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weeds, proceeded to attack them with a hoe, as the Rev. C.E. DARWENT attacks Buddhism and the like? There is not so great a difference between the herb o' grace sold by Mr. DARWENT and that by the native ecclesiastical gardeners. Most religious declare that they can elucidate the problem of existence, the solution of which is beyond the natural power of reason, by the super- What human natural way of revelation. creature can judge between the rival revela- tions of the foreign missionary and the native priest? We dare not, and we are bound, impartially, to put them on the same footing. Happily or unhappily, the Rev. C. E. DARWENT helps us to do so. that Chinese religions are not true, and that his is. Professor JENKS had said that "if there were superstitions in the Chinese religion they could be got rid of and the pure gold would remain. To the preacher's mind this argument presented itself like this: there were two men who wanted some rice, and there way a great heap of rubbish with grains of rice scattered among tons of stuff. Ther: was also a measure full of nothing but rice. What would be the use of someone telling one of these men to go and pick the grains out of the rub bish heap when there was a lot of it all together in the measure ?
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He says
Very naturally, but without justice, Mr. DARWENT likens his own cult to the pure rice. Referring to Chinese superstitions, he waxes sarcastic, and asks:
"What about the water god with the yellow body, eight hands, eight feet, and eight eyes? What
about the kitchen
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
gods who went up the chimneys in such numbers at New Year time? What about popular Buddhism P It was all very well for Sir Edwin Arnold to give an account of au idealised Buddhism, but how did it work out as the popular Chinese religiou ? The stories of the births of Christ and Buddha should be com. pared! When Christ was born angels appeared and saug" Peace on earth, good will to men,' That was worthy of the coming of Christ into the world. Buddha's mother, when he was born, saw an elephant with six tasks. preacher went on to give other illustrations of Chinese superstitions, comparing them with the Gospel story, and showing that the search for truth among Chinese superstitions would be quite futile."
thus:
The
so.
[February, 20, 1905.
The Rev. C. E. DARWENT has every | been figuring out big dividends, was ap- right to his own faith, but no moral right parently to disappointed to try again, or to jeer at the faiths of others.
select a fresh place. He cannot understand what soldiers can want with a strip of sand
from
THE SOUTH CHINA FIS.¡ING INDUSTRY.
was contem-
(Daily Press 17th February.) Four or five months ago, we reproduced a northern contemporary a report that a Chinese company
a Grimsby plating experiments with trawler, with a view to developing the Whether this native fishing industry. report inspired him or not, it was about the same time that the French commercial
agent at Haiphong, M. GEORGES VILLAREM, broached a similar project for Indo-China. We are in receipt of a parophlet by him, entitled "Pêcheries du Tonkin," in which he unfolds the schem?, and explains why it did not succeed. The commercial importance of a business so intimately concerned with the staple food of large masses of Chinese is first emphasised. He explains how more fish is enten salted and dried than fresh, and describes briefly some of the methods of preparation. The primitive methods still
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the edge of the sea, and pathetically exclaims, “mystery and good will!" He also speaks of the General as an old soldier who is unable to realise the importance of true colonisation, the sanctity of commerce,
On the 25th December, a date- and so on. which should have put him in a kinder frame of mind, he writes "Brave homme val" Genoral CORONAT's departure is not yet announced, however; so that was pro- bably taken as the Gallic equivalent of the
Arrah 00."
go Seriously, there was Irish probably a better reasoù for the refusal than M. VILLAREM has thought of. It may be that the Colonial Government hesi tated to encourage the taking away of the livelihood of the numerous native fisher- men and their intermediaries.-M. VILLAREM thinks his project would not do that, as his employees would fish the deep sen, but he says nothing on tlie point of capturing the native markets for which the present fish- ing populations cater.
THE TERMS OF PEACE.
(Daily Press, 18th February.)
One
In various quarters, the terms upon which peace can be re-established between Russia and Japan have been already discussed. Although it would seem premature to speculate upon then before the war is con- cluded, there are still some salient features, which have been from time to time debated to such an extent that it is possible to arrive at a fair conclusion as to the manner in which they are likely to be treated, when a final settlement has to be arrived at. of the chief points that will have to be settled is of course what will have to be done as regards Manchuria. It was Rus- sian aggression into that country. that was the primary cause of the war; and unless all that has been done is to become futile, no definite peace or settlement can Le arrived at unless a stop is put to Russia's pretensi ns in that direction. One thing appears to be certain, and that is that the independence of Manchuria, from either Russian or Japanese domination, will be strongly pressed by any foreign nations who may be able to influence the final decision in any way.
employed by the Chinese and Annamite fishermen are referred to, by which the hundreds of junks that work in the Gulf of Tonkin obtain such comparatively poor harvests. Many of these junks go from Pakhoi and Hoihow to the island of Cà-Bâ, off the port of Haiphon, where the salting and exporting of fish gives employment to numbers of people. An estimate, supposed to be conservative, puts the quantity sent to China at 838,372 kilogrammes, 309,094 kilos. to Cochin-China and Annam, and 173,000 kilos. transitant pour le Yunnan. Pakhoi alone has four or five hundred juuks engaged. M. VILLAREM's idea was to form a company with a capital of 200,000 francs, in hundred franc shares, to build steam trawlers of Philippiues timber, of from forty to fifty tous capacity, to bring the very latest gear from France, and expert skippers from the Mediterranean fisheries. Natives would not be able to manage the patent nets he describes, which are lo ered and raised by means of steam win llasses, and have "pockets" about two hundred feet long and about thirty feet wide. The chalutier would have a very sharp prow, and steam so fast that the fish would be driven in a deuse mass into this sac or poche. On shore, at some
The policy of the United States in this point handy for railway and harbourage, a little village was to be established with
matler has been already definitely declared. ateliers for the drying and preparation of It will be recollected that, just before the war broke out, a treaty was concluded the catch, The expensive refrigerators used at Home would not be ecessary on the between the United States and China by ships, which would return at intervals with telegraph, (a mode of communication never their catches. Such fresh fish as would be before used for a final diplomatic settlement) required for local towns could he quickly by which it was agreed between America sent in special boxes. The bulk would he and China that Mukden should be opered dri d and salted in the native fashion, for up to foreign trade. The significance of native consumption. Fish glue could be this convention at the particular time is uuufactured from the fius and other re- manifest. It was equivalent to declaring mains, while the residuum would soon find that the United States recognised formally He selected a that Manchuria still remained under China, use among agriculturists. place near the rapidly rising port of Vinh, in other words that the United States between which plice and Hongkong he entirely ignored Russian claims to author.ty foresaw possibilities of a regular service of in that quarter. This action was as definite steamers. After certain dredging opera- as it was prompt, Its meaning was unm s- were finished," big takable, and the Russian Press did not tious now going on steamers could get in in all weathers, and disguise the annoyance which it produo:d the railway to be completed this mouth at headquarters. That opinion on this (February) would bring Hanoi within ten point in the United States has not sincə He applied for a coucession of changed we have had abundant proof. hours. about fourteen or fifteen acres of any Recently we read from the correspondent of each near Xuan-Dam, où the island of a London paper in Washington that precisely | Chc-Bâ, on which to erect the manufactories, a similar attitude was sustained there, it store rooms, and workmen's dwellings. It being asserted in official circles there that General CORONAT EX- the restoration of Manchuria to China would was not granted. plained that this territory was reserved for military purposes. M. VILLAREM, who had
That is where the only reply possible becomes paitiful, and repugnant to us; but are these reverend bigots to go unreproved, while they show the irreverence that we would gladly avoid if they ould let us? We can minim se our offence by closely paraphrasing Mr. DARWENT's own words, What about popular Christianity? It was all very well for the Rev. C. E. DARWENT to give au account of an idealised Christianity, but how did it work out as the popular foreign religion? What about angels? Are these " gaseous vertebrates' any more reasonable conceptions than the elephants with six tusks? If we must choose, we prefer the latter, for we have seen sheep with more than the regulation number of legs, but we have never met a human body that had wings, except on the "Reli- pantomime stage. SAVAGE, in his
the Light of
Darwinian gion in the Theory," says: "It is one of the standing charges of the Church against science that it is materialistic. I must in passing.
Bay, that the whole ecclesiastical doctrine of a future life has always been, and still is, It teaches materialism of the purest type. that the material body shall rise, and dwell in a material heaven." True Buddhism | does not teach that, and we believe the more enlightened Churchmen at Home no longer insist on it The Rev. C. E. DARWENT who clings to medieval Christianity, is but seeking to transplant Chinese weeds with a foreign weed.
Disturbances thus lightly caused are politically objectionable, and Professor JENKS had a perfect right to say
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undoubtedly be one point to be insisted upon by America "in any settlement in which