A Decree. In obedience to our gracious Manifesto of last year the various High Metropolitan and Provincial authorities have submitted to Us lists of officers who, grated, and deserve to be re-employed. in their opinion, have been unjustly de-We have given Ourcareful consideration, to the circumstances of each case and where there appeared to be reason to overlook an offence, the delinquent has been reinstated whilst in graver cases the application has been refused, Our action herein being dictated by a feeling of consideration for individual talent on the one hand, and on the other by a due regard for the public rvice. With this Our feeling it should have been the duty of the various High authorities to identify themselves by ascertaining the real truth in each case and carefully abstaining from any false representations. TheTartar-General Ch'ang Shun, has however submitted to Us the names of no less than 22 individuals, in all of whose cases there can be no question as justice of the charges brought against He has even gone so far as to recommend that certain officers, who have been guilty of gross neglect and dereliction of duty should be reinstated, basing his recommendation on their own versions of their cases and on the reports that have been furnished to him. This is bad enough, but in the cases of Ching Lu, Ch'ang Shun, and Feng Shan, these officers, though deprived of rank, have never been removed from their posts; how then are they to be reinstated Ch'ang Shun has evidently altogether failed to apprehend the purport of Our gracious proclamation, and has herein been guilty of gross carelessness. Further with regard to the cases of Ch'un Shou, Deputy Lieutenant General of Tsitsihar, and Ch'un Fu, a Major in the Army, the former was denounced and cashiered for having represented as a success the feat he suffered at the hands of the Ni Fei, The latter is ignorant of his profession, and was removed from office in the first_year of Oar reign. What would be the result if the example set by Ch*au; were tu be followed by other Pro: vincial Authorities? His application is refused. And the present decree is ordered to be communicated to him with a severe reprimand.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.