October Ist.—(1) The Hunan Commissioners were also instructed to find out the truth concerning a complaint made to the Throne to the effect that a rebellion has broken out in Wu-ling Hsien, but had been hushed up by the magistrate with the con-ni vance of certain higher authorities for the sake of screening himself from the e which would otherwise have fallen upon him. The Commissioners declare that the magistrate was not guilty of any con-coalment, but reported the facts as they actually occurred. The true story appears to be that last July a man named Lung Lao-chin took up his residence in the district of Wu-ling and commenced the formation of a secret society. He enrolled as many as three hundred members, all common labourers or men of bad character, appointed a certain number of ministers and generals. They made or procured a hundred and more swords and spears and eighty pounds of gunpowder. After issuing proclamations and extorting blackmail from the villagers, they fixed on a day in last April for the commencement of an outbreak. But shortly before the time came troops were sent by the Commander-in-Chief at the request of the magistrate, and certain of the leaders were captured and the rest of the conspirators dispersed. The leaders were delivered into the hands of the prefect, by whose orders they were Red Seetroyed himself with poison being promptly executed, the head of one wi
struck off with those of the others. Lung Lao-chin himself was sent off to the Governor, who beheaded him after he had been examined and had acknowledged the truth of the charges against him. The Commissioners find that the matter was not in any way hushed up by the magistrate, that the Commander-in-Chief did not endeavour to hide the affair out of friendship to the magistrate. They have also elicited the fact that there was no truth in the curious statement made to the Emperor that rubber chiefs were in the habit of going about in the villages of Hunan dressed in yellow clothes and those of the highest officials by eight men as bearers,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.