d banishing him and his family,
taking up again the supreme power of which she had been so brief a time
deprived.

She now carried matters with a high hand. A nominal emperor was chosen,
but the rule was hers. She handled all the public business, disposed of
the offices of state, erected temples to her ancestors, wore the robes
which by law could be worn only by an emperor, and performed the
imperial function of sacrificing to Heaven, the supreme deity of the
Chinese. For once in its history China had an actual empress, and one of
an ability and a power of maintaining the dignity of the throne which
none of its emperors have surpassed.

Her usurpation brought her a host of enemies. It set aside all the
precedents of the empire, and that a woman should reign directly,
instead of indirectly, stirred the spirit of conservatism to its depths.
Wou made no effort to conciliate her foes. She went so far as to change
the name of the dynasty and to place members of her own family in the
great offices of the realm. Rebellious risings followed; plots for her
assassination were formed; but her vigilance was too great, her measures
were too prompt, for treason to succeed. No matter how great the rank or
how eminent the record of a conspirator, death ended his career as soon
as her suspicions were aroused. The empire was filled with her spies,
who became so numerous as largely to defeat their purpose, by bringing
false accusations before the throne. The ready queen settled this
difficulty by an edict threatening with death any one who falsely
accused a citizen of the realm. The improbable story is told that in a
single day a thousand charges were brought of which eight hundred and
fifty proved to be false, those who brought them being at once sent to
the block. Execution in the streets of Singan, the capital, was her
favorite mode of punishment, and great nobles and ministers died by the
axe before the eyes of curious multitudes.

A Richelieu in her treatment of her enemies, she displayed the ability
of a Richelieu in her control of the government. Her rule was a wise
one, and the dignity of the nation never suffered in her hands. The
surrounding peoples showed respect for her power, and her subjects could
not but admit that they were well and ably ruled. And, that they might
the better understand this, she had books written and distributed
describing her eminent services to the state, while the priesthood laid
before the people t