All these appointments have hitherto been dependent on the “gracious favor” of His Majesty and have been dispensed without regard to moral character or any form of fitness, or to the real interests of the nation. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that they have often been sold to those who offered the highest percentage of squeezes for the outstretched royal hand. To secure them, access to the ear of the Emperor is indispensable in most cases. Not a few of the most low-lived and unscrupulous of his subjects and of foreigners have been recipients of royal favors in this way. To quote the words of one who knows: “Now it was the interpreter of a foreign legation, now a common police spy, now a minister or ex-minister of State, and now some comparatively humble member of the Imperial _entourage_. The soothsayers, geomancers, and others of that ilk, were always present, and frequently influential in devising grotesque schemes which spelled profit to themselves and to other hangers-on of the court. But the most constant influence at court of late years was that exercised by some of the eunuchs. Among these, the chief eunuch Kang, was probably the most powerful. He grew rich upon the perquisites of office, and would undoubtedly be flourishing still, had it not been for the famous house-cleaning which the-court underwent some time ago. He then fled, and report has it (seemingly with good reason) that he was harbored nearly two weeks for a substantial consideration, in the house of a foreigner connected in a subordinate capacity with an American business concern. When in his heyday he exercised great personal influence with the Emperor, and there are well authenticated instances of cabinet ministers having bribed him in order to secure access to the Imperial presence.”