Specially translated for the North-China Herald. let February.
The rage for actuality has found a curious form of expression in Paris society. In place of fancy-dress balls it is now customary among " smart" people to hold what are called diners en te, Ench person present is tade up," as to the head only, to re-resent some celebrity of the moment.
historic characters are out of date in double sense. In the picturesque langu, of the boulevard, they are neither nouveau jew nor dernier bateau. The 'Resparation for a Paris diner en tete is delightfully i You make your selection regard to your own physical give your coiffeur a few lays' notice to enable him to study the subject, place yourself in his hands an hour or two before the dinner, and rise from his chair a new man—or new woman. Yvette Guilbert is a favourite model among ladies of the scragey type, and Deo de Mérode, the ballet dancer with the pre-Raphaelite tresses and no perceptible ears, is also in demand. Three young ladies have scored a distinct success by dining out as the sisters Harrison, whose performance was recently prohibited in Wohave received the report of the Board of Civil Appointments with reference to our commands to determine the penalties which ought to be given to Li Ping-hong, Governor of Shantung and Viceroy-elect of Szechuan, owing to his inabil against such fatal di district of Chiiyé in November last, and failing also to report the same to the Throne until an investigation was made by the Teungli Yamen. Such dereliction of duty demands the prompt imposition of a penalty and we hereby command that the said Li Ping-hong he forthwith degraded two steps in rank, that he be transferred to some other post adequate to his degradation and that he be forbidden the privilege of usin, his good marks in the official records as a set-off against his misdemeni Farther-more, his subordinates Hsi Liang, Taotai of the Yen-I-Tsao-Chi Intendancy of Shantung, Wan Pén-hua, the Brigadier-General of the Tsaochou Military Cireuit—who has already been degraded—and Shao Chénghsi, the prefect of Tsavchoufu, be forthwith cashiered, but only the first and third named are to be retained in.their preset posts, while the second i to be dismissed, arthermore it should be remembered that the various religious denominations of the Western countries have always been. allowed to propagate their doctrines in this empire by privileges granted in our treaties with those countries, and that representatives of the religion professe! by the murdered Roman Catholic priests have had a footing in China since the time of the Emperor Wan Lich of the preceding Ming Aynasty (about 1573—ranslutor) and it is the plain duty of oar officials and people to use extra c-re for their protection and well-being. the contrary, we now find that bandits have had the temerity to murder two of these Reman Catholic priests in the district of Chiiyé (Chiiyé- hsien), a circumstance we sincerely deplore, and we greatly sympathise with the other members of their mission in the loss thus sustained by them. While on the one hand means should ay once be started for the arrest and due punishment according to law of the perpetrators of the murders, on the "ther hand, we hereby command in sympathy therewith that three churches shall be built by us for the said mission, and residences in seven various places, as a mark of our good will for strand gers from afar, Finally, we hereby command Chang Ju-nei—the newly-appointed successor of Li Ping-héng—to give strict injunctions to his subordinates to hereafter grant substantial protection to foreigners of all nations, and " warning is also herein given that if in future it be discovered that further disturbances against foreigners have been organised or have come to pass, the responsibility for such acts will fall on the high provincial and local authorities thereof, Beware of disobedience 2nd February-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.