"EMPRESS OF MEXICO."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18903, 19 January 1927, Page 11

"EMPRESS OF MEXICO."

——o—--CHARLOTTE DYING. (BT CABLE—PKESS ASSOCIATION—- COPYHIOHT.) (AUSTRALIAN AND IJ.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION* (Received January 18th, 7.55 p.m.) BRUSSELS, January 17. The- Kmpross Charlotte of Mexico is dying. Her mind has been deranged since her husband was murdered in 1367. [The news that the Empress Charlotte is dying recalls one of the most ignoble incidents of the Second Empire. Maximilian, second son of the Archduke Francis Charles of Austria, had some reputation as a Liberal, and was in 1859 approached by Mexican exiles with the proposal to become the Candidate for the throne of Mexico. He did not at first accept, but in 1863, however, under pressure from Napoleon 111., and after General I'arey had captured Mexico City, he consented, and was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico, thereby losing all nis rights in. Mexico."' He landed at Vera Cruz in 1864, but was from the first in difficulties, not only with hostile Mexican revolutionaries, but with the U.S.A. In 1866 abdication appeared the only course, but he preferred to stand by hia followers. In the meantime, the unfortunate Charlotte v<as touring the capitals of Europe seeking assistance, which was not forthcoming, least of. all from Napoleon, whose views had changed considerably in three years. In 1867 Maximilian was captured and shot .by American forces. was a daughter'of Leopold I;, King'of ths Belgians.]

NEGOTIATIONS OPEN.

NEW BELGIAN TREATY. (AUSTRALIAN 'A:,'D X.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION.) (Received January 18th, 7.55 p.m.) BRUSSELS, January 17. Advices from Peking stato that the Belgian Minister has addressed a note to the Chinese Foreign Office regarding the conclusion of a now treaty between China and Belgium, and- tho suspension of the proceedings instituted by Belgium before the Court of International Justice, with reference to China's denunciation of the Treaty of 1865. It appears that Dr. Wellington Koo, Foreign Minister in Peking, recently proposed to Belgium the renewal of negotiations for the conclusion of a commercial treaty to replace tho Treaty of 1865, and the Belgium Minister in Peking was instructed to reply favourably thereto. Belgium meanwhile reserves the right to take the case be-, fore the Hague Couft if negotiations fail.

REPRESENTATIVES MEET. PEKING, January 17. Mr Wellington Koo and the Belgian Minister, accompanied by experts and secretaries, met at the Foreign Office to inaugurate negotiations for a. new Treaty between Belgium and China Minister announcedl that he was prepared to return to China aU The rights conferred ori Belgmm under the Convention of 1902 in the Belgian Concession at Tientsin, reservina only private property rights, in SSer to show. sincerity and goodwill Koo thanked Belaium for voluntarily renouncing her claim. He stated' that a commiss.on of experts would be appointed at the earliest to arrange to take over control.

FRENCH POLICY CRITICISED. (Received January 18th, 8.8 p.m.) PARIS, January 17. Pertinax, in "Echo do Paris," criticises the Government's inactivity in regard to China. He says: "It is not detirable to wait till the last minute to choose a u-ell-defined policy leaving the British to assume the odium of a work which will profit all. SOVIET PROPAGANDA. STARTLING REVELATIONS. SHANGHAI. January 17. The White Russian paper, "Rossia, publishes an interesting story relative to the widespread activities of the Cantonese propagandists under Bolshevik control. . Recently General Yang-cho, the wellknown Chinese administrator ot tne Chinese Eastern Railway, was seized by orders of Marshal Chang Tso-hn, on charges of Bolshevik leanings, and was summarily executed. A search of Yang-cho's promises revealed thousands of Soviet rifles and adequate ammunition, pistols, ana hand grenades in preparation tor a coup also correspondence witn General Chang Kai-shek Genera Borodin, and other southern Keo leaders. The story goes that the coup was planned for January loth, but the summary removal of the chief mover brought the plot to nought. Marshal Chang Tso-lin is unlikely to handle the revolutionaries in any gentle manner, in view of the continual efforts of Russian Bolsheviks to deprive him of the Chinese interest in the most important railway in China. The whole story is indicative of tne far-reaching schemes of the Cantonese Bolshevik advisers and the length to which they are prepared to gp.