DEPORTING A VICEROY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1366, 17 February 1912, Page 10

DEPORTING A VICEROY.

AN INCIDENT IN CHINA'S REVOLT,

("Manchester Guardian" Correspondence.)

Yunnan, December !). A few weeks ago Li-diing-hsi was the all-powerful Viceroy oi' the provinces of Yunnan and Kweic-how. Within tiie.se provinces his word w;is law. As the most prominent member of the famous Li t'amilv, which was so closely Iwund up with the fortunes of tho Manchu dynasty, he was praclicallv secure against any intrigues at Die Peking Court. The strong attitude ho had taken up in the dispute with the British concerning tho village ol IMen-ma on tho liurmese border lnid won the hearts of the scholars and gentry of Yunnau. When revolution broke out m different parts of China he had every reason to be confident that • he would weather the storm. . Quito recently I saw him ruling in lus sedan chair through the streets of Yunnan I'll, his vice-regal capita , guarded by a hivo number oi' well-drilled modern soldiers. Only a few days later I saw him a broken-down, dejected old man, a captive in tho hands of some voung officers of the Revolutionary party. It was at the railway station of I o-si, about a hundred miles south of Yunnan IV While a group ot Englishmen were watching what was going on at this temporary terminus of the French raihia.v, the ex-Viceroy came in, carried ill a small and rickety sedan chair, and escorted by a hundred Revolutionary soldiers. lie wore an ordinary long gown without the jacket that every scholar wears when properly dressed. Ills Manchu p g all hud been cut oIV, and his locks fell untidily over his nock. As he lejt his chair and 'went into the shanty dignified by the name of "Station Hotel" in order to wait for the one train of the day, no one seemed to take any notice of a iallen statcs--111 While he was resting in the little hotel the four young Revolutionary officers went ouietlv abotit their business. I hoy had been deputed by the Yunnan Kevolutionarv Government to escort Li-ching-hsi out 'of China. They were dressed as teachers, but each of them had a revolver hanging from the girdle of his gown. We watched them for a full hour, and durin" the whole of this time wo never saw a "smilo on the face of one of them. Grimlv and silently, and with an utter absence of arrogance, these men made their preparations. One of them had an ostieeiallv hard face, which seemed to suggest 'that he would have unhesitatingly used his revolver on anyone who stood in bis way. In a residence of nearly a 1 quarter of a century in China, I havo never before conic- across teachers of this tvpe Tho long teacher's gown with a revolver in the girdlo is a portent indeed.

Presently tho train was ready to utart. Li came out and walked slowly across the line. No one bowed to him or paid him any reverence. No one wished him a prosperous journey. Ono of my companions whispered "Wolsley,' and that ono word seemed to sum up the situation. The' ex-Viceroy and his family tool: their seats in one compartment, and ill the next sat the young men with tho revolvers. The escort of soldiers was accommodated in a fourth-class carriage attached.

We admired tho way in which these young odicers did their work. They seemed almost as if they might have been trained among Cromwell's Ironsides. We marvelled, too, at the clemency shown by the Revolutionaries in allowing free exit from tho country to a powerful official who had put up a hard fi"ht against tlu-m, and had caused much lo"ss of'life. The new rulers feel themselves strong enough to be generous. Certainly tliev earned the unstinted admiration of the group of Englishmen that looked on.

Ten days afterwards wo were again at Po-si. Once more member; of a high official family were being escorted out of Yunnan into"French territory. This time it was women and children only, the family of H. E. Sliih, lute Provincial Treasurer of Yunnan. Sliih himself, a Manchu, had been singled out by the Revolutionary soldiers and killed. AVlien tliev came into the room where he was his'daughter lluug her arms around him aud tried to save his life, ner efforts and appeals were in vain. She would not desist, however, until she had been severely wounded in tho arm by the sv.ord of one of the soldiers. She was missing from the party wo saw at Pc-si, having been left behind, as too ill to travel, in tho French Government hospital at Yunnan I'u. Witli one or two such lamentable exceptions, the Revolutionary troops in Yunnan have kept true to their declaration that they are waging no war against women and children.

■V cfav or two later, at another railway two Ainerican engineers were seen leaving for Tonlcin. They had been engaged by the late Viceroy, Li. to surrey a route for a railway from Yunnan Fu to Szechtian. These men have done their work well, and have gained the confidence of officials and people. At the change of government they wished to be released from their contract and to return to America. The new officials were not willin-r !o lose them, and offered them two monlhs' holiday on full pay so that tliev might be out of the country while ali'airs 'were settling down. The new regime is honouring the obligations of the late Government. If Yunnan is a fair sample of what Ihe whole of China will be under the rule of the Revoluti'»iKnv partv. there are bright-;- dnvs in 'lore for (his great people.-S. POLLARD.