September 23.
'THE Imperial desire for suggestions, having for their object the abolishing of the evils of race-jealousy between Manchus and Chinese, has been responsible for a debate of almost unprecedented interest at Peking. As reported in a letter we published from our correspondent at the Capital last week, for the first time in Chinese history the Grand Councillors and Ministers of State, who met to consider the question, arrived at their decisions by menns of voting. The result was the adoption, by a majority, of ten important proposals affecting the future relationship of the two races. These proposals are to be submitted to the Throne, and it is expected that an Imperial Edict, dealing with the whole matter, will be issued shortly. Now that their Majesties have become alive to the dangers that threaten the Empire so long as racial jean lousy exists, no time is being lost in attempting to effect a remedy, though we can hardly believe that the animosity that has become so rooted in the minds of the two peoples during the past two and a half centuries can be abolished within a single generation by the adoption of any proposals, however drastic. Hatred of the Manchus was one of the causes of the Taiping rebellion; it was responsible, to some extent for the Boxer meute; it un-denies almost every rebellion in China. Most of the secret societies are actuated by the same feeling, and though the march of centuries has softened the active hatred of the masses, racial antagonism fostered, even at the present day, by the artificial barriers that still maintain the fiction of a conquering dynasty, and a conquered people.
lad it not been for: these barriers, during the time that has elapsed since the Manchu conquest, there would have been a fusion of the two races—the conquerors would have been absorbed by the conquered. The Throne is now realising the mistake of emphasizing these barriers, and we believe we are on the eve of.
4 genuine attempt to abolish them, once and for ever.
First and foremost, of course, stands the question of Manchu gar-risens. More than anything else, the presence, in some of the principal Chinese cities, of these useless banner troops, has fostered hostility between Manchus and Chinese. There are twenty-two of these garrisons in the Empire, and their presence is a constant and arrogant reminder to their Chinese neighbours of what their forefathers suffered at the hands. of the Manchus. Each garrison is assigned a portion of the city as its own, and the bannermen are subject only to their own officers, even when they have committed crimes outside the limits of their own quarter. Forbidden by law to trade; living, with their families, on the miserable pittance allowed them by the Government, the banner troops lead a useless and idle existence. They are despised by their Chinese neighbours, upon whom, with a pride begotten of arrogance and ignorance, they in turn look down with contempt. In the garrison cities feeling between the races frequently runs high, and even the children on both' sides show open hostili Chinese and Manchus will not attend the same schools, The troops are notorious for their addic~ tion to the use of opium, and, as a rule, are not worthy of the name of soldiers. So long as these garrisons remain they constitute an artificial barrier between the two peoples.
Before the garrisons can be disbanded the law that forbids ban-germen to trade must be repealed. They must be encouraged to earn an honest livelihood; and then their military allowances can gradually be abolished. The custom of appointing Chinese and Manchu Presidents to each of the Ministries, which was abolished last year, is another step in the right direction, as this duplication of office frequently provided an element of dissension. It is suggested that intermarriage between Manchu and Chinese officials should be encouraged, and that Manchu women should' adopt the Chinese dress, This, it is to be hoped, will not be taken to include foot-binding, in which the Manchus have always had the better of their Chinese sisters. The army, if it is to be relied upon in emergencies, must be recruited from both races, care only being taken to select the best men.
Other suggested reforms are an alteration in the phrasing of memorials from Manchu officials, the conversion of Mongolia and Tibet into Chinese provinces, and the appointment of officials of both races, without favour, to all posts throughout the Empire. To prevent individual efforts to stir up strife it ix suggested that severe penalities he inflicted upon guilty officials. If these proposals are carried into effect a few more generations will result in the fusion of the two peoples. China has often, in the past, absorbed the nations who conquered her; she will do so again if a fair chance given her, with beneficial results on both sides. It was difficult at the time to see how any good could come from the dastardly assassination of the late Governor of Anhui; but looking backward we may yet see in it the origin of a wise and sincere attempt to fuse into a united whole the two discord dant elements of this vast Empire.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.