This outrageous document has appeared at the yamen gates of many cities, and in some places has been acted upon by the local magistrates to the annoyance and persecution of followers of the foreigners, whether employees or religious converts. The writer secured a copy of the edict and sent it to the U.S. Consul at Chefoo for comparison. Tt seems that the wording of the edict differs in different localities according to local conditions.
The one and all-absorbing topic of interest here, as elsewhere, T imagine, in the Far East, is the position of affairs at Peking. What we do know is serious enough in all conscience; what we fear is positively distressing and horrifying. The transports from India, laden with troops, have begun to arrive, two having already passed through to Taku. The Indo-China str. Taisang, which has been chartered as a troopship, will leave to-day with another contingent of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, with Colonel Bertie command and several other officers, for Taka. The draft consists of 140 men. They will be accompanied by Major Reilly and Captain Clarke, AILS. "This eontingent is being sent by order from the War Office, I hear the men of the Hongkong Regiment, wre uch ut out at not being sent to the front. They say they were enlisted for service in Chins, and when the chance comes they are jot allowed to take it. They want to know why one of the Indian R: cannot tuke their place. I sympathise with "Our Own," and I cannot see why another draft from their ranks could not have been dispatched instead of the Fusiliers. goes on apace, and the various Corps now number over three hundred men. They would form a welcome addition to the ranks of the attenuated garrison in case of attack from the mainland, if, as seems unlikely at present, the Boxer movement should spread to Kuangtung. But it is well to be prepared for the worst. It is reported that Li Hung-chang lias been summoned to Peking, and if he should go it is impossible to say what might happen in such a rowdy place as the City of Runs. The populace are disposed to be insolent at all times, and it is not safe now for a eigner to' show himself in the streets of Canton. Foreigners' servants who go there are careful to dress in such a manner as will not betray their arocation, and my who went there the other day, dress fas a very common coolie to escape observati
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.