Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-28
CHINESE ARE
DEMANDIN
THEIR RIGHTS
CRISIS NEAR IN AFFAIRS OF
EMPIRE
ALL PUBLIC MEETINGS TO BE
SUPPRESSED
Foreign Agitation Regarding Attitude
of Japan Is Bearing Fruit.
Great Britain Takes
Hand

BY Associated Press.
PEKIN. Dec. 27.-The dowager empress
has given verbal orders to the interior
department and to the police to suppress
all public meetings in Pekin, and there
Is reason to believe this order will be
extended to the provinces.
The popular agitation along the lines OF
rights recovery is growing in phenom-
email manner The question of provincial
as against federal sovereignty enters
largely into the matter. Womens SO
cieties. schools for boys and girls, the
family newspapers and the political press
ali are participating in the agitation, ana
for a month past the government mere
has been receiving kilograms IN lncreas-
ing numbers expressing the strong desire
Of the senders that the rights which nave
been alienated from them by foreigners
be restored to the Chinese
Government Alarmed
The movement has reached sucn MAG
nitude that the government is tnorousniy
alarmed and 1t is today striving 10 III
a conciliatory position between the reVo-
. lutionary agitators and those VINO con-
slider themselves to be aggrleveo. ne
people of the Chi kiang province nave
sent some delegates here to protect their
interests. These delegates the foreign
hoard has taken into it's confidence, open
ing its archives to them and asking them
to make a careful examination OF the
nosition OF the government with regard
10 Great Britain and then to recommend
a solution to the difficulty
The reception accorded these clvliian
delegates by the government and the
admission of representatives of provincial
49, fnfa q
without precedent, and is believed to con-
stitute what can be called the thin edge
of the wedge which is to give constltu-
tional rights. 1t shows also the lmpor-
tance of the agitation which has been
going on in the Kiang province and
which undoubtedly is the cause OF the
recent edict by the throne
The agitation embraced the question
of the patrol of the West river by Great
Britain in an effort to put an end to
niracv there and leading Englishmen here
apprehend that the recent popular hos
tilitv will result in an inquiry into British
trade The government is relying on the
support of Great Britain, whose insistence
upon China's maintenance of her original
position has produced an apparent SOL
idarity among the Chinese ministers. Ine
pressure of the British government IS
strengthening the position of Yuan Snai
Pekin is regarded by foreigners as essen
tial to the safety and progress of China.
May Curb Japan
It is declared that the foreign agitation
in the matter of the attitude adopted
by Japan with regard to Manchuria and
the warning of Russia concerning the
annulment of the telegraph convention
have led the British foreign office to take
action and it is understood that this has
been in the form of representations to
the Toxic government.
France has consented to the revision OF
the Tonking convention regarding land
telegraphs but she has postponed dis
cussion with China of the cable contro-
versy, as she desires to secure facilities
for extension of the submarine line to
Vladivostok China, it is stated here,
considers the attitude taken by Japan
to be based upon impossible claims, and
Japan, it is averred, is taking advantage
of China's complications with Great Brit
ain in order to postpone the negotiations
regarding Manchuria. She has delayed
drafting the new postal convention, which
was promised for November.
Travellers arriving here complain or
what they call the organized incivility
and In some ceases even the brutal con-
duct of the Japanese trainmen and
guards on the Manchurian railway.