eed, after taking counsel together, that he should
not be suffered to take advantage of his official rank as a cover for
lying evasions, gaining time with false statements, in dread of
incurring punishment."

Immediately upon receipt of this memorial a decree appeared in the
Peking "Gazette" ordering Li-sieh-tai to be degraded from his rank, and
commanding him to proceed at once to Yunnan for trial before the high
commission.

As we have said before, we think Li-hang-chang's account is
substantially correct. There are a great many circumstances tending to
exculpate Li-sieh-tai from any wish to have Margary murdered. Had such
been his wish, he might more easily have disposed of him when he passed
through _en route_ for Burmah. Moreover, at the very time of Margary's
murder, Mr. Elias, a member of the expedition, who had struck off from
the main body in order to explore another route to Momien, was
entertained by Li-sieh-tai at Muangnow, a town at some distance from the
seat of the murder. Though completely in his power, Mr. Elias received
all possible civility compatible with a determined and successful
opposition to his further advance. Now it seems absurd to believe that
Li-sieh-tai felt any stronger personal dislike for Margary than he felt
for Mr. Elias.

In regard to his complicity in the attack on the expedition, the
evidence is just as strong on the other side. He had a deep and by no
means unnatural prejudice against English exploring parties. The last
mission of the kind had entered into negotiations, as we have already
mentioned, with the enemies against whom this Chinese general was
prosecuting bitter war. The smouldering embers of the rebellion were not
even yet entirely extinguished; the presence of an armed body of
foreigners, no matter how small, who had previously shown a friendly
disposition toward the Mohammedan usurpation, might awaken new hopes in
the breasts of the still surviving rebels. This feeling, combined with
the jealous wish of the border merchants, both Chinese and Burmese, to
retain a monopoly of the overland trade, undoubtedly inspired a general
feeling of hostility among the local officials and the people, which
found a ready instrument in the greedy and savage character of the
frontier tribes. Where so much combustible matter was heaped up, it
needed but a hint to bring on the catastrophe that followed.

While Li-hang-chang and the Chinese commission were conducting the
preliminary