28rd October.
Some months ago, when the preparations were being made for repay treating the foreign troops in China, many prognostications were made that their withdrawal wou'd be fol-towed by another attack on foreigners in the north of China. Foreign Governments encouraged these prognosfications by their decision to have the Legation area at Peking turned into a fortress, the Chinese defences between Peking and the sea destroyed, the railways guarded by foreign troops, and the importation and manufacture by the Chinese of arms and ammunition prohibited. The anti-foreign spirit was believed to be still active in the counsels of the Empress Dowager, she and her immediate friends having suffered very lightly for the outrages they authorised and committed in 1900. The gathering of troops in Honan, ostensibly to escort the Court on its return journey to Peking, was looked at.with not unreasonable suspicion, as it was widely believed that the Court had no intention of returning'to Peking at all. It was known that despite the Protocol, large quantities of arms and ammunition were being forwarded to the north: in fact, there was a very widespread apprehension that the Chinese Plenipotentiaiies were only ordered to consent to the demands of the Powers in order that the withdrawal of the foreign contingents might be secured, after which the trouble would all begin again, the Chinese being pretty generally confident that whatever happened they would not again be confronted by eight united Powers. It is true that the impression among foreigners in Peking was that the Chinese had received such a lesson' that they would hesitate a long time before incurring another one; but beyond the Peking atmosphere there was a general feeling that the lesson had not been nearly severe enough, and that it had not been given altogether to the right people. We begin to see now, in view of the large sums of money being sent up for the entertainment and use of the Empress Dowager, that the exclamations against the magnitude of the indemnity were all mechanical, the finances of China, hopelessly corrupt and unscientific as their administration is, being easily able to meet the annual instalments which the Powers have consented to accept.
By a well-informed foreign authority we are now assured that there will be no important anti-foreign outbreak in China, extraordinary occurrences not included, for a considerable time, say several years at lerist and we think it "may fairly be assumed that every year that it is postponed it becomes less likely to occur, In the first place it is realised that the consequences of such an outbreak would almost certainly be fatal to the independence and integrity of China, With China's usual good luck, she has succeeded this time in preserving her integrity except as far as she is permitting her supposed best friend, Russia, 10 occupy Manchuria in spite of all Russly's protestations to Europe. But if there is another outbreak, the Powers are not likely to sign another self-denying ordinance, and the partition of China will almost certainly follow. Then, it is not for the real or even the apparent interest of anyone to have a rising take place within the next few years any rate. The high officials who might again encourage a rising have more to lose by it than they have to gain. We see the central and provincial authorities everywhere showing a disposition to settle up claims, disputes, etc., to an extent just sufficient 'o tide over the present difficulties; and they probably feel-in their hearts, that they have been very lucky to get off so easily. It will be seen from what our Tsingtao correspondent writes us, thatGovernor Yuan Shih-kai himself has withdrawn his request for the departure of the German troops from the rai way where it runs in Chinese territory, and is providing the necessary ground for German barracks at Kaomi. Things like this show that the authorities concerned have deter-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.