Legation of
the United States,
Peking, March 5, 1889.
(Received April 23.)
No. 837.]
[Inclosure 1 in No. 837.]
19th and 20th February, 1888.—Personal assumption of Government by the Emperor. Empress Dowager
declines to entertain proposal that certain memorials should
continue to be addressed to Her.
[A Decree by Her Majesty, the Empress Dowager.]
We have received a memorial from the Censor, T’u Yên-shou, in which he
takes upon himself to give an unreserved expression of opinion
respecting the approaching assumption of government by the Emperor in
person. In view of the important questions pressing at the moment, he
asks Us to issue a Decree directing that memorials from the provinces,
as well as sealed reports from the Officers of the Court, should
continue to be addressed to Us, and he requests that such documents
should be perused by Us before effect is given to the proposals to which
they refer. The Censor’s suggestion has caused Us profound astonishment.
A female Regency was only resorted to as a last device, and looking back
in Our seclusion upon the abuses which it caused in previous dynasties,
We issued special commanns that the Government should revert to its
proper Head the moment the right time arrived, in order that the
constitutional usages of Our revered predecessors might be duly
preserved, and that no ground for adverse comment might be furnished to
future ages. Our decision was taken with firm resolve and Our object had
a deep significance. Besides, We have already issued Decrees fully
expounding Our views to Our subjects, and all classes under Our rule
have cheerfully acquiesced in Our action.
Were We now at the very beginning of a new order of things to require
that memorials should be addressed to Us, we should be stultifying our
previous action by cancelling instructions which have been only recently
issued. In what light would posterity regard Us? The analogy adduced by
the Censor is quite irrelevant, as a female Regency and that instituted
by the Emperor K’ien-lung are totally different things. After the
assumption of personal government by the Emperor, Prince Ch‘un alone
will be required to address memorials directly to Us in his own name.
The secret documents referred to by the Censor which have been submitted
to Us by Prince Ch‘un treated of important concerns of state which at
the outset of the Emperor’s assumption of government it was thought he
should submit to Us on such occasions as he paid Us visits of respect.
It was never for a moment intended that this practice should be
sanctioned as a permanent institution, or that Our tutelage of the
Emperor should be indefinitely prolonged, The Censor’s suggestion is
made in manifest disregard of Our former Decrees and has the further
objection of furnishing grounds for adverse criticism of our action in
future ages. Having regard to the extravagance of his proposals and the
very important issues to which they relate, we feel bound to administer
to him a severe warning, unless reckless interference with accepted
institutions is to go unpunished. We command therefore that T’u Jên-shou
be required to vacate his office of Censor, that he be handed over to
the board for the determination of a penalty, and that his memorial be
flung back to him.
