The intrigues that are distr Court at Hsian are well indicated by the following news which has reached us from a well-informed source "Shout three weeks ago, the Viceroys Liu Kenn-yi and Chang Chih-tung sent a telegram to the Court at Hsian, in which they protested against. the Russian secret treaty, wud said that if the Court had to choose between offending Russia and offending the other Foreign Puwers, it would be safer to offend Russia and keep friendly with the other Powers, whose help could be obtained, if necessary, by and by. When this telegram arrived at Hsian, it was at once strongly supported by Yung Lu. The Court then consulted Lu Chuan-lin, who advised that the matter be referred to Li Hung-chang. This was done, and Li Hung-chang—whose intimate comecti with Russia in recent years is notorious-replied in very strong terms. He said: 'If you have to make such a choice, you had better make friends with Russia and offend the other Powers.' He also added that he strongly advised the Court not to listen to Liu K'un-yi or Chang Chih-tung, as they are pro-English and pro-Japanese. When Li Hung-chang's message arrived at Hsian, it was immediately strongly supported by Lu Chuan-lin. A struggle then commenced between Lu Chuan-lin and Yung Lu. The former said that if the Court offended Russia, it would put an end to the dynasty at once. Yang Lu's argument in reply was to the effect, that if the Court kept friendly to the other Powers, they could be relied upon to help China; but if the Court offended the other Powers, Russia could not be trusted to help China, "This went on for some days, when Yung Lu applied for ten days' leave, which was granted. Lu Chuan-lin then obtained for the time sole control of the Grand Council, and took some very active measures."
We should have expected that Yung Lu, with the support of Wang Wen-shao and Sun Chia-nai, would have been able to over-ride Lu Chuan-lin. The whole story shows the chaos that reigns at the Cours at present.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.