Article February 20, 1902 Issue

Legation Women see Dowager Empress

Boston Transcript

The reception of the ladies of the various legations by the empress dowager, the emperor and empress, and members of the court, February 1, was a striking ceremony. The party was limited strictly to the legation ladies and their children, and numbered twenty-one. There was one interpreter for each legation. Baron Czikann de Wahlborn, the dean of the diplomatic corps, conducted the women to the throne from the croded ante-room.

Here Mrs. Conger, the wife of the American minister, who is the head of the women of the corps in point of service, stepped forward and, addressing the empress dowager, said:—

"The ladies of the diplomatic corps respond with pleasure to your invitation to an audience. They heartily congratulate you and all the members of the court that the unfortunate situation leading to the abandonment of your beautiful capital has happily passed away, and that you are now permitted to return in freedom and peace. Your safe return to an undestroyed home will furnish pages for future history which cannot be comprehended now. The events of the past two years were necessarily as painful to you as to the rest of the world, but the sting of your sad experiences it is possible to eliminate, we hope, by the establishment of more frank, more trustful, and more friendly relations with foreign peoples. The world is moving forward with a progress that it is impossible to stop, and it is to be hoped that China will join with the greater sisterhood of nations in the grand march. May the nations in unity manifest forbearance, respect, and good-will in the progress toward mutual good results. Recent edicts promise good for your people and your empire. Our prayer is that God may preserve you and the emperor, and guide this promise to fruition."

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