengpao's garrison was infinitely more numerous and thoroughly loyal to the cause of Prince Kung and order. The majority of the Regents had arrived with the reigning prince; those who had not yet come were on the road escorting the dead body of Hienfung towards its resting-place. If a blow was to be struck at all, it was necessary to do it quickly. The Regents had not merely placed themselves in the power of their opponents, but they had actually brought with them the young Emperor, without whose person Prince Kung could have accomplished little.

Prince Kung had spared no effort to secure, and had fortunately succeeded in obtaining, the assistance and co-operation of the Empress Dowager, Hienfung's principal widow. Her assent and that of her abler associate, the still living Empress Tsi An, had been obtained to the proposed plot before their arrival in Pekin, and it now only remained to carry it out. On the day following the entry into the capital Prince Kung hastened to the Palace, and, producing before the astonished Regents an Imperial Edict ordering their dismissal, he asked them whether they obeyed the decree of their Sovereign, or whether he must call in his soldiers to compel them. Prince Tsai and his companions had no choice save to signify their acquiescence; but on leaving the chamber in which this scene took place they hastened towards the Emperor's apartment in order to remonstrate against their dismissal, or to obtain from him some counter-edict reinstating them in their position. They were prevented from carrying out their purpose, but this proof of contumacy ensured their fate. They were at once arrested, and a second

decree was issued ordering their degradation from their official and hereditary rank. To Prince Kung and his allies was entrusted the charge of trying and punishing the offenders.

The edict in which the assumption of governing power by the Empress was announced is so important and characteristic that it merits prominent reproduction:

"The Princes, Nobles, and Officers of the Empire are hereby to learn that the disquiet of the sea-coast last year and the alarm of the capital were caused wholly by the vicious policy of the Princes and Ministers engaged in the matter. Tsai-yuen and his colleagues [Mu-yin] were in the next place (or more especially) unable to devote their attention to pacific counsels; and, being without other device for the extinction of their responsibility, could propose nothing but that the English Envoys should be decoyed into their power and made prisoners, hence a breach of faith towards the foreign nations. Yet more, when Yuen-min-yuen and Hai-tien were spoiled and His late Majesty, our Emperor, in consequence, had taken a journey to Je-hol, the mind of the Sacred One was sore troubled that he was reduced to such extremity; and when in due time the Prince and Ministers of the office, charged with the general administration of foreign affairs, had well arranged all foreign questions that required settlement, and its usual tranquillity was restored to the capital, within and without the walls, His Majesty again and again called on the Princes and Ministers [Tsai-yuen and his colleagues] to frame a decree announcing His return. Tsai-yuen, Twan-hwa, and Su-shuen, however, the one abetting the other in deceit, with all their strength kept from Him these facts, to which the opinion of all men bore testimony, ever alleging that foreign nations, both in sentiment and demeanour, were always shifting (lit. turning over and over). His late Majesty anxious and worn, [rested] neither by day nor by night. The cold, too, beyond the frontier was severe, and so the indisposition of the Sacred Person increased, until upon the 17th day of the 7th moon (22nd August), He ascended upon the Dragon to be a guest on high. Clasping the ground We cried to heaven; within, We felt as though a fire were burning. Looking back We bethought us that the iniquity of Tsai-yuen and the others in their concealment of the truth, deserved not the bitter wrath of Ourself alone, but the bitter wrath of all the officers and people of the Empire; and it was Our wish when first We ascended the throne to punish their guilt with severity. Still, remembering that they were Ministers appointed by His late Majesty in His last moments, We forebore awhile in

expectation of their redeeming the past. Not so, however. On the 11th of the 8th moon (15th September), We called Tsai-yuen and the other members [of the Council] of eight to Our presence. The Censor Tung-yuan-chun, in a memorial respectfully setting forth his limited views, had prayed that the Empress Dowager should act as Regent for some years, and that when We should ourselves become competent to its administration, the government should be surrendered (or given back) to Us; also, that one or two of the Princes of the highest order should be chosen, and appointed to act as counsellors; also, that one or two of the high Officers of the Empire should be chosen and appointed to be Our preceptors—which three propositions were greatly to Our liking. There is no precedent, it is true, in the time of Our Dynasty, for the regency of an Empress Dowager; but could We have adhered tenaciously to standing rules, when, of the trusts committed to Us by His Majesty the departed Emperor, the most important was this, that We should think of nothing but the policy of the State, and welfare (or existence) of the people. This (the course suggested) is what is meant by the words, ' in business the first thing is the adoption of such changes as the occasion may require.' We accordingly gave Our special commands, in person, to Tsai-yuen and his colleagues to issue a Decree approving [the Censor's] prayer. When they came to make their reply, however, they so totally forgot their obligations as Our servants, as clamorously to raise objections [this in the first place]. In the second, when drawing up the Decree to be issued for Us, while professing in the light to obey, they in secret disobeyed Us, taking on themselves to make alterations [in the paper] which they then published as the declaration of Our will. What in very truth was their motive? when on every occasion, too, Tsai-yuen and his colleagues have been pretending that [this or that was impracticable, because] they dared not assume the supreme (or independent) authority; what was this act but an unmistakable (a true footprint of) assumption of the supreme authority?

"Though Our own youth and the imperfect acquaintance of the Empress Dowager with the business of the State might have put it in their power to practise imposition and concealment, so far as we were concerned, they could not, could they, impose upon the whole Empire as well? and were We now longer to forbear towards those who have proved so ungrateful for the great favour of His late Majesty, what answer, as with reverence we look upward, should We make to His spirit, now in heaven, or how should We satisfy the general feeling of the Empire?

"We command, then, that Tsai-yuen, Twan-hwa, and Su-shuen

be removed from their posts, and that King-shau, Mu-yin, KwangYuen, Tu-Han, and Tsian-Yu-ying withdraw from the great Council; and We commission the Prince of Kung, in concert with the members of the Grand Secretariat, the Six Boards, the Nine High Courts, the Han-lin-Yuen, the Shen-sz'-Fu and the Censors, to consider impartially and to report to Us, the degree of punishment to which they are severally liable by law for their crimes.

"With reference to the forms under which Her Majesty the Empress Dowager is to administer the Government, We Command that [the same high Officers] do confer together and report to Us. "A Decree extraordinary."

The bravest if not the ablest of the late Board of Regency, Sushuen, remained at large. He had been charged with the high and honourable duty of escorting the remains of Hienfung to the capital. It was most important that he should be seized before he became aware of the fate that had befallen his colleagues. Prince Chun, the father of the now reigning Emperor Kwangsu, volunteered to capture the last, and in a sense the most formidable, of the intriguers himself, and on the very day that these events happened at Pekin he rode out of the capital at the head of a body of Tartar cavalry. On the following night Prince Chun reached the spot where Sushuen was encamped, and, breaking into the house, arrested him whilst in bed. Sushuen did not restrain his indignation, and betrayed the ulterior plans he and his associates had entertained, by declaring that Prince Chun had been only just in time to prevent a similar fate befalling himself. He was at once placed on his trial with the other prisoners, and on the 10th of November the order was given in the Emperor's name for their execution. Sushuen was executed on the public ground set apart for that purpose; but to the others, as a special favour for their connection with the Imperial family, was sent the silken cord with which they were to put an end to their existence.

Another important step which had to be taken was the alteration of the style given to the young Emperor's reign. It was felt to be impolitic that the deposed ministers should retain any connection whatever in history with the young ruler. Were Hienfung's son to be handed down to posterity