Lord Charles Beresford, in an interview accorded toa representative of this paper on Wednesday, expressed himself as being unwilling to say anything more on the subject of his mission than has already been made public. His Lordship said that as yet he was in the position of an enquirer and desired to learn all he possibly could of the views of residents in China as to the best means to be employed in derelopirig the resources of the country, and providing for the security of capital invested. in Chinese industrial and other enterprises. Lord Charles leaves for Peking on Saturday, calling at Weihaiwe! en route, but until after his visit to the capital his future plans are uncertain.
The Sinwénpao publishes the following trustworthy account of the arrest, trial and execution of the six martyrs to the cause of reform, and incidents relating to what took place during the first few days of the Coup d'Etat at Peking At the trial yesterday before the joint tribunal, consisting of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the grand Council, Board of Punishments and Court of Censors, following prisoners were questioned: "Hsii Chih-ching, Junior Vice-President of the Board of Rites; the Censor Yang Shen-hsin; the Hanlin Compiler.. Yang Jui; Tan Tze-tung, Lin Hsid, and Liu Kuang-ti, first-class Secretaries of the Grand Council, and K'ang Kuang-jen, M.A., the younger brother of K'ang Vu-wei. It was proved that Hsi Chih-ching had not been guilty of anything more serious than recommending K'ang. Vu-wei to the Emperor's confidence. It seemed that K'ag was a classmate and intimate friend of Hsii's son, Hsii Jen-chu, Literary Chamellor of Hunan—since cashiered' and dismissed. for ever from the public service—nd the latter. wrote so: warily on- K'am's behalf to his father, that Hsii did all-ie could to make the Emperor favourable Kang. For this' reason' Hsit' was only adjudged to have been "'careless: in his recommendations" and was therefore: recommended by his judges to the Empress. Dowager for mercy. [We.know that the act of "mercy" was-lifelong imprisonment in the dungeons of..the Board. of Punishments.] The other six prisoners were charged..with being."'deeply-dyed traitors" and unworthy of mercy. On. the 28th of September, while the six were again before the joint tribunal, a secret edict suddenly arrived commanding the instant decapitation of the prisoners. The hour was almost. dusk, but when the edict was read to the unfortunate six none of them showed any fear. Tan Tye-tung, (the Governor. of Hupeh's son) and Lin Held being. especially fearless, glorying in. this opportunity to die for their principles and that fell that day "thousand others would warning their judges, that for every head rise up for liberty and reform. Heaven spread, as it were, a veil to hide the sanguinary. deed, for.darkness had already fallen over the city when the executions began. After the judges who attended the executions had left the ground, the families and servants of the six' unfortunate sewed the head of each victim on to that kad been prepared for the purpose by its trunk and placed the bodies in coffins
them.
As. for. Chang "Yin-huan, i, when he was cast into the prison of the Board of Punishments the other day, the goalers reaped quite a harvest in the shape of squeezes on his family, no less than Tls. 1,000 being edding. to be taken into his cell.
for the single privilege of allowing his When the search for the principal members of the Reform Party was first ordered
of September, daylight had not' yet apby the han egy oes 29 on the fatal 22nd peared. The house'of Yan Shen-hsin,! the Censor, was first. searched by: the gendarmes, under their Commandant, the Imperial Clansman Chung Li; but the former managed to escape -for the time being: to a neighbouring monastery; when be was cruelly betrayed by the monks and captured. The brilliant and talented Tan Tze-ting, the Governor of Hupeh's son, happened to be ill in bed at the time, but this did not prevent him from. bein pratally dragged: off by his captors an cast into- one. of the filthy and cheerless dungeons of the Board of Punishments, without bedding or covering of any sort. Yang Jui, the Hanlin' Compiler, was still lying abed.when the gendarmes appeared, +o no trouble was experienced in taking him into custody. Lin Hsié and Liu Kuang-ti. happened to be on duty in the Grand Council Chamber and fell an easy prey to the Empress: Dowager's myrmidons. Heii Chih-ching happefied to be out returtiing official calls when he received news of search being made for him by Chung: Li and his gendarmes, bit on learning that two of his sons had already been arrested as hostages for their parent's appearance, the old man gave himself up in order to save his sons. As for Wang Chao, the courageous Secretary of: the Board of Rites, and Liang Ch'i-chao, the ex-Editor of Chinese Progress, who were greatly wanted" by the Conservatives, they somehow managed to effect their escape in time and have not yet been captured.
"It is stated that the members of the Reform Party at Peking consist of over 240 men, amongst whom are sixty odd members of the Hanlin Academy. The Conservatives intended to arrest every one of these and make them a warning to the world, but
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.