13th July. In the latest number of the "North American Review " a learned Doctor of Divinity propounds the interesting question. "What has become of
reply is that he doesn't know. Risk-ell?" and the gist of his diplomatic ing the fate of those who venture to decide when doctors disagree, we hasten to re-assure the worthy divine that, in our humble opinion as uni-initiated laymen, there is really no cause of alarm. Hell is where it ever was. He has but to look for it in the minds of those who believe in it, and there he will find it. Some even, by virtue of certain idiosyncrasies in their own nature, are capable of creating it for themselves, In a word, the place of torment is subjective, not objective.
is no far cry from the Sheol of the Revised Version to the hell of local fears which has lately been raging in the breasts of, we fear, too many of our fellow residents, not all native. Hell etymologically is allied to an old Teutonic root " hal," to hide, a little fact which pours a flood of psychological light on the fears with which men torment themselves. Why have the Ningpo people here rushed madly to their ancestral home in the southern port, and why have their relatives hurried almost as madly to Shanghai? Evidently the cause is nothing tangible. Shanghai cannot at the same time be a haven of safety and a place marked for destruction; neither can Ningpo. That, as Euclid would say, would be absurd. The native panic therefore springs from something hidden. Each fleeing fool is first making his own hell, and then trying to escape it.
Fear admits of many degrees, how many would be seen if it were possible to collect from the three or four leading languages of the earth all synonyms and. similar terms referring to it. We do not say, nobody could, that there has been no cause of fear in any of its senses during the past week or two in Shanghai. We have apprehended a certain amount of excitement in some native circles, we have set ie work repression should it Break out. So calmly and quietly to prepare for its
much by way of insurance, not fear. We recognise the possibility of accident by land or sea, and we sacrifice some small premium asa safe but apprehension of such possibilities never deters any of us from taking a journey. Neither is there any fear as to the final issue of the struggle in which, so unwillingly, we find ourselves. Fear and dread are not for ourselves, but for the unfortunates beleaguered, battered, and betrayed in Peking.
Tt is quite in accordance with nature that most of the foreign alarm amongst us should be feminine. Woman's imagination is so much more vivid than man's, and her power of self-defence so much less, that the mere approach of physical danger overwhelms her with dread. Then, by one of the contradictory phases of her nature which no mere man can begin to understand, let her be brought face to face with death, let her remain in its presence day by day as at Lucknow, and a hundred other places, and her fear has vanished. Calm and collected, she patiently bears privation, sacrifices herself for others' good, and becomes a model of, quiet heroism. The Kirghiz proverb which allots only half a soul to a woman is then seen to be a gross libel on her sex. The women of Ladysmith, of Kimberley, and Mafeking are recent examples of what can be borne patiently and uncom-plain ingly by ladies accustomed to every care and luxury. How the beleaguered communities up North are bearing their trial we have as yet but scant details, but there is no fear that any of them will disgrace their traditions.
We are quite aware that argument with anyone "afflicted with nerves" is of little use. Itis only those whose natural tendency to timidity is controlled by an exceptionally strong will that can be reasoned out of fear. "T know I'm afraid," said an officer of this class to another who was "chaffing" him just as they were going into a fight, "I acknowledge it. If you were half as much afraid as I am, you'd turn tail and run." There spoke the man of valour. Mere bravery is physiological. A motor car might be set to charge straight up to the mouths of a battery of guns, and there are men who apparently recognise danger no more than the inanimate machine. They may be brave to foolhardiness. Courage and valour are of a somewhat higher type. Recognising dangers they boldly face them. They know the risks they run, but they do not hesitate to meet them. Were our local forces to be tried, we should in all probability find specimens of all these sorts, and the fact that we have them is one of the main reasons why local fears should speedily be allayed. In times of trouble, or in war, places are attacked only when the attacking party thinks success is to be won at reasonable cost. What is there really to apprehend in Shanghai? We will not go so far as to say fear. Ill-disposed rowdies we have with us at all times. Possibly there may be a somewhat larger percentage just now. But they are quite' wise enough to know that whatever chances they might have had months ago are now gone. Our defence force has been quadrupled, its armament has been improved and extended, and we have a number of men-of-war in port and in the immediate neighbourhood. Nothing but a well-appointed army under skilled leaders could take Shanghai just now, and (we hope this will be a thought consoling enough for the most timid of our lady friends) there is no such army anywhere in the neighbourhood, neither is there likely to be. We anticipate a quick suppression of the Boxer movement in the North, and with it a rapid lessening of excitement in other parts. Even should the rebellion last somewhat longer than is expected, the absolute safety of Shanghai will be assured by the presence, perhaps on the spot, certainly at no great distance, of bodies of foreign troops whose one object will be the preservation of peace.
Shanghai therefore is practically safe from attack for two reasons Ist, there is no adequate force to attack it.
2nd, the cost to an inadequate one would be such that no sane commander and no ordinary men woud attempt it.
In the widespread recognition of these facts will, we think, be found the cure for all unreasoning feat on the partof our women folk, and of the Chinese community generally.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.