THE DOWAGER EMPRESS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 440, 24 February 1909, Page 3

THE DOWAGER EMPRESS.

; Dri Dillon;, tho .famous Chinese correspondent, write's an -appreciation of the latef; ' : Dowiger; Empress of China for tho "Fort-! ■?, nightij"."Tsu ,: Hsi.;was : - one ;of-those ;massive world7figiires,'. r whbm ■the ancients iyere{wont : to worship- and the 'moderns are willing to immortalise. /. Like the • greeii ,'lcar''of tho' lotus'- thatsprouts'* up;'froii'ftth€i''. , slime':''she'; Tai^.'.herserf-'.aloftV'by^ w {{battle'.."or' individuality :l against; agnation-'of four hundred million.: living 'men"'arid:;myriad& of: : still7quicfc , • "aridivinnuential.T;j ivTsui i Hsi-:;,was'-an-■ ; artistic;: seeing'! things as they are. .. Men thrilled to her ? { touch;". and : Bbe •, appealed with ; equal'{ease.: to fhe'i noble -and. to»the- moral fif; her char-" : ; {Dillon! V'giyes : 'a .closeiy-writr .'ten'sketch of her ca:reer,;;and:. actually.'ends by calling, her . a Chinese Gladstone. In the : "Contemporary" v Mrs. L.- H. 1 Hoover has {{ something :.to ;Bay{about .the: same'dadyj 'and, like Dr.Dillon, > she • objects to the. strong . Western' prejudice directed against so en's; lightened: an Empress. '..'J'ho Empress wis of decided' Manchu typo, and her- feet had np s ver been bound;- Her face showed intelligence and high-purpoibe,-and was very beau- { direct and'simple;SShe: was born'in.lß34, and .her family, had furnished wives to earlier Emperors. Her husband died in 1861, ? t;. and she was the mother of his only son. {The Empress from I'that;, moment asserted' herself. "In looking at her. reign as a symmetrical whole, oiie' must grant' that probably in its long, history China- has never known.• so strong- or " so,{beneficent; a figure. {.appear' ifllany.;: dynasty? after.; it, had.; turned towards-.ita decadence.': . Given; a . country /of : :.expanding--■'energies-,;: with .officials anxious'to do her. bidding, sho would {have shown the world very. different results. But tho peo- ':. '■ pie,; the traditions, the .cußtoms;' the turn ;of outward events, being such as they have. ; been, -it may- .easily be granted, that , ; her personal, achievement has. been great." '.