In a second Blue-book just issued, Sir Claude Macdonald recounts
the history of the recent revolution or coup d'itat in
Pekin. His narrative confirms all we have written on the subject, but adds an explanation of two questions of which we were unable at first to see the solution. One was the nature of the physical force which obviously supported the Empress-Dowager. It appears that her Majesty, like any old pretender in Rome, bought the Prtetorian Guards,— that is, distributed a donative among the foreign-drilled regiments near the throne. It seems, also, that the Em- peror's life was spared from that dread of the foreigner which, as we have shown in another column, is with the Empress the governing impulse, Sir Claude having informed her that the Emperor's death would be regarded with horror in Europe. The British Ambassador dwells also on a fact which has escaped attention here. The Mancha party, which from its cohesion and its partial monopoly of office is very strong throughout China, was convinced that the Reformers, who were all Chinese, would sweep away their exceptional privileges, and consequently adhered to the Empress-Dowager. That accounts for much.
