NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE correspondent of the Standard at Tientsin forwards a letter—not a telegram—in which be states that Chinese most friendly to the foreigners are seriously alarmed. They believe that the cordiality displayed by the Court to the Legations is intended to lull suspicion, and that within a few months an anti-European plot will be revealed. Tung-Fu- Hsiang in Shensi, Prince Tuan, and Yung Lu are working together, and have apparently drawn out a regular plan under which those great ex-officials will direct the "Boxer" organisa- tion upon Pekin, seize the supreme power, and place Prince Tuan's son either upon the throne, or in his old position as recognised Heir-Presumptive. They will then order the " exter- mination " of the foreigner, pleading at the same time that they are overborne by a popular or rebellious movement. Another correspondent of the same journal telegraphing from Odessa affirms the conviction of the Asiatic Department of the Russian Foreign Office that the alarmist view of the situation in Pekin is the correct view, and that this is the secret of some large military preparations which the Government of St. Petersburg is making. Both accounts may be unfounded, as correspondents in China, as well as Russia, are often pur- posely deceived with a view to some reflex effect of their statements ; but it is certain that the Roman Catholic missionaries who inform the Propaganda upon Chinese affairs at Rome look to the immediate future with grave disquiet.
