Peking, 9th June.
The Ihe-Ch'uan crisis has become 80 acute and the Government is at such a loss to find a man able to deal with the society-men that, at a meeting of the Grand Council early this morning, Jung Lu suggested that Li the Ghibli viceroyalty, the present Hung-chang be sent for to take over
Viceroy, Yi Lu, having on Sunday tendered his resignation. Yii Lu has declared that he is forced to do this because all his measures for the suppression of the The-Ch'uan had been checkmated by Wang Pei-yn, Governor of the Imperial Prefecture (Peking and dependencies), who is a well-known chief of the The-Ch'uan himself and who was, the other day, promoted from a Censor to his present post by the Empress Dowager on that very account, in order to get the society moulded for the Empress Dowager's own future purposes. In opposition to Jung Lu's recommendation, Kang Yi strongly suggested the appointment of his friend, the nototions Li Ping-hong, to take Yi Lu's place in Tientsin, the upshot of the council being that the question is in abeyance and Yii Lu's resignation is not accepted.
the whole country is ablaze now and there seems to be no present means of restoring order. The Iho-Ch'uan now hold Shénchou, Chochou, and several other cities near Peking whilst their emissaries are spreading the incendiarist's torch wherever they can get the chance. A great rebellion is at hand, for the Iho-Ch'uans have all the troops as allies, which would not have been the case had the government more decision. Peking, 9th June.
The Decree of 6th inst., censuring the Chihli troops for attacking the people, had reference to a battle between General Nieh's corps and a large The-Ch'uan army on the 4th inst., in whic the society men re defeated with a loss of 480 men, ral of whom were leaders from Shantung. Kang Yi complained to the Empress Dowager of this on the strength of a peti-ion he had received, and the result has pecial censure strongly reprimanding General Nieh and ordering him to go back to Lutai headquarters near Kaiping colliery. This has greatly encouraged the society-men and no General cares now to act against the rioters for fear of bringing down punishment on himself and Liis officers, Three of General Nieh's officers are under arrest for having fought the Ihe-Ch'uans and may have to suffer decapitation. General Tung Fu-hsiang volunteered this morning to stop all further entrance of foreign troops into Peking with his own corps (Kan-ssu) alone. It is nearly 26,000 strong, one half of whom are well provided with magazine rifles and machine guns and the other with two-men gingals, lances, swords, and bucklers. Jung Lu is disgusted with the turn of affairs and has asked for sick-leave as his advice is never taken. Prince Ching, Prince Tuan, Kang Yi, and Chao Shu-chiao rule the Empress Dowager now and control her policy. The Heir-Appirent his now two The-Chuan arts and system of fighting. He has "Masters" instructing him in_ their
four other young Princes to keep him company. Chao Shu-chiao who was appointed by the Decree of 6th inst. to seatter the society-men and exhort them to return to their homes, returned to Peking yesterday reporting that he could not in touch, with any responsible leaders of the The-Ch'uan and his only alternative was to cause copies of the Decree in qu tion to_be posted in every town and city of the Peking Prefecture and to distribute them to any one who would take them. Li Ping-hong telegraphed to the Grand Council to-day asking to be allowed to return to Peking to fight the foreigners. This is supposed to be Kang Yi's doing. The ostensible chief leader of the Ihe-Ch'uans isa man named Han but the real head is the Heir-apparent's father, Prince Tuan, who controls their movements from Pek-
(mow oun ows CORRESPONDENT.)
Chungking, 10th June
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.