From to-day's news it is clear that the key to the whole position in south China is in the hands of a few men headed by General Lung Chi-kuang. If Kuangsi remains loyal the revolt of Kueichow does not very greatly matter, but if Kuangsi. turns over the Central Government will be faced by a solid phalanx of opposition from Yunnanfu to Canton. What are the chances? If Yunnan's revolt were really inspired by republican sentiments it would be comparatively easy to say, for while there is a close bond of sympathy between that province and Kuangsi there is none whatever between Kuangsi and Kuangtung. The chances would then be that Kuangsi would remain loyal, for to overthrow Yuan Shih-kai in the interests of republicanism would be to associate men of the stamp: of General Lung Chi-kuang with Cantonese theorists and cranks, an unimaginable combination. Unfortunately the origins of the present rebellion are not to be found in academic preferences: the issue is not republicanism versus monarchy—though that is the convenient battle cry. The real origin and the real seriousness of the outbreak are both to be found io a steady diminution of Yuan 's influence in consequence of personal dislike. What has created that dislike we can only gu but it is unquestionably there. For the moment, therefore, everything turns on whether General Lung Ohi-kuang shares it and that only his most intimate friends can know. Nobody in Shanghai, certainly no foreigner can say. We can only hope that he does not, and from the later message received from our Peking correspondent last night it looks as though he meant to remain Joyal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.