According to late official dispatches received at Canton—capital of Kuangtung—from Kueilin—capital of Kuangsi—it is stated that the present number of rebels in the'latter province totals 136,000 well-armed men. Nearly one-half of the arms and ammunition in the hands of the rebels were obtained from America, not a few having been carried across the United States borders into the Central and South American States and thence shipped to Southern China. The balance of the modern arms of precision owned by. the rebels were formerly the property of the Kuangtung and Kuangsi Governments. These arms are held by ex-regular troops, a portion of whom forcibly retained their arms when disbanded by orders of the Two Kuang Governments, whilst the balance were carried off by troops who mutinied and joined their fellow pro cials through sympathy with the rebellion. These last are in arms for political purposes and steadfastly follow a fixed pur pose in conjunction with the rebels proper. The former, or disbanded soldiery, true to their marauding instincts are great cowards and merely plunder and murder for the pleasure of the thing, making no distinction between Government officials, traders or armed rebels. So long as they think that the people they attack have money with them and they can safely overpower their victims, these bandits—for they are substantially such—do not hesitate to try and get away the money they are after. For this, the disbanded soldiery, in whose ranks are also the regular pirates and brigands of the two Kuang provinces, have been "excommunicated" from the pale of the political party in arms against the Manchu Government, and now when met with are also unhesitatingly attacked by the rebels "proper" and exterminated as vermin, The great portion of disbanded soldiery and professional brigands are massed on this side of the Kuangsi-Tongking, and Kuangsi-Kuangtung, borders. It is the main army of the rebels "proper" thab is now on the march to attack Kueilin, the capital of Kuangsi, having captured Liuchou, and to oppose the 40,000 and odd rebels, the provincial anthorities—Gor ernor' Ting Chen-tu, ete.—have only thirteen battalions of infantry, or about 6,000 men, in the city.
The Rebellion in S.-W. Chihli, aliiough his foreiga-modelled troops According to a Paoting dispatch,
have "had several decided successes of late against. the rebels in Nankunghsien' and Kuangtsunghsien, owing to the determined front of the latter, Viceroy Yuan Shih-kai still feels far from satisfied with the situation, and is doing everything in his power, on the one hand, to raise more troops, while on the other, he has sent emissaries to the rebel armies to endeavour to pacify them and regain their confidence in him. There seems to be a chance with regard to the latter mode of stopping the rebellion, for it is well-known in Chibli that when it was decided by the Central Government to make the people of Chibli pay Tls. 2,000,000 of the R. O. missionary indemnity by the levy of additional taxes Viceroy Yuan wished to obtain the required sum out of the Chihli Famine Reserve Funds, to the credit of which there was over three million taels in the Peking and Shansi Banks, thereby saving the already impoverished people from the burden of additional taxes. This, however, was strenuously opposed by the Chihli Provincial Treasurer, Chou Fu, who was determined to make the people pay this money, "for unless you do so," declared Chou Fu, "the people will not know that it is meant as a punishment on them for persecuting and murdering the missionaries and their converts in 1900." So Viceroy Yuan had to give way and sanction the publication of proclamations informing the inhabitants of Chihli that they must raise this sum to pay for the damages made by them in 1900. Hence rose these troubles and riots. Tt seems that Viceroy Yuan intends to inform the rebels that if they will lay down their arms and surrender, he will promise to free them from the liability of paying the additional taxes. But will the promise be honestly performed? If the people can feel sure it will be, there is a prospect that peace can be restored.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.