The letter which we publish today from three gentlemen who, we understand, have been specially sent to Shanghai by the Tuchun of Anhui, is but one out of many communications which have reached us in connexion with the report of an attack by soldiery on the Sericultural School at Anking. Yesterday's post, for example, brought a bundle of circulars containing declarations purporting to come rom the school itself, with further statements by Mr. Huang Tao and Mr. Wang Chen, all in refutation of the rumour. With these are other letters hotly contending for its truth. No one of those concerned in contradicting the report has actually visited this office. Meanwhile it is important to emphasize our correspondent's share in the matter. He reported what was common talk among the Chinese of Anking, as such, for which he takes no responsibility, although he has since pointed out that a report so widely circulated and so generally believed requires something more than a bare denial by the Governor of the province, who was not in Anking at the time. That is a fair contention. Soldiers are unpopular in China, and the majority will be ready to believe the worst of them. The greater need, therefore, for a plenary investigation, as the report has stirred the Chinese deeply.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.