According to a despatch received at Tientsin the other day, it appears that the insurgents in the Jebé country, outside the Great Wall, mentioned in these columns recently, have been making it very lively for the Imperial troops on the spot. In other words it is reported that the Military Governor of Jeho and his Tartar troops have been defeated in several encounters with the insurgents, and it is further said the sub-prefectural city of ie cee has recently fallen into the hands of the insurgents and that the sub-prefect has been Slain, The number of the insurgents at Pingch'uan is estimated at over 8,000, and General Nieh, the Chihli Provincial Commander-in-chief, who had started from Lutai to the aid of the Governor of Jebd with some 3,000 cavalry and mounted infantry and a.couple of guns, has found his progress barred by the insurgents near the newly captured city of Pingch'uan. General Nieh has, therefore, formed an entrenched camp some sixteen miles from Pingch'uan and is now waiting for the rest of his brigade which will swell his forces to about 8,000 men, with one battery of horse artillery and two mountain batteries. His next step will be to re-take the city of Pingeh'uan and, in conjunction with the Tartar-General of Fengtien, who will attack the insurgents from the east, attempt to surround the latter somewhere in the vicinity of Ch'soyang. The Governor of Jehd, who has 1,500 troops, will have all he can do to preserve his seat of yovernment from also falling into the hands of the rebels, hence he is not counted upon at all in the above sketch of the proposed campaign against the insurgents. The whole country about Jeho and Pingch'uan is reported to be laid waste by the insurgents, who are expecting reinforcements from the members of the secret societies who rose unsuccessfully against the constituted authorities in the winter of 1893, just prior to the war with Japan. These Societies are reported to be able to put 40,000 men in the field but, of course, almost unarmed, although rumour has it that they and their secret emissaries have purchased or picked up more than seven-tenths of the arms and ammunition abandoned by the thousands of " braves" who had been sent to fight the Japanese. There are apprehensions that if General Nich and his troops be defeated by the rebels, the latter will at once attempt to capture the railway and threaten Tientsin. It is further stated by despatches, received here on Thursday, that the disciplined troops of Yuan Shih-kai, now stationed at Hsiaochan, 15 miles west of Tientsin, have also received orders from Vicero} Wang to be ready to start for Tionts at a moment's notice, Yuan Shih Kai, it will be remembered, was, previous to the last war, Chinese Resident at Seoul and has been occupied for the past three years, during which he has resided at or pear Tientsin, in organising a disciplined brigade of 8,000 men at Hsiaochan.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.