The "Tniversal Gazette" has the foi-lowing:—We hear that a certain high Chinese official in Shanghai has received that China is on from Peking stating the brink of war with Russia.
26th November.
The Cowardice of Tseng Chri, the Tartar General of Fengtien (Lower Manchuria) as manifested before the Rus Sians during the past three years has be-corns quite a proverb almost throughout the whole country, but the climax of his disgraceful conduct was, it seems, reached when the Russians reoccupied Moukden, the other day. It is stated from a reliable source that when the Chief Russian officer in Moukden and Iris men made their appearance in the Tartar General's samen Tseng Ch'i asked his uninvited yarsts what they wanted. The Russian grufily told him, whereupon the artar General tried to argue the matter dwelling upon the illegality of the for-conduct, but the Russian showed inclination to argue and abruptly told tis Excellency to "shut up." Evidently Tsang Ch'i, does not understand Russian for he went on gesticulating and speaking. Upon this the Russian gave his brother Tartar, what is usually termed a "Smart box on the ear" and this sufficed to show Tseng Oh'i that the Russians were in earnest and were determined to occupy his yamen. Instead of manfully resenting the insult—personal as well as national—the timorous Tartar Gene showed his outraged feelings weepingly turing back to his pr apartments and joining the women of his household." And there he has been kept jo confinement ever since by the Russians.
The Russian Seizure of Hsinmin An official dispatch from North Chin-chou (near the Great Wall) reports that when the Russian troops, some 40v in number, appeared before Hsinmintun with the apparent intention of seizing the railway there, they ware attacked by a body of mounted bandits who happened to be at the time in the vicinity. The Russians lost nearly twenty men in killed and wounded, but the bandits being weaker in numbers had eventually to retire leaving the town to the mercy of the enemy. The dispatch further reports that when General Hu Hsi-tee, commanding eight battalions of Chinese troops, (4,000 mien), which had been stationed not many miles couth of Hsxinmintun ostensibly to protect the call heard of this encroachment of the Russians, he made no movement to drive out the invaders, giving out the frivolous excuse that his force was too small for the purpose. Another dispatch regarding the same affair from a private source states that the body of so-called mounted bandits was really a troop of Chinese cavalry numbering eighty men and all arrised with Mauser carbines. These men did well and had they received the support they ought to have had from General Hu Hu-tee, the Russians could never have seized Hsinmintun. The Chinese General had several hours before him to send all the reinforcements needed at Heinmintun to drive off the enemy, but he made not the slightest attempt to. as sist the small patrol which so gallantly opposed themselves to a force five times superior to them in numbers. Finally, when want of ammunition compelled the the patrol to retire upon the main body the Chinese General, fearing he would be taken to tas: by the wenk an? timorous Advisers of the Throne at Peking for opposing the Russians vi et armis and so complicating a "peaceful" solution of the Manchurian crisis, ut once gave out the "official" news which appears in the first portion of this paragraph.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.