Page:China Under the Empress Dowager - ed. Backhouse and Bland - 1914.pdf/153

 issue further instructions on this subject. This was not only an entirely new and irregular departure, since it made the Emperor's father de facto head of the executive, but it implied the possibility of violation of the solemn pledges given to the nation in 1873, as to the provision of an heir to the Emperor T'ung-Chih. Fears were once more aroused in an acute form that Prince Ch'un might hereafter persuade his son to ignore the ancestral claims of the late Emperor, and thus constitute the house of Ch'un founders of a new line. The Prince would have great inducement to adopt this policy, as it would confer upon him and upon his wife (Tzǔ Hsi's sister) Imperial rank during their lives and Imperial honours after their death. The reign of T'ung-Chih would in that case be practically expunged, going down to posterity dishonoured as the ignominious end of the senior branch of the Ta Ching Dynasty, and the Yehonala clan would become of paramount influence. A wide field would thus be left for future dissensions, treasons, stratagems and Court intrigues. In fact the position thus created would be somewhat similar to that which arose from the rivalry of the Houses of York and Lancaster in English history.

An Imperial Clansman, named Sheng Yü, and other scholars, memorialised in the most urgent terms praying the Empress to cancel this appointment and suggesting that if Prince Ch'un's advice were really needed, it should be given to herself direct and not to the Grand Council.

To these remonstrances Tzǔ Hsi replied:—

"There is no doubt that the sage decisions of former Emperors deserve to be treated with every consideration and respect, but it is to be observed that, ever since I assumed the Regency, I have been by circumstances compelled to confer regularly on confidential business with a Prince of the Blood. You must all be aware that this situation has been forced upon me owing to the exigencies of the times, and was none of my seeking. The Decree in which, some days ago, I appointed Prince Ch'un to be Adviser to the Council, had no reference to ordinary routine business, with which he has no concern, but only to urgent matters of State. I had not, and have not, any intention of giving him a definite appointment, and he himself was most reluctant to accept at my hands even this advisory position; it