We are often called on to note the progress China has made in the lust quarter of a century and ave assured that the China of to-day is a totally different coun-from what it was twenty-five years ago. In some respects it is, and we would be glad if we could congratulate the nation on its achievements. Unfortunately' we are forced to confess that have grave doubts that the encomiums bestowed on this country by its self-styled friends are deserved. Few residents China would agree that China hetter governed to-day than she was then, During the quarter of 4 century under review mili-has grown like the genie that escaped from the fabled hattie. It is like poison ivy! wrapping itself around the tree p of national life and rapidly]
ing it.
Our Hangchow correspondent] reported, in a recent issue of this paper, an incident which casts a lurid light on the subject; we axe discussing, He had learned that the cemetery in the City of Chuchow, which cental ed the graves of eight mi sionaries, two children and number of Chinese christian: who had been massacred during the Boxer fury of 1900, had been desereted. The graves had been opened, the poor remains se: tered over the ground and the tombstones broken in pieces. Now, this is an atrocity for! which no excuse is possible. There is no country in the world in which the desecration of a grave is not reprobated the gravest and most despicable of crimes. In China, in former days, this was a capital offence and those guilty of it were com-paved to the parish dogs that] haunt the environs of city walls where unburied infants are sometimes to be found. It is said that the local official, hearing of what had taken place, visited the cemetery and gave) the caretaker twenty cents "small money" to collect the bones and dump them into a hole in the ground. But what shall) we say of China's progress and of the chivalry of her nationalist! army when an outrage of this kind is possible? It is so senseless, that it serves no purpose but to demonstrate the mentality of the ghouls who could find it in their hearts to carry out their! gruesome task.
To understand the underlying} thought in the mind of the sol-dives who did this thing we have! to go back to 1900. The massaere in Chuchow was so. un-Provoked that it evoked deep resentment. When the madness was past and a a settlement was being discussed, the British Minister demanded that the bodies of the martyrs should be; collected and given a public! funeral as an apology for the foul murders that had been perpetrated. A consular official was sent from Shanghai and the, taotai and local officials attended; state. Chinese and foreigners re buried side by side and er each grave was placed neat white tombstone. The governor' of Chekiang gave an assurance that the graves would be kept in repale and that undertaking has been observed all [these years until a detachment off Southern troops conceived the {the idea that there was no better way of showing their contempt! for foreigners than by- insulting ithe dead. We decline further characterize their action but will eave the world to judge the ethics of a movement that is supported by troops conable of such an act, We have seen what the British government did in 1901; it remains to be seen what it will do fin 1927. The chances are that it will do nothing. We have sup-[ped full on horrors; we are becoming calloused by the reps tion of outrages. We have b advised to obey the injunction that if smitten on one cheek we should turn the other. We did so and those who hate us promptly smote the other and {then turned us round and kicked from behind. It is related in the Sacred Edict promulgated by the Emperor K'anghsi, that a man, noted for his forbearance, Jonee asked a friend what he would do if one were to spit in his face. "Oh," w.
would wipe it off and say no more about it." 'The querist replied, "That would be a bad plan, for you would irritate the man by wiping it off." "What would lyon do?" he was asked. would let it dry on," was the re-ye' all further 'We have got to the point now of letting our insults! Jdry on, but whether that will leave further trouble remains to seen, We have had the Wanhsien episode, the Hankow dé- Dado, the ruin' of trade in every port on the Yangtze from Chin-|} kiang to Chungking and the indelible stain of the Nanking In every one of these!
we have allowed the: spittle to dry on. There is a letter in a recent number of the British Weekly," the leading Nonconformist newspaper Britain, The correspondent writes of the murder of Dr. J. Williams in Nanking and suggests that he contributed to his death by saying to the man who robbed him "Good-bye" or "Tomorrow see again." He quotes ith approval an article in the Literary Digest" which warns bank clerks when dealing with hold-up bandits to avoid all unnecessary movements "as they are dealing with men under} intense nervous strain and the slightest misunderstanding may result in death." He says this advice is equally applicable to} missionaries, They have to consider the "intense nervous} strain" under which the bandit! ly working. They themselves are surrounded by yelling demons prodding bayonets _into their stomachs and flourishing loaded revolvers under their] noses but, of course, that entails} no nervous strain at all; let the! spittle dry on.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.