Notes and Events.

Manawatu Herald, 4 October 1894, Page 3

Notes and Events.

There appears to be a ciiance of m'llch ty'dkeri china iri the far north, the " jTajM '.' At present Having .the beat of the fight, but, could the Chinese only hold together we would not give much for the Japanese caught inland, . Tlierb seenis however, from the cable news, to be a chance of tnfc' number of Chinamen becoming much less, as besides getting knocked over by the Jap's, they seem much inclined to knock one another over. It iiiay be well;

Tho present Emperor of China, born, with the name of Tsai-tien, in 1871 is not yet twenty-four y^ars old, and therefore such little things as naval defeats and army reverses trouble him, and he seeks to lay the blame on some one else's shoulders. Tho E"inpßfdi\ at the! age of four, succeeded to the throne, and the Empress managed business for him until he arrived at the age of sixteen, which would be in the year 1887, when he assumed the government arid} in accordance with custom, Chose 1 & tiW tiahie for himself,KwangSee.

Though he did all this we find the empress -dowager did not resign her power till late in 1888. It was one thibg " assuming lj power and quite anoth.er thing getting it. This distinguished pers'6iiag"e deltsrslte I fl his freedom by getting married early in 1889.

We find that the much bullied Li-Hung Chang came into great public notice in 1880 when, as Governor of tiie metropolitan provinces, he was called upon to fortify the approaches to the capital. In the year before there had been a rebellion in the Canton province and a certain Li-Yang-tsai had claimed the throne by descent. A few months after it is reported " the rebel chief captured," only this and nothing more, but it is significant that his name no further appears and his claims to descent may have secured him an ascent unnecessary to tnore fully describe.

In 1884 a prince Chun, father of the reigning Emperor made a successful coup d'etat at Pekin, and declared himself dictator, and Li Hung Chang was deposed, This does not appear to have lasted long as in a month's time the deposed had signed a treaty with France. How the emperor's ambitious papa prospered is not recorded.

The French and Chinese had a difficulty, ending in the fleet of the latter getting destroyed in 1884, and poor Li-Hung-Chang was blamed for the result and deprived of his highest offices. In another month, however, he " bobs up serenely from below " and is re-appointed Viceroy. It will be remembered that the news from China informed us that the last peacock's tail had been plucked from this distinguished statesman's grasp, yet, judging from the past he will gei them all back in " the swaet by-and-bye."

—wt