The local mandarins have been laughing heartily at the following report from Mukden which has been recently received by them, and reference to which it may well be inferred does not increase in the least the prestige of the Russians, which according to a native saying has been " bedraggled in the dust by defeats "—Yi-pai-t'u-ti, The report in question is that the Tartar General of Fengtien (Tseng Chi) has been asked by the Russians "to guard the Manchurian Railway for them, as all the Russians in Manchuria are needed to fight the Japanese." It is stated that in spite of his habitual fear of the Muscovite, Tseng Chi actually burst out laughing when the request was made, 2nd June.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.