PEKING WEAKENING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1268, 25 October 1911, Page 5

PEKING WEAKENING.

TALK OF NEGOTIATION. REBELS PROPOSE DIVISION OF CHINA. MORE CITIES YIELD, By'Tcleeraph—Press Association—Copyright (Rcc. October 25, 1 a.m.) Peking, October 21. Owing to tho Powers' recognition of the revolutionaries, the Chinese Privy Councillors havo recommended tbo Throne to negotiate with tho rebels. The rebels aro advancing cautiously north of Ilaukau, owing to the absence of intelligence as to tbo whereabouts of the Imperial troops. 'Ihey have encountered a slight guerilla opposition. A tug carrying rebels was unexpectedly fired on by a concealed Imperial battery north o£ Wuchang. When tho third division of tlie Imperial northern army was ordered south, 101 men deserted. A wild fire bv the gunbojtts <it Hunlcfl-U has caused a conflagration. The treaty port of Ichang, 105 miles up the Yangtse from lUnkau, and Changsha, tho capital of tbo province of Hunan, were captured without opposition. An anti-foreign outbreak:is feared at Cliang-slia., and tho local foreign Customs officers have been ordered aboard tho boats in tlie river. Rebel recruits aro flocking into Wuchang. SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY. NORTH CHINA FOR THE JIANCHUS. Peking, October 23. Well-equipped troops that havo arrived at Hankau are joining the revolutionaries. The latter claim to have enlisted fifteen thousand old soldiers.

Lin-Huan-Hung and Tang-Hun-Lung, revolutionary leaders, aro organising a southern confederacy. Tliey are willing to abandon North China to the Jlanc-hus. Shantung is quiet. It is officially stated that General Yin Chang, commanding the Imperial forces, has reached the Hsian-kan railway station, thirty miles north of Hankau. Jui-Cheng, lato Viceroy of Hnpeh, has arrived at Kin-kiang, about 170 miles down tho river from Hankau, with tlirco gunboats. The boats aro coaling and provisioning. RISING IN FAR SOUTH, MISSIONARIES SAFE. London, Octobcr 23. Tho newspapers publish an unconfirmed San Francisco telegram announcing that twenty thousand Imperialist troops were defeated in the mountains ofKwangsi, the southern province bordering on Tonking. Tho London Jlissionary Society advises that country stations havo not been disturbed, and that tho missionaries at Ilaukau and Wuchang aro safe. At Hankau a fire in tho rear of the Russian Concession destroyed acres of Chinese houses and several large godowns (warehouses).

THE GERMANS AT HANKAU. Berlin, October 23. It is officially announced that tho German action in the fighting at Ilaukau on October 12 was restricted to Tepelling an attempt to invade and plunder the German -iettlement. Nobody was injured.