Page:China Under the Empress Dowager - ed. Backhouse and Bland - 1914.pdf/151

 hand in its drafting, for it describes Tzǔ An as having been careful to "set a good example of thrift and sobriety in the Palace and to have steadily discountenanced all pomp and vain display in her share of the Court ceremonies." As most of the charges levelled for many years against Tzǔ Hsi by Censors and other high officials referred to her notorious extravagance, this, and Tzǔ An's last request for a modest funeral as the fitting conclusion to a modest life, were a palpable hit.

Tzǔ An was dead. The playmate of her youth, the girl who had faced with her the solemn mysteries of the Forbidden City, the woman who later, because of her failure to provide an heir to the Throne, had effaced herself in favour of the Empress Mother, her poor-spirited rival of many years — Tzǔ An would trouble her no more. Henceforth, without usurpation of authority, Tzǔ Hsi was free to direct the ship of State alone, sole Regent of the Empire.

And with the death of her colleague came the desire to be free from the restraints of advice given by prescriptive tight of long-standing authority, the ambition to be the only and undisputed controller of the nation's destinies, and acknowledged Head of the State. For many years — in fact, since the decapitation of her favourite eunuch, An Te-hai, by Prince Kung and her Co-Regent — she had been on bad terms with that Prince, and jealous of his influence and well-earned reputation for statesmanship. The manner in which, years before, she had taken from him his title of Adviser to the Government has already been described. Unable to dispense with his services, desirous of profiting by his ripe experience, especially in foreign affairs, she had borne with her Prime Minister grudgingly and of necessity. In 1884, however, she felt strong enough to stand alone, and the war with France (caused by the dispute as to China's claims to suzerainty over Tongking) gave her an opportunity and an excuse for getting rid at one stroke of Prince Kung and his colleagues of the Grand Council.

The immediate pretext for their dismissal was the