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The day after his arrival in Pekin General Grant saw Prince Kung. The General and party left the Legation at half-past two, the party embracing Mr. Holcombe, the acting Minister; Colonel Grant, Lieutenant Charles Belknap, C. W. Deering, and A. Ludlow Case, Jr., of the "Ashuelot." The way to the Yamen was over dirty roads, and through a disagreeable part of the town, the day being unusually warm, the thermometer marking 101 degrees in the shade. This is a trying temperature under the best circumstances, but in Pekin there was every possible condition of discomfort in addition. When we came to the courtyard of the Yamen the secretaries and a group of mandarins received the General and his party, and escorted them into the inner court. Prince Kung, who was standing at the door, advanced and saluted the General, and said a few words of welcome, which were translated by Mr. Holcombe. The sun was beating down, and the party passed into a large, plainly-furnished room, where was a table laden with Chinese food. The Prince, sitting down at the center, gave General Grant the seat at his left, the post of honor in China. He then took up the cards, one by one, which had been written in Chinese characters, on red paper, and asked Mr. Holcombe for the name and station of each member of the General's suite. He spoke to Colonel Grant, and asked him the meaning of the uniform he wore, his rank, and his age. He asked whether the Colonel was married and had children. When told that the Colonel had one child, a daughter, the Prince condoled with him, saying, "What a pity." In China, you must remember that female children do not count in the sum of human happiness, and when the Prince expressed his regret at the existence of the General's granddaughter, he was saying the most polite thing he knew. The Prince earnestly perused the face of the General, as though it were an unlearned lesson. He expected a uniformed person, a man of the dragon or lion species, who could make a great noise. What he saw was a quiet, middle-aged gentleman, in evening dress, who had ridden a long way in the dust and sun, and who was looking in subdued dismay at servants who swarmed around him with dishes of soups and sweet

THE RECEPTION AT THE YAMEN.

405 meats, dishes of bird's-nest soup, sharks' fins, roast ducks, bamboo sprouts, and a teapot with a hot, insipid tipple made of rice, tasting like a remembrance of sherry, which was poured into small silver cups. We were none of us hungry. We had just left luncheon, and were on the programme for a special banquet in the evening. Here was a profuse and sumptuous entertainment. The dinner differed from those in Tientsin, Canton, and Shanghai, in the fact that it was more quiet; there was no display or parade, no crowd of dusky servants and retainers hanging around and looking on as though at a comedy. I didn't think the Prince himself cared much about eating, because he merely dawdled over the bird's-nest soup and did not touch the sharks' fins.

Nor, in fact, did any of the ministers, except one, who, in default of our remembering his Chinese name and rank, one of the party called Ben Butler. The dinner, as far as the General was concerned, soon merged into a cigar, and the Prince toyed with the dishes as they came

and went, and smoked

celebrated than Prince Kung. He is a prince of the imperial house of China, brother of a late emperor and uncle of the present. He wore no distinguishing button on his hat, imperial princes being of a rank so exalted that even the highest honor known to Chinese nobility is too low for them. In place of the latter he wore a small knot of dark red silk braid, sewed

together so as to resemble a crown. His costume was of the ordinary Chinese, plainer if anything than the official's. His girdle was trimmed with yellow, and there were yellow fringes and tassels attached to his pipe, his fan, and pockets. Yellow is the imperial color, and the trimming was a mark of princely rank. In appearance the Prince is of middle stature, with a sharp, narrow face, a high forehead—made more prominent by the Chinese custom of shaving the forehead-and a changing, evanescent expression of countenance. He has been at the head of the Chinese government since the English invasion and the burning of the Summer Palace. He was the only prince who remained at his post at that time, and consequently when the peace came it devolved upon him to make it. This negotiation gave him a European celebrity and a knowledge of Europeans that was of advantage. European powers have preferred to keep in power a prince with whom they have made. treaties before. In the politics of China, Prince Kung has shown courage and ability. When the emperor, his brother, died in 1861, a council was formed composed of princes and noblemen of high rank. This council claimed to sit by the will of the deceased emperor. The inspiring element was hostility to foreigners. Between this regency and the Prince there was war. The Emperor was a child—his own nephew; just as the present emperor is a child. Suddenly a decree coming from the child-emperor was read, dismissing the regency, making the dowager Empress Regent, and giving the power to Prince Kung.

success.

This decree Prince Kung enforced with vigor, decision, and He arrested the leading members of the regency, charged them with having forged the will under which they claimed the regency, and sentenced three of them to death. Two of the regents were permitted to commit suicide, but the other was beheaded. From that day, under the empresses, Prince Kung has been the ruler of China. Under the last emperor the party in opposition succeeded in degrading him. I have read the decree of degradation as it appeared in the Pekin Gazette. The principal accusation against the prince

PRINCE KUNG.

407 was that he had been haughty and overbearing, which I can well believe. The decree was sweeping and decisive. The Prince was degraded, deprived of his honors, and reduced to the common level. But the power of the Prince was not to be destroyed by a decree. In a few days appeared another decree, saying that as the Prince had crept to the foot of the throne in tears and contrition he had been pardoned. The real fact, I suppose, was that the young emperor and the empress found that the Prince was a power whose wrath it was not wise to invoke. Since his restoration to his honors, his power has been unquestioned, and one of the recent decrees conferred new honors upon himself and his son for their loyalty to the empire, and especially for their fervent prayers at the ceremonies to the manes of the dead emperor.

The interview with his Imperial Highness, aside from those courteous phrases which are the burden of Chii.ese conversation, was about education and the development of the resources of China. One allusion made by General Grant to the influence the development of the coal and iron interests of England had upon her greatness seemed to impress the ministers, especially the Secretary of the Treasury, who repeated the statement and entered into conversation with one of his colleagues on the subject. Prince Kung said nothing, but smoked his pipe and delved into the bird's-nest soup. The dishes for our repast came in an appalling fashion-came by dozens-all manner of the odd dishes which China has contributed to the gastronomy of the age. Prince Kung was more interested in the success of his dinner than in the material prosperity of the nation, and, with the refinement of politeness characteristic of the Chinese, kept piling the General's plate with meats and sweetmeats until there was enough before him to garnish a Christmas tree. The General, however, had taken refuge in a cigar and was beyond temptation.

A Chinese entertainment gives time for talk and food. The speeches have to be translated from Chinese into English, and from English into Chinese, an office that Mr. Holcombe performed with readiness. Prince Kung did not enter with enthu

siasm into the talk about material progress. It seemed as if the subject bored him. But Prince Kung lives in the center of political intrigue. He is the head of the government—the regent-brother of one emperor and uncle of another, the ruling member of the ruling house. The burning question in Chinese

this question as at home they used to divide on the question of slavery, and when it comes up, as it is always coming, Chinamen show temper, as at home an average statesman of either party would show temper if you pressed him closely on the currency question or State rights. Prince Kung is as far advanced on the subject as you could expect from a Tartar states