All the soldiers seemed" friendly
for information from an. affeer ttl eu but when it came to asking was a very diferent matter. The fact that a foreigner had come from Shanghai and had walked a couple! of miles through the rain to ask about the "army was China at the time and I cannot recall any barbarism on the part, of the Powers generally, _althous! jas in every war there may have been isolated cases in which harsh treatment was meted out to ho were themselves quite, Tikely guiltless, but it must be re membered that' there had been the gravest provocation imaginable and, in any ease that no one behaved better to the Chinese population than ithe British and Japagese troops, Mr. Lloyd George's reference to the financial assistance formerly given by the central government to the provinces reveals in what slough of ignorance he wallows, for every person who knows anything about China knows very well that, 's0 far from the central government helping the provinces, the reverse was the case, as the central gover: ment was entirely dependent on thi remittances made to Peking by the wealthier provinces. It was precisely this persistent milking of the provinces for the benefit of a luxurious ud corre Cour: and a horde of idle Bannermen which was one of an analogous case in quite recent history which is recollected by many, of us still in China. In 1904 Changsha was thrown open to foreign trade and foreigners for years stroeated to obtain the right to live within the city walls bot. without success, the Chinese being determin "ed to keep them outside, where all foreign non-missionary_ residences and offices are now located.
Mr. Lloyd George's third statement is so laughable for us who have during the past fourteen ye: had opportunities of seeing China republican armies in peace and war that it calls for. no comment bug it is appalling to think man who was once Prime Minister England and was once entrusted with the fate of the British Empire could be guilty of such glaring mis-Statements, and it is_ disheartening! that he should be allowed to say such things in the House of Commons without any correction from representative of the Foreign Offce, which cannot be unaware of their falsity though possibly not appre-clating their repercussion in this country. To read a speech like thix makes one despair of the people of England ever realising the true stave circumstance, and instead of being able to put questions the representa-five of the "North-China Daily: News" was asked rather more than were convenient to. reply to. Not only 30, but the riesha coolie who [had acted as his guide underwent a process of erots-examination. There no doubt of the suspicion in which people from Shanghai are held.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.