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"REMEMBER THE MAINE
ALSO THE MIKASA.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
(Daily Press, 4th March.) Nearly two years ago the world was as- tonished by the explosion and sinking of the Japanese battleship Mikasa. The great war bad been finished, and peace declared; and the ship, which as Admiral Togo's fing- ! ship, had borne all the burden of the fight, bad returned for refitment to Saseho. The Admiral had gone up to Tokyo to pay his respects to his EMPEROR, and the greater part of the crew had either been discharged 'or were on shore on leave, when, without a moment's warning, the big ship, the finest and newest of the entire Japanese navy. which had only arrived from England to take her part in the outbreak of the war, burst into flames; and the Ames mys teriously communicating with the magazine, the entire ship blew up, and instaneously disappeared beneath the water. Most of those on board, cous sting of a portion of her crew, and of some who had been hastily summoned from the other ships in harbour to assist in extinguishing the flames, were either blown to pieces in the explosion, or carried down with the ship, so that no direct evidence was available as to what had really occurred on board. The nation at large had been dissatisfied with the terms of the peace arrived at by the Government, and this dissatisfaction had in Tokyo broken out into mob riots, and there were not wauting those who attributed the explosin to the wilful act of some discontents on board the ship herself, who thus sought to take revenge for a supposed slight on the victorious navy which had recently covered itself with glory at the battle of Tsushima.
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the tendency to instability of the compound Under the circumstances the British authorities had arrived at a compromise, and accepted a compound which although not giving the missiles the greatest velocity practicable, was yet under all conditions of service the safest. Not content with these results the Japanese, conceiving they had discovered a method of relucing the risk of explosion, intro luced into its service a higher class of explosive. It was possibly correct in its conclusions: its higher explosive did undeniably tend towards the | successful issue of the war, and as long as the war lasted un evil results orcarred, so far as any outside knowledge at least, goes. The large stock on board the Milani wa possibly invlvertently left on board; and it was the spontaneous combustion of this that we suggested was the cause of the explosion,
Thấy c -
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(March 9, 1907.
IDEOGRAM◄ AND IMPERIAL
COHERENCE.
(Daily Press, 5th March.) The manner in which President RoosE- atte npt to introduce VELT'S fanciful improved spelling into the English language has been received affords an interesting illustration of the power of an established written character-in China, for example. An alphabetical form of writing is not in reality purely phɔnetic. After it has been in use for any long period it becomes to a large extent practically hieroglyphic. The
sound of the words is more or less indicated by their spelling, but after a time the written word in its entirety is taken to stand for the thing or idea it indicates, and thus is no longer phonetic, the whole word being grasped at once by the eye and conveying its meaning to the mind of the reader | irrespective of the sound stributed to it, as definitely as an Egyptian hieroglyphic or a " character." This stags once Chires- reached, the familiar signs soon come to have an extraordinary power over the minds Thev of those wh› are familar with them.
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Experts hesitted to give a final opinion pendling the raising and thorough examina. tion of the interior of the ship, but the damage proved so much more intense than was at first estimated that it was only the other day that the big ship was refloated A complete examination, though of course · looked upon in a way ago'd friends with judgment cannot under the circumstanes whom most people—but more especially be consider d ́infallible, goes to show that those of literary tastes - are very loth to part. the teary of spontaneous combustion is President RoGREVELT may be
powerful most consonant with the conditions; and enough to do away with Trusts or even to it may be now considered that the heavy bring about an amendment of the American weight of suspicion that for a time hung on | Constitutio – in respect to the indepen·lence the honour of the Japanese navy may be of individu d States, but he is unable to alter looked upon as
once for all dissipated. | the spelling of the English language. This is doubtless satisfactory to Japan as experiment in that direction by having his a nation, and more especially to Admiral | message to Congress written with his own Togo as a commander; and we
peculiar spelling was certainly a bold one ; gratulate him on the removal of this last but it was met in a thoroughly characteristic slur on his reputation. But the incident
manner. The papers simply translated the seems possibly to throw light on another meange and gave it in the ordinary spelling. Under the circumstances it was cleuly ta bistoric explosion, the effects of which have However much they may be in favour of the advantage of Japan to court the fullest since seriously affected the balance of power freedom in a general way, it is evjølent that enquiry into the circumstances, and to afford throughout the world. Under not altogether American Editors as a body don't agree the fullest information in its power as to dissimilar conditious the American warship with Mrs. POYSER that spellin is an what actually happened. During the war Maine blow up when quietly at anchor in the invasion of the right of private judgment." the world had seen with unmixed admira- harbour of Havara. The cause was equally If this is the feeling as in established tion the unanimity of purpose which had mysterious, but so much was mit then
written forms where the spilling is, at least actuated the entire nation; and had enabled known of the ordinary b haviour of these in theory, phonetic, we er form some dea it to throw an impenetrable veil of secrecy high explosives. The evidence what little of the affection and reverence with which over all the movements of the army and there was seemed to point to treachery the Chinese are known to regard their navy at home or at the actual seat of war somewhere, and it was a moot point whether written characters, and how difficult it would be to indues them to make any change. The equally. This capacity for concealment, it occurred amongst the crew of the war- fully understood, as it was, by every in- shin, op was a deliberate outrage on the character indeed has been one of the chief dividual in the empire, was a valuable help | part of someone connected, ›r in sympathy, binding forces that has kept the Empire in the conduct of the war, and 43 with the Spanish Government whose rela together. The spoken dialects may vary to ftions with the United States were emne such an extent that Chinoso Trim different undoubtedly one of the chic,
Pable feeling ran high Provinces hate great difficulty in communi- success in the list great battles about | siderably strained, Mukden; but its necessity had passed, on both sides, and so far did it go in the eating with each other verbally, but they have always ns a last resort the written and. to put Japau at rights with the States themselves, that, however reine- world at large, it would have been more con- tautly, the Government a Washington was language which is known to them all; and sonant with the interests of the nation in compelled to declare war. The consequence | this forins a tie of much more than mere
was, of course, the case of the explosion to have court d
the loss of Spain's colonia¡ ; literary force. Fuded it has probably done the fullest. investigation. This, un- possessions, and the establishment in thể l more to kep Chine together than anything Pacific of the United States as a colonial else. The Chinoman feels a certnia com- fortunately for the honour of Japan, was
Power. Now that the verdict has been munit. with all who understand his written not done, but every attempt, as in the other
given in the case of the Mikaer of accidental ¦ language. Had thic not been the cise the case of operations in the fiel 1, was made to throw a veil of mystery over the entire explosion, public opinion has gone back! drift of Chinese thought would no doubt on heard the, hava teen very different from that which it affair.
We at the time in commenting to the similar explosjou the catastrophe pointed out
its Maine.
Was it not possible that the asper-¦ har ken. With a common written langusge sions cast on hath sides it the heit of argu- the diffe ent Provinces have all studied in i advisability, and showed how the silence
That the original the same el assicul books. They was giving the enemies of Japan a handle ment were bota equally unfounded? which they would certainly make the most past is gone beyond recall, but it would | read the works of the great classics with of. The result was, as we at the time fore- tend to a removal of many sorenesses, could on board the unfortunate explosion be shown these saw, the story of a mutiny came to be generally credited, and Japan arisen from circumstances beyond the coa. and the Japanese navy were lowered con- siderably in the estimation of the world. At the time too we suggested that the real cause of the explosion was spontaneous. The British Government had been largely experimenting with explosives; it had found that in these high explosives there was always a tendency towards instability, and that in these picric acid compounds the higher the explosive the greater became
on
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trol of either.
It is notified in the Gizelte that Frederick Ogden Amy, third class inspector in the Sanitary Department, has been suspended from the exercise of his office for corrupt practices, with effect from the 2ith ult., pending the
decision of the Secretary of State for the Colonies regarding his dismissal from the
Government service.
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Various
pronunciation assigned to the charact rẻ, to the characters themselves have, to all, the same meaning. Had an alpbabetted sy dam been adopted, the spelling in the different Prov nces would no doubt have varied as the pronunciatio · of the words changed and, instead of different d alerts, we should in the course of time have had different langunges, apd with the diffrent languages in all pro- bability different political ideas and aspira- tions. The Classics would no doubt have held their own, but in many parts of China