23rd December, 'THE snake that was scotched, not killed, in 1900 is rearing its head menacingly again in' the north-wess of China, if the reports that reach us from foreigners conversant with what is going on in Kansu are correct, and there is certainly no inherent improbability in them. We mentioned yesterday that 4,000 imperial troops had been disbanded by the provincial Commander-in-chief of Kansu, under orders from the Peking government—which means Yung Lu—and had at once gone over to Tung Fa-hsiang, which is not remarkable as they were previously some of Tong Fo-hsiang's men. These men are well provided with modern arms, and Tung's agents are reported to be busy enrolling recruits throughout the north-west. Large quantities of war material were, it is asserted, sent 1900 01, while quick-firing guns and up the Han river for Hsian durin;
ammunition were sent up as lately as last October. It is added that Tung Fu-hsiang's 10,000 men, who are divided into twenty battalions of 500 men each, their camps being in the wilderness between Knyuan and Ninghsia, are paid from "imperial funds. Iv is believed that Tung Fu-hsiang has proclaimed Prince Tuan's p, the youth whom the Empress Dowager made Heir Apparent and then dismissed, as Emperor of China under the title of Tung Hsii, at the town of the Alashan Mongols, Ting-yuen ying, two days north-west of Ninghsia. It is known that Pa Chun left Peking for Alashan some little time ago. The palace at Msian occupied by the Empress Dowager utter her Aight from Peking is being got ready to receive the new Emperor Tung Hsi: while Tang Fu-hsiang's agents were to have seized Chengtu, the capital of Szechuan, but this scheme was frustrated for the time by the arrival of the new Viceroy of Szechuan, Tséa, Chun-hsuan.
is believed that-Yung Lu is privy to all this, though it is hard to imagine that he is a consenting party to the setting up of a rival Emperor of the West; but there have been, as we have said before, a number of indications that something serious is imminent, The proposed absorption by the Government of the telegraphs throughout the empire is a step that will strengthen the hands of the Government and may be disastrous to foreigners in the event of trouble. It seems certain that the Government. is not supporting Viceroy Tsen in his efforts to put down disorder in Szechuen; and it is, to say the Jeast, remarkable that China's leading statesman, Chang Chih-tung, has been removed from Nanking and has not been given any other post; one of the suppositions connected with him being that he will come to Shanghai to conclude the commercial treaties that are still being negotiated; and another that he is to be the virtual Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at Peking or Tientsin. On the other hand, it is believed in the north that Yung Lu is working to get his son-in-law, Prince Chun, the Emperor's younger brother, made Heir Apparent, but it is more probable that should Prince Ghun have a son, it is on that son that the doubtful boon of being Heir Apparent to the throne of China will be conferred.
With Liu Kun-yi dead and Chang Chih-tung practically dismissed from office, there may be a considerable change in the Yangtze Valley. Foreigners have confidence in Tuan Fang, the Acting Viceroy at Wuchang; but it is doubtful if he can affa to take the permanent appointment, and if he is a strong enough man for the position. He showed great moral courage in 1900 when he decided to disobey the orders he received from Peking, and to protect the missionaries in his province, and for this he will always be regarded with high admiration by foreigners in China but it is still to be seen whether he has the strength necessary to maintain order in the Yangtze Valley. Wei Kuang-tao, the new Nanking Viecroy, is to a great extent an unknown man, and his "bility to perform the task set him has still to be learnt.
Those who do not believe that any outbreak isto be feared a! present explain that Tung Fu-hsiang is only acting in self-defence, and that he has no mischievous intentions whatever. He has already received orders from Peking to lay down his arms, but declined, knowing that the next. step would be that a force would be sent to seize him; and his army is only maintained to protect himself from renewed attempts to take him prisoner. We have not the material to determine where the truth lies
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.