THE NEW CHINA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 100, 5 January 1912, Page 7

THE NEW CHINA.

TOO LATE. CHINESE REFORM PROMISES. THE EDICT SCOFFED AT. HATRED OF THE MANCKU. THE LITTLE DUMMY EMPEROR. In f h" eyes of foreigners the most dramatic incident that has so far marked the revolution now afoot will undoubtedly be the auto-da-fe of the Manchus (writes the Shanghai correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, under date October 31st). The edict issued yesterday from Pekin bears the impress of so much earnestness that it will be difficult for the Western mind to conceive that its passionate appeal for clemency and mercy can pass unheeded by those to whom it is addressed; yet the indications are at this moment that such will be the case. The edict, as a fabrication of the Manchus, fails to impress the Chinese in this city at all. The abject confession of the "very small person standing at the head of his subjects and seeing his heritage nearly [falling to the ground" comes too late, and merely amuses them. The Chinese may or may not be hard-hearted, but at this momentous time it is unfair to judge them upon the attitude they adopt in view of the piteous figure cut by the little Son of Heaven in panic-stricken Pekin. It is but a month ago since an edict was. issued, announcing that the baby Emperor's education was about to commence, and it must be confessed that 1 s early lessons have been bitter ones. L \ the sentimental value that might 1 • " attached to his first important utterar • I to his .subjects has been lost by the vtiy confessions that accompany it. What has grown during the past centuries into the very Himalayas of iniquity have till now been either justified by the Manchus or have been denied altogether. The Chinese have clamored against them, have suffered under them; they have been oppressed and degraded. NO MORE MANCHUS. It was a crime a few years ago to open one's mouth in denunciation of the privileges enjoyed by Manchus; it was a capital offence to condemn the corruption and intrigue, the incompetence and the misgovernment. And now, when the Chinese have asserted their strength until the very throne totters, comes a complete renunciation by the detested rulers. With a humble genunection, if not a genuine kow-tow, they say, "Gentlemen, enter; we did not see you out-j side before; we apologise for our negligence." The hauteur and the arrogance have all gone, and the supercilious Manchus, who have hitherto controlled the affairs of the country for their own aggrandisement, push the little Emperor forward on his knees, with a piteous appeal for existence. The very men who penned the edict are the culprits which it pretends to condemn, and because the Chinese know this they refuse to permit dust to be thrown in their eyes. "I have employed too many nobles in political positions," writes the little Emperor, who cannot write. "When old kws have been abolished, high officials serve their own ends. Much :of th« people's money has been taken, but nothing to benefit the people has been achieved." And who are the nobles and the high officials whose fingers have slid first into the great pie for the plums but these who constitute the Court, and whose very brains constructed this delectable document. For that reason, the Chinese here refuse to be stirred by it, nor do the- evince any more interest in it than a shrug of the shoulders or expressions of disgust. The Manchus has played his game far too long, and in this time of awakening his old tricks are futile. The Chinese want the Manchus out of the country, and will never be satisfied until they se« the last of his detestable robes disappearing over the frontier. Only those western travellers who have penetrated the heart of this great country, and have seen for themselves the richness of the soil, the potentialities of the natural deposits, and the abject poverty of the people, the utter neglect of public service, and the shameful misappropriation of public funds, can appreciate how little the Chinese owe to the rulers who are now trembling for their safety and cringing for "another chance"; and how much cause they have for the hatred that has been exhibited. The Manchus have done nothing during the 200 years that they have occupied the Throne of China but erect a monument to their own incapacity and immorality, and no condemnatory exposure can be too sweeping, or sufficiently far-reaching to convey an idea of the detestation that; has irrevocably fixed itself in the minds; and hearts of those (liinese who have now found themselves in the position 1 to dictate terms. I WITH THE SHANGHAI EDITOR.

When the Edict arrived by telegram from Pekin I was in the office of a Chinese newspaper. In the room were half a dozen prominent Chines*, two of them high officials. All were rebel partisans. We had been discussing the situation and the probabilities of a Manchu renunciation, when the telegram was brought in by the editor—a sturdily built, deaf man, with close-cropped hair, lie had long ago shed that mark of subservience to Manchu domination, the queue. The telegram was in the figure code by which Chinese characters can alone be transmitted, but that it was deemed important was indicated by the excited movements of the deaf editor and the snappy remarks with which he punctuated his search for half a dozen code books, so that the visitors could assist in unravelling the message and learn its contents at the same time. And the work went forward. There was a shout of derision as soon as the purport of the sheets of figures was discovered. The work of decoding stopped, and one of the officials strode the floor excitedly addressing the group. I asked what he was concerned about. "What am I concerned about?" he shouted at me. "Why, these Manchus think we are fools. They think that by telling us at this eleventh hour that they have squeezed and robbed us that they are telling us something new. They are like the criminal when the policeman comes along and catches him. They think that by blabbing out a lachrymose confession we will pat them on the head, tell them how sorry we are, and let them go in again. That's what concerns us!" The work of decoding continued. An official who has held high posts in distant provinces was steadily dabbing characters alongside a list of figures. '•'Oh, oh," lie suddenly scoffed. And, lifting the sheet, he yelled out with intense glee: '"Hereby I announce to the world that 1 swear to reform, and with our soldiers and people carry out the Constitution faithfully." He crushed the paper down on a table. No one said a word; everyone was too interested in the puzzle that was coming to light to bother midway in their work about the baby in Pekin. who could swear nothing, making such a tremendous declaration. THE CASE AGAINST THE COURT. At length the whole of the abject abjuration was pieced together and read out to the assembly. The interjections were, mainly grunts of scepticism or disgust, which gave way to a lively discussion on Hie edict and its probable reception. None of those jnvsrnl, would take il seriously. All consumed it as

a despicable coterie to continue in power. "I tell you what it all means," said one of the group, approaching me. ''lt means that the Manchus have now proved themselves incompetent out of their own mouths; they never have been fit to govern, and they cannot be fit to do so in the future just because they have written this confession at the point of the sword. They are trying to throw duet in the eyes of the people. They have promised too many things before." MANCHU AND FOREIGNERS. The speaker was striding about the room becoming more and more excited with every word he pronounced. "The whole box and dice of them have to go, and this Edict will not save them. They might get a, respite, but before many years are over tlmy will go completely out. The Edict is a trick. The promise of the HanchiN is not worth the paper upon which it is written." "And what have you foreigners ever got from the Manchus?" he demanded of me, his eyes glaring. "You've been promised things for centuries," he vociferated, banging the table. "You have treaties, and not one of them has everbeen adhered to unless the cannon's mouth has been threatening the Empire with annihilation!" His amis waved in the air. "It's true, isn't it?" he demanded, as he worked himself into feverish heat. "And just as it is true with you it is true with the .Chinese. We have never been able to poke a cannon into the argument before, but we are doing it now, and it is the very sight of it that has brought this contemptible Edict hotfoot from the Palace. They see the whole of the provinces afire. They see the south, the centre, and the west, which at least they, believed to he loyal, declaring against! them, and so pusillanimous are they that this Edict will lose them ,in order to I hang to the throne that they have disgraced by their occupancy. ' They will promise anything. We Chinese caii come now and run the whole country. Every Manchu will be ejected if we wish it—every Manchu, at least, but those about the Throne. Well, we wish them ousted, too."

He sat down, exhausted with his effort. The deaf editor, who stood with] his back to the door, opened it and' crept out, and others present took up the argument. AH agreed with the sentiments of the speaker quoted, and bolstered up the accusations of corruption and misgovernment by copious personal experiences. I asked' them did they think the people as a whole would view the Edict like they did. They replied emphatically in the .affirmative. PROPOSED WITHDRAWAL OF THE COURT. The Times' Pekin correspondent, writing on Nevember 19, states:—The movement, which is supported even by those in high places, having for its object the voluntary withdrawal of the Court from Pekin to Jehol, is gaining strength. In possible anticipation of such removal Hsiliang was recently appointed Tartar General at Jehol. A devoted -servant of the

Throne, he accompanied the Empress on her flight to Eianfu in 1900. He is also a warm adherent of Yuan-Shih-Kai; he is a Mongol, was Viceroy of Manchuria, and commands universal respect. The promoters of the scheme urge that the Regent, in order to "save face," pre-

vent useless bloodshed, and bring about' a cessation of strife, should issue an edict announcing that he realised that conditions had changed, that he desired to ascertain the nation's will, and in the meantime would withdraw to Jehol, and J there await the nation's decision. Then I the Emperor, the Regent, the Princes, I and their multudinous wives, and the | hordes of eunuchs could withdraw to the I

ancient country seat and there be guar- I anteed security of their possessions, I wealth and treasure, and a Civil List be-' fitting their dignity. The promoters of the movement propose that Yuan-Shih-Kai should intimate to the Regent that he is unable to guarantee protection in Pekin, and that as the distrust of Manchus is so universal, he should recommend the Court to withdraw in deference to the demand for an outward visible sign of the Throne's sincerity and good faith.