A quantity of telegrams from China have been published this
week, most of which contradict each other. So far as we can judge from a careful comparison of them, the truth is something in this wise. An insurrection has broken out in Mongolia, beyond the Great Wall, and a force, described by the officials as composed of brigands, and by other reporters as colonists and soldiers, has taken the largest town, has massacred Belgian missionaries, a number of nuns, and a large body of converts, and is marching on Pekin, distant perhaps 350 miles. The local soldiers give way before them, or are treacherous, and the Court, in great alarm, has ordered Li Hung Chang, Viceroy of Pecheli, and head of the native Chinese party, to forward 6,000 of his trained soldiers to the front. So peremptory are the orders, that Li, who likes to keep his soldiers, has obeyed ; and the immediate future depends on the result of the collision. We distrust the rumour that it has already occurred, and ended in a defeat of the rebels. If these soldiers mutiny, or are defeated, the outlook is a bad one ; for the Pekin Cabinet has in that event no trustworthy troops in the capital, and no time to summon its own tribe from Manchuria. It may be compelled to rely upon foreign assistance, and in that case, as we have argued elsewhere, the decision whether to support the dynasty or summon all Europeans to the coast, where they are comparatively safe, will rest with Lord Salisbury. We do not like interfering with our weak Army in a Chinese civil war, but it may be indispensable.
Previous page
