Dec. 29.
THE letter which we publish to-day from a correspondent in Manchuria describing the murder of numbers of defenceless Koreans by Japanese soldiery appears to be an additional account of incidents occurring about the same time as what the writer described in the letter which we published on November 28 last. On that occasion he told how nine leaders of the Korean Christian Church, with others, had gone in all good faith to the neighbourhood of Hingking, on an invitation to celebrate the Japanese dynastic festivities, how they had been arrested and subsequently put to death without trial. It was specially emphasized that these victims were in no sense revolutionaries, while some of them "had notoriously no strong political prepossessions.'" The present letter deals with events more or less synchronizing with the above but occurring in other parts, of the same district of eastern Kirin. The writer is specially moved to draw attention to the horrid story because, while the Japanese War Office has published a reply to the charges, brought by foreign missionaries, of Japanese troops' atrocities in the Chientao district, it has been silent about the similar charges in respect of Fengtien.
Accusations so grave og these cannot be passed over without comment. Notoriously the Japanese War Office pursues a policy of its own, which is not only inimical to the best interests of Japan but is strongly resented by the liberal elements in the country, who are, however, as yet powerless to correct it. But a policy which leads to the alleged killing of numbers of innocent people stands in a different category to that which has made the name of Japanese militarism repugnant in China, and demands searching investigation. With regard to the charge of atrocities in Fengtien it should be emphasized that these districts are quite separate from Chientao. Tntercommunication between the two is rendered impracticable because of distances, and still more cause of the mountainous char-actor of the intervening country. Whatever excuse, then, might have been urged for the invasion of Kirin, in the shape of the pursuit of Korean outlaws flying
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.