St. Paul daily globe., 1895-03-25
SENSATION IN WASHINGTON.
The Firing Upon Chang a Serious
Matter.

WASHINGTON, March 24.-The
news of the assault on Ii Hung
Chang caused a sensation in diplo-
matte circles in this city. Cases
where an envoy of any kind has been
assaulted in the country TO wnlch
he is accredited are rare, and those
in which a peace commissioner is
attacked are almost unheard OF in
modern days. The opinion here is
that Japan will suffer greatly as
consequence of the assault, and that
the position of China will be so
strengthened that she may be able
to secure better terms of peace than
she could otherwise have hoped for.
The incident may lead to the break
ing off of peace negotiations, which
were proceeding SO satisfactorily, or
at least may postpone further ac-
ton in this direction until Japan has
guaranteed the safety of the Chi
nese envoy and made proper repara-
ton.
A recent parallel is the attack
made by Count Fuentes, of the Span
ish army, on the Moorish ambassa-
dor. The latter was to ask Spain to
grant Morocco more time for the
payment of the war indemnity for
the attacks on the Spanish at Me-
lila. Gen. FuenteS became enraged
at one of the conferences and struck
the ambassador in the face with his
clenched fist. So seriously did the
Spanish government regard the in
cident that Prime Minister SagaSta
telegraphed full explanation,
coupled with expressions of profound
regret, to all the European courts.
Gen. Fuentes did not escape being
punished, but will probably be con-
fined for life in one of the fortresses
of the country. The Moorish am
bassador took advantage of the in
cident to press for further delay,
and secured it with little trouble.
No news of the attack on Ii Hung
Chang has been received by the
Japanese legation here, and Minister
Kurino was unwilling to discuss the
occurrence. The members of the le-
cation realize that it is a serious
matter, but hope that the first re-
ports may prove to be exaggerated.
They say no one will deplore such
an affair more than the Japanese
themselves. The Chinese legation
received prompt notification of the
matter, but their adViceS contained
nothing not in the press dispatches.
Minister Yang Yu did not care to
discuss the subject. 1t was stated at
the legation that it was not believed
that it would lead to the total break
ing off of the peace negotiations, al
though it might cause them to be
interrupted for a time.
The attack on Lii Hung Chang
calls to mind the attempt made on
May IL, 1891, to. kill the czarewitch.
now the emperor of Russia. In No
vember, 1890, the czarewitch, in COM
pany with his cousin, Prince George
OF Greece, started on tour of the
world. They visited Vienna, Athens,
Cairo, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras,
Ceylon, Bangkok, Siam, and various
places in China and Japan. While
at Otsu, Japan, the czareWitch was
attacked with a sword by a fanati-
cal japanese officer and quite Sc
verely wounded, He would, in all
likelihood, have been killed had it
not been for the bravery of Prince
George, who sprang upon the would
be assassin and felled him to the
ground. The affair caused the great
est excitement, and the mikado
travelled to Otsu to visit the czare-
witch and express his regret for the
attack. L: had been the intention of
the ezarewitch to return to Russia
py way Of the United States, but he
was summoned home by Car Alex
ander, and upon his recovery he re-
turned to st. Petersburg by way of
Siberia