A FEW years ago the kidnapping of a Chinaiian in the Foreign Settionnent and his conveyance into the city, where he has been made to confess under torture—at least so it is reported and the report is' no doubt true—that he is involved ina conspiracy against the Empress Dowager, the common enemy of all foreigners in China, would have stirred shanghai its depths. The Municipal Council would not have rested until the man was handed back, and the Consular Body would not have been appenled to in vain to protect the liberties of the Settlement. As to the illegality of the arrest in Hongkew on the 22nd there is no question whatever; the Chinese officials have acknowledged it by their action in getting a warrant stamped after the man was arrested.
We have now been favoured "upon high authority" with the official view of the matter, and it is just what we might expect from officials anxious! to make excuses for their inaction. For this inaction we do not blame} the British officials; their instructions from home are said to be that they are to avoid trouble with the local Chinese authorities, our hands being tied, as these authorities know, by the war in South Africa. Accordingly we are asked to believe that "the statement as to an illegal arrest having been made at all is without foundation, although the action of the runners may have been irregular" (the italics are ours). But if there is no foundation for the statement that any illegal arrest was made, where was the irregularity on the part of the runners, and why was warrant subsequently obtained?
We are further told that the victim "mounted of his own accord into the brougham which was provided for his reception, and that no coercion whatever was employed." It has never been suggested chat any violence was employed until after the victim was outside the limits of the Settlement, but is it any less a kidnapping because the victim was persuaded to come by some false story and was not violently carried away? Another paltry excuse is "that the party referred to is known asa dangerous conspirator, who is capable of creating disturbances in the Yangtze Valley and who had been notified that the authorities were looking for him." What has that got to do with it? Certain regulations for the arrest of accused persons in the foreign Settlements have been framed and agreed to by the Municipal Council, the Consular Body, and the Chinese authorities, and these regulations were wilfully set aside. A Chinaman, even though he "is capable of creating disturbances in the Yangtze Valley" cannot legally be arrested in the limits of the Foreign Settlements without a warrant signed br the Senior Consul and executed wit! the aid of the Municipal police, and then the accused must be taken before the Mixed Court magistrate and the foreign assessor, and a prima facie case must be made out against him. As we have said already, nobody wants Shanghai to become an Alsatia, or a centre from which plots against the Government of the empire can be directed, but to say that it shall not be a harbour of refuge for natives who are obnoxious to the local authorities, is going a great deal too far. The absurdity of it is that the party of these reformers whom such people as the Empress Dowager and Li Hung-chang are anxious to hunt down, will probably be in power jin a very short time. One great aim of the Allies is to take away the Empress Dowager's power altogether, and yet foreign officials can be found in Shanghai to assist in doing her bidding.
Kung Chao who was kidnapped illegally on the 22nd may be a dangerous conspirator. Kossuth, Mazzini, Mario, Garibaldi, and many others were dangerous conspirators, but no British or American official would give up such men to their enemies without trial. As the illegal arrest in the present instance was made in Hongkew, the U.S. Consul-General would naturally take a special interest in it, but he is unfortunately absent from China, and his locum' tenons is obviously more familiar with religious than political problem We hope that the American Association will follow the example of the China Association in protesting if it be true that the Cousular Body are not moving energetically in the matter. We residents
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.