July 6. In their comments on the case Mr. J. H, Thorburn the foreign munity have so far shown he utmost restraint and a desire do nothing which might em-rasa any of the official bodies their efforts in the matter. patience comes to an end, wwever, on account of the jopted, especially. when the jcinity in which the unfortunate tleman is detained has been relatives and Hends have now suffered five leeks of the most acute anxiety, in the intervening time. thing ras occurred to alleviate nounced a. definite id satisfactory action would We' resulted, but this period elapsed and apparently no has been made. In the into Mr, Thorburn's nts the Nanking Gov. rament declined the offer of the sistance of a British membi apparently one result ha that the necessary driving ywer has been lacking to bring a speedy result. When. ing with this case on June the "North-China Daily ws" pointed out that it wag an Fil test for the Nanking Govment. For that Government test has now become this to infinitely greater degree in w of the failure to secure tion after national as apart have it has been possible to tain the information that is own, and has been for come through sources apart from Government in Nanking and Soochow local authorities, it not too much to suggest that: much less time than a week cial action of the type initiate by the Nanking Government ould have been successful. li details of the evidence nave in the Government some time, and there has n_nothing ' forthcoming to! ieate the possibility of any' stantial contradiction of its racy. As has already been inted out in these columns the: niels from Soochow may be en to have been utterly theless, and in view of the ta territorial discussions sto be hoped that Nanking deal in the most emphatic anier with the obvious attitude opted there to cover up what turned out to be a very. wye blunder on the part of officialdom, Whatever ini-in the first been steadily' ravaged by the subsequent nts, and will continue to be while Mr. Thorburn remains the custody of these offic to refer to the leading cle in the "North-China Daily his" on this subject where it ferred to the attitude of the king Government and the loment of its ability to pro-
following view was ex-the country, sedi—"Tt will be expected, before, that the conduct of a ching inquiry will be order-at the earliest possible went." Tt is true that an] wiry has been set afoot, but it been of the nature to re-re the foreign communities China? The absence of seems to offer the best ion, but it may be hoped, it will yot be possible for Government to take action, h will probably have to be ig, to remedy the situation!
There is matter for regret that apparently one section in the country, presumably ultra-chauvinistic, should view the present case in the light of an utterly unimportant matter. On June 25 the "China Critic" wrote in regard to the matter:
"What right have the fore eigners to demand a better treat. ment than what is accorded to Chinese in the matter of the disappearance and alleged arrest (of Mr, Thorburn)?" Daily scores of Chinese disappear mysteriously, fare arrested unaccountably and treated brutally without a finger being lifted for them."
Were that regarded as the general attitude, it would hardly' be worth while proceeding ith any further discussions as the abolition of extraterritoriality, especially in view of the long and fine record of the Police and*the Mixed Court Assessors Th: in Shanghai in their efforts to avert this very evil. Cases without number have occurred in the past where it was this foreign element which stood between the liberty of the Chinese in the Settlement and the desire of some official to get a man within his power. It is a pity that such work should so guiekly have been forgotten, but for the time being it must be: left at that. The point is that: Mr, Thorburn has disappeared, and that his whereabouts are Known and that nothing tangible has yet been accomplished in the way of producing him to the recognized authorities. There ig full sympathy with the of the Chifiese mentioned by the "China Critic" as being treated in a similar way, and it is not encouraging to read such a statement, The point in thi however, that the ave a particular duty to perform in Mr. Thorburn's case, and the action that has so far been taken having yielded no result, further and more adequate measures should be put into practice.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.