In our issue of the 24th instant niention was made of a Special Secret Mission from the Empress Dowager to the Mikado. Naturally' there have been many rumours and conjectures among those who happened to know of it, both native and foreign, as to the object of the Mission. One of the reasons we already know from our Peking native correspondent's telegram which appeared in these columns on) Wednesday uiorning, and that was to invite the Marquis Ito in the Empress Dowazer's name, to pay a visit to Peking and give the benefit of his ripe experience to the narrow-minded, ignorant and beclouded Ministers of the Imperial Court of China, and we also know now the names of the tivo special commissioners or envoys to be Liu and Ching. A short sketch of these two men may perhaps be of interest and probably also give xn insight into the character of the service required of them.
To besin with, the first named, Liu, or, to give him his whole name, Liu Hsié-hsun, is a Cantonese by birth and a wealthy e: member of the literati of that city. Unt a few years ago he held the notorious Wei cing Lottery of Kuangtung province, but owing to alleged irregularities he was denounced to the Throne by beth Viceroys Li Ban-chang and Tan Chung-lin, in consequence of which he was cashiered, ordered to be arrested, and his property in Canton to be confiscated. This led to Liu's taking French leave of his native city and going to Hongkong and Macao, but finally making this port his haven of refuge, where he has purchased considerable landed property in the Settlements, his residence being in the vicinity of the Bubbling Well Road. While here Liu made the acquaintance of a certain Manchu who, for divers reasons, had apparently also found the city of his nativity (Peking) ther unhealthful, for he, instead of retaining his rightful cognomen, assumed that of a Chinese, namely, Chao, although he was known to many metropolis tans as the cashiered ex-official Ch'ing K'uan, Quite an intimacy arose between the two, and as both possessed wealth, which is the golden key to open any oer, and especially the palace doors of Peking, they went North, travelling, of course, incoy., and eventually managed to form an acquaintance with the notorious favourite eunuch of the Empress Dowager, nicknamed P'i Siao-lien,—e.g., the man whose smile is only ' skin-deep, the most powerful man in the Empire, not even excepting Jung Lu,—the veritable "power behind the Throne."
favingfaccepted the tio embryo envoys as his protég's—for a consideration, of course—there was apparently no need of further preserving their incog., and 80, not long after the fatal coup d'état, the Empress Dowager issued a special decree on the 19th of November last stating that Liu Hsié-hsun and Ch'ing Kuan, holding the brevet button of Prefect and Board Secretary, respectively,—they lisd now bought new buttons—are hereby granted permission to go abroad at their own expense to study commercial conditions." This decree Looked suspicious, as the rani of the two men was insufficient for an edict like the above; but the report is that, in order to get into special favour with the Empress Dowager, they had volunteered, through their patron the eunuch above-noted, to capture the refugee Reformers in Japan and elsewhere. Hence the roving commission. Moreover, they were no business men but Titerati pure and simple, In spite of their Berminsion to gw shroud, they apparently id not avail themselves' of their privilege to travel anywhere they pleased, but remained for some time in Shanghai. While here they made the acquaintance of Marquis Ito early this year, while H.E Fus on tour through various parts of China. Then the Empress Dowager got frightened at the threatened partition of China, and Japan being particularly friend Ty now, the question of a reciprocal alliance' was broached through Li Shéngtu, the present Minister at Tokio, but as there were sororal matters of the most vital importance on which the shrewd Empress Dowager wished to consult with the Mikado and his highest Ministers, the treatment of which, moreover, required the utmost secrecy, she cast' about for some trusted person or persons to act as secret envoys for her. Naturally the old eunuch thought of his proteges, and immediately recommended them to his mistress. Liu and Ch'ing were accordingly telegraphed for and being willing to do whatever they were commanded, the Empress Dowager penned an autograph' letter to the Mikado as credentials for her envoys.
The greatest secrecy was observed during the preliminary steps preparatory to starting for Japan, but it sven leaked out that, besides inviting Marquis Ito to China to reform the Government, the Mikado was to be asked to confirm the proposed offensive and defensive alliance; and, if this could not be accomplistied, to get Japan to consent to assist China in defending the provinces of Chekiang and Fukien from Italy or any other foreign Power, in consideration of which Japan would be allowed to have the whole and sole exploitation of the mines and the majority of the railway lines in the two provinces; that Japan should undertake the training of the Chinese armies and navy, in consideration of which, Japan should return the fleet captured by her at Weihaiwei; besides one or two other arrangements for mutual benefit which so far have not yet transpired. It was to prepare the way for these secret negotiations that the Japanese Government had to urge the departure from Japan of the refugee Reformers, Kang Vu-wei, Wang Chao, Sung Peh-lu, Wen Ting-shih, and others, in order not to give umbrage to the Empress Dowager and her supporters.
Finally, when the secret envoys Liu and Ch'ing, who, by the way, had no open Imperial edict to advertise their appointments this time, arrived Tokio not long ago, they' were received by the "Foreign Minister, who after several interviews eventually introduced them in private audience to the Mikado, about a fortnight or so ago. What happened then is, of' course, unknown—for the present. But soon afterwards the Japanese Admiral received telegraphic instructions to proceed to the Yangtze ports ostensibly with regard to the return of the ex-Peiyang fleet to China, but in reality on a totally different mission. So important was secrecy considered to be, that the Japanese Admiral took no interpreters from Japan with him, one of the chancellors of the Japanese Consulate-General here being specially detailed for that purpose. One object of the Japanese Admiral's visit to the Yangtze is stated in reliable quatters to be a demand or proposal that iven the monopoly to exploit mines and railways in one of the Liangkiang provinces. But whatever errand he is now engaged in, one thing seems to be certain, that British interests in the Yangtze Valley are totally ignored by China,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.