EMPEROR S LOST MARRIAGE LINES.

Hastings Standard, Volume XII, Issue 5846, 9 May 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

EMPEROR S LOST MARRIAGE LINES.

One of China's most sacred public documents, the marriage contract of the reigning Emperor Kwang-hsue, dated Febmarv 26th, 1889, has been discovered in Germany and formally handed over to the Chinese Government. The document had been missing from the archives of the Imperial Palace since the visit paid to Pekin by the Allied Armies in the summer of 19C0. It fa supposed to have found its way t-> Germany in the keeping of one of the Kaiser's subjects, who happened to be present when the various representatives of Western civilisation helped themselves to all available "souvenirs tapable of removal. The marriage contract consists of a gorgeous piece of silk some 4ft in length and Ift which folds up in a carious manner tintil it assumes the form of a fancy Wallet. It is richly emblazoned with dragons and other artistic emblems of the Chinese dynasty, and recites the solemn conditions of the sacred pact in Oriental terms. Ever since the disappearance of the Baciiment Chinese diplomatic representatives in all parts of the world have iondu-rted an exhaustive search for its whereabouts. For nearlv eight years it baffled discovery, until it was located a few weeks ago in a village in Southern Germany in the possession of S tavern-keeper, who had not the sl : ghtest notion of its tremendous import, and thought it looked as well on his wall as any multi-coloured pill advertisement.