25rd June Cuina is the only nation in the world that could have so mixed up the world as to leave the present in as much doubt as the future; and to have concentrated within her borders the fire of so many nations, yet, at the same time, have it so indefinitely understood as to whether that fire was provoked by the Government of China or was caused by some other agency. The situation is so mixed that the beginning and the end are alike involved in obscurity, and it is here that the peculiar genius of China shows in old relief.
But, unless all the signs in the West prove mistaken, the day for the awakening of China is near, and still there is uncertainty, because there are so many nations that must be present at the awakening, and at best one can only conjecture.
The announcement that Li Hung-chang has been summoned to Peking, from his viceregal yamen at Canton, recalls the part that he is supposed to have played in the palace revolution which two years ago overthrow the Emperor and reinstated the Empress Dowager as the head of the Chinese Government. He goes to Peking at the request of the Empress Dowager, and with the view of directing the moves on the diplomatic board to perpetuate her rule. If that is allowed then China will sooner or later again mix up the world, and it will not be long before the farce of sending only Legation guards to Peking will be repeated.
There was some reason why Foreign Powers declined to inter-fore to prevent the Empress Dowager from enjoying the success of her plot to overthrow the Emperor; such Powers could evade interference so long as there was no violation of treaty rights, but the sun was never clearer in the heavens than that the policy of the Empress Dowager, since her reinstatement, has not only been inimical to treaty rights but sanguinary to the life of foreigners and arsonlike towards their property.
There is no proof before the public that the soldiers who wear the uniform of the Chinese Government have been employed to suppress the riotous mob which has been howling under the walls of Peking and murdering within those very walls, and all in hearing distance of the palace of the Empress Dowager. The sanctity which international law throws around the Legation of a Foreign Power and all its inmates has been savagely violated, and such inmates compelled' to seek protection under their own military flag. And ere the assurance is scarcely given, that itis not China that is making war on foreigners and foreign property, a battery, over which floats the Hag of China, fires upon unsuspecting war vessels and many brave men are killed and wounded.
Such are a few facts which cannot be disguised when the time comes to negotiate. There are likely to be others to evolve from the present obscurity, but in view of those now known the first prerequisite to any negotiation should be the restora~ tion of the Emperor and the absolute and final retirement of the Empress Dowager: and the negotiations should be conducted on the part of the Emperor by a representative he may select and friendly to him and his known policy. The Emperor should be removed from the influences which have retarded the progress of China, and enabled to feel sure of his seat upon the throne.
For again to recognise the Empress Dowager, or to permit Li Hung-chang' to appear in the negotiations, would leave unsettled the great questions relating to China, which all ave anxious should be settled, in order that the ability to disturb business may not be within the compass of a palace revolution or palace politicians. It would be a blunder, aggravated by a seeming approval, among Chinese, of the conduct of the Empress Dowager, and could not be excused upon any grounds of morals or humanity.
The attempt to hide herself and her criminal intentions behind the degradation or execution of a few officials is her old game, and a shameless shifting of responsibility which cannot be decently allowed by Foreign Powers. No one believes that the Viceroy of Chihli favoured the rioters in his viceroyalty, and doubtless he would have suppressed them had not some unseen counsellor counselled inactivity; and to countenance the farcical policy which the Empress Dowager has repeatedly practised for years, under the apparent toleration of Foreign Powers, until she has cause to feel that she can continue to practise it with impunity, is a criminal injustice to innocent and helpless Chinese subjects.
The opportunity is now offered of settling the Chinese question upon a basis that will prevent it from again appearing asa disturbing factor in the diplomacy of the world, and it is j hoped that the most powerful nations lof the world, with their civil and military representatives on the spot, will not adjourn until a well-defined policy has been formulated and agreed to. The possibility of China's future trade is too great to be dealt with on uncertain lines, and the value of her present trade, and the large interests of foreigners in China, justify the expectation that there will be no more trifling with these important subjects. Apply the knife to the root of the evil and all will be well,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.