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2
the control of Chang Tso-lin. The latter has advised that the troops of his rivala be despatched to lose themselves in the waste places of Mongolia; he has offered to send troops himself if the Government will supply them with funds and ammunition, knowing full well that this is impossible; but to all appeals for active aid he has been deaf. It is possible that his indifference to the fate of Mongolia may be based upon the knowledge that the Mongols would be eager to accept a reversion to their condition of autonomy as it existed under the Empire, though determined to resist strenuously the servitude which the republic imposed upon them as soon as it was able to disregard the provisions of the Russian agreements of 1913 and 1915.
A further circumstance confirming the information as to Chang Tso-lin's monarchical intentions is the fact that, recognising the impossibility of securing for Chang Hein the app intment of Inspecting Commissioner of Kiangsu, Anbui and Kiangai, in succession to Li Shun, he induced the Government to create a sinecure for that notorious monarchist, who was gazetted on the 26th January to the post of Director-General of Forestry and Colonisation of the Jebol territory,
In this connection it should be mentioned that Prince Tuan, the Imperial Prince who took in 1900 the foremost place in favouring the Boxers and in ordering the attack on the Legations, and who has since been in hunishment under the terms of the 1901 protocol, has recently returned to Peking. While it is not suggested that his return is connected with any pro-monarchical plotting on the part of Chang Tao-lin or others, the doyen of the Diplomatic Body has recently, with the approval of his colleagues, enquired of the Wai-chiao Pu what measures it is proposed to take to ensure the fulfilment of the terms of the protocol. From private conversations with political personages I gather that the Chinese Government will deny that they have given their consent to Prince Tuan's return, but it is certain that individual members of the Government have been aware of the matter; in March of last year Mr. Ch'en Lu, Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, enquired as to the personal views of M. Boppe, then doyen of the Diplomatie Body, in the event of the return to Peking of Prince Tuan, but at the same time asked that the question be not discussed with the members of the Diplomatic Body as the Wai-chiao Pu did not wish to take the matter up officially.
It may also be well to mention, if only for purposes of record, that both in the province of Hupeh and in that of Szechuan bodies of ignorant men professing the "Boxer "
tenets of hostility to foreigners and their own invulnerability have recently come into existence; in both cases the authorities appear. to have succeeded in dispersing them. Such ebullitions may be taken as a sign of discontent with things as they are rather than as symptomatic of any widespread and anti-foreign feeling.
I have, &c.
B. ALSTON.
"ROM
1921
HONG KONG
R CIRCULATION:-
Mr. Bubett
Mr. Colli
Mr.
Mr. Grindle
Sir H. Lambert
Sir II. Read
Sir G. Fiddes
Mr. Wood
Mr. Churchill
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