On the whole things are quiet in our part of the Empire. There has been nothing so far that could be construed into an outbreak of ill-feeling towards the foreign population. Yet we know that when the heart is sick the whole body is troubled. When Peking i: stress the whole country is unsettled. Chinese ey to be so conversant with things at Peking as to leave scarcely room for doubt that they knew something beforehand of the state of affairs in the capital. We can realise here that they are intensely interested in all that is going on. I fear that evidence accumulates daily that the people in these southern provinces would jadly attack all foreign interests if they thought they had the least chance of success. There is a general feeling of kind-jines entertained towards Li Hung-chang y all foreigners. They regard him as an intelligent man who knows a great deal atour the outward world. They also think that he is also on the whole kindly dissed towards foreigners. Yet there is no doubt whatever that in the province of Canton there are officials of Li Hung-chang's choice who are very decidedly anti-foreign, and who would go the length of advising Chinese of means and of influence to arm themselves against the foreigners, I believe that among those officials there are those who are haunted by the fear of some coming dread power that is going to bring devastation in its train and engulf the whole empire. The instrament which wields this power they believe is the foreigner. It is doubtless difficult to analyse this state of mind. One wonders what it was or is that has produced or now reduces it. Have the mandarins spoken complacently to the foreign powers on the one hand and on the other advised their underlings to prepare to resist the foreigner Facts would justify such a supposition. There are placards appearing now and again in public places with nicely worded phrases advising the people to be calm and peaceable. Alongside it may be seen other placards intimating that within certain dates the Christian population is going to be plundered. Foreigners may regard these as hoaxes. If so they are very ill timed. And one has reason to distrust magistrates who suffer such with impunity.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.