It is reported from Peking that the Empress Dowager sent invitations to the ladies of the various legations to a dinner ut Eho Park Palace on the 7th instant, the occasion being also made a grand parade of thousand pots of a most beautiful col. lection of Chrysanthemums, some of very rized varieties.
To her ment not a single in-was accepted, whereupon furni to one of the Princesses with her at the time the Empress Dowager remarked in ru caustic terms: "After partaking of the Imisl hospitality and accepting our ever since our return to Pekinz Into in the day for these foreigners to refuse our invitation at this hour, wien we are on the point of war with Russia?" No one present seemed inclined to explain the delicate subject to her Majesty.
Revising the Laws of China It is rumoured in mandarin circles that H. FE. Wa Ting-fang will probably be transferred to the post of Vice-President of the Board of Punishments. in order to be able the better to compile the proposed new laws of the country so as to fit the Western ideas of justice. It is tended to embody as much of Western laws as will be compatible with the circumstances in which China and her subjects are placed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.