A telegraphic message received by the Jocal, mandarins from Canton states. that ever since taking over his seals of office on the 20th instant, H. B. Tstn Ch'un-hsien, the new Viceroy of the Two Kuang provinces, has been busily occupied in informing himself as to the real state of affairs in Kuangsi with regard to the alleged rebellion there with the result that his Lixcelleney has decided to go to Kuangsi in person and superintend the operations so badly bungled by Governor Wang C sih-chun of that province, since the latter's arrival there in the spring of 1902. It i further stated that Viceroy Tsen will take with him his own bodyguard of 1,200 troops, a field battery, and a couple of battalions of Kuangtung territorial troops, making in all a force of about 2,500 men, ition Against Public and Free Speech.
will perhaps be rememberer by readers of these " Notes," Yuan Taotai of this Port, acting under instructions from the bigoted Manchu Governor En Shou at Sonchow as well as from Viceroy Wei at Nanking, issued a few weeks ago warrants for the arrest, of the leaders of the public meetings held in the beginning of May last in Chang Ssu-ho's gardens to protest first waist the conduct of Governor Chih-chun in Kuangsi and second, against the Russian aggrandisement of Manchuria, We translate now below the Imperial decree referring to the above, but before proceeding further it is but right to state that the appearance of Vicer -y Wei's name was the outcome of strong hints on the part of the Manchu Governor En Show and of the Chinese Treaty Commissioner Lu Hai-huan, in which the former was made to understand that any moderation shown in the matter would be construed as_sympathy with the enemies of the Empress ger and the Manchu dynasty. As tai Yuan of this Port beluga sub-ate of the Soochow Governor, he had no alternative but to obey orders to avoid the same charge held over the Nanking Viceroy. The following is the Imperial decree in question "We have received from the W: wuhu a telegram from Wei Kuang-t'ao, Viceroy of the Liangkiang provinces, stating that there exists in Shanghai revolutionary body called the Aikuo Huishé" (Patriotic Association) which gathers together the unruly classes to publicly discuss and advocate the doctrine of the abolition of the Imperial prerogatives, and other iniquitous questions, and further stating that he, the said Viceroy, had already sent orders' to prohibit these meetings and to secretly arrest the culprits concerned. Now the Imperial government has enthusiastically taken up the question of modern education in order to obtain educated and talented men to assist in the government of the Country. Indeed so far, we have found many young students truly earnest in their desire to obtain as much useful modern knowledge as possible, but there have been also those who have, on the contrary, imbibed nothing but pernicious doctrines, so that there being no one so far to restrain. such they have gone on from bad to worse and now show themselves little short of being real revolutionists and so have become a curse and a danger to the people at large. We hereby comment the Viceroys and Governors of all the maritime provinces to use every effort to arrest and punish severely all such disreputable persons found guilty of the above charges, and also to see to it that the regulations governing the new schools are such as keep within proper bounds all scholars concerned. A most important deere, 30 h June.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.