which elevated each to the position he enjoys. Actual tears are
expected as a slight return for the seal of office which has enabled
its possessor to grow rich at the expense too often of a poor and
struggling population. We fancy, however, that the mind of the mourner
is more frequently occupied with thinking how many friends he can
count among the Imperial censors than in dwelling upon the
transcendent bounty of the deceased Emperor.

We sympathise with the bereaved mother who has lost her only child and
the hope of China; but on the other hand if there is little room for
congratulation, there is still less for regret. The nation has been
deprived of its nominal head, a vapid youth of nineteen, who was
content to lie _perdu_ in his harem without making an effort to do a
little governing on his own responsibility. During the ten years that
foreigners have resided within half a mile of his own apartments in
the palace at Peking, he has either betrayed no curiosity to learn
anything at all about them, or has been wanting in resolution to carry
out such a scheme as we can well imagine would have been devised by
some of his bolder and more vigorous ancestors. And now once more the
sceptre has passed into the hands of a child who will grow up, like
the late Emperor, amid the intrigues of a Court composed of women and
eunuchs, utterly unfit for anything like energetic government.

The splendid tomb which has been for the last twelve years in
preparation to receive the Imperial coffin, but which, according to
Chinese custom, may not be completed until death has actually taken
place, will witness the last scene in the career of an unfortunate
young man who could never have been an object of envy even to the
meanest of his people, and who has not left one single monument behind
him by which he will be remembered hereafter.