try to rule this empire by our filial piety towards
the Empress Dowager; but Kang Yu-wei's doctrines have always been
opposed to the ancient Confucian tenets. Owing, however, to the ability
shown by the said Kang Yu-wei in modern and practical matters, we
sought to take advantage of it by appointing him a secretary of the
Foreign Office, and subsequently ordered him to Shanghai to direct the
management of the official newspaper there. Instead of this, however,
he dared to remain in Peking pursuing his nefarious designs against the
dynasty, and had it not been for the protection given by the spirits of
our ancestors he certainly would have succeeded. Kang Yu-wei is
therefore the arch conspirator, and his chief assistant is Liang
Chi-tsao, M. A., and they are both to be immediately arrested and
punished for the crime of rebellion. The other principal conspirators,
namely, the Censor Yang Shen-hsin, Kang Kuang-jen--the brother of Kang
Yu-wei--and the four secretaries of the Tsungli Yamen, Tan Sze-tung,
Liu Hsin, Yang Jui, and Liu Kuang-ti, we immediately ordered to be
arrested and imprisoned by the Board of Punishments: but fearing that
if any delay ensued in sentencing them they would endeavour to entangle
a number of others, we accordingly commanded yesterday (September 28th)
their immediate execution, so as to close the matter entirely and
prevent further troubles."

This with the execution of one or two other officials is the greatest
crime that can be laid at the door of the Empress Dowager--great enough
in all conscience--yet not to be compared to those of "good Queen Bess."

We now come to what is said to have been a secret edict issued by the
Empress Dowager to her viceroys, governors, Tartar generals and the
commanders-in-chief of the provinces, dated November 21, 1899. And this
I regard as one of the greatest and most daring things that great woman
ever undertook.

After the Empress Dowager had taken the throne, Italy, following the
example set by the other powers, demanded the cession of Sanmen Bay in
the province of Chekiang. But she found a different ruler on the
throne, and to her great surprise, as well as that of every one else,
China returned a stubborn refusal. Moreover, she began to prepare to
resist the demand, and it soon became evident that to obtain it, Italy
must go to war. This she had not the stomach for and so the demand was
withdrawn. This explanation will go far towards helping us to
unders