Acne the more sanguine residents in Shanghai there is a more or less formed opinion that, now Peking is in our hands, the coming of more troops and the assumption of supreme command by Count von Waldersee on his arrival will be quite unnecessai that the " warlike operations " which were not war should be suspended, so that the diplomatists may at once enter upon Act LI, Scene L, The Council Chamber. It is only too evident that these optimists have quite misunderstood the needs of the case. Only too pleased should we be if their hopes and desires might come to pass With the rapidity that they wish; but on one condition:—that the work now begun by the allied foreign Powers be continued and ended. Judging from the telegrams received, this is the steadfast opinion, not of ourselves alone, but of the greater portion of the civilised world. Great britain, in Press and Parliament, refuses to discuss any terms of peace at the present juncture. Germany is naturally still stronger in her determination to go on, while the United States Government declares that the conditions necessary for peace have not been observed as yet. China, therefore, seems for once in her history to be unable to crawl out of a difficulty. And for good reason.
Students of her past know that, notwithstanding the reverses she has suffered every time she has come into contact with the West, her Government has been let off much more easily than it deserved, and her governing class as a whole has never honestly and openly accepted the position which treaty obligation has involved. To this day it is well-known that the main study of a great portion of mandarindom is not how to keep treaties, but how to break them with impunity, if possible. It is equally certain that the self-conceit of the people in the far interior is still stimulated to such an extent by anti-foreign falsehoods that even now the common folk do not know that China suffered ignominious defeat at the hands of Japan, but have been told and firmly believe the contrary. At our very doors there are now being sold pictorial illustrations of allied defeats by the native forces up North, who for the past three weeks have shown better marching than fighting qualities. In this way untruth becomes supreme, and the difficulties of foreigners after the crisis has passed will be as great as ever, unless some new course of procedure is followed. This we hope to see done when our German Commander-in-Chief has arrived.
A brief outline of what we think necessary will not be out of place. We arrive at it by noting the reasons of previous failure as well as the needs of the moment. In the first lace the foreigner must advertise jis power, and as native papers are few and very limited in circulation, the advertisement must take other than literary form. It must further be exhibited where it is most needed, and where its effect will be most widespread. Instinct would have taught us, as it always has, that a blow at the heart must necessarily be most effective. We have therefore struck at Peking: and should have done so in any. case. But we have been to Peking before, and our magnanimity when there has ever since been cited as proof of our timidity and of the immense power ofChina's right arm. Evidently, then, repetition of such an advertisement of ourselves is, to say the least, inadequate. We must go farther afield in the first place, and we must leave such 2 mark upon Peking itself that no ingenious perverter of veracity can explain it away. Where else? is the nest question, a question which to our mind answers itself.
We cannot too often repeat that we are not at war with the well-disposed people of China, but with the bandits, the scoundrels, the murderers of babes, the ravishers of men, and the hell-hounds whose lives the Goddess of Mercy herself would all too gladly take. Where then are we to go to show our power? We answer, everywhere, into every nook and corner of this vast land, from the Great Wall to the confines of Tongking, wherever a Boxer band has committed its ravages, there should the pun power of an allied force be felt. Fortunately, the task before us at the moment is not so immense as this. The guilty districts are nearly all as yet north the river. The heart-rending stories of massacre, actual or intended, of hair-breadth escapes and all too awful experiences, have had_ their origin in Shantung, Pechili, Shansi, and Honan. Across these on every map there are trails of blood, stains of the darkest inhumanity, and marks of such cruel savagery as must be wiped out if there is to be any hope of permanent peace in the future. To every city, every town, and every village in these districts that have been stained by the effusion of foreign blood, Count von Waldersee should send a body of foreign troops who should be instructed to take exemplary vengeance upon all and sundry who are found to have been guilty of inhumanity in any shape—those in authority especially. Those, on the contrary, who offered only the proverbial cup of cold water to our perishing friends should in no wise lose their reward. But, it may be urged, this will need many men, much money, and more time. We recognise the difficulties; but difticulties exist only till they are overcome and they can be overcome in this instance; they must be i ing peace is to result. he men are coming, they are here or neatly the money must be paid eventually by those who have created the nece: sity, the Empress Dowager and her friends, whose property should be confiscated for the purpose. As for the time, that in the present case is of small importance. The forces we have in view need not necessarily be great fighting forces. What fighting has to be done should be finished before these punitive detachments are sent out at all, and the punishment should be part of the s bsequent pacification to be effected, possibly: after an official peace ha ended the unofficial war, Each ok tachment would be complete in itself, able to take care of itself, and strong enough to impose its will on whatever authority it might meet. The whole district under its supervision would for the time being be under martial law, and in no instance must there be error on the side leniency, Justice is understood by the Oriental, mercy is not. We have before now made the final mistake to believe that the opposite is the case, that kindness and a forgive ing spirit would win hearts of stone. It should not be made again. There is a language of deeds as well as of words. It is useless to talk in a tongue unknown; it is quite as useless to act so as to be non-understandable.
There is therefore ample work for Count von Waldersee on his arrival. We hope to find in him an officer as stern, strong, and inflexible as we know him to be distinguished and capable. We shall b> glad to find that he has been imbued with the spirit of his Imperial Master, and that he comes thoroughly determined, with the loyal assistance of the Allies, to track the Boxer, whether he be Prince or peasant, to his lair, to haul him forth, and on his unworthy carcase to do full and unrelenting justice before the eyes of the civilised world and in the presence of as many of the 400,000,000 of his flesh and blood as can be got together. It is the last great task of a great century.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.