The N.Z. Times. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1908. TWO FAMOUS ALIENS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6617, 5 September 1908, Page 8

The N.Z. Times.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1908. TWO FAMOUS ALIENS.

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE “WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT." iSTABLISUED J 845.

Brief cable messages published during the last couple of days have brought under notice, in a rather humorous connection, two of the world’s most notable people. Certainly they belong to a race alien to us, their countrymen are looked upon in these lands very much like human vermin, and their names are unfamiliar to people in these countries. They are Wn-Ting-fang, who is reported to have been recalled from the position of Chinese Ambassador at Washington, and Empress Tse Hsi. This man and woman, representative of a nation that has for centuries suffered an economic and mental paralysis and become by reason of its inert, atrophied state, one of the wonders of the world, aro really typical in mental equipment of tbo highest type of western nations.

Mr Wu-Ting-fang has been at Washington for cloven years, and has created a tradition. Ho has been preeminently tho speech-making diplomat in tho United States, and his personality is probably better known to tho American people than that rf any other member of tho corps. Something of this has no doubt boon duo to c'iffcrenco in race, dress and manners, and the wonder, created at a Chinese in long queue and flowing robes speaking English with unrivalled fluency, cleverness, and humour. Ho has said and done things at Washington which no European diplomatist would have considered safe. For instance, it was his pleasure to often lecture the great Republic, even to make fun of its people—but ho did it with such delightful wit that no one could take offence by the edifying and' novel experience. Wu-Ting-fang is always so sensible, so clear-headed, so just, that what he says rightly commands respect. He was called to tho English bar at Lincoln’s Inn, Loudon, in 1877, and after practising as a barrister at Hong Kong became legal adviser to Li Hung Chang. He was Li’s righthand man until he was dispatched as Ambassador to Washington. Wu built the first railway in China, he organised the Tien-Tsin University, and was Deputy Plenipotentiary in the peace negotiations with Japan. Of late years he has applied his knowledge of the world’s law and legal systems to compiling a complete ood'e for China. His ability, measured by Western standards, is altogether above comparison with that of any Chinaman known and the equal of that of the brightest ornaments of European races. Many of his public speeches indicate this. Among his notable and sensational efforts were a Memorial Day oration at tho tomb of General Grant and speeches at a Lincoln dinner and before tho faculty of the University of Chicago. In tho conduct of tho serious affairs of his office Wu-Ting-fang has been of great service to the United States as well as to his own land. It was, for instance, through his good offices that an incredulous world, hor-ror-striken by tho announcements of the pot-house press of London, obtained' the first news of the safety of tho Pekin legations. Ho had opened up communications at a most critical moment for the beleaguered Europeans. That was a service to civilisation worthy of remembrance. Wu-Ting-fang is not merely a Chinese with an exceptional knowledge of English which makes him something of a phenomenon. He is man of that rare genius which transcends racial lines. Ho would be a man of mark in any country, and any country would bo proud of so gifted a son.

Tho career of the Empress Tso Hsi forms one of the romances of the age. The story of her life discloses a woman endowed with those gifts of mental strength which “make history”— reveals a woman of singular genius for statecraft, and shows her to he one of the greatest of her sex of whom we have record. Her Majesty is now seventy-two years old, and' from the days in 1860, when as a fugitive in the mountains of Mongolia with her little son, Tung Chi —son of the Emperor Hsien-feng—she dictated the terms of peace with Britain and France, the indomitable will and strong personality of this extraordinary woman—invisible but powerful—has been impressed on every chancellory in Europe. When her husband died in 1861, from the effects of prolonged debauchery, Tso Hsi found herself, at tho age of twenty-six, the mother of tho five-year-old heir to the throne, surrounded by conspirators, the vicious and unscrupulous favourites of tho late Emperor. Quickly discerning what would be the result to her and her offspring if she submitted to those evil counsellors, Tse Hsi, by a mastor-siroko of policy, had them arrested, and after the ringleader of the anti-dynastic pH

been hanged in the market place at Pekin the remainder of the conspirators were requested to do themselves the honour of committing suicide. This they did with all the pomp and deliberation necessary under such circumstances. Tso Hsi then became the dominant figure iu the political history of China. She showed great ability in attaching to herself a jiowcrful following and rewarding loyal service with the highest honours. Tung Chi, the son for whom this notable woman had risked so much to save the throne of his unworthy father, became Emperor in 1873, and reigned ingloriously for nineteen months. Ho was a wild and dissipated youth, who never realised the dignity and grandeur of his position and died without issue. No successor in the direct lino remained, but Tse' Hsi, in the turmoil which followed, jiroduced the four-year-old child of her sister and Prince Chun, seventh prince in the line of Hsicnfang, and adopting him as her offspring nominated him as Emperor, and Emperor he is in name to-day—the secluded, half-witted Kuang-Hsu, married to a niece of Tso Hsi. Thus Tso Hsi, from a concubine with little family interest, became an Empress, tho mother of an Emperor, the adoptive mother and aunt of his successor, placed a niece on tho Dragon Throne, and directed tho government of a great Empire. In tho nineties came tho war with Japan, and China’s shell of exclusiveness was broken. Tho young Emperor Xvuang Hsu essayed to drive the antiquated chariot of state. Tho result was pitiable. China was covered with troubles as with a wot blanket. In 1807-98 tho Germans claimed exclusive rights over tho whole province of Shantung—Shantung, the holy province, the birthplace of Confucius and Mencius, tho xirovinco of tho holy mountain Tai Siian, on tho summit of which a Chinese Emperor offered sacrifice to tho gods two thousand years before Christ was born. Port Arthur was occupied by Russia, Wei-hai-wai by Britain. ’Hie whole country was ablaze with revolt against the ineptitude of tho Court. Tho Boxer outbreak followed, anti-dyuastic iu intention. Then, to save the nation and herself, Tso Hsi emerged from her seclusion, brushed the feeble Emperor aside, placed an imperial prince at tile head of the Boxers, and changed tho movement to one directed against foreigners. Tho result is modern history. Tho Court returned to Pekin—and tho iron hand of the woman again closed on the holm. To-day she sits on the throne supreme, tho helpless Emperor one stop lower. One strong will and intellect alone hold the dynasty in place; one masterful woman controls absolutely tho lives and liberties of five hundred millions of people.