To the Editor of the i Noxru-Cuiya Datty News.
Str,—I cannot refrain from expressing to you wy admiration for the artless simplicity of the letter by " Britisher" which aced your columns un Saturday mornin; Some refuse to subscribe to relief funds, Vecause they have more pressing claims on wir bounty, or because they cannot afford [it ur for some such trite reasons as these, all excellent in their way. Not sv your currespundent, who determines tu sift the whole question to the bottom and sv reduce ethics tu a scicutitic basis, Let us see how he sets to "Tf the Chinese won't assist their distressed brothers I am sure the foreigners re will not do ssu.
Could anything be plainer than that? But stop a bit, Mr. Britisher. You have assumed a youd deal in that if" of yours, haven't you, or clu you forget the to million tals appropriated by the Chinese for the relief of distress in Chi Perhaps you choose to ignore official act and confine your attention to private ben valence. Even so, I fancy you have ove loked the contributions by the native guilds, the work accomplished by native benevolent societies and the labours of private philanthropists like Chin Ju-chi, or the Unnamed native gentleman who succeeded in collecting from his countrymen in the south a sum of no less than Tls. 300,000. That argu "t quite clu; your premiss is too shaky, The Chinese have assisted and will assist, nay, even now are assisting their distressed fellow countrymen!
Well then, says our heavy friend, not to be lightly taken on the flank, well then, he they do" the ingenuousness with which he once more covers his retreat with an if—"'the money ought never to go through the hands of Chinvse." O Dlessed innocence A Daniel come to judgment yea, a Daniel! 0 wise young judge, how I do honour thee. to go through the hands of Chinese!
Who'sa denijing of it, Betsy said Sairey Gamp. I thought the appeal was issued to the ures for the very purpose of i se charity iutu foreign channels of distribution, But there! what a thing itis to be learned and see ssu much farther into a milestone thay other people But "charity begins at home" pleads Britisher, for once forgetting to cover his retreat. "Very well, Dut where, O most learned judge, does it end! For the present in Ireland, says Britisher, oblivious of Me. Stanhope's denial. Will'the Chinese help you there he asks. We will not stop to consider what kind of charity it is which pauses to enquire how much per cent. it is likely tu make out of its benevolent attempts to ameliorate the condition of the race, but if, whicl heaven forefend, famine is for us in Ireland, outside vations as warriily as we more than vnee have done before.
And now having displayed his absolute ignorance at every stage of the enquiry, Britisher concludes his interesting letter with a valuable summing-up. relief fund for the Chinese is so much money thrown not Britisher's made to sup-by argument, or it teresting to watch a master j mind at We must rest content with his ipso dizif, and no doubt the intelligent public of Shanghai-will not fail to estimate at its proper value the opinion of one who has shown himself ssu well qualified to judge.
They say that against stupidity even the gods fight in vain, but when profound dulness is found allied to an ignorance so extensive us Britisher's, the task is well nigh hopeless alike to guds and men, Tt were worth the tial but for the interest excited by his fatuous attempt to set his nonsense masquerading in the guise of robust common sense." Listen tu me," he cries, 'I am none of your emotional sentimentalists, no logic-dupping faddist I, but a plain, blunt, honest Britisher. No pretence about me, sv hearken to my hard, practical, common sense My dear Britisher, you do it very well. You wear the lion's skin bravely, but you j make your friends anxious when' you kick your heels sv high. And really that last Hod of yours did' sound just a little like a bray.
Tau, ete, Shanghai, 12th October.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.