"You must remember," said one who professed to know, "the Consul-General is under strict orders on no account to get nto any dispute with China." Granting this to be the case, it is seen at once there is satisfactory excuse for his late apparently extraordinary action regarding the Sungpu affair, When he found the Chinese authorities had no intention of doing justice in the matter what could he do? For him to hang around the yamen door and clamour for a while would only have resulted in personal insult to himself being added to the original injury. Had he sent the case to Peking, amt put it in the hands of the Awerican' Minister who is in charge of Swedish interests there, it was possible this might have led his country into the dispute he was under orders at all hazards to keep it out of. There was really only one course open to him, namely to necept Chinese promises at. their face value express himself satisfied that the native authorities, if left to themselves, would do all that was necessary in the matter, and thereafter take his departure without dela If the mountain would not come to Mul then Mahomet must go to the m tain, there being no other option, This is a diplomatic manoeuvre which is performe almost every day in the year in China by one or other of the various ies, and it is rather hard on one Consul-General that such a storm should have been raised because he neighbours do; and no doubt it astonished him immensely.
Unfortunately for himself the Consul-General was not "brought up to the diph matic business, There was no reason the world why when he went over to the enemy, it should be with drums beating and all the lags fying. He might have known that this was a proceeding calculated to highly irritate the foreign commumties, as well as unduly elute the nati Nor was there any reason why, having gone over, he should at once show himeelf us a non the Chinese side, by attacking ims, and fixing the blame on them. It must be admitted that in order to avoid all possibility of dispute with the Chinese, this was the position be must ultimately assume, but he ought to have come to it quietly, and in such a way as would have escaped inmnediate detection. Than, while it would not have made the least bit of difference to the method in which the native authorities pleased to deal with the case, he could have got himself great praise where now he has nothing but blame. Our Cousul-General has to suffer, not because he did an unheard of thing, xs some folks suppose, nor even because he has blundered, but simply because he has been clumsy.
only is there a good deal to be said for him with regard to what he did; but with respect to what he did not do there is also nieh to justify. It is trae he never examined any of the witnesses, or went into the evidence in such a way as to have the truth about the riot put on record, formally and officially, but, such is not the practice of the officials of any nationality in like cases in China, No rickety old tub of a vessel can get boat without a due enquiry being held by experts as to the cause, Sworn evidence is tendered, the matter gone carefully into, and the verdict solemnly
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.