Nov. 15.
The situation in South Chine continues to give cause for apprehension and although there is no-intelligence of a definite outbreak in Canton, the latest reports show that the temper of the people in the City of Rams is such that the re~ volutionary leaders would scarcely be able to control it were any slaughter of Manchus to be begun. Hence it is not surprising that the Manchus, led by the Viceroy of the Two Kuang Provinces and accompanied fessing rom the city by steamer and by many of the richer Chinese, are
train until Hongkong is forced to accommodate many in godowns for want of other house-room. The Shameen at Canton, since the foreign men-of-war and volunteers established a guard there, has also become a safe deposit for valuables, No man knows what a day may bring forth. Fortunately those prophets who foretold a bloody battle between the Imperialists and the revolutionaries proved to be wrong. There was no massacre of Manchus ill-prepared to defend themselves; the Bannerman troops went over to the rebels without striking a blow. But because no blow has been struck at Canton we cannot conclude that no blow will be struck. True, the revolutionaries were hailed with enthusiasm and the display of fire-crackers _Insted throughout the day and night, It is also true that for the moment wiser counsels prevailed over those of the extremists, and any city but Canton, once the independence of the province had been declared, might have awaited peacefully the result of the movement throughout the Empire.
But for years the people of this province have been storing up their wrath for a favourable opportunity of wreaking vengeance on the rulin, class that has continually fou them. From time to time the state of mind of the people has been demonstrated by bomb outrages and attacks on officials. In any other such case it might not be true to say that the assassination of an official
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.