was the personality, power and statesmanship of the Empress
Dowager that brought about the realization of his dreams. The
movement towards female education as described in another chapter
must ever be placed to the credit of this great woman. From the
time she came from behind the screen, and allowed her portrait to
be painted, the freedom of woman was assured.

One day when calling at the American legation I was shown two
large photographs of Her Majesty. One some three feet square was
to be sent to President Roosevelt, the other was a gift to Major
Conger. Similar photographs had been sent to all the ministers
and rulers represented at Peking, and I said to myself: "The
Empress Dowager is shrewd. She knows that false pictures of her
have gone forth. She knows that the painted portrait is not a
good likeness, and so she proposes to have genuine pictures in
the possession of all civilized governments." This shrewdness was
not necessarily native on her part, but was engendered by the
arguments that had been used by those who induced her to be the
first Chinese monarch to have her portrait painted by a foreign
artist.

A few years ago the Empress Dowager had a dream, which, like
every act of hers, was greater than any of those of her brilliant
nephew. This dream was to give a constitution to China. Of
course, if this were done it would have to be by the Manchus, as
the government was theirs, and any radical changes that were made
would have to be made by the people in power. The Empress
Dowager, however, wanted the honour of this move to reflect upon
herself, and hoped to be able to bring it to a successful issue
during her lifetime.