Enclosure in Mr. Lay a despatc
No. lol of December ord, 1919.
316
M
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1919.
NO FOREIGN INTERFERENCE
ALLOWED.
A Cairo despatch transmitted via Washington says that General Alicuby, the ruler of Egypt, fins declared that he will allow no foreign interference in his 'administration of that country. From this, we infer that the Government of Egypt is being more or less handicapped iu ite work of restoring peace and order in that country by criticisms and other movements of foreigu sympatizers with Egyptian Nationalists. If so, we cau well appreciate the difficulty the great couquerer and liberator of Palestine confronts in discharging his duty in Egypt, as the Japanese Government in Chosen has had to deal with exactly the same difficulty in governing this penin- sula. It is only human nature to sym- pathize with the under dog. We are not surprised that there are many people who, mostly for sentimental reasons, take the side of Egyptian or Koreau malcon- tents, and openly or covertly aid their mischievous activities by denouncing through the press or on the rostrum measures taken by the authorities to hold them in cheek, Thore is little doubt that these people are good men and women at heart, and the motive with which they write or speak for their protégés is sincere. Unfortunately, how- evor, they often lack intelligence and wisdom enough to see the larger issue at stake, and nuintentionally do more harın than good to the people they love and want to befriend. In the case of the recent situation in Chosen, it was ag- gravated by the utterances and writings l me of the foreigu friends of the Koreau people, the latter being precisely those who suffered the worst consequences. Were the Korean people intelligent enough, they would probably cry: "Save
us from our friends!"
lu aying this, we do not mean to im- ! ply that the Japanese authorities in Chosen are entirely averse to hearing foreign criticisms concerning their policies and doings. They have beon and are always willing to listen to such criticisms, provided that they are made in a friend- ly spirit and presented to them in a way not calculated to encourage Korean agitators. But it is not at all surprising that they do not like to be openly de- nounced by foreign er tias, for besides feel-
ing their personal pride wounded, they have to face and surmount more difficul- ties in the discharge of their duties, be- cause Korean agitators, encouraged by their sympathizes, become bolder and more active in their nefarious work. It is surmisable thet the declaration of General Allenby above quoted has been toade with a view to stopping such aid. In Chosen things are gradually settling down, and foreign critics of the Japanese administration are not so loud in their utterances as before. So there is happily little need now for the Japanese authori- ties to take such a stand against foreign fault-finders as General Allenby has beeu obliged to adopt in Egypt, but it seems to us that if they again become uncontrol- lable, the Government may well follow the example of the British Government in Egypt.