Harbin, Feb. 6.
There is much excitement among the democratic Russian population of Harbin. The revolutionary wave that has suddenly swept across the Russian Littorals is scattering its foam within the expropriated railway area of Manchuria. The local "professional"? unions have now grouped themselves together and are holding a provisional "conference," their object being to crush the self-imposed authority of General Horvath as ruler of the Russians living inside the railway area. This conference sits nightly, in order not to interfere with the ordinary work of its members, and is attended by an enormous number of members of different unions and societies. Had it not been for the fact that the railway is situated in non-Russian territory, the present Russian authorities would have long since had to depart as they have had to do in Vladivostok, Nikolsk, ete. Between the Chinese authorities and the conference delegates everything goes along smoothly, a Chinese representative attending most of the meetings. The monster demonstration that had been planned by the delegates to take place last Sunday, as a protest against any further intervention of Japan in Siberia, was abandoned because the Chinese authorities were afraid that disorders might take place, and if they did the Japanese would find this an excuse to assert them selves locally.
General Horvath's attitude is very difficult to understand, it is mercurial and affected by the elements. As previously written he has set free all political prisoners who had been languishing in the Harbin gaol, but still hesitates to accede to the other demands of the conference. The latter have already appealed to the Foreign Consuls and a note is now being framed by the Delegates and will in due course be handed to the Consuls. who have already consented to sec General Horvath on the subject.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.