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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[February 6, 1905.
gift than a coin that may be, and too often is, spent on something needed less; but one involves, trouble, and the other doesn't. Such indolent benevolence blesses neither him that takes nor him that gives, and is a positive injustice to those who give more wisely, and to the place to which bad char- acters are thereby attracted.
regard to it. Her own instincts would be do not run much danger of paralysis. | charge of indifference as culpable or more to revert to her old policy of profiting by What is needed, and this was our chief so than that of the curmudgeon who never Far from sharing a "noble others' quarrels; and, after allowing the object, is to see that their gratification gives at all. Japanese to do what she herself ought to follows fair and proper channels, doing good impulse," they are ignobly gratifying a natural one in an ignobly lazy manner, have done, in checking Russian encroach by encouraging the deserving to make a ment, to claim her old sovereignty over good fight against adversity, and doing no throwing alms to the beggar because it is Manchuria and to endeavour to get it back harm to the community at large by en- less trouble than to refuse, and much less both from Russia and Japan. If she couraging worthless and even dangerous trouble than to write a note to those who succeeded in this policy the present war characters. The objection that much of | make it their business to see that charity is would be £8 useless 25 was the
war the money subscribed to charity organisa-judiciously exercised. No one will deuy between China and Japan. The old-tions filters away in administrative charges that an order for food is a more sensible standing cause of the difficulties would be is trite, and not in all cases true. Although unremoved, China would be as weak and correct in many instances, it does not apply to as unreliable as ever, and Manchuria would the present scheme, as no part of the sums still remain open to invasion; China herself, guaranteed in the manner suggested by Sir to threats of invasion, and Japan to the MATTHEW NATHAN could be applied to the ex- serious menace to her independence, to re-penditure of the Benevolent Society. Indeed, move which (when no other means were the Society will certainly earn its title by possible) she went to war.
undertaking the duty of getting people to become guarantors" of monies which it must hand over intact, in specified sums, RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS. to another institution. The end which both
(Daily Press, 3rd February.) institutions have in view is undoubtedly the
The revolution in Russia is by no means game, and if it be correct, as HIS EXCELLENCY
We have been thinks, that the Benevolent Society has a brand-new agitation. better opportunities of eliciting support lately told, by Russians, that it is the than the Sailors' Home, it would indeed be work of the Russian duplicate of our Little a gracious act on the part of the former thus En land party, that it has its beginning in One the current war, that it is being carried to lift up the hauds of the lattor. of our correspondents to-day makes the out by worthless characters, in the pay of The Church, somewhat startling suggestion that sixty Russia's enemies, and so on.
as in duty it feels bound, is on the side of dollars is too high a sum to charge for the subsistence of an out-of-work sailor during constituted authority. In the absence of each month of waiting. As he backs up trustworthy information to the contrary, we assumed FATHER GAPON to be an en- his assertion by figures, the accuracy or otherwise of which we have not yet had thusiastic young fool, a visionary, with time to investigate, we hope the point he impossible dreams of a Russian millennium. raises will be the subject of serious discus- The Holy Synod calls him "a criminal sion when the scheme comes under con- priest," whatever that may mean; but his sideration. In reply to a query addressed conduct in espousing such a dangerous cause to him, he said that to the best of his know-should be taken as evidence at least of ledge and belief, the Sailors' Home is not sincerity. The Holy Synod also takes up being inspired handicapped by a heavy ronta!, so that, the tale of the "civil war judging superficially, sixty dollars does ap by enemies without, to handicap Russia pear an excessivo charge to make, especially in her struggle with Japan; and assures in view of the fact that many of the hotels the Russian strikers that they are disobey-
ing "God's commands "* and boarding houses, conducted solely for profit, charge only 880, while offering in Emperor's. return a cuisine which no recipient of charity, however honest and deserving be may be, has the right to expect. Either there is some legitimate expenditure which our correspondent lins failed to take into account, or the Sailors' Home is one of the institutions, already referred to, which fritters away in administrative extravagance monies that should be devoted almost wholly to the real purposes of its foundation. In forination on these and other points should be promptly offered to the public, for which purpose we will spare as much of our space as is possible. The suggestion of our other correspondent that the House of Detention (Daily Press 2nd February.)
is a semi-prison needs, we feel sure, We would commend to our readers, and to be greatly qualified; but this point particularly to those who may attend the
we must reserve for later comment, Re- forthcoming meeting of the Benevolent turning to the scheme of the GOVERNOR, Society, the scheme of His Excellency the we are inclined to favour it, not be- GOVERNOR to the relief of destitute and cause it is the idea of a man in high deserving sailors n this Colony. The attilace, but because wo are convinced of tude we have felt obliged to take with
It may be anticipated that other foreign nations will have something to any in this respect; and their views as a whole will largely influence the policy of China. There can be very little doubt that the interests of foreign uations generally, so far as the furtherance of commerce and the mainten ance of peace in the Far East are concerned, lie in the same direction as those of Japan. It is not to their interest, speaking general- ly, that any one of them should make definite conquests in China, and it may be hoped that the lesson taught by the war with Japau may cause those who may be disposed to a policy of aggression to pause and count the cost. The true policy of foreign nations is to exert their whole influence at Peking (and if they would only loyally combine, that influence would be very great) towards inducing the Chinese to arrive at an under- standing with Japan in the first instance, and indirectly with them, such as will pre- serve the integrity of Manchuria and with it that of China herself. If China insisted upon Japan leaving Manchuria altogether, in the hope that the jealousy between Japan and Russia would enable her to re-assert her dominion over that territory, and should she be able to induce foreign nations to assist her in that course, the old troubles would be certain to arise again. It is quite true that Japan has no more right than Russia in Manchuria, nor, apparently, does she wish to establish her domination there; but she does want some security that the country will not again be left open to be seized by Russia; and in this no one can deny that the interests of all other nations (und the interests of Russia herself, if she rightly understood thein) are at one with those of Jupan.
HONGKONG CHARITY.
regard to the foolish sentiment for and thoughtless encouragement of the beac comber as a type doos not debar us from sympathising with gonuine need, and in the scheme unfolded in our correspondence column yesterday we perceive possibilities of susuring that local philanthropy may reich the maximum of merit with a mini- inum of waste. Our comments on the
the ability of the Sailors' Home managers to distinguish deserving cases, bocause we feel strongly that such discrimination is imperatively necessary, and because we have often been told that the authorities of the Sailors' Home have been unable to do all that they wished in numerous cas 19. The idea of those who think it better to bestow eleemosynary doles upon several unde- serving ones rather than to miss belping one deserving, is kind, but impolitic, for stood in one quarter, whence the suggestion roasous that should now be sufficiently comes that they tended to benumb and obvious, without further elaboration here, paralyse "the most kindly and noble im- Those who persist in giving a dollar hera pulses" of our tellow colonists. There is and a dollar there, instead of enquirin; no need to call such kindly impulses into and supporting some such scheme as "noble." They are natural, and being so, I the one suggested, lay themselves open to
beachcomber nuisauce have been misunder-
a
as well as the The connection between the Russo-Japanese war and Russia's internal colic can be made apparent only in the theory that the persecuted mice have discovered that the best time to play is when the cat is busy elsewhere. Other- wise, the desire to play is an old standing one, and the outside enemies of Russia have nothing to do with the present outbreak. Japan will regret it rather than rejoice at it, for in affording Russia such an excellent excuse for failure in Manchuria, it tends to minimise the triumph of the Japanese forces. So long ago as 1857, and, for all we know, long before that-but certainly in 1857, an agitation for a Russian constitu- tion was recorded. It arose in consequence of the attempt of ALEXANDER II. to eman- cipate the serfs; and curiously enough, as in the case of our own Magna Charta, the tirst move came from the nobles. In ex- change for the surrender of their feudal rights, the nobles demanded a constitution. Shortly afterwards, there was a proposal that the nation at large should be allowed to declare its will by means of elected re- presentatives, but ALEXANDER II. consider- ed that the embryo Parliament would be unwieldy in point of numbers and pro- bably disorderly for lack of experience in Debates would generate, public business. it was thought, a class friction that would be altogether insupportable, so a compro- mise was effected in the election of forty- six provincial_committees consisting of land-owners. These committees were en- trusted with the discussion of the emanci pation scheme, and the preparation of reports for a Formulating Commission.” It was four years later that Alexander II.
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