To'the Editor of the ""NorrH-Cniva Dany News."
Sm,—Before we decide whether 'a man or a nation has the right to commit suicide, let us sce just what the word "suicide" means. To my. mind, there seems to be three different kinds of suicide.
The first kind may be called accidental suicide, Attempting shoot a bird, a man accidentally shoots himself. Such a suicide is unintentional and unforeseen and. therefore out of one's control. It is. strictly not suicide of all.
The second kind is deliberate suicide, Man sets his heart to kill himself; or he voluntarily allows himself to be killed by another, The determining factor here is the mind, not the hand. If there is the resolution to end one's own life, it makes: very little difference whether the act of killing is committed by on own hand or by another's hand. A man who deliberately allows "him welt to be run over by a car is committing suicide. But a woman who prefers death' to dishonour, a soldier who rushes into the thick' of the battle to get himself killed, the martyrs of the cause of freedom and of truth: shall we say that these too fare committing suicide?
No man will deliberately commit suicide for nothing. Life is dear to all of us; and when one determines. to end one's own life, it can only mean that some higher purpose is at, stake, That higher purpose may seem to us not sufficient reason for committing suicide; but it does not appear so to the man himself. The man may err in judgment, but. he does not err in committing suicide, Have we any right to pronounce our judgment against a Luerctin who. Will not survive her dishonour o a.
Count Nogi who will not outlive his own master? If to live can only mean perpetual misery, has one not the right to end that misery by seeking death? Shall life be preecrved at all cost? When the tyrant commands: "Obey or die shall be my reply? To disobey is to seck death, that is, to commit For if one is determined it is suicide even if one does not take the trouble to kill oneself.
One dies for a higher purpose here; but what deliberate suicide is eve committed without a higher pur pose, real or imagin No deliberate suicide can ever be frustrated, A- man who tries to frighten others by committing suicide and who considers himself fortunate if his act is frustrated: such is not real, but mock, suicide. And mock suicide does not deserve the name of suicide at all, Real suicide is often a heroic and noble thing. What earthly law cun purus a man who really intends to commit suicide? What docs it matter to such a man if his burial is unaccompanied by burial rites? God alone has the right to judge him a deserves; it is for us human beings to stand in awe and revarenes.
There remains a third kind of suicide—one partly foreseen and only half deliberate. An opium smoker partly knows to what evil consequences his habit will lead him; but he simply winks at it with. out any effort being made to save himself. Such a man has no desire to die; but he is so overpowered by some other desire that the result will be his death all the same, When Mr. Cheng Chi-woo writes, "A man has his own right to commit suicide, so has a nation," I perfect ly agree with him, The meaning of suicide here is the real, deliberate suicide. But "when he speaks of China committing suicide, he has unconsciously shifted to' another ind of suicide, For assuredly China is not deiberately seeking to destroy herself, She is merely drifting to her own ruin in spite of herself. Mr. Chen's hypothe right, conclusion is wrong, although his
T cannot agree with those of your correspondents who think China has no right to ruin herself, because she owes an obligation to the world at large. 'The whole idea of service to humanity is obnoxious to me. What mercantile idea that of buying and selling is! Must China, for the. World's sake, always buy' from the world or sell'to the world? For the world's sake and not for China's own sake? Suppose T have a tomer who wants to-commit so ide. Shall I say to him, "You have no Fight to dic because you ave the! obligation to buy from me China owes an obligation first to God and then to herself. She will serve the world not because the because that love God has implanted her heart naturally prompts her into it, 'The moment the world presumes' to demand service from China, that moment China will refuse it altogether. We are free men and owe the world no tribute. When the whites are excluding the coloured races. from Australia and America, what hypocrisy to demand of China open door and free trade? What you expect others to do to you, you must first do it to others your-
The world, ¢ 0, is drifting to ruin in spite of itself. The competition in trade, the struggle for power have brought the powers nearer and nearer to another terrible war. China is not the only nation which half-deliberately committing suicide. Why is reduction of arms ment impossible? Let the other nations keep on increasing their armaments; but why should we not reduce it all the same? We are afraid this will lead to ovr own destruction; we will not commit suicide the face of our dangerous competitors. Here is exactly the world's tragedy; no nation is willing to be a martyr to the cause of truth. With the higher purpose at_stake, no nation is strong enough deliberately to commit suicide by making herself as innocent and helpless as a child, None of us will trust God and truth; we trust' only ourselves. Would that our dear China in future stand firmly for truth, always been her ideal to do itt suicide m yet prove the salvation of truth and of the world.
Tam, ete,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.