Yuan holds his position from the fact that his services are indispensable, and any failure or mistake on his part might' be serious for him, and give his many enemies a powerful lever to oust him from his position. Some time ago a memorial was sent in to the Throne denouncing him, in which amongst other things occurred the phrase. [457] ill]—" his heart cannot be fathomed," which in plain language means that he has designs on the Throne. The memorial was shown
who declared the whole thinz nonsense by the Empress Dowager to Yung It, and there for the time being the matter dropped; lately, however, several other similar memorials have been sent in, and there are indications that his influence with the Court and with Yung Lu who has been his standby all along, is weakening. Probaly his pro-Japanese tendencies have something to do with this.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.