Herald) it appears that there have been riots in the Taiyuanfu district. If so they have been singularly quiet ones, for no rumour of them has reached here. The only trouble threatening, and it is a very grave one, is the difference between the Catholics and the Chinese authorities and people. Two murders on the part of the Catholics are reported to have taken place in the province, and the murderers are said to be protected by the Catholic priests. This information is not mere hearsay; it has come from very high sources. Whether the reported murders are really facts, or whether they might prove cases of justifiable homicide on proper investigation, it is impossible to say. Anyhow the balance of injustice, when one remembers the atrocities of 1900, is heavily against the Chinese, and the Catholics would have to be black sheep indeed before they could balance that heavy debt, but it is a fact beyond all possibility of doubt that the relations between the Catholics and the Chinese are very strained, and there are threatening murmurs that should not be disregarded. It is difficult to suggest any hopeful'solution of the problem, and it is unjust to condemn the Catholics unheard. All that is possible is to raise a note of warning; may the wise listen, or before long there may be another storm in North China.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.