Amongst the various reasons alleged for the recent delay in signing the Protocol is it has been averred that the isters of the various Horeign Powers at Peking recently arow up and sent to the Chinese Pleripotentiarics, a sapplem tary List of Guilty Officials and Gentry who gave moral support and secretly abetted the anti-foreign riots of last year. These culpable officials and gentry have been placed by the Foreign Ministers under the category of offenders of the Second Degree in contra-distinction to those of the first class, such as Prinees Tuan and Chuang, Kang Yi, Chao Shu-chiao, ete, whose guilt demanded the death penalty. It is alleged that the Chinese Plenipotentiaries have been requested to present the abore-noted List to the Throne, asking for its consent to the punishment. of the persons named therein. The signing of the Protocol has therefore been delayed pending the transmission of the List to Hsian and the arrival of the special Edict on the subject. Apropos of this Supplementary List, which is indeed a very necessary and just demand of the Powers, it is rather a pity that it was not made out and presented at about the same time as the Principal List, coupled with the promise that, although now presented, it is by no means a complete one and that names of culpable officials and gentry will be added thereto as soon as such shall have been discovered and their guilt proved.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.