Road," Shanighai;-'on the: 26th- September, aoatas Macove; aged 92 years."
pte ts ace 'THERE can' be no question that Mr. Chou Han of Changsha is a- very interesting person. He represents admirably the undaunted anti-foreign spirit, of the virgin province of Hunan. He represents the Hunanese admirably too in mixing a proper amount of discretion with his zeal. When the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung sent his commissioner to Changsha to arrest Mr. Chou Han, the Governor of the province, Chang Hsii, being unable or unwilling to arrest him, the man of iron who was ready to die for the opinions and the falsehoods he had dis ated broadcast in. the infamous placards and pamphlets which disgrace the name of Hunan, discreetly shut himself up in his house, and allowed friends to give out that he had disappeared, and was insane and therefore irresponsible and could not be found and punished. Foreign Powers, however, were evidently not satisfied with this evasion, and we may take it that pressure was put on the Tsungli Yamen, and through the Yamen on the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung. It.was, we may suppose, then determined to send a new Governor to Hunan, and it is not unlikely that Chang Chih-tung suggested his personal friend Wu Ta-cheng, who was Governor of Kuangtung when Chang: was Viceroy of the Two Kuang, a man of ability and integrity, respected and liked by both Chinese and foreigners, whose last public service was as Director-General of the Yellow River, where he closed the great breach at Chengehou three years ago, After that he had to go into mourning, and has now become available again for office. -A place had, however, to be found for Chang Hsii, and as his only shortcoming apparently was his want of zeal in arresting or permanently suppressing Chou' Han, he could not be shelved altogether. Accordingly an unfortunate Manchu named Akotachun; who began his official life as.a Taotai in Shansi, and. then held high appointments i" Anhui, was-made the victim. He was recently appointed Governor of Shansi, but a protest having been made against him by a Censor on the ground of the very indifferent-te-putation which he enjoyed at his last post, the Emperor received. him in audience..and,.in. the words.of, the Peking Gazette, "found a want of clearness in all the replies which he gave.to His Majesty's questions." His appoint ment was accordingly' cancelled, Chang Hsii_ was given the Shansi Governorship, and Wu fa-cheng has. been sent to Changsha.
This, as Dr. Griffith John writes us ina long and interesting letter, combined with the news that a foreigner—Mr. Chris, Gardner—was coming to Bite the sacred soil of the capital of unap, has brought Chou Han to the surface again. His great spirit has blossomed out in a manifesto worthy of him. Wa 'Ta-cheng, he says, is in league with. the barbarian devils to copes the ruin of Hunan. He calls on the patriots of Hunan to assemble in their thousands, stop Wu's approach at Yochou, the outpost of the province, seize the rebellious' devils and burn their ships, drive them out, of Honan, and implore the Emperor to send a more worthy Governor. Unfortunately Hunan has been betrayed in the last twenty years by four of her own sons, Kuo Sung-tao, the first Chinese Ambassador to Europe, the Marquis 'I'séng, and two others of less note. Kind Heaven has cut down these four devils; and only a remnant of the faction that is content to traffic with foreigners now remains; when found they are to be beaten to death and cast out to the tigers and wolves. 'I'he foreign devils are rich, and when they, come into Hunan will try to buy land for their churches and chapels. Those who sell them land: or houses and the middlemen are to be slaughtered, the houses burned; and. the, land made, public property.
This wild tirade was followed: by the meeting of literati and students at Changsha, of which we have already told, and it elicited a very temperate proclamation from. the,' prefect and magistrate in their joint names. They remind the people that the water in the ungting Lake becomes too shallow for foreign vessels in the 8th moon (October), and that it is. these physical obstacles that have hitherto prevented the opening of treaty ports in Hunan that they have enquired-as to the truth of the story which has.so excited the Changsha -people—that foreigners were coming there in, October or November—and learn that Li Hung-chang chad telegraphed-to the-'l'sang-linYarién to enquire, and had' been answered that there was: no truth in the story, "Some
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.