To The Empresses Dowager One Child On The Throne Mattered No
More Than Another; But It Was A Question Of The First Importance That
Ahluta Should Be Set On One Side.
In such an atmosphere there is often
grievous peril to the lives of inconvenient personages.
Ahluta sickened
and died. Her child was never born. The charitable gave her credit for
having refused food through grief for her husband, Tungche. The skeptical
listened to the details of her illness with scorn for the vain efforts to
obscure the dark deeds of ambition. In their extreme anxiety to realize
their own designs, and at the same time not to injure the constitution,
the two empresses had been obliged to resort to a plan that could only
have been suggested by desperation. For the first time since the Manchu
dynasty occupied the throne it was necessary to depart from the due line
of succession, and to make the election of the sovereign a matter of
individual fancy or favor instead of one of inheritance. The range of
choice was limited; for the son of Prince Kung himself, who seemed to
enjoy the prior right to the throne, was a young man of sufficient age to
govern for himself; and moreover his promotion would mean the compulsory
retirement from public life of Prince Kung, for it was not possible in
China for a father to serve under his son, until Prince Chun, the father
of the present reigning emperor, established quite recently a precedent to
the contrary. The name of Prince Kung's son, if mentioned at all, was only
mentioned to be dismissed. The choice of the empresses fell upon Tsai
Tien, the son of Prince Chun or the Seventh Prince, who on January 13 was
proclaimed emperor. As he was of too tender an age to rule for himself,
his nomination served the purposes of the two empresses and their ally,
Prince Kung, who thus entered upon a second lease of undisputed power.
CHAPTER XXII
THE REIGN OF KWANGSU
Thus after a very brief interval the governing power again passed into the
hands of the regents who had ruled the state so well for the twelve years
following the death of Hienfung. The nominal emperor was a child of little
more than three years of age, to whom was given the style of "Kwangsu," or
"illustrious succession," and the empresses could look forward to many
years of authority in the name of so young a sovereign. The only
opposition to their return to power seems to have come from the palace
eunuchs, who had asserted themselves during the brief reign of Tungche and
hoped to gain predominance in the imperial councils. But they found a
determined mistress in the person of Tsi An, the Eastern Empress, as she
was also called, who took vigorous action against them, punishing their
leaders with death and effectually nipping in the bud all their projects
for making themselves supreme.
The return of the empresses to power was followed by a great catastrophe
in the relations between England and China. For the moment it threw every
other matter into the shade, and seemed to render the outbreak of war
between the two countries almost inevitable. In the year 1874 the
government of India, repenting of its brief infatuation for the Panthay
cause, yet still reluctant to lose the advantages it had promised itself
from the opening of Yunnan to trade, resolved upon sending a formal
mission of explory under Colonel Horace Browne, an officer of distinction,
through Burmah to that province. The difficulties in the way of the
undertaking seemed comparatively few, as the King of Burmah was friendly
and appeared disposed at that time to accept his natural position as the
dependent of Calcutta. The Pekin authorities also were outwardly not
opposed to the journey; and the only opposition to be apprehended was from
the Yunnan officials and people.
It was thought desirable, with the view of preparing the way for the
appearance of this foreign mission, that a representative of the English
embassy at Pekin, having a knowledge of the language and of the ceremonial
etiquette of the country, should be deputed to proceed across China and
meet Colonel Browne on the Burmese frontier. The officer selected for this
delicate and difficult mission was Mr. Raymond Augustus Margary, who to
the singular aptitude he had displayed in the study of Chinese added a
buoyant spirit and a vigorous frame that peculiarly fitted him for the
long and lonely journey he had undertaken across China. His reception
throughout was encouraging. The orders of the Tsungli Yamen, specially
drawn up by the Grand Secretary Wansiang, were explicit, and not to be
lightly ignored. Mr. Margary performed his journey in safety; and, on
January 26, 1875, only one fortnight after Kwangsu's accession, he joined
Colonel Browne at Bhamo. A delay of more than three weeks ensued at Bhamo,
which was certainly unfortunate. Time was given for the circulation of
rumors as to the approach of a foreign invader along a disturbed frontier
held by tribes almost independent, and whose predatory instincts were
excited by the prospect of rich plunder, at the same time that their
leaders urged them to oppose a change which threatened to destroy their
hold on the caravan route between Bhamo and Talifoo. When, on February 17,
Colonel Browne and his companions approached the limits of Burmese
territory, they found themselves in face of a totally different state of
affairs from what had existed when Mr. Margary passed safely through three
weeks before. The preparations for opposing the English had been made
under the direct encouragement, and probably the personal direction, of
Lisitai, a man who had been a brigand and then a rebel, but who at this
time held a military command on the frontier.
As Colonel Browne advanced he was met with rumors of the opposition that
awaited him. At first these were discredited, but on the renewed
statements that a large Chinese force had been collected to bar his way,
Mr. Margary rode forward to ascertain what truth there was in these
rumors.
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Page 163 of 188
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