Things are settling down fairly quietly, and according to most forecasts are likely to remain so up tothe crossing of the lufiar year. The amount of pay that may be forthcoming at that time will have most to do with what may happen then. It is possible now to piece together the varied tales that came for the few days immediately after Christmas Day and to get some view of what has really happened.
From the moment of entrance of the Southern troops there have been many rumours that there was a good deal of clique-ism dividing them. The action of a part of the old {Provincial Assembly, backed up by some of the military officers, which resulted in turning out T'an Yen-kai, brought this divergence to a head. The attackers had shown their wisdom in centring on the one weak spot of Mr. T'an's regime, i.e., the entrusting of important offices to the men of the "Ma-shih hong."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.