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942
THE POSITION IN CHINA.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND but this is not the Chinese way. Still, it is a question, at the present moment, how far the Treaty Powers ought to go in the direction of " saving Chinese face." We are disposed to think that it is not the time save the Chinese Government from
humiliation. By its own base acts the Imperial Chinese Government have brought disaster and humiliation upon themselves, and they should be made to drink the cup to the dregs. Had they chosen, they could have stopped the absurd but terrible tragedy contrived by the Boxers, and they could certainly and more especially have abstained from taking a leading part in the fiendish tor- ture and massacre of missionaries. They could also have protected the Legations, when be- sieged by howling mobs, partly composed of Imperial troops, raging for the blood of their inmates. No sentiment of considera- tion for the shrewish EMPRESS DowAGER or her black-hearted abettor Prince TUAN should for a moment,influence foreign action. On the contrary, every effort should be made to bring to justice the officials who are known to be guilty of the murder of foreign-
(Daily Press, 1st November.) The news telegraphed by our Shanghai cor- respondent relieves in no small degree the rather tense situation created by the appoint-to ment of Yu CHANG to the Governorship of Hupeh. It is now announced that ill health prevents the Governor Elect from proceed- ing to take up his new post, and that the Viceroy, CHANG CHIH-TUNG becomes Act ing Governor pending the arrival of YUAN TSU-YI, formerly Taotai of Hankow, who is known as being friendly to foreigners. The appointment of YU CHANG to be Go- vernor of Hupeh had been regarded as a distinct menace to the peace of the Yangtze Valley, that official having made himself notorious by his anti-foreign proclivities. There was no reason for his removal from Honan, of which province he is Governor, and his transference was naturally regarded as an attempt to introduce discord in the central provinces, which have hitherto re- mained peaceful and free from Boxer agita- tion. A correspondent of our Shanghai morning contemporary, writing from Han- kow on the 19th October, pointed out the serious troubles that might be expected to arise if Yu CHANG were allowed to take up his new post. He says that this man, in his capacity of Governor of Honan, did all in his power to encourage the Boxer move- ment, and
the terrible sufferings of not a few helpless men, women, and children are to be ascribed to his diabolical hatred of foreigners." He goes on to add that, if there is a man among the unfriendly Governors into whose conduct strict inquiry ought to be made, surely that one is Yu CHANG. He brackets this Governor with Yo HSIEN, the savage Governor of Shansi, who has achieved such infamy for the ferocious cruelty with which he ordered and superintended mas-
ers.
No statement that any of them have committed suicide should be accepted with- out the most convincing proof, for otherwise they would simply go into retirement for a season, until the demand for vengeance had blown over. YU HSIEN is reported to have sought this method of evading justice, but it is not the policy of the Treaty Powers to admit this as an alternative to surrender. They do not seek vengeance so much as the power to make the authors of the recent crimes personally responsible for them. It is only in this way that the mandarins can be reached. Rumour says that the Germans have shot all the mandarins at Paotingfu. This would be rough but sound justice. They might have stayed the slaughter, and they did not; they have been made to take the conse- quences. If such a sentence has been carried According to this authority the ex-Gover-out, it will assuredly have more effect than nor of Hupeh, Yu YIN-LIN, is a weak-minded, feeble old man, anti-foregn to the core, but powerless to do much mischief when opposed to the strong will of the Viceroy, CHANG CHIH-TUNG. YU CHANG, on the other hand, is, it seems, a force to be reckoned with, being a strong-minded, energetic official only too willing to forward schemes for suppressal of the hated fan-kwei. It is possible his appointment to a high office, where he would have great opportunities for undermining the friendly Viceroy, was dictated by a desire on the part of the
sacres of missionaries and their converts.
half a dozen victories in the field, where the slain would consist of ignorant coolies. We sincerely hope it will be followed by the execution-not imprisonment of Prince TUAN and the banishment of the EMPRESS Dowager. The pacification of
China and the prevention of
寵 recurrence
of the recent troubles can best be promoted by the punishment and humiliation of those who created them; no amount of indemnity and no vicarious sacrifice of life can possibly have a tithe of the effect on the people that would be caused by the picture of a host of Boxers and their tools being and whether it was practicable to treat the brought to the block for participation in the foreigners with contempt at this early stage murders and outrages. Fortunately for the of the negotiations. Our Shanghai contem-future relations of Foreign Powers with porary lost no time in speaking out on this subject, and rightly urged that the Foreign
Government to see how it would be taken
[November 3, 1900.
THE CHINA PRESS AND ITS
ASSAILANTS.
· (Daily Press, 29th October.) It is an old tradition of the legal profession, that, having a hopelessly bad case to defend, an advocate's only recourse is to abuse the prosecutor's attorney. The practise is very well understood and acted on by those of the home papers who take their inspiration from the headquarters of the Inspectorate General in London. Whenever, then, the Court at Peking has been detected in some particularly unscrupulous political act, or has contravened in some particularly bare- faced manner its engagements with the British Empire, the Legation and the In- spectorate General put their heads together, and the result is a series of leading articles accusing the English Press in China. It is a matter of perfect indifference whether the charges are true or false; few people in England make a point of reading the China papers at first band, but naturally look to the home Press to give them a collation of their opinions. They come from the end of Cable-land; and the news they contain is mostle reflected from Europe, and has, of. coursey appeared in detail weeks before But if, from the necessities of the case, the
China Press be from five to six weeks be-
hind in its comments when touching on European politics, it has means of indepen- dent information on Chinese topics which reverse the position as far as these are con- cerned. It is in touch not only with the growing population of the open ports, but has correspondents all through the Empire. It has access to the native papers from day to day, and has the means of obtaining directly the opinions of the Chinese amongst whom it is published. It has thus far better means of feeling the pulse of native opinion than the official surrounded by coils of red-tape, and, as the event has shown, was able to give notice far in advance of the coming troubles. No one in China, we know, has better means of arriving at a knowledge of current events than the office of the Inspectorate General of Customs. The Inspector General is in daily communication with the highest of the governing Boards in the Capital, and in each open port, now some thirty in number and situated in practically every province of the Empire, he has his Commissioner, whose official rank is duly recognised, and who is also in daily communication with the high- est Government officials of the locality. If, then, anywhere information in advance of the recent troubles, which have completely altered the aspect of affairs in China, were to be gained, it would have been from these officials of the Customs Department, whose special business it is to be informed on all this appointment a test of the sincerity of
subjects that coucern the administration. Not one warning of coming events arrived Prince CHING and Ir HUNG-CHANG. Whether the Ministers have taken the
at the ears of anyone belonging to this huge intelligence department, and its chief, Sir hint or not, we are not in a posi-
ROBERT HART. himself, was kept in blissful tion to say; perhaps it has been seized
ignorance of a movement foreseen and com- by the two Chinese officials referred to, and, The Peking & Tientsin Times says:-We re- mented on by the China Press months in in the usual Chinese style, a pretext get that several members of our community advance. As a fact, Sir ROBERT HART, who, has been found for delaying the transfer of are down with typhoid of a more or less pro-
we are gravely informed by these sneerers YU CHANG to his new field of operations.nounced type, an evil which was of course anti- cipated, and has been marvellously escaped
at the foreign Press in China, is our highest No doubt, the idea of making him Governor considering the altered conditions under which living authority on things Chinese, knew of Hupeh has been actually given up, but we live. Water is not the only source of in- absolutely nothing of the position, and gave the plea of ill health has been advanced to fection, but it is no doubt a primary one, and the strongest proof of this by being taken save the EMPRESS DOWAGER's face. The the greatest care should be taken in this respect. as much by surprise in Peking as the minis- old lady can, theoretically, like the monarchs Servants as a rule like using a distiller, as itters themselves, on that eventful morning of old, who reigned by "right divine," do
saves trouble, and this method is so cheap, con- when the entire foreign community found venient and effective that we wonder it is not itself caught in what was intended as a no wrong, so the appointment cannot be cancelled; it can only be rendered null on
more universally adopted. The milk is also safer at this juncture, not because the fresh
death-trap. some sufficient pretext.
and bottles may be “ milk in itself may not be pure, but the utensils cleaned " in the vilest water, and the mischief is done. Any fresh milk used should be well boiled.
Ministers should make the revocation of
It would, of course, have been far more satisfactory if an Imperial Decree had been issued, simply cancelling the appointment,
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China, it has been determined by the former that the punishment of the authors of the negotiate terms of peace. massacres shall precede any attempt to It will be time first reckoning shall have been paid in full. enough to consider those conditions after the
It therefore ill becomes the organs of these much-confiding departments to throw unworthy reflections at the China Press, to which, we may add, the English speaking public is indebted for every item of