THE CHINESE SUCCESSION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 23, 27 January 1900, Page 4

THE CHINESE SUCCESSION.

A strange piece of news reaches us from Pekin. It is announced that the young Emperor intends to abdicate shortly, and has appointed a boy of nine years to be his successor. The internal arrangements of the Chinese court, and especially the royal domestic relations, quite baffle the Western mind to understand, and we are left as a rule to our own speculations as to the meaning of things that occur in the mysterious precincts of the palace at Pekin. On this occasion it- would certainly appear that the Emperors abdication involves important possibilities. Emperors at his time of life do not voluntarily lay aside their crowns without some very special reason. With such scanty knowledge of Chinese affairs as one has been able to gain unce the curtain, was. raised' by Japan the first; conclusion one jumps to is.,that the .abdication.is in reality a deposition, and that the power behind the throne is that - clever if unscrupulous womam the DowagerEmpress. She it is .who, so far as we can judge, is the real king-maker in China. On three occasions she has exercised the regency,-.and is. creditedwith halting at nothing to accomplish her ends. It will beremeinbered that eighteen months ago, when the Emperor isued a series of edicts sanctioning various reforms on European lines, she promptly, took the reins into her own hands, ordered the arrest of' the reform party, and executed or banished a host of-the rank and file. This, it is alleged, she did in the interests of the Mandril party, which is opposed to reform, and with whom Russia has, it is believed, managed to ingratiate itself. The abdication, or, rather, as we construe it, the deposition of the Emperor and the placing of a boy of nine on the throne appears to be nothing less than a move to entrust the Empress with full power for an indefinite time. But the step may have a deeper significance' still. It is quite on the cards that Russia is really pulling the 'strings.

When England is busy looking after her interests in the Transvaal the time may appear opportune to Russia, to make such a change in the .Chinese succession as-will-ensure the supremaev of the Dowager, who is opposed to the reforming, or, in-other words, British influences, by which-the Emperor -has shown an. inclination- to be guided. There are . symptoms, however, that this clever scheme is likely to meet •with opposition in China itself, the court being apparently adverse -to-the continuance of the Dowager Empress in power. No doubt, the ultimate-ar-rangement of the matter will-have an important bearing on the- future of China.