China.

Manawatu Herald, 13 October 1900, Page 2

China.

NECESSITY FOR URGENCY.

! Mr Rockhill, special American Com- ' missioner in China, and formerly Secretary to the United States Legation in Pekin, who is now on a journey up the Yang-tse-kiang, has informed the Government that serious rioting will take place in the southern provinces if negotiations for peace are further de- ! layed. j MILITARY MOVEMENTS. Six hundred British troops hold the Summer Palace, a few miles north of Pekin. The Russians have quitted the Imperial pleasure grounds outside the j Purple City, and a German force is occupying the position. Li Hung Chang has promised that the towns on the route to Paoting-fu will surrender to the allies. The American troops did not join the new expedition of the allies to Pacting-fu, as the commander considers it is useless display. A Pekin report states that there are twelve thousand regulars at Paotingfu. i ANOTHER IMPERIAL EDICT. In an edict dated the Ist inst. the Emperor promises to return to Pekin when the negotiations for peace take a favourable turn. Hft adds that the Chinese alone are able to cope with the unlawful acts of Chinese. AMERICAN TROOPS LEAVING. All the American troops, except the guard at the Pekin Legation, will quit China in a month. RUSSIAN DESIRES. The Czar has reiterated that Russia is not annexing territory, but merely securing the peaceable use of railways and the undisturbed navigation of the Amur. STERN MEASURES PROPOSED. Field-Marshal Count von Waldersee Commander-in-Chief of the allied army favours isolating the province of Chi-li and depriving the inhabitants ot food supplies, in order to thus compel intervention by the Court to prevent the starvation of the people. GATHERING OF FORCES AT HONGKONG. Ten thousand additional troops have been requisitioned for Hongkong. The Bengal Lancers and Hongkong Regiment have been lecalled from the north to Hongkong. A Reuter message states that it is reported the authorities at Hongkong

have been informeJ that a general rising in the southern provinces has been arranged tor November. EXPEDITION TO PAOTING-FU. Seven thousand British, French, German and Italian troops leave Tientsin for Paoting-fu. BRITAIN'S POLICY. It is understood that the Prime' Minister's reply to M. Delcasse.s Note I expresses a general concurrence with the objects of France and Germany. An article in the " Standard," the organ of the Conservative party, says that the verdict of a united and enthusiastic Empire will enable Lord Salisbury forthwith to take a conspicuous and direct share in the reconstruction of the Far East. THE IMPERIAL COURT. Chinese reports which are considered trustworthy declare that the Dowager- Empress is seriously ill at Tai-yuen-fu, in Shansi, and that the Emperor has been given a free hand in affairs of State. The Viceroys of the Southern provinces have advised the Emperor to return to Pekia, lest the allies should stop supplies of food for the province of Shensl. Li Hung Chang has informed the German Government that Ying-man, Kang-yi, and Chao-su-chiao have been decapitated, and Prince Cbang-yi imprisoned for life. Prince Tuan has been banished to a military pott on the roads on the Siberian frontier. RUSSIAN ACTIONS. Dr Morrison, the "Times" correspondent at Pekin, reports that Russia, in pursuance of her policy of posing as the only friend of China, has restored to the Tsung-li-Yamen a captured Chinese standard. The Russian Gavernment officially explains that the proclamation of General Grebovsky annexing Manchuria is merely a temporary measure to frighten the rebels, and that it Is not really meant to be permanent.