Sept. 15.
We wonder who the optimist was who first propounded the pleasing fable that the Chinese China is in no danger of forgetting the exploits of the brave days of old.
The northern Chinese is usually credited with being a better soldier than men of the south but the clan fights of southern China are notorious for their are a nation of pacifists. Whoever he was his characterization, though contradicted by the records of history and the facts of experience, is still believed in by the majority of mankind and is assiduously propagated that mass of unthinking humanity who, in the words of a once famous orator, are "indebted to their memory for their wit and to their imagination for their facts." Chinese history is a record of wars as sanguinary as those of the most pugnacious nations of the West. Every schoolboy knows the stirring tales of "the fighting states" and even the country yokel familiar with the names of the great warriors of that epoch for he sees them portrayed on the stage or hears their fame told in story and song by the strolling storyteller in the village teashops.—About this time (200 A.D.) lived Kwan Vu who, more than a thousand years afterwards, was canonized as the xod of war, After winning fame as the Chinese beau ideal of knightly chivalry he was beheaded by Sun Chuan, whd became King of Wu (Kiangsu) and was the first ruler who made Nanking his capital. Kwan Yu's picture may be seen in many of the shops on our streets and in the homes of the people. He appears a bronzed and bearded here bitterness and—_implacability. They have been carried across the Pacific and contribute a lurid chapter to the early history of California. It is true that in more recent years the Chinese soldier has rarely distinguished himself in battle, but there are two facts that explain, if they do not excuse, apparent pusillanimity. First, he is recruited from the lowest stratum of the people, and is always underpaid as well as untrained.—Second, in his encounters with foreign foes, he has invariably. borne inferior weapons to those with which his opponents were armed. This inferiority is less marked now than in times past and must be regarded as a diminishing quantity. If China has an army of a million men under arms, many good judges believe, three quarters of the host may be regarded as negligible. But that Teaves a quarter of a ion well fed, well drilled and well equipped troops with which an enemy would have to reckon. This may be a matter of gratulation to the Chinese but it has its sinister side. It means that war to-day is infinitely more deadly and exacts a heavier toll both in men's lives and the costs of armaments than the struggles of the past. The possession of a powerful army is, as the Kaiser discovered ten years ago, a strong guarded by a savage-looking warrior who stands behind him with a gigantic sword in his hand. It would not be fair to temptation to make war. The present war illustrates thi The question in dispute is more difficult saddle the Chinese with the! atrocities committed by the:
Mongol hordes at the beginning of the 18th century, but those who are inclined to belittle the than, say, the Ulster question." Yet the frictions have rushed into war and other military chieftains, north and south, ive hastened fighting capacity of the Chinese should remember that Genghis Khan and the other founders of to blow the trumpet for barile. How much blood must be shed, how much treasure wasted and the Yuan dynasty carved out an Empire and conducted campaigns in comparison with which the achievements of Alexand and Caesar were trivial and their how much misery inflicted the people before counsels of peace prevail no one can foretell but it is impossible, in view of these facts, still to credit the conquests most parochial.
Chinese people with a pacific The prevalence of banditry in China is no new thing. Rob Roys and Robin Hoods abound in Chinese legend and authentic history contains records of men of this class who seized the throne and ruled the country wisely and well. Han Kao-tsu, the first ruler of the Han dynasty, is a case in point. His fame such that to this day every Chinese is "a son of Han" though it is nearly two thousand years since the bandit chief became an Emperor. Chu Hung-wu, who overcome the Tartar dynasty and founded that of the Ming, in 1868, had a_ similar origin and he is gratefully remembered by his countrymen because he delivered them from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.