While yet in our infancy we were by grace of the Emperor Tung Chih chosen to succeed him in the heavy responsibilities of Head of the whole Empire, and when his Majesty died we sought day and night to be deserving of such kindness by energy and faithfulness in our duties. We were also indebted to the Empress Dowager who taught and cherished us assiduously and to her we owe our safety to the present day. Now be it also known that, when selected to the Throne, it was then agreed that if ever we should have a son, that son should be proclaimed heir to the Throne. But ever since last year (1898) we have been constantly' ill and it was for this reason that, in the 8th month of that year, (September, 1898, referring to the coup dete—Pranslator), the Empress Do} ger graciously acceded to our urgent prayers and took over the reins of government in order to instruct us our duties, A year has now passed and still we find ourselves an invalid but ever keeping in our mind that we do not belong to the direct line of succession, and that for the sake of the safety of the empire of our ancestors a legal heir should be selected to the Throne, We again prayed the Empress Dowager to carefully choose from amongst the members of the Imperial Clan such an one and this she has done in the orson of Pu Chun, son of Tsai Yi, rince Tuan, 2nd Order.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.