obey the House laws of the Dynasty in all things. When
not actually engaged on business of State, he should employ
his time in studying the classics and the precedents of
history, carefully enquiring into the causes which have
produced good or bad government, from the earliest times
down to the present day. He should be thrifty and diligent,
endeavouring to make perfect his government. This has
been our one constant endeavour since we took upon our-
selves the Regency, the one ideal that has been steadily
before our eyes."

The Decree concludes with the usual exhortation to the
Grand Council and the high officers of the Provincial
administration, to serve the Throne with zeal and loyalty.

As far as the Emperor was concerned, these admirable
sentiments appeared to have little or no effect, for his
conduct from the outset was undutiful, not to say
disrespectful, to his mother. Nor was this to be wondered
at, when we remember that since his early boyhood he had
shown a marked preference for the Empress Dowager of the
East ( Tzŭ An) and that he was well aware of the many
dissensions and intrigues rife in the Palace generally, and
particularly between the Co-Regents. He had now attained
his seventeenth year, and, with it, something of the autocratic
and imperious nature of his august parent. He was encour-
aged in his independent attitude by the wife whom Tzŭ Hsi
had chosen for him, the virtuous A-lu-te. This lady was
of patrician origin, being a daughter of the assistant Imperial
tutor, Ch'ung, Ch'i. In the first flush of supreme authority,
the boy Emperor and his young wife would appear to
have completely ignored the danger of their position,
but they were speedily to learn by bitter experience that
Tzŭ Hsi was not to be opposed, and that to live peacefully
with her in the Palace was an end that could only be
attained by complete submission to her will. The first
trouble arose from the Emperor's refusal to submit State
documents for his mother's inspection, but there were

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