9th Jan, In writing on Monday last on the death of Prince Chun, the father of the Emperor, we pointed out that the Emperor would not be required to go into mourning as a son for his father, because, when called to the throne, he was adopted as the legal sou of the former Emperor, Hien Feng. He would wear, we said, plain robes and not sackcloth, and he would only pretermit for a brief period his daily meetings with the Grand Council, while the prescribed period of mourning by a Viceroy for his father is three years, which custom has shortened to twenty-seven months, The series of decrees, translations of which from the Skénpao we have since published,—and which, it will have been noted, are issued by the Empress Dowager, not by the Emperor—shows that our anticipations were correct. In the second decree of the 3rd instant it is laid down that the Emperor is to mourn for oe year, wearing plain white silk garments for eleven cays, and holding no public audience for eleven days. When a Viceroy's father or mother dies, and it is considered impossible to spare him from his post, "nice customs curtsey to great kings", and he is instructed not to go into retirement; and in the same way the Emperor is not permitted to allow his natural or customary grief to interfere with the performance of the higher duties of his position. Though for one year he is to wear plain robes when giving audiences, and even when calling officially to enquire after the health of the Empress owuger, he is still to attend in person and perform the proper ceremonies, when the time comes round for offering grand sacrifices at the 'l'emple of Heaven, and to the shrines of the Imperial ancestors, On New Year's Day he is to wear the ceremonial robes and perform the ceremonies at the Chining palace, with the accustomed music playing, On the same day he is to wear the ceremonial robes and ascend the Toho throne when receiving the congratulations of the Ministers, but though the music is to be present as usual it is to be silent. The usual banquets are to be given to the Mongolian princes at New-Year when they come to pay their respects, but all other official banquets are to be suspended, so that the foreign Ministers will be relieved from attendance at one function which, however honourable, must be somewhat tedious. It is noticeable that there is nothing in the decrees so far to confirm the fear that has been expressed that the death of Prince
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.