June 25.
ON April 15 last Marshal Chang Teo-lin's cavalry appeared outside the walls of Peking. Marshal Feng Vu-hsiang was already on his way to Moscow; the Kuominchun army was being withdrawn in" good order to Kalgan; the Red clouds which had so long obscured the eapitat had rolled away. The way was clear for Marshal Wu Pei-fu and Marshal Chang Tso-lin, between whom the alliance stood firmly, to enter Peking, sweep out the "rats and foxes" and re-establish a nucleus of ordered government which would have been able to authority at least over all northern and central China, That was over two months ayo, OF the pleasing expectations with which men were toying not one has been realized, The only out= event was the expulsion hal Tuan Chi-jui, the Chief Executive, Nothing was gained by that, indeed much was lost. His personal prestige and, it, seems to be felt in Poking, his sincerity of purpose might have formed the basis of a triumvirate, himself and the two great Marshals. His disappearance removed the last. vestiges recognized government; it was the end of any instrument which could say that once it had claim-fed some partial support from China. A Committee of Public Safety appointed itself to take charge of the city. Then on May 42 it was announced that Dr.
W. Yen was forming a Cabinet. Much admiration and sympathy ix {o be felt for him, Ibs task wax hopeless from the first. None of the announced Ministers would join him, though Dr. Wellington Koo seems to have had some hazy connexion with the Ministry of Finance, Still nobody of any real power appeared in the capital.—Representatives were scurrying backwards and forwards between the {wo Marshals and the politicians in Peking. The latter must have had a game after their own hearts, Not so much money in it as formerly. But the rats and an usually find some The upshot of it all is that Dr. Yen must go too, not, we imagine, unwillingly: and in his place appears surely the most extraordinary Cabinet that a country ever saw. Most of the Ministers, where such, and not merely Vice-Ministers have been appointed, are Acting only, including the Premier himself, Possibly Admiral Tu Hsi-kuei is just keeping the place warm
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.