Ebook: The great Empress Dowager of China

London: HUTCHINSON & CO. Paternoster Row, 1910. — xiii, 344 p.; 16 illustr.When I went out to China to edit the Hongkong Daily Press the Boxer troubles were just approaching their acutest point. It was customary then for foreign journalists and other residents on the China coast to speak of the Empress Dowager as a bloodthirsty old harridan, a murderous-hearted hag, and the like. I well remember the outcry aroused by an American missionary (whose name, however, I forget) when, soon after the return of the Chinese Court to Peking, he ventured to couple her name with those of the recently dead Queen Victoria and of Queen Elizabeth of England, speaking of them as the three most remarkable women who had occupied thrones. In those days it was more usual to compare Her Imperial Majesty with Jezebel, Messalina, and such pleasing characters, and the missionary's bold innovation was greatly resented. And when ladies from the Legations and other foreign households in Peking were seen accepting invitations to call at the Palace, with their little sons and daughters, there was much fiery indignation expressed, especially as they did not refuse presents from "hands stained with the blood of European children."