A Hangchow, capital of Chekiang province, dispatch reports that a numerously-signed petition t" the Throne, that is 10 say, to the Empress Dowager and hee Grind Council, present d by the notables and gentry of that city and forwarded by Governor Jen Tuo-yung, praying for thee struction in Hangchow vf a special memori +1 temple in honour of the three martyred ministers. Hsii Ching-ch'eny, Yuan Chang and Hu Yung-yi who, it will b: remem bored, were nmurdared by Boxers at Pekin, in 1900 by commond of Prince Tuan and other prines and ministers in the the confidence of the Empress! awager, has been peremptorily refused. The high: placed partisans of the Boxers who, ulthough since the capture of Peking an i the flight of the Empress Dowazer have not yet dared to openly resume their policy, Still continue to held positions of great power and trust in the supreme Councils the Empire, and it is safe to say that had it not been for their abject fear and that of the Empress Dowayer of the Foreign Powers at the time. there would have been little likelihood of the reinsing of the three murdered sta' essen being permit transported List year from she their martyrdom to thei province of Chekiang. As it was, it is well know amongst the Chinese that i of th: rank and titles of the murdered ministers and the permission for thei remains to leave Peking in honour were reluctantly granted by the Empress Dowager who, as it will perhaps be remembered, took care to inform the people of the Empire in an Imperial decree that ce ign Powers. It can well be all these _had been done at the request of
imagined, therefore, tht the petition the further honouring—and that of a per-mane t charactsr—of the men who "ere the principal ones to set at naught t! sanguine for the ive sal massa e of f -reigners and thei friends and -ympithisers in Juno, 1900, was the last straw on the high born' Boxer cam-is' backs, asd it is no wonder that, now that there need be no more presen fear of th detested *We-tern Barbarians," especially with the return of Tientsin most before their eyes, the entry of Hangchow reecivet their recent perem nub coupled with what may he terme: ming ory sentence or two in the Impe Rescript that the p wers that be at Peking Jo not want to hear anything more in the Following upon this there is ey fxngchow, wafted upo rumour, that' certain andHantins acting now busy takins up the memory of the thre states are to form the subject matter joint secret memorial ty the Throne which will 1 excuse for back of the restored honours and titles, Th> Remains of the Late when in passing a hill pass Yang Jo, Chinese Minister at St. the "Caiversal Gazette, Pekins, having been Siberian railway all way. fron attache of the Cainese Legation accompanied the remains to Peking, and lof for St. Petersburg on the 8th instant inten ling to return to that city in the sume marine.
English preferred by the Manchus.
We translate the following from the Peking vernacntar paper, thy & Shum Shihpao:"—The Fmpress Dowager intends to gather eonnd her abut a deen Manchu lates, dauzhtere Prinees, Dakes and nobles of the Cuperial House, whom she wishes to form into a class to study the English language literature. The school is to of the minor piluees of the "Forbid:
and the course a three-y who is to inst nct young pring asses and _pecre-ses must, however, be either a Eh Manchu lady, and, in the case of th former, must have Nature's, or Hea ban" fevt-—Tien-ssu—innocent of eve! having had the cruel fee'-handaces. Be sides knowledge of Enylish, which must be thorough, she must also be a yood scholar in Chinese and must he of good family. On the other hand, sons of Import ces and wobles have lately als ty to study Eaylish, and ig made by their parents for tutors to in-trucl Uhem in their ow "fu" or residences—apparent!y to fit the young nobles to stand on am 1 and educational equality with their future wives.
15th July. New Chinese Ministers for Forei; n Countries.
In a recent paragraph in these " Notes" it was stated that reactionaries in Peking were trying to obstruct the appointment of Sir Chen-tung Liang Ching, K. C. M. Gas Chinese Minister' to the United States, Spain and Peru, and that it would be an exceeding pity and a loss to the country if those bigots got their wa It is a pleasure therefore to state now that official confirmation has been received regarding the news that has been pub-by the " Universal Gazette," to the effect that at the special recommendation of Prince Ching and the Ministers of the Chinese Foreign Office—Waiwu Pu—the "Emperor," ie., Empress Dowager, had been " pleased to appoint HE. Sir Chen-tung Liang Cheng, K C.M.G., at_ present on tour abroad with Prince Tsai Cheo, Special Ambassador to King Edward's Uor-enation, as First Secretary and Chief Adviser of the Embassy, to succeed H. E. Wu Ting-long, whose term as Chinese Minister to the US. Spain and Peru expired in June last. Besides the appointment of Sir Chen-tung to the—three countries named above, the _appointment of the son of the enlightened Grand Secretary, Sua Chia-nai, the extant Taotai, Sun Pao-chi, to succeed Minister Yii Keng (Manchu) in Paris, and the expectant Tantai, Hu Wei-te, to be Minister at St. Petersburg, vice Yang Ju, deceased, is also announced. Apropos, there is not much to record concerning the latter named two new Ministers except that the official appointed to. Russia is supposed to bea Russophile and was recommended by a Russophile to the Empress Dowager. Allot the three new Ministers have been further specially bestowed the brevet button ofa 3rd grade Court Ottiver which ples them on an equality with the Governor of a province.
Lith July, British Mining Interests in. Anhui.
Ivis reported from Anch'ing (Nganking), the provincial capital of Anhui, to the effect. that a British mining syndicate has lately obtained from the provincial authorities of Anhui certain mining concessions in th: province, and that the necessary permits from the Head Office of the Department of Railways and Mines at Peking have also been granted to the syndicate. It is also stated" thit a Civil Engineer, a Mr. Hamilton, lately arrived from ' England, will have charge of the syndicate's interests in Anhui for the time being.
F rear the Hanyang Shell Factory, The following is from Wuchang, the of the 7th inst. ut bout 7 o'clock, utter vincial capital of Hupeh -—On the ceased and, except the few people in charge, all had left the premises of the Government Shell Factory at Hanyang, fire was seen issuing from the second storey of the western portion of the Factory, where were situated the clerks' and accountant's rooms. In these rooms there happened to be several boxes of gun-fuses, intended for shipment to Heian, Shensi, which were destroyed by the fire. On the ground floor there was a largo quantity of shell and shot also intended for the same destination which, owing to the promptitude of those fighting the flames luckily escaped destruction, otherwise there would certainly have been catastrophe. Fortunately the fire was discovered in tinto, so that only the accountant's room was gutted, the iron flooring and ote modern Precautions against the spread of & von-flag ration preventing any damage to the ground floor. The fire was quenched within, A very short space of time so that the damage is estimated at only about fifteen hundred taels, at most. The origin of the fire has not yet been discovered as no one lives in the place that was destroyed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.