16th October.
The Departure of H.E. Viceroy Chang Chih-tung for Nanking, it has now been officially announced at Wuchang, will be on the 29th inst., and the dete of taking over the Liangkiang Viceroyalty seals will be the Bist of this month. Ie is not believed there will be any further change of dates after this, Memorial Services vere also held ab Soochow on the 12th inst., in honour of the Into Viceroy Liu K'un-yi by the Chinese officials of tht city. The services were held at the Soochow Bureau of Foreign Aflairs, and quite a number of the foreign community of that city were also present. It, ix stated that the notables and gentry of Sovchow propose to hold special memorial services on their own account in a few days in honour of the Great Viceroy.
Minister Ts'ai Resigns.
Peking letter states that the Minister of Foreign "Affairs has received a dispatch from 1.1, Ts'ai Chun, Chinese Minister to the Court of Tokio, asking permission to resign his post. The cause of is sumioured to be due to a reported intention on the part of the Empress Dowager to! recall H, E, T'ai Chun owing to his recent trouble with the Chinese students in Japan. There seems to be n" doubt that these "The Empress Dowager Never Forgets."
This is the constant boast of the Empress Dowager Tze-hsi-tuan-ru, etc., etc., and this she always declares to' those around her whenever the events of 1900 and 1901 are referred to in her presence. This means, of- course, that she will not forget her sufferings and the sufferings of her people in Peking and Chilli at that time and is still possessed with the one idea of obtaining revenge on the barbarians of the West. To obtain these ends she knows from experience that her present Manchu Banner troops are perfectly useless, and that she must beat the barbarians with their own weapons and forms of fighting. She knows that she has the material for the formation of a numerous arm: from amongst Manchus alone—leaving out any question of estrancous aid from the Chinese arnies of her Viceroys and Governors—for, according to the latest secret census or roll-call instituted at her instructions she has nearly 700,000 Bannermen tween the ages of eighteen and forty. at ker ud call. Henes we are now informed from a reliable quarter thet she having her Marchus secretly enrolled and has 30,000 men divided into a number of regiments and half avoid the notre of outsiders ily drilled and have been an with the most modern rstpons. These mon are scattered over various parts of the country and are to form the nude of a great army of over hat a_ million men, entirely officered by Manchus, thereby forming a distinct and independent body of mon prepared noi only te defend the dynasty: from westeraharparians but even from Chinese malcon~ tents, This nucleus of a Manchu Grand Army will be drilled and taught the mse 1 of the magazine rife six months, and then after completing th it drills the old men retu to their Banier reservations, their places being filled by a similar number Of fresh men, and so the on until the whole zal Poking and in the eapituls and cities of the ci provinces shalt have all learned military drill after the anner of Western countries. Already x months have passed and new men are being sent to take the places of their predecessors. This will, it is conjectured, students hue very powerful fr fonds in Prable the Empress Dowager and her ends in Peking who have espoused their cause against Minister Ts'ai, 17th October: friends to "begin operations" by the spring of 1904 at the latest. Tu th time, " We slumber" until the awakening.
The Succession to the Hukuang Viceroyalty-
A Peking dispatch states that there is much ado' amongst those near the Throne as to whom to appoint as Acting Viceroy of the Hukuang provinces while HE. Chang Chih-tung remains at Nan-; king as Acting Viceroy of the Liangkiang provinces. It is stated that the notorious Grand Secretary Yung Lu is anxious to have his uncle, the disgraced ex-Viceroy of Szechuan, K'uei Chun, as Acting Viceroy at Wuchang, while the conservative Lu Chinan-lin'hhs asked the Empress Dowager to appoint the present Manchu Viceroy of the Shen-Kan provinces, Sung Fan, to the place. The Empress Dowager on her part thinks that H.B. Chou Fu, at present Governor of Shantung, ought to be promoted to the Hukuang Viceroyalty, even for a short time, as a mark 18th Oc' ober.
Pleasure Barges for Eho Park.
Peking letter states that the Empress Dowager, entertaining a desire to possess some foreign-styled pleasure barges on the lakes at her favourite Palace of Eho Park, led thereto by descriptions of European State barges made to her jesty by some of her foreign Indy ests a short time ago, has commanded the Comptrollers-General of the Impe Household Department to order the construction of sororal such barges. It stated that an officer of that Department will soon start for Shanghai to place contracts for four of them with some shipbuilding firm here.
The New Governor of Honan.
H.E. Chang Jen-chun, former Governor of her gratitude to H.E. for his assistance of Shantung and recently transferred during the peace neg negotiations while with: the Governorship of Honan, the late Viceroy Li Hung-chang, which Liang (Manchu) degraded to the Assi hias enabled her to return once more itary Governorship of Jeho territory, Peking to enjoy her own again. In view has according to a K'aiféne dispatch, of this conflict of opinion the question arrived at that city and will take over of the person to succeed H.E. Chang his seals of office from Hsi Liang on the Chih-tung still hangs fire.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.