Nov. 1.
We reproduce to-lay a star ling poster which is being widely placarded in West China. Its virulence recalls the days of Jo Han and the Yangtze riots of 1891; and particular attention may be drawn to the fact that the upper picture is not merely anti-British but anti-missionary, In the other, the old lie is revived about Great Britain arming and supporting Wu Pel-fu, which is probably a counte blast to the undoubted fact that Soviet Russia arms and finances Feng Vu-hsiang and Chiang Kaishek; and although the Wanhsien affair was a direct reaction against the piratical doings of Wu Pei-fu's lieutenant Yan; Sen, it is here twisted into an absurd accusation that it was meant as retaliation on the Nationalists, who had defeated Wu Pei-fu. But the mere absurdity of a lie is unfortunately no protection against its eu rency in China, One very grave aspect of the situation westwards of Hankow is that the Cantonese are deliberately violating the mails and holding up packages of propaganda in the interests of truth. The post, office at Hankow has insisted on their being sent forward from this point, but there is too much ground for believing that they fare stopped further on before reaching their destination, Another serious phase of Nationalist activities is the revival jor rather uninterrupted continuance of the boycott in South China. Our columns have contained so much news on this subject during the past fortnight} that there is no need to go into details again. But it is clear that both at Swatow and Canton, matters are very little, if at all better than they were before Mr. Eugene Chen announced that the boycott was being taken off; and in our yesterday's issue a letter from Changteh in Hunan described a violent outburst of the boycott in that province. The writer's statement that ninety-nine per cent. of the population are opposed to the boycott is merely repeating what has been common knowledge all through and unfortunately makes no difference to it efficacy, although, with a view to future action, the fact should be borne in mind. again of the boycott. Bither the Canton Government have deliberately reimposed it for reasons of their own, and nothing has happened internationally to show that these may be: or Eugene Chen and his colleagues really wished to stop the boycott, but find themselves helpless in the grip of the strike-committee monster which for too long they have allowed to have its own way. In our issue of October 1 said:—
The point to emphasize is that the Canton Government, by calling off the boycott when it suited their purpose to do so, have confessed that the boycott was always theirs to maintain or terminate as they pleased, If there is any revival of the boycott, Hongkong will know exactly why, There could no longan be any pretence (on Canton's part) of shifting the responsibility. And what it has suited the Canton Government to take off, they must not be allowed to reimpose.
The course of action now demanded is exactly the same, whichever explanation of the boycott we take, If the Canton Government have deliberately veimposed it, they are guilty of 'a piece of international piracy, for which they must be called to account. If they cannot help themselves, then Canton is in a state of anarchy and Great Britain will simply be helping the cause of law and order by taking immediate measures to protect her nationals. What those measures should be has been evident to moss people in China for fully seventeen months. Two days at most of effective blockade of Canton would settle the whole matter, The example of the Wuchow pilots and the curious haste of the Canton Government to call the boycott off within a few days of British marines being sent to protect wharves and cargo at Canton, is evidence enough of that, But the boycott is only a particular manifestation of a general state of things which directly concerns all Powers. For the moment Britain is the prineinat scapegoat, But the undoubted truth cannot be too often emphasized, namely, that any sign or prospect of success against Britain will speedily be supplemented by the outrages against other Powers. This is evident from the wave of a1 attempt now made to deprive Belgians of their extraterritorial ights. For the time being, those nations not directly in the line of fire may think to curry favour with the Communists and by adroit toadying to reap benefit from Great Britain's misfortunes. But as surely as night follows day, their turn will come. Two terrible influences are at work in China: the frenzy of the extremists, which, 18 history but too plainly shows, whether it be labelled nationalism or Boxerism or anything else, grows through lack of opposition to unimaginable excess; and the poisons of Moscow who openly declares that her ait is to reduce China to the same state of anarchy and ruin to which she has reduced Russi:
Are the Powers waiting for massacre before they can be brought to acknowledge that the welfare of the Chinese people, not less than that of their own nationals, demands that they shall take action for the deliver-
With unimportant variations, the crisis through which we ' are passing can be paralleled at least three times in the last hundred years. And always the Powers have tried to put off the evil day of recognizing facts, until things had gone to such a pass that they were compelled to act far more drastically than would have been necessary if they had: acted sooner. Ther is still one possible way out, It is provided for by the Wash-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.