of Anhui, were transported up the Yangtsze in an attempt to
restore the situation by a savage display,--but that effort came to
nought.

The situation had become truly appalling in Peking. It was even said
that the neighbouring province of Shantung was to become a separate
state under Japanese protection. Although the Peking administration was
still nominally the Central Government of China, it was amply clear to
observers on the spot that by a process of successive collapses all that
was left of government was simply that pertaining to a city-state of the
antique Greek type--a mal-administration dominated by the enigmatic
personality of Liang Shih-yi. The writ of the capital no longer ran more
than ten miles beyond the city walls. The very Government Departments,
disgusted with, and distrustful of, the many hidden influences at work,
had virtually declared their independence and went their own way,
demanding foreign dollars and foreign banknotes from the public, and
refusing all Chinese money. The fine residuum of undisputed power left
in the hands of the Mal-administrator-in-chief, Liang Shih-yi, was the
control of the copper cash market which he busily juggled with to the
very end netting a few last thousands for his own purse, and showing
that men like water inevitably find their true level. In all China's
tribulations nothing similar had ever been seen. Even in 1900, after the
Boxer bubble had been pricked and the Court had sought safety in flight,
there was a certain dignity and majesty left. Then an immense misfortune
had fallen across the capital; but that misfortune was like a cloak
which hid the nakedness of the victim; and there was at least no
pretence at authority. In the Summer of 1916, had it not been for the
fact that an admirable police and gendarmerie system, comprising 16,000
men, secured the safety of the people, there can be little doubt that
firing and looting would have daily taken place and no woman been safe.
It was the last phase of political collapse with a vengeance: and small
wonder if all Chinese officials, including even high police officers,
sent their valuables either out of the city or into the Legation Quarter
for safe custody. Extraordinary rumours circulated endlessly among the
common people that there would be great trouble on the occasion of the
Dragon Festival, the 5th June; and what actually took place was perhaps
more than a coincidence.

Early on the 6th June an electric thril