Tae Peking Gazette of the 22nd Decomber contains a Deoreo of exceptional importance, issued by the Emperor at the express command of Her Majesty the Empress Regent. We have frequently, during the Inst few months, drawn attention to the state of things to which it refers, and the urgent necessity for some stops being taken with a view to averting the possible, if indeed not probable, consequences. It is only a fow weeks ago that the Viceroy of Chibli spoke of the serious results that would occur if Peking itself wore besieged by an army of desperate and starving mou, The distress which has followed from floods in the central provines appears now to be assuming proportions that look exceedingly threa= (ening, and the Decree we now pubs lish appears to indicate that the Palace has at last awoke to the danger of the moment, The text of it is as fole lows We have received the following command from Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.
"Tao Tsung-tfang and Yang Ch'ang-chun have represented to Us the necessity of establishing a refuge ing-chiang (Ts'ing-kiang Pu) for thi la mal tenance of refugees from various place They state that Ch'ing-chiang is a foo which the waterways affording communication between the northern and southern portions of the E a continuous st the victims of way towards the south. Ap report has filled Our heart with compass sion, Tsung tang and directed their subordinates to lief agencies at different places in whicl measures are to be duly taken to afford th people food and shelter, and as a special act of grace We hereby command that 2 grant of Tls. 10,000 be made towards the iuuance of this charitable work, As Wo reflect on the more than ordinarily grave disasters that have this yeat the Shun-tien Profeoturo and the province of Chihli, Shantung, Hupei and Anhui, and the homeless and suffering condition to which the lower classes of the people hav thus been reduced, the thought affec so deeply as We rest in the inmost re of the Palace that We can neither eat nor sleep.
"yo have previously given orders for detention of the tribute grain for the relief of the sufferers, and havi ther allotted funds from Our private burao for that pur pose, while the Governors-General and Governors concerned have laid before Us the measures they have taken towards the same end. Inasmuch, however, as the area of distress is very largo and the numbers affected are very considerable, there still remains reason to fear that the felicf afforded will not be suiciont to embrace the whole of the sui Tt comes therefore Our manifest duty to extend the measure of Our bounty, and Wo accordingly command that a further of Tls. 40,000 be given to the Shun-tien prefecture and to Chibli, Tis, 40,000 to Vis, 30,000 to Hupei, and i, These amounts will be issued with all promptitude by the Board whose duty it is, and the high officers concerned must positively instruct their subor in the most. peremptory terms to distribute the funds allotted to them in such wise that the bounty reaches the people for whom it is d Thus will they further Our compassionate concern for the sorrows of Our suffering people.
Now it appears to us that there is more indicated in the above document than is seen upon the surface. ho collection of multitudes of starving people in so disaffected a region as the central provinces cannot but be a source of grave danger to the Empire, which the Peking Government, bigoted and blind
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.