Page:China Under the Empress Dowager - ed. Backhouse and Bland - 1914.pdf/152

 destruction of the Chinese fleet of junks by the French in the Min River, but Her Majesty's real reason was that she believed that the Prince was intriguing against her with the young Emperor, and that he was to some extent responsible for a recent Memorial, in which several Censors had roundly denounced her for depraved morals and boundless extravagance.

Prince Kung accordingly retired from the scene, to remain in unemployed obscurity until 1894, when, after the first disasters of the war with Japan, Tzǔ Hsi, older and wiser, turned to him once more for assistance. He never completely regained the influence with the Empress which he had enjoyed in the earlier days of the first Regency, but after his return to office until his death in 1898, his prestige, especially among foreigners, was great. Tzǔ Hsi, though she loved him not, was forced to admit that he had accepted and borne his degradation with dignity.

After the issue of the above Decree, Prince Kung was succeeded in office by Prince Li, the head of the eight Princely families and a descendant of a younger son of Nurhachi. With him were associated on the Grand Council, amongst others, the elder brother of Chang Chih-tung and Sun Yu-wen. The latter was a bitter enemy of the Imperial Tutor, Weng T'ung-ho. In appointing him to the Council, Tzǔ Hsi followed her favourite tactics of creating dissension among her advisers and maintaining the equilibrium of her own authority as the resultant of their conflicting forces.

Her Majesty's next step aroused a storm of opposition and criticism. She decreed that in all matters of urgency, the Grand Council, before advising the Throne, should confer with the Emperor's father, Prince Ch'un, but added that upon the Emperor's attaining his majority, she would