'The Chinese authorities, naturally enough, are in some' tre
this large-scale demonstration. tion as to the possible outcome of ion.
rumoured, indeed, that they have dare their best to'prevent its be-1g held, but the popular pre: sare has been too much for them. Potice and soldiers have been detailed off to watch carefully every cine of te route, and there is no Asabt that everything possi:.e will be done to prevent tne occurrence The procession not be allowed to onand foreigners who are wise will not ven-tors forth upon Chicese territory ducing the day. By these means the danger of an unfortunate col-Tision will be reduced to a minimum. But, nevertheless, these occasions always afford an opportunity to the rowdy element to make a disturbance; evil passions may be stirred up; if the baser elements once out of hand, unlimited possibilities of a mischief remain.
"Break off Relations with England"
Three or four days ago, there were very few anti-foreign posters in Wuchang, and most of those that remained were old and wea. ther-beaten.
But during the Inst few days, all that has been chaui ed, and in preparation for to-day the city has been well placarded The agitators have done the work) shop to shop selling flags, for almost every shops front' now displays a paper flag with large Chinese characters upon it. The motto on each flag is the same and its meaning is, 'Break. off Relations with England.'
There can be no doubt that the people not know exactly. what these words mean; or, if they do, they do not want to do any such thing. Tt is evident tht they, have been compelled to buy the flags, just as they are compelled to give money to beggars, by the persistency of the latter." In the same manner, they are compelled to display their flags. If any shop did not show a flag, its owner would at once be besieged again to buy one.
Inflammatory Cartoons Some of the pictorial wall-postfers are disgusting, both for their jerudeness and for their absolute misrepresentation of facts. One of them shows two or three British marines with machine-guns in their hands firing at a running group of Chinese. As they run, they fall, and splotches of red show that they have been wounded or killed. Another gruesome picture shows a huge mill-stone being turned round, and under it the figure of a Chinese being hideously mangled, with the blood squire ing out in all directions. The mill-tone is being turned by three ugly ho are labelled "Capital.
Militarism" and "Imperial-'Another shows the huge and unwieldly, misshapen figure of "Foreign Aggression," being seized with the hend by a juvenescent China, who with his other fist is about to strike the cringing figure. Precisely what ideas these ugly cartoons convey to the uninstructed minds of the populace, it would be difficult to say. That' they apparently make very little difference in their personal attitude te the foreigner who passes them in the street, is a fact for which those, who live amongst them may be duly' thankful.
Demonst a Farce Sept. 8.
The Land and Water Demons tion, which was held yesterday in Wu-Han, proved to be as much of farce a5 could be desired. It is interesting to compare the different accounts given of the proceedings in the native and foreign press. According to the former, there were over 200,000 people taking part in the processions. From the account of the latter, it appears that 15,000 is the outside estimate of those who were engaged in it. The Chinese account of the proceedings merely a long list of the various clubs and associations which took part in the processions. In both Wuchang and Hankow, th Merchants' Guild headed the procession. In all, some 70 public bodies took part. Of these, less than half were students' associations, and when it is considered that the total number of schoolboys in this centre is approaching 20,000 it becomes evident that the interest of the schools in these proceedings was by no. means whole-hearted.
The foreign press mention: great number of brass. firemen's helmets as one of the distinguishing. features of the Hankow procession. There seem to have been a great many more of this shining headgear than ever appear on. the scene when a fire breaks out in the native city. Moreover, they were all made in Japan, Of the tens of thousands of paper flags and banners which have been prepared in the preparations for these proceedings, a great proportion are said to' have been written upon paper which comes from Japan. Consequently, the demonstration which was intended partly as an agitation for the boycott of Jo ese goods was in reality an excel advertisement for them.
After the finish of the open-air demonstrations, a big meeting was held by the "People's Association," in which three objects of the agitation were declared. These are (1) to demand compensation from the English for those who were killed the Hankow affair; (2) to unite all the oppressed races of the world in a crusade against England; and (8) to urge the Ohinese Government to declare war against England.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.