To turn to pleasanter subject: The Imperial birthday celebrations next year neem to be. exercising the wits of "the Birthday Commissi at the head of wont is the Prince of Li, to the utmost. "That eternal want of pence which vexes public men " is no exception in the present axe, and the want of the "omnipotent twal" in severely felt. The Commissioners have dean commanded by Edict to make everything ona grand scale, und they are told to take the celebrations of the seventieth and eightieth birthdays of the Dowager mother of the Emperor Kienlung as their models. For instance, taking the triumphal progress of the present Dowager Empress, a distance of about ten miles, from Eho Park to the Forbidden City, alone, there are to be seven "dragon" sheds; nineteen ornamental sheds; twenty-six decorated platforms for the performance of the Buddhist worship of Longevity; fourteen theatrical stage: eighty-four triumphal arches; six elaburately decorated kiosks, and nine spots where it is intended to display certain ancient curiosities handed down by preceding dynasties, All the above are to be clothed in the first place with over a million pieces of variegated silk from the southern looms, not counting the enormous cast of gilding, painting, and carving that will be required to give proper effect to these sheds. arches, and kiosks. These were supposed to have lined the march on either side of the triumphal progress of the Dowager Ennpress in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and will be required un this occasion, a century after. Agsin, the houses of the people residing on this line of niareh have to by looked after in order to avoid the incongruity of gilded magnificence with that of poverty-stricken squalor. So the Commissioners have decided either to beautify the lucky householders' tenements or to rebuild wherever necessary, and to pull down any eyesore that may exist on this extensive street—the stone or granite road—which leads from Eho Park to the western gate of the Forbidden City.
er nine million taels have been or are to be immediately expended on such things but this sam has been computed to be only a third of what will be actually wanted as time goes on, for there is yet year of preparation and expenses to provide before the eventful days of the grand celebration. His Majesty has stated that the celebrations ought to cost about twelve million taels at lost; but if the former reign is to be taken as a model, it is impussible. The Imperial Commissioners know it; they know that they will be compelled to'ask for farther grants, and yet they are id to sky so in so many words to His Majesty. They have therefure taken to the expedient of making up models of everything that will be required and then presenting them to His Blajesty for approval. If approved, they say that it will cost so auch, and if His Majesty wants the thing done, he, of course, has to grant the requisite money, So far, over ten thousand taels have been expended in models of this sort alone, which to the outsider looks xs 80 much waste of money; but in reality the Commissioners cannot' do otherwise with the limited sum total they are ordered by be contented with. Sometimes His Majesty tries to get rid of " difficulty by ordering the models presented to him to be sent to the Empress Dowager for approval, leaving it to Her Majesty to take the owns of extravagance. On such occasions Her Majesty sometimes approves and sometimes partially rejects, but always with the recommendation for economy which under the circumstances, is obviously impossible. Thus the onns is again in part thrown back upon the shoulders of the Tmperial Com missioners, It is impossible to prophesy what the sum total of the cost of these celebrations next year will be. Sve say at least thirty milli
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.