A Peking dispatch states that on the Sih instant a report received at Court that Russia was concentrating *roops in Eastern Mongolia with the ubject of threatening Peking struck great terror into the hearts of the Empress Dowager and the sycophants about her person, In a. moment there was every indication of a panic in the Palace and an intention to make a hasty departure from the Palace for either K'ai-feng in Honan, or Hsian in Shensi, in both cities quarters having already been prepared under special instructions of the Emy press "he Dowager. The news of the Court's intended flight having come to the ears of Prince Ching, he hastened at once to the Palace and with streaming eyes besought the Empress Dowager not to endanger the existence of the Manchu dynasty by aba-doning Peking at such a moment. Her "ly was made to seo the present unsettled state of the whole country and was told that the moment she left Peking would be the signal for a general rebellion against, the Manchu rule throughout the Fmnire. The flight has therefore been postponed "until Russian Cossacks are seen within fift~ miles of Kalean."
"17th February. Chinese Students in Japan and the War.
It is reported in mandarin circles that a large number of Chinese students in Japan have not only asked the Japanese Government to be allowed to join the Japanese army as Volunteers, but many have also subscribed to the' Japanese War fund. This scared the timid mandarins in Peking with the result that the Chinese Minister in Tokio was instructed to punish the leaders of the movement among the students. The Chinese Minister, Mr. Yang Ch'u, being more enlightened, replied that it was really the spirit of loyalty to their own government that actuated the Chinese students in Japan to volunteer and subscribe to the Japanese War Fund. So far no active steps had been tak by the students beyond opening their purses and so he (the Minister) had only exhorted them to attend to their studies as the matter of first importance to themselves and their country, that after finishing their studies they would have all the opportunity they wanted in the future to prove their loyalty to their Sovereign. The Minister therefore depreciated the step of punishing any of the students in the present instance.
The Crisis. was officially reported in local mandarin circles yesterday that the Waiwupu has notified the Ministers of the various Powers in Peking that there is no truth in the report that the Imperial Court intends to abandon the Capital for the interior.
The Empress Dowager and. the War.
It is reported from "Peking that the Emoress Dowager, overcome by anxiety with reference to the present has been-quite ill and down-hearted for the paso fortnight and has been constantly attended by the members of the Imperial College of Physicians. Her Majesty, it is further stated, has however appeared more cheerful lately owing to the receipt of a telegram from Viceroy Yuan assuring her that the war will not be allowed to take place inside the eighteen provinces of China Proper. Mrs. Conger, wife of the U.S. Minister, it is also reported, has lately called at the Palace to assure her Majesty that the United States Government is doing its best in getting other Powers to join in protecting China and securing her integrity, no matter how the war may turn out in the future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.