The year 1875 was marked by two events of great importance, in so far as this part of the world is concerned: the murder of Augustus Raymond Margary, assistant in H.B.M.'s Consular service, and the death of the Emperor, known by the style of T'sung-chi. Both events created great excitement at the time and promised momentous changes in the foreign relations of the empire; but in the one case a mission of enquiry has staved off the impending trouble, and in the other case the succession to the throne has been peacefully transferred to the infant, under whose reign of Kwang-hsü we are now living.

The news of the death of Mr. Margary reached us on the fifth of April by the mail steamer from India, but it was known to the Chinese in Peking some ten days earlier. The sad event occurred on the 21st February at a place called Manwyne, a walled village in the Sanda valley of the “Shan” territory, called by the Chinese the land of the Pa-i or “eight barbarian” tribes.