WIT AND WISDOM OF LI HUNG

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 December 1912, Page 8

WIT AND WISDOM OF LI HUNG

\MUSING DIARY OF GREAT OHINAMA'N.

CYNICAL PHILOSOPHY

Everybody knows Li Hung Chang as tho greatest of modern Chinese statesmen, it has remained for th© Observer" to present him to the world as one of the greatest diarists of all time, and the possessor of a precious girt ot cynical humour. . \ Li was an indefataga'bUe diarist. On | his famous tour of Europe and America in 1596 he wrote ceaselessly, aud Ins shrewd comments on the tilings he saw and the people he met—translated from an immense mass of diaries —are mow o-iven to the world for the first time, and are the first of his •writings that have ever been translated. Li was above all things a cynic. Here arc hi-3 comments on. his visit to Russia :— " I wonder why Russia asked the Throne to send me (to the Coronation}. It was most certainly a great compliment, and I have a right to feel flattered. . . But tho Russians have for long tried to impress me with the ddea tihat they hold me in the highest esteem. Perhaps they do. . " Any -way, they may have their motives for all this. And I have no doubt they have; hut I could tell them that my own country's interests arc above all other considerations, and if I show favour to Russia in any matter I do so because I believe China, -will be * 6ATIMaSp eHSaE rbF INTRIGUE. In Peking Li, of course, lived an an atmosphere of intrigue^-a<n atmosphere in which he was splendidly successful — and his stories of his .relations with tliiat remarkable old woman the late Dorwager Empress are very amusing. On. on© occasion he seems to have offended the old lady by his praise of the Czarina. He describes the seqtiel as follows: — " 21st Day of the Twelfth Moon. " I have received notification that I am to forfeit one year's pay for a, breach of ceremony at the Palace. This is a small matter, the fine* but I would be pleased to know dn what respect I offended Tsu Hsi. " 21st Day of the Twelfth Moon " dLater). " Messengers from the Throne have just arrived 'bringing a copy of tihe edict conferring upon ime the Order of tho Golden dragon. The original edict was •written, says the copy, <b~y Tsu Hsi herself. I am inclined to think my breach of Court etiquette was not serious to her private mind, although her official mind fined me 37,000 taels for it! " The Order of the Golden (Dragon I I am truly 'well pleased, although I had expected it before I went on the long journey to the capital of Bnissiia. " If I was not a plain anan I would quite think I was a member of the Imperial Family, for tho Golden Dragon is conferred (except in extraordinary cases) only upon those of the blood. " Perhaps heir Majesty conferred .it upon me so I could' not offend in ' her presence again, for. wearing the Golden Dragon, I am privileged to kneel or not as I please. But I shall always be attentive to matters of ceremony and regard to those above me, just as I expect like evidences of respect from ti^pse who are not upon, an equality witlh me."

LIFE "IN ST. PETERSBURG

His comments on the Czai* and social lifo in St. Petersburg aire very frank. " Nicholas," he writes. " is hiimpeif not a very healthy nuan, I think. I believe he stays indoors too much, or that worry about his life keeps him pale and listless. He is a small man to rule a great empire, but Napoleon, they tell me. was even smaller in stature. But there are many birr men in this ra.rrithnl.

" I have learned that we start early toHmoirrow morning. This is not to my tasito. I would much prefer rto begin the journey now and sleep o<n the train going. To arise so early in the morning seems to be a foolish Western practice, foolish especially among tttie-n of State, who could so much better transact (their affairs a+, nic'ht, when aM is quiet and the mind is most alert.

" But from what I can leatrn. these statesmen and lawaiivcr-s looik for their pleasures at night, going to ibanqueits, theatres, and fancy parties, often Kttaying until the light of dawn comes on again. To .this I attribute much of the intrigue that is known /to all these courts. The women cannot enter the council cha'tiiihcs nor moke sneeches in

the parliaments, but they work tHieir wiles at the n'arties a.nd operas."

.So'mot.imes he bccoimes thoroughly Oriental, as when he ivirites: —

" F i:lo not think I would like to exchange 'positions with the Czar, even to havo the fine Czsarina as iwtife and my ehoie? of the rarest tea! Especially in these later years I have had no fear of my life being taken, unless it 'Would bo by some cra?sv fanatic like the fellow who '.<;hot me in the eyo a.t Sluirn'onoscki. " iS.?veral times in Hankow, in the days of my iirst viceroyalty, low fel.lowsson.frht to take my life, and one© in Tientsin a low foillow came into my courtyard and toltl the banner captain in charge that he intending taking mv life.

" He had a long piece of wire and saad he was going to hang me to my own plate post. I had to have his head cut off before he would stop tailking."