THE CHINESE EMPIRE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXXI, Issue 7053, 24 October 1900, Page 4

THE CHINESE EMPIRE.

The Celestial Empire newspaper of Shanghai contains an interesting article on the historical relations of Peking to the Chinese Empire, which, the writer says, has ever been of the most sinister description. From the very commencement of its political career it has been an obstacle in the path of China to eminence. From time to time it was the capital of one or other of the intruding dynasties, whose ephemeral rule marked the weakness oi the Empire, but it rose to political ascendancy only when Khublai Khan made it the chief seat of his Mongolian Empire about 1280. Under his two immediate successors it became the capital of the powerful Yuens, but, being removed from the heart of the Empire and the influence of the nation at large, it soon became a hotbed of intrigue and corruption, When the founder of the Ming dynasty overthrew the Mongols, he fixed his capital at Nanking in order to preserve the nation from the evils caused by the isolated situation of Peking. On his death, his young son was overthrown by his uncle, who had been made Begenfc in the north, and tho capital was again transferred to Peking, where it has ever since remained. With this began the decadence of the Mings, who called in the Manchus to aid them against Chinese rebels, with the ultimate result that the Manchus seized the throne and founded the present, or Tsing, dynasty, which retained Peking as the capital, because of its proximity to their native home in Manchuria.

But the causes of the decay of the Yuene and Mings were again at work. Peking was too remote to comprehend the needs of the nation at large, and became a focus of corruption and intrigue. Forty years ago the dynasty was saved only by the intervention of foreign Powers, and since then the nusgovernrnent ol the nation has increased. "The old struggles for power that led the Mings on to their destruction were renewed, and a wicked woman, who by an untoward fate had attained to the office of Begent, having commenced her rule by getting rid of one boy Emperor, attempted to continue it by superseding his successor.

Unfortunately for the perpetrator, such crimes are infectious, and the woman who had committed every crime in the Decalogue now finds herself called to account by the evil influences she had called out of chaos. The writer regards the Tsing dynasty as practically at an ,end; the country must go on under some kind of European protection, or, in the absence of such support, go to pieces. The disorders and outrages in Peking show a complete want of common feeling between rulers and ruled; the warnings issued by the great Viceroys hi the provinces were disregarded by the narrow and ignorant rabble surrounding the throne. Had the counsels of the .Viceroys of Nanking and Wuchang—counsels given at the peril of their lives— been heeded, China would not now be in extremis.