ded July, Great popular movements have usually one central cause. There may be many subsidiary stimulants, but they are not as a rule of sufficient force to cause a rising in themselves, however much they may tend to swell the number of malcontents. The Boxer movement has unquestionably had as its raison détre, hatred of the foreigner, mingled with contempt. As such it received the smiles of the dominant party in Peking: on such it based its hopes of success. Who then is responsible ed by the local Press, representations for the present position of atti Primarily, of course, we must blame the originators of the Boxer movement itself But we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that they have been' acting under a sense of wrong in one direction, of support in another, and of culpable indifference in a third, and amongst these it will not be difficult to apportion the differing degrees of blame.
From whom then has the sense of wrong originated? From tivo sources—the one political, the other religious. If we could but fora moment see ourselves as the Chinese sve us, we should recognise at on that our unblushing despoilment, and proposed despoilment, thinly veiled under the phrase "spheres of influence," was sufficient to arouse the deepest animosity in the heart rio tic native, except such all hope of regeneration from within. It is not necessary to enlarge upon this political cause of the present unrest. Neither need we dwell upon the religions side of the question, for that too 1s allied to the political. The Chinaman of rank troubles himself no more then Festus did of old in matters of creeds and formularies. He does resent interference with his temporal power, and properly so.
Suill, great as these disturbing di elements have been, th not all. But for the support of the Empress Dowager and her friends, the Boxer isi woud have run the usual ug course—a local excitement, much noise, some looting, a riot or two, a little blood-letting, and then the end.
he approval of Peking, and the cooperation of native officers and troops have turned a mere local rising into what is dangerously near a national outbreak. Excitement easily spreads in summer tim ud were it not for the loyal attitude of the great Vicoruys we should before now have fonnd ourselves on the edge of a continent in arms, That we should be utterly unprepared for it was only to be expected. The Ministers in Peking have probably realised by this time that the Empress Dowager's coup tat was not merely the petty family nobble they affected to believe it as. Onluokers proverbially see most of the game. Here in Shanghai we not only saw it: we saw through it Next, therefore, to the partition error, and \o what seemed to the Chinese the mischievous assumption of authority by the political missionary, we attribute our present difficulties to the culpable misjudge ment of events by our Ministers.
There are yet others, but for them we have to go farther afield. The influence of our Home Governments upon China has not been altogether good. However well served" they may have been, at times, by their representatives, however well inform have received scant attention. "Like the deaf adder that stoppeth her cars, charm we never so wisely," sums up their customary attitude, which of itself is serious enough, but when companied as it is in England by a maudlin sentimentality, a pseudo-humanitarianism, which usually as-societe themselves with certain meetings held in Exeter Hall, a consistent policy is in its true sense impossible. Not in the sense in which the arm-chair __philan-thrapist employs it, for with him
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.