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The Date for a Resto? ration Has Been Set, According to the Sum? mertime Gossip in the Tea Shops. Republi? can Officials Are Sym? pathizers with Royalty By Nathaniel Peffer PEKING. \ DEPOSED emperor pleading to be spared restoration, a member of the imperial household even seeking the good offices of the foreign legations to prevent a monarchist coup in its favor, where except in the topsyturvydom of China could such a reversal of the natural order of things be possible? In the majestic pavilions of the Purple City, where the sixteen-year-old Son of Heaven receives the homage, of the shriveled remains of what was only a few years age probably the most gorgeous court in the world, there is quaking now with the advent of summer. For summer is the season of political unrest in China, and with unrest come always whispered rumors of plots to restore the Manchu rulers. There are such rumors now. The date for the restoration, one hears in the teashops of the poor and the feasting halls of the mighty, has been fixed. The pseudo military powers that be have been holding conference, making and unmaking intrigue, threatening and maneuvering toward battle. Out of the tur? moil, one hears, will come a monarchy foi the third time in ten years. There is ground for the rumors. The most powerful military man in the country, the ex bandit Governor of the Manchurian provinces, Chang Tso-lin, is generally accepted to be a monarchist. And since he emerged victorious in the civil war a year ago, his word is prac? tically decisive. So also is the President, Hsu Shih-chang, a monarchist. If there is anything anomalous in a republican presi? dent being a monarchist in his sympathies, that, too. is merely China. And certainly a majority of the older officials are monarchist at heart. There is reason, then, for the Manchu court to quake and to send emissaries to the lega? tions asking the representatives of foreign powers to use their personal and official in? fluence to prevent the Emperor from being put back on the throne. The court has had experience of restora? tions. It has aching memories of the nine day fiasco monarchy of 1017, when the trucu? lent Chang Hsun?also an ex-bandit?who had entered Peking victorious at the head of his famous pigtailed troops after another sum? mer skirmish, awoke the sleeping boy Hsuan Tung in the middle of a tremulous June night, marched him through the silent moonlit court? yards to the throne room and proclaimed him ruler of the Middle Kingdom, the while tho frightened ..nid wept petulantly at being pulled out cf his bed and confronted with all the ominous stirring and kowtowings. Nine days later the republican troops marched into Peking and the boy and his court awaited piteously their dispatch. It never came, for a variety of reasons, chief of which was that those who would have had to pass sentence were all implicated in the conspiracy; but the experience put terror into the imperial hearts. Even in China, though rulers propose peo? ple dispose, and for better or worse the ma? jority of those Chinese who constitute public opinion want no restoration. A republic they have not assuredly, and the meaning of a re? public they may not understand nor be fitted for its responsibilities, but none the less they want no more of monarchy, least of all rulo by an alien dynasty. The future may hold reaction and the criaos of a few more years, such as these ten since tho republic was proclaimed, may bring a reversion to monarchy and sta? bility, but now, at least, any attempt to foist an emperor on the Chinese is an invitation to disaster. As well as anybody else do the Mar.chus themselves realize this. Nor have they any stomach for the use of their dynasty as a football of politics. A I football it conveniently makes. It is some? thing to intrigue with, inversely and obliquely, as an Oriental intrigues. It is a potent weapon "n the execution of the double-cross. A gen? eral, say, emerges out of the military welter of overpowering strength. He becomes an object of t"rror to the opposition party. He is even more an object of terror to his own party. Ralance of power is carried out to ita most delicate niceties in China. Even one'3 allies must not be too strong. The word is whispered to tho general by other generals that the. tirr.-r is propitious for the solution of China's problem, for the consolidation of their own strength; that time has come, in other word:s, for restoration. Who more fitted than he to lead, he with hi? power and his wisdom and his gJory? **?''? his -hall be the power be? hind the throne. The blai \* sweat, strong of will and discerning of discretion is be who resists. lie i? given guaranties of support He casts the die, there ia a monarchy, Whereupon afly and enemy alike, proclaiming to the people by the fp r.'.'. of their armestor? their loyalty to the people, ra? ?? tho tandards of the re? public, cast out tho usurper and restore the ru!? of the ba! hsing '.he race of the hun? dred nam< . And the general, ha of over? weening m?litary ?I ength, feared nul*-'; by political friend and foe, is shorn of his ?rmy, hi? iorttuie and hh reputation, relegated to oblivion. Friend and foe, now mora evenly balanced again, resume the intrigue with merely normal complications. That is the his? tory of the restoration of 1917, that was the background of that puzzling (to Occidental) episode. It will be- quite likely the history of similar episodes of tho future. Well content, then, is the Manchu house to remain in the comfort and security of its cor? ner of the Forbidden City, living modestly on its annual pension. Of the once hallowed For? bidden City a large part is now trod by pro? fane feet. Where once the tribute bearers of half the Eastern Hemisphc.-e entered bringing the choicest wares and the most precious jewels of their realms to the feet of the Son of Heaven is now a public park, and there Peking's near-aristocracy?Peking society, if you like?comes for its tea and cakes in the 6hade of century-old trees; and sometimes such is the execrable way of modernity and the ruthless price of progress?for pseudo American sandwiches and even more pseudo American beer. A still larger part is given over to the crass ways of republicanism, to vice-presidents and ministers of commerce and senators and pub? licity bureaus and things. And in the grottos and rookeries where the Dowager Tzu Hsi, the glorious "Old Buddha," sat in her yellow silk and dragon-carved sedan chair, attended by her courtiers, her noble ladies and her eunuchB, and sipped tea out of precious jade cups and dreamily heard the ancient melodies played on priceless ancient instruments, and possibly de? creed the yellow silken cord and the imperial boon of suicide by strangling for a minister out of favor?there energetic young secre? taries, wearing baggy Western trousers and talking indifferent English, now rush about Bronze incense burn~ ers in the Forbidden City, Peking bearing telegrams and dispatching special de? livery letters. Or maybe even of Wednesday mornings receiving resident for e i g n correspondents thither come to give skeptic ear to the official lies and ne*?.r-lies there disseminated once a week in the fond?but vain?hope they will be spread to the waiting millions of Europe and America with their bacon and eggs next morning. Vain, vain hope! Travel? ing correspondents may come and traveling cor? respondents may go, in? terviewing as they run, taking their continents on the flit, cabling much and writing more wrong, always wrong and ever foolish. (Oh, the tales one could unfold!) They may come and they may go, but we of the Wednesday morning ses? sions, we listen respect? fully, but we do not cable; and we may cable but we do not believe? we never, never believe. One part of the For? bidden City is yet pre served inviolate. There the young Em? peror Hsuan Tung and his court live, a few yards from tho base of the famous Ching Shan, or Coal Hill, where the last of the Ming emperors, the last Chineso Emperor, hanged himself in despair as the hordes of the Manchu conquerors poured in through tho city wallB three hundred years ago. What thoughts must lio in tho minds of the Manchu imperial fumily as they look out over that hill from the prison of their courtyards, be? fore them on the hill tho beginning of their glory in tin; bitter death of the ruler of the vanquished, behind them its end in tho court? yard?, where functions tho government of thiB strange new thing, the republic. It is a curious, anomalous ox inten cc tho Emperor live? and u mor? curious, unomulous position he holds. Ho Hvob to-day v/i?h his family and lii? court not half it mile from what was hi? thron? room? the magnificent hall where his mibjcct.H appeared bufora him pronfratii, Ho i? dull within the pink walla of tho * jrbuiden City. Only a wall sopa V. /n the pavilion at the end of this wavering path the last Emperor of the Mings hanged himself in despair, 300 years ago, at the coining of the Manchu conquerors. The hill on which the pavilion stands is artificial and is reputed to have a foundation of jewels Lotus Lake, in the Winter Palace ratea him from the offices where the clerks of the republi? can government work. But he is a prison? er. Never has he emerged from the courtyards in the cor? ner of the Forbidden City allotted to him for his palace. Prob? ably he never will. II" knows of life only what is encompassed within these court? yards and what comes to him in the gossip of his family and his eunuchs - - and the books he is allowed to read. Tho new won? ders of railway and motor car and ma H ritan Tang, the lar,t Emperor of China, from a phoic graph taken shrrt ly cfler he uias dethroned. This is the last picture of hem that has been taken, though he is now fiflecn years old the revolution took place in 1911 the dynasty was not overthrown. The Em? peror?that is, the regent?proclaimed a lepublic in obedience "to the mandate of Heaven" and the will of the people and or? dered a president to wield the rule of the em? pire and a constitution to be drafted. Al? ways the paradoxical, the fantastic, the unique touch of the East! So Emperor and Son of Heaven he remains by consent of the republican government and the Chinese people. And in the little corner of the Forbidden City, the tiny spot that is all that is left to him of the Middle Kingdom, he holds his court as did Kang Hsi and Chien Lung, his great ancestors, two of the greatest monarchs known to history. The old court ceremonial is still performed and all the old ritual enacted, though shorn of the glory of its background. Six hundred eunuchs still attend him. At sunrise each morning there is still the procession of his advisers and his ministry to give counsel on the conduct of the realm. Tradition enforced early rising on the Chinese emperors. They held their counsels of state between 3 and 7 o'clock in the morning. It was the pleasant theory that the emperor, shepherd of his flock, was too pressed with its care to have time or desire for sleep. The tradition was obeyed. The court gat before sunrise, then slept till early afternoon. Thus tight at 2 the bonds of tradi? tion and convention in China, and thus easy its evasion. The gorgeous robes of olden time are still worn and the nine kotows performed. The jealousies and intriguery of the court, one hears, still prevail. And the festering cor? ruption of old cats as ever into the slender Famous stone tor? toise, emblem of longevity, Peking Bottle Pagoda at the bridge's end chinery, more power? ful and skillful than human, are as un? known to him almost as tn his great ances? tors in the golden era of his race 300 years ago. Aside from the imperial household, his servants, his auto, and a half dozen of the privileged officials of the imperial r?gime he i. cut off from human-kind. Ho is a prisoner, but still occupant of the Dragon Throne? still Son of Heaven. He is permitted to retain his title. In fact, be never relin? quishes it. He never hau abdicated. Wlion fortunes of the imperial house. One insistent modern note has entered. The boy emperor has a for? eign tutor, R. F. John? ston, a British subject, formerly one of the British consuls. Every human being with whom the emperor has contact approaches him on his knees and prostrates himself. When the for? eign teacher enters the imperial presence it is the emperor who bows and remains standing until the teacher is seated. In China fro3n time immemorial only one man has been en? titled to claim respect from the ruler. That is his teacher. To him the emperor even makes obeisance. Such has been always and still is the nation's reverence for learning. Let them who come to convert the heathen Chinaman from lands where the teacher is paid less than the street cleaner and re. spected not much more always bear that in mind. How much, how infinitely much have the civilized people still to learn from the heathen East! To all his other tragic trials there is added unto the Emperor that of mastering English grammar. That and rudiments of other Western learning are the subjects of his in? struction by the foreign tutor. The Emperor is said to be an intelligent lad, without the signs of decadence of the last generations of his house. He has an eager curiosity con? cerning modern, and especially Western, in? stitutions and aspects of life. Thus he plies his tutor with naive questions: How do for? eigners live, what are their houses like, what do they eat, what aro their amusements, why are so many of them unmarried and why do they marry so late, when twelve to sixteen is the age proper to betrothal and sixteen to twenty proper to marriage? Also he is reported to be surprisingly modern in his ideas, especially of government; ideas widely radical to th<'tse who have preceded him and even now surround him. And what he has been told of what has befallen him ? i Anomalous Conditions in Peking, Where the Boy King Is a Prisoner but Stilt a Son of Heaven, and Where the Manchu Nobles Drink the Dregs of Poverty has sobered him beyond liis years. And if that did not his experiences would. His experiences are far from easily borne, The rightful heir to the untold millions of a fabulously rich court must scrape for means of subsistence. When the republic was pro? claimed a yearly pension of 4,000,000 tacts was voted to him (about $2,700,000 at nor? mal exchange). Thia was later reduced to $4,000,000 in silver. It was still later re? duced to a Pickwickian sense- The Chinese government in the last two or three years has been on the edge of bankruptcy. It has not even paid the salaries of its own officials. Naturally, it has not paid the court its pen? sion. And the court has had a hard lot, and its creditors an even harder one. For tho poorer of those attached to the court, the lesser eunuchs and the like, it has been desperately hard. Surely here is the out? standing example of general poverty. If hard has been the lot of the imperial household, bitter has been that of the Manchua living in Peking, most of them former offi? cials. Since their conquest of China in the middle of the seventeenth century the Manchus have lived on the country as parasites. Thou? sands of civil officials and many more of soldiery have been quartered on the country at its expense. All were alloted annunities, even when not in sendee, and all bad sonic connection with officials or official life. The old Banners, the Manchu corps d'?lite, had become a mere shell, but the descendant- of those who composed them continued to re? ceive government pay. To all intents and purposes there were no Manchus who were not officially supported out of the national exchequer. Suddenly they were cut off. No pension has been given them. Nor have they means of subsistence. In the generations of parasit? ism they had become decadent. Occupation of any kind except in the official yamens was beneath their dignity. The perquisites of of? fice, the limitless opportunities for corruption, made occupation unnecessary. Even the lessi r breed had enough for sustenance. An extrava? gant and luxury-loving people as the result o? their generations of idleness, thc?se who wealth squandered it, recking little of the ban days to come. The result is incredible out of the pages o ' fiction. The overwhelming majority of Man? chus in and around Peking live in the mo* shocking, direst of poverty. They have skill, they know no trades, most of them an too weakened by la/.y living to do work. They exist on the perilous road from hand to mouth on the sharp dividing line be? tween life and death as only Orienta"; can exist. The garishly painted and powdered Manchu ladies with their huge silk-and-card board scaffoldings of headdresses daintily. tread the most noisome alleys and spend their days in the meanest of hovels. The broad stream of mandarin coat", bottles, porcelains, jades and what ti call curios that luis found its way into Am ri? can shops of recent years all has its sour.-.' : i Manchu poverty. The wealthiest of the Man? chu families, the higher nobility, sell I treasures to support themselves. When tT treasures are gone-? There was one prince who had one of the most famous palaces in Peking, hard by I Hsichimen, the northwest gate. It was ;< fairyland, fi med over Northern China, dazzling in the riches it held. And the riches were scattered with the lavish hand of Manchu aristocracy. Four years ago prince died. He left three sons. One is now a ricksha coolie. During the day he remains in seclusion, his pride greater than h hunger. At night he prowls the lanes fc ? a chance fare, content with a few coppers foi the most back-breaking work known to m? human horse. Another son is a buyer an seller of junk and old rags. The third, ai emaciated opium smoker and morj addict?morphine is cheaper titan opium lives off the dubious earnings of his wife. In this there is nothing uncommon. One of the kitchen helpers in one of the foreign hotels here is a descendant of an iron-ca prince. The translator of one of the for correspondents is the son of a noble, nephew of a member of the one-time pi vy council is garden coolie for one of my neigh? bors. Such is the fate of the descendants of Nurhachu, Ca?sar of the Manchus, one of world's great warriors, who led his rac ? through the Great Wall and left them to make themselves masters of one-third tho world's population. In their end is infinite pathos. It is one of the lesser tragedies of man's his? tory. The path of the conqueror in China lead? but to ruin, as Asia's chronicles for ?twenty centuries attest. Mongols, in whose veins runs the blood of Kubla Khan, who put a world under his heel, now beg for alms out? side the Lama temple here, or carry stagger? ing loads on bamboo poles. Manchus. but a few years' span from the Emperor, who spurned the ambassadors of European states, 3iow pull shopkeepers in rickshas. Tokio statesmen please note.