The people of Ichang for some time past have been showing signs of uneasiness, and, although at first) there seemed to be not very much cause for it, as things were quiet and there were very few soldiers in the town, events have since proved that they were right. Gen. Sun Chuan-fang. who has been stationed here for some years, has now been appointed Commissioner of the Yangtze and has had to remove his headquarters. As usual, he is taking his traps with him and they are being brought down from the Patung district on their way to their new station. Many of them passed through Tchang yesterday and a demand was made on the Chamber of Commerce for "travelling expenses." It appears probable that this demand was accompanied by threats, for thea Chamber of Com merce speedily got together the decent little sum of $10,000, which they paid over, and once more purchased security.
The roads to the country are again reported unsafe and parties on the road have to travel together for mutual protection. By the orders of Gen. Chao, the Defence Commissioner of Ichang and Shihnan, two men were recently executed for robbery with violence. One of them was put to death on the foreshore opposite the China Merchants Steam Navigation. Company's premises.
It is understood that représentations have been made to Brigadier Lu, commanding at Patung, with regard to the holding up of salt junks_on the borders of Szechuan and Hupeh, by brigands, who demanded a considerable sum per bag of salt before allowing the junks to proceed. Gen. Lu replied that he had scattered the bandits and this appears to have been the case, as now the junks are allowed to travel down without molestation on the border.
Ichang has recently had a visit from Sir Francis Aglen, the Inspector-General of Customs, who made a trip to Ichang and Chungking after having laid the foundation stone of the new Customs House at Hankow. Sir Francis returned to Hankow on Novermber 19.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.