Prospective Trouble in China
China.—Of the prospective trouble in China, the North China News says: “It has been learned on good authority that Yung Lu, the real ruler of China and the man who is reported to be responsible for the murder of Prof. Hubert James of the Peking University, will centralize the command of the military forces of the Emperor, or at least the provinces north of the Yang Tse, under himself and his henchmen, Yuan Shih Kai and Tung Fu Hsiang. The plea for the simultaneous murder of foreigners in 1900 failed, owing to the unwillingness of so many viceroys and governors to carry out the order telegraphed to them. On the next occasion the order is to be sent to the military officials, whose implicit obedience may be relied on. The maxim impressed on military officials is ‘Superiors can do no wrong.’ Subordinates have no concern with the morality of an order nor with the consequences following obedience to it. ‘We will not leave one ocean demon alive in Shensi and Kansu,’ is the boast of the Tung Fu Hsiang and ‘the friends of foreigners will hereafter suffer for it.’” Another boast is, “A census of Christian converts has been carried out and neighbors are to be held responsible for an exact declaration as to all friends of foreigners in each group of ten families.”