As predicted in these "Notes" of Saturday, the 25th inst., through the death of his father, the late Sheng Hsia-jen, Sheng Kung-pao has had to give up his two highest posts, namely, the Senior Vice-Presidency of the Board of Works and the Assistant High Commissionership of Commerce. is, according to oficial etiquette, was what might ba been expected, but it is the manner with which the pleasure of the Throne Was signified that surprises Sheng Kung-pao's friends and which doubtless touches Sheng Kung-pao sore at this moment, showing to him and his friends that, powerful in certain ways though he and his supporters in Peking may be, he has much more powerful enemies at Court than he and. they are aware of. Properly speaking, if Sheng Kung-pao is what his friends consider him, an Tmperial edict should have been issued, upon receipt at Peking of H.E. Lu Hai-huan's telegram announcing the death of Shéng's father, expressing regret at the occurrence, and followed by the declaration that as Sheng Hsuan-huai's services and talents are such that the Government cannot well replace them on the spur of the moment, it is the desire of the Empress Dowager that he should remain as "acting incumbent" of the above-named two important posts. Instead, not a single decree has been published' showing that the Throne is aware of Sheng Kung-pao's father's death and his consequent enforced retirement, while on the other hand his very existence seems to have been ignored; but the Vice-Presidency of the Board of Works is abruptly given to Trang Chin-chung, and the Assistant High Commissionership of Commerce, together with the duty of negotiating the commercial treaties with the various Powers is given to H.E. Wu ting-fang, retiring Chinese Minister at Washington. In a word, the characters " Sheng Hsiianhuai" (Sheng Kung-pao's official name) do not appear in any of the Imperial decrees in question. There is much speculation in local mandarin circles at the deliberate slight placed upon this well-known official by the Imperial Court, so far without any' satisfactory explanation. A private dispatch from Peking has however arrived, in which it is hinted that the story of various rice transactions had reached certain persons at Court and that some expression of the Imperial displeasure was on the point of being proclaimed when the news of Sheng Hsio-Jen's death was received at the Capital.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.