146 



CHINA. 



was denounced, it appears, by a member of 

 the body of censors, in a memorial to the 

 throne, which, while accusing him of too great 

 admiration for England, of being on bad terms 

 with his assistant envoy, and of having writ- 

 ten an indiscreet account of his voyage to 

 England, based its principal accusations against 

 him on the criticisms of his policy and social 

 demeanor which have from time to time ap- 

 peared in a Chinese newspaper, called the 

 " Sh6n-Pao," published at Shanghai, and owned 

 by a British subject. Immediately on his ar- 

 rival at Shanghai, the Minister set to work 

 to take the opinion of counsel in relation to 

 bringing an action for libel against the " Shen- 

 Pao," and intimated his intention of using 

 every remedy, legal as well as political, against 

 a journal which had done him such wrong. 

 The steps taken by him induced the Shanghai 

 paper to retract all it had said against Kuo, 

 and the latter accepted the apology as suffi- 

 cient. The Shanghai correspondent of the 

 London "Times" calls Kuo "tlie most intelli- 

 gent Chinaman that Englishmen are ever like- 

 ly to see accredited to England, and the best 

 and rarest type of the Chinese official." Tseng 

 Howyeh, son of Ts&ng Kuo-fan, the famous 

 Viceroy of Nanking, has been appointed, in 

 place of Kuo, Chinese Ambassador to England. 

 He will have two secretaries of legation, one 

 stationed at London and one at Paris, two at- 

 taches, several interpreters, and a number of 

 servants about forty persons in all. 



In May and June General Grant paid a visit 

 to China. At Tientsin, on May 20th, a grand 



CUSTOM-HOUSE, SHANGHAI. 



banquet was given to him by the Chinese au- 

 thorities in the principal native temple. The 

 Viceroy of Chihli, the Commander-in-Chief 

 and Grand Secretary Li -Hung -Chang, pre- 

 sided. At Peking he received attentions such 

 as had never before been bestowed upon any 



foreigner. Calls were exchanged between him 

 and General Kung. 



The "Shen-Pao" of Shanghai, the leading 

 native paper in China, published an edict is- 

 sued by the two Empresses-Kegent of China 

 which systematized and reorganized the diplo- 

 matic service of the empire in foreign coun- 

 tries. Henceforth China will be represented 

 abroad by ambassadors as well as envoys, and 

 will have consuls-general, consuls, etc. The 

 monthly salaries are fixed as follows: For am- 

 bassadors, 350 ; for envoys extraordinary, 

 300; for resident ministers, between 200 

 and 250 ; charges d'affaires and consuls-gen- 

 eral, 150; consuls, 125; and vice-consuls, 

 100. The resident medical officer on an em- 

 bassy will receive a monthly salary of 50. 

 These salaries are to be paid through the cus- 

 tom-house at Shanghai. The Chinese diplo- 

 matic representatives will also be repaid all 

 expenses to which they may be put for lodg- 

 ings, traveling, diplomatic dinners, horses, and 

 carriages. Henceforward every ambassador 

 and envoy will be bound to telegraph direct to 

 the two Empresses in all cases of emergency or 

 pressing importance. But the regulation that 

 no ambassador, envoy, or consul-general should 

 be continued in the same post for longer than 

 three years is still retained as a fundamental 

 principle of Chinese diplomacy. 



After the subjugation of the rebels in Yun- 

 nan, the Chinese Government set to work to 

 convert the Mohammedan rebels to the state 

 religion. The Yunnanites had hitherto with- 

 stood persuasion, theological argument, and tor- 

 ture with stolid reso- 

 lution ; so the manda- 

 rins intrusted with the 

 task of weaning them 

 from their dogmatic er- 

 rors adopted the cun- 

 ning expedient of mak- 

 ing it worth their while 

 to become idolaters. A 

 recent imperial decree 

 ordained that every 

 Mohammedan publicly 

 renouncing his faith 

 should be exempt from 

 taxation, and that this 

 privilege should be ex- 

 tended to his descen- 

 dants for the period 

 of one hundred years. 

 The actual convert, 

 moreover, should be 



^^^^__ distinguished by a 



mark of imperial favor 

 a peacock's feather 

 or cap-button, accord- 

 ing to his condition in life. Meanwhile, the 

 Chinese Government caused five thousand 

 gods, of every orthodox variety, to be manu- 

 factured for the especial benefit of the Yun- 

 nan metropolis alone. These deities were set 

 up by the police in the porches and court- 



