676
is distinctly reactionary.
There are no aspirations
for reform in China which is not to come from Chinese
sources and to be worked on Chinese lines.
The solid-
arity of thought, and feeling in China from one extre-
mity to the other is wonderful, and the Boxers have
sympathisers, associates and followers in every pro-
vince and city of the Empire, oy whatever names they
may locally be known.
3.
The recent outbreak in the North, if not
very speedily suppressed and punished, will be follow-
ed by disturbances in all quarters.
There is unrest
Shanghai is
Mingpo is almost
along the entire valley of the Yangtze.
threatened with a Boxer movement.
on the point of rising.
Kwangtung und wang Si are
only kept down by the presence of Li Fung-chang;
and
both these provinces have, as you know, been in a
troubled state for some years past.
The piracy on
the West River and its tributaries is only a symptom
of the general state of unrest.
4.
It is gratifying to find that, in the face
of