'A Northern dispatch from a reliable source reaches ts which states that it has Teen decided by the Empress Dowager's counsellors to permanently garrison' the immediate outside precinets of the Imperial with a corps of Viceroy i's best troops (infantry, cavalry, and half a battery of artillery) and partly with Marshal Sung Ch'ing's troops, king a total of some 15,000 of them, not counting the various corps of Manchu Bannermen, such as the Hushéng ('" glorified tigers"—all_were Boxers in 1900) Corps, Peking Field Force, ete., all of whom are now also armed with modern magazine rifles and possess quick-firing artillery of various calibre. Marshal Sung Ching's troops were expected to arrive at Poking from Chénting—where the Tnperial had taken the train and left their escort. which had accompanied it from Hsian down to that city—by the 22nd January, and are to garrison those portions of the Palace Precincts at present but sparsely held. This decision of t'e Empress Dowager's Ministers is meant counter-move to the garrisons and fortifications of the new Leyation Area of the various Powers. 't Alas the two parties are watching one another like opposing igers," continues the dispatch, each fearing teachery from the other. Can there be lasting peace and harmony under such fearsome conditions
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.