China under the Empress Dowager

by J. O. P. Bland; Sir E. Backhouse

On the 6th of the 10th Moon, Prince Kung and the Imperial Commission sent in their report on the quite perfunctory enquiry into the charges against Tsai Yüan and the other conspirators. In the following Decree the offenders were finally disposed of:—

“The Memorial of our Imperial Commission recommends that, in accordance with the law applying to cases of high treason, the punishment of dismemberment and the lingering death be inflicted upon Tsai Yüan, Tuan Hua and Su Shun. Our Decrees have already been issued describing their abominable plot and their usurpation of the Regency.

“On the day of His late Majesty’s death, these three traitors claimed to have been appointed a Council of Regency, but, as a matter of fact, His late Majesty, just before his death, had commanded them to appoint us his successor, without giving them any orders whatsoever as to their being Regents. This title they proceeded to arrogate to themselves, even daring to issue orders in that capacity and without the formality of our Decree. Moreover they disobeyed the personal and express orders given them by the Empresses Dowager. When the Censor Tung Yüan-ch’un petitioned that the Empresses should assume the government, they not only dared to alter the Decree which we issued in reply, but they openly asserted at audience their claim to be our Regents and their refusal to obey the Empresses. If, said they, they chose to permit the Empresses to see Memorials, this was more than their duty required. In fact, their insubordination and violent rudeness found expression in a hundred ways. In forbidding us to give audience to our uncles and to the Grand Secretaries, they evidently meant to set us at variance with our kindred. The above remarks apply equally to all three traitors.

“As to Su Shun, he insolently dared to seat himself upon the Imperial Throne. He would enter the Palace precincts unbidden, and whether on duty or not. He went so far as to use the Imperial porcelain and furniture for his own purposes, even refusing to hand over certain articles that we required for ourselves. He actually demanded an audience with the Empresses separately, and his words, when addressing them, indicated a cunning desire to set one Empress against the other, and to sow seeds of discord. These remarks apply to the individual guilt of Su Shun.

“Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, and Her Sacred Majesty the Empress Dowager, our mother, duly informed the Commission of Enquiry of these facts, and they have to-day given audience to all the Princes and Ministers to enquire of them whether the guilt of these three traitors admits of any extenuating circumstances. It is unanimously determined that the law allows of no leniency being shown to such flagrant treason and wickedness as theirs. When we reflect that three members of our Imperial kindred have thus rendered themselves liable to a common felon’s death in the public square, our eyes are filled with tears. But all these their misdeeds, in usurping the Regency, have involved our tutelary deities in the direst peril, and it is not only to ourselves but to our illustrious ancestors that they must answer for their damnable treason. No doubt they thought that, come what may, they were sure of pardon, because of their having received the mandate of His late Majesty, but they forgot that the mandate which they have claimed was never legally issued, and if we were now to pardon them we should render the law of no effect for all time and prove unfaithful to the trust reposed in us by our late father. The punishment of dismemberment and the lingering death, which the Commission recommends, is indeed the proper punishment for their crimes, but the House-law of our Dynasty permits of leniency being shown, to a certain extent, to members of the Imperial Family. Therefore, although, strictly speaking, their crimes allow of no indulgence, we decide that they shall not suffer the penalty of public disgrace. In token of our leniency, Tsai Yüan and Tuan Hua are hereby permitted to commit suicide, and Prince Su and Mien Sen are ordered to proceed forthwith to the ‘Empty Chamber,’[9] and command the immediate fulfilment of this order. It is not from any feeling of friendliness towards these traitors that we allow this, but simply to preserve the dignity of our Imperial family.

“As to Su Shun, his treasonable guilt far exceeds that of his accomplices, and he fully deserves the punishment of dismemberment and the slicing process, if only that the law may be vindicated and public indignation satisfied. But we cannot make up our mind to impose this extreme penalty and therefore, in our clemency, we sentence him to immediate decapitation, commanding Prince Jui and Tsai Liang to superintend his execution, as a warning to all traitors and rebels.”

Note.—The hereditary Princedoms of Yi and Cheng which were forfeited by the conspiring Princes after the death of Hsien-Feng, in 1861, were restored by the Empresses Regent to commemorate their thanksgiving at the suppression of the Taiping rebellion and the recapture of Nanking (1864). In an Edict on the subject, Tzŭ Hsi recalled the fact that the original patent of the Princedom of Yi was given to a son of the Emperor K’ang-Hsi in 1723 and was to endure, according to the word of that Monarch, until “the T’ai Mountain dwindles to the size of a grindstone, and the Yellow River shrinks to the width of a girdle.” After referring to the main features of the Tsai Yüan conspiracy and the guilt of the traitors, Tzŭ Hsi proceeded “We permitted these Princes to commit suicide because they were ungrateful to ourselves, and had brought disrepute on the good name of their ancestors. If these are now conscious of their descendants’ misdeeds, while they wander beside the Nine Springs,[10] how great must be the anguish of their souls! At the time we were advised by our Princes and Ministers of State, to put an end for ever to these Princely titles, and we did so in order to appease widespread indignation. Since then, however, we have often thought sorrowfully of the achievements of these Princely families during the early reigns of our Dynasty, and now the triumph of our arms at Nanking provides us with a fitting occasion and excuse to rehabilitate these Princedoms, so that the good name of their founders may remain unblemished. We therefore hereby restore both titles as Princes of the blood with all the estates and dependencies appertaining thereto, and we command that the genealogical trees of these two Houses be once more placed upon our Dynastic records in their due order, it being always understood that the usurping Princes Tuan Hua and Tsai Yüan, together with their descendants in the direct line for two generations, are expressly excluded from participation in these restored privileges. Original patents of the Princes of Yi and Cheng are hereby restored, together with their titles, to the Dukes Cheng Chih and Tsai Tun. And take heed now both of you Princes, lest you fall away from the ancient virtue of your Houses! See to it that you long continue to enjoy our favour by adding fresh lustre to your ancestral good name!”

The intention was undoubtedly well meant, but the Houses of Yi and Cheng continued to incur the displeasure of the gods. The next Prince Yi but one, was permitted to commit suicide in 1900, for alleged complicity in the Boxer rising, but it is significant that his name was not on any Black List drawn up by the foreign Powers, and that his death was due to his having incurred the displeasure of the Old Buddha at a time when her nerves were not particularly good, and when she was therefore liable to hasty decisions. As to the House of Cheng, the holder of the title in 1900 committed suicide on the day when the Allies entered the city, a disappointed patriot of the best Manchu model.

Tzŭ Hsi’s wrath against Su Shun found further vent three years after his death in a Decree which debarred his sons and descendants from ever holding public office, this punishment being inflicted on the ground that he had allowed personal spite to influence him, when consulted by the Emperor Hsien-Feng regarding the penalty to be inflicted on an offending rival.