}
May 15, 1905.]
46
REPÓRT
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
•*
to
one of the most powerful characters in history," it was her business to know; and living next door she was not colossally clever if she did not find out. That there were lulls in the attacks was not due to а Chinese anti-Boxer movement," but to belated doubts and fears and vacillations on the part of this venerable lady in her venerable villainies. The Japan Chronicle concludes:- i
44
301
pull together as did the Barons at Run (say there was another reform movement) | degree that Canon LYTTELTON would call Ding Mede, this Chinese septuagenarian she would promptly revert to lingch'ih excessive. One of the first things to strike would not now be claiming so much atten- practices. It 18 monstrous
say the English griffin" on arrival is that, tion. It does seem as loose to thank a that it is "practically certain" HER instead of eating to live, we seem to be living foolish monarch for "the evolution of MAJESTY did not know what was happen to eat. Accustomed to the average stodgi- Parliament" as it is not to see that happying at the Legations in 1900. If she be ness of the English meal,-soup, usually conditions un ler a weak monarch are due
thick; fish, generally salmon in bulk, if to a strong people, which the Chinese can
procurable; the joint, and the pudding, not be said to be. How much the EMPRESS
and the grunt of satiety, rather than our DOWAGEE counts as a political factor, and
sigh of satisfaction-he wonders at our how much her death will matter, may be
unconcealed devotion to prandial pleasures, gathered by an analogy we mud- some time
"Where are you staying" is always asked ago. The Russian TSAR is supposed to be
of him. The next comment may refer to a weak monarch. His people's condition is
the aspect and ventilation; but more often not a happy one. There is in the case of
it is: "Ah! The chow is first rate there." Russia another factor, called bureacracy;
By-and-by, when he discovers that the and in China the same factor is equally
pioneers who preceded him have estab- prominent. Our contemporary continues:
fished
a standard of culinary art, by "It is not generally known that Chin has a
which dining becomes an exercise pro- Constitution, admirably framed when the Man- chu dynasty was established. Every successive
ductive of most exquisite and yet innocent ruler has to swear to obey it, and they have
enjoyment, the man who comes a mere in fact obeyed it consistently. Under this
trencherman becomes an epicure. The Constitution Emperors have been impeached,
Orient is debarred from some Home plea and have submitted to trial and even punishment.
sures, but there are compensations. Instead One clause prescribes that an Emperor may be
of fads it has foods; it loses ALFRED AUSTIN removed for breach of filial piety."
and learns the poetry of eating. Its much advertised "musical dinners
Evidently the conclusion follows that the EMPEROR, having been unfilial, was quite constitutionally deposed. If the EMPEROR went so far as to issue secret orders for
the
EMPRESS
assassination of the DOWAGER," there does seem to be some question as to his weakness and folly, which were previously asserted to be unquestionable. It would bave been unfilial, and bad policy for his reigning future, to carry out such а task personally. It would have been foolish to make such an order other than secretly. It was a sign of a certain sort of strength, and certainly not politically foolish to seek to disembarrass himself of such a way and strongminded meddler with his Imperial | functions. Our contemporary, which loves to dwell upon the aptitude of the West for judging the East wrongly, no doubt has reason to describe that incident as a crime; but why proceed to gloze over the undoubted
crimes of the EMPRESS DOWAGER! We are told that "all the vituperation that has
been heaped on the head of this venerable lady is misplaced," that it is not certain she knew of the deeds done officially to KANG
Yu-WEI's followers and the reformers. Somewhat unfortunately, in view of a recent Decree, our contemporary contiuues:
K
The Dowager Empress did not make China, usages; neither can she unmake them. They have existed through many centuries, and she -can only take them as she finds them."
nor did she create its penal laws or barbarous
In that recent Decree, this venerable lady" notes that lingch'ih is "not a merciful" punishment, and commands that the laws be revised, that is to say, un-made. Decapita tion is cheerfully substituted. As for those criminals awaiting sentence under the old laws, "let them merely be summarily beheaded." Others were to be "summarily strangled." There is a confident air about this venerable lady" in the face of the penal laws her Kobe champion thinks too much for her, that says much for her present power. Our contemporary says that "if death by slicing into a thousand pieces happens to be considered an ordinary affair to the Chinese, it appears ordinary to her also; she is not to blame for being Chinese." And then former penal practices in England are referred to. What reasoning is this? The point is that judicial cruelties were abandoned long ago in England, and it was only in April last that the EMPRESS DOWAGEE decreed their abolition in China. The vituperations against this venerable lady were indulged in prior to April; if they do not cease at once, it is be- cause it is known that did it suit her purpose
The
When the aged Dowager is gone, there will be no ceutral, dominant figure in China. No Viceroy can wield so much influence. feeble Emperor will be mainly under the con- flicting influences of the foreign Diplomatic Corps; and it remains to be seen whether the Powers can be honest with each other and work together for the good of all concerned. Prob- ably not; probably the tide will flow in favour of the most powerful combination of self. interests. But with Russia's prestige gone- there will probably be no very serious or per- manent element of discord."
of
26
When there is an end to smug, mealy mouthed and only half sincere deprecations "self interest," where all parties are and always have been self-interested" in the fate of China, we may hope for saner and stronger policy in dealing with a world market at present wasted and misgoverned.
MEAT AND MORALS IN THE FAR EAST.
Daily Press, 13th May. Nowhere more than in the Far East should the receut dictum of Canon LYTTELTON, Eton's new Headmaster, on the subject of diet, be received with fitting interest. The functions which our polite Teutonic friends often end with the curious phrase “mahlzeit' are the most important in treaty-port or colonial society;
Ty
++
meal-times are the milestones of la vie Orientale; eight p.m. is the hour for which the day doth sigh." Punch has laughed at Canon Lyttelton; we will, as long as maybe, endeavour to take him Public School, and aldressing such an seriously. As the mentor of England's first audience as the Moral Educational Society of Manchester might be expected to gather together, his comments on the criminality cannot be lightlied. His con- of "chow tention that "it is well-nigh impossible for even the-best-intentioned man to live a life of physical purity if he eats meat to excess" must come closely home to many of us who are dipping into the fleshpots, of Hong- kong for instance, three times a day. True, though Shanghai is made to appear, usually by some of its own journals, as a sort of Gomorrah, Hongkong is as yet uncompared with the other place. Do we take meat to excess ? Are we all physically impure? These things it becomes necessary to ask, in view of the reports of the CANON'S attack.
"As soon as the diet is changed from meat to vegetables there is a diminution in animal desire. Menus of well-to-do people are on a topsy-turvey principle. Instead of being ar ranged so as to appease hunger, they stimulate the appetite. If cheese and sweets came first, far less meat would be eaten. Every single meal taken according to the modern menus is a distinct appeal to the passions.”
As we have suggested, the European dwellers in the Far East are by no means vegetarians. Fruit there is, and also veget- ables, though many regard these latter in dubiety; but there can be no question that fish, flesh, and fowl figure in our menus to a
are not its
only harmonious meals. Going back to the Etou faddist, it may be noted that our present admission, and KIPLING's famous statement that the Far East is a place
"Where there aint no ten command-
ments,"
But
KIPLING's line was written for effect; it was seem to support his contentions.
in no sense an affidavit. Canon LYTTELTON appears to be a mere vegetarian; and we might almost wager he is a dyspeptic. There comes a time in the life of man when, freed from foolish illusions, scorning the Dove that rhymes with Love, he turns to farcée of pidgeon; and, like Le GALLIENNE, wonders if Dinner be not the finest word in the language. The curious point is that Canon LYTTELTON's moral meditations seem to offer evidence against vegetarianism, sag- gesting that an abundance of meat diet coa- duces to health of the most robust sort. It is
notorious that the typical ROMEO is habi- tually indifferent to every nourishment stronger than noonbeams and erotic poetry, whereas the plain, commonsense person who fears nothing so much as being
"off his feed," is always pictured as the character who works and accomplishes things. These theorisings by the Head of Eton are almost certain to enhance the popularity of Rugby. It will be interesting to watch the young aristocrats of Eton evolving into
Farraresque ERICS.
STIRRERS UP OF STRIFE.
(Daily Press, 15th May). Now that the diligently cultivated “scare,” arising out of the French failure to make the Baltic Squadron quit Camranh Bay as soon as it should have done, is blown over, we may breathe again. Although we have seen a copy of a telegram, which we are not yet permitted to publish, suggesting that the "crisis" still continues, we are sure that there is no longer any fear of success for the last Russian scheme to draw a red
herring across the trail by embroiling England and Franco. That Russia was disappointed by her previous failure to
extend the war area is now a matter of
conviction; and we have little doubt that there has been a repetition of that scheming. France is Russia's ally, and also her largest creditor. The inference is that France, for her own sake, wishes Russia to overcome her enemy and, therefore, there was reason to suppose that French officials would be only too glad to lend all assistance, in Indo-China to Russia's forlorn hope. It
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