The one man in Peking who has been a consistent and valuable friend to foreigners is Prince Ssu, Notwithstanding the destruction of his princely residence during the siege, he seems to have cherished no spirit of animosity, and has established the principles of amity. Honours have been heaped upon him, but with the purpose of breaking him instead of helping him, yet practically all officialdom has been against him. He has been expecting disparaging memorials and now two have been launched against him, but the authors have not published their namaz at present and the memorials are not in the Gazette. What are the crimes with which Prince Ssu are charged? Has ho been peculating in his office of Customs Collector? Not at all. Such things are too common for notice. His first crime seems to have been that on his mother's Birthday ho had theatricals for the delactation of a few friends, and on that occasion, when in good spirits, ho is reported to have sung a song.' Possibly some obscure tenet of the doctrine of filial piety may have been interfered with in this hilarity, but if so, no one has pointed it out as yet. Even in China there seems to be no law against enjoyment on a mother's birthday. On what day should one be joyous unless on the commemoration of the birth of a beloved mother? His second crime seems to be more heinous than the first. In attend-{ing to his duties as collector of revenue at one of the great gates, he has appeared in garments unbecoming to one who fills such high offices; he has dropped in at the receipt of customs at unheard-of hours when no one was expecting him, and in a dress such as a common man might wear. Then, too, ho has ridden to his office in the ordinary cart that might be picked up on the street. These are crimes that are hard to be forgiven by men who study the Four Books to find out: what clothes they should wear and what books they should read, and it is hoped these memorials will meet with the contempt which they deserve.
Difficulties.
The officials with pro-foreign proclivities are so few in number and so harried on every side that they need all the on-couragement they can get. In the smaller yamens, especially those ranging under the jurisdiction of the Censorate, in all law-suits the Christians are handicapped by the officials who will not treat them justly. This doubles is more or less duo to the influence of Ch'en Pei, who desires on the one hand to pose as the friend of foreigners and on the other as the leader in reactionary measures.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.