As we have maintained all through, the Emperor of China
is still alive. The Embassies, especially the English, have expressed anxiety on his account, and the doctor of the French Legation has been permitted to see him, and even, it is reported with awe, to touch his sacred person. He reports, it is said, that Hwang-su is a weak young man, and very anmmic, but that his life is in no danger from illness. As if he were put to death he would be " suicided," the doctor cannot help the Emperor much, but we fancy he will be spared. He submits, and there is a chance that any substi- tute might not. Decrees for the execution of over-liberal officials, and recalling the Emperor's "reforming edicts," dis- cussed elsewhere, and granting various "concessions"—over which there are disgusting international quarrels—continually appear, but we see signs of indecision in the ultra-conservative party. They are afraid of something not visible, and explain with a certain anxiety that they are not hostile to " all " reforms. One would like to know very much what part the soldiers are playing. There must be somebody in Pekin, with a name totally unknown in Europe, who could take all the Councillors' heads off, and, using the Emperor as a puppet, govern China. Japan was governed for centuries by Mayors of the Palace, and so may China be. The oddest thing in the entire situation is that no big man emerges either from the bureaucracy, or the soldiery, or the mob. The only man in China is a woman of sixty-one ; bat that cannot last.
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