July 26, No words are needed to deepen the horror that will universally be felt at the tragedy of the two poor little girls at Kuling. Whatever hope of possible exaggeration there might have been at first, there is clearly none now. At any time and place such outrages excite an indignation which readily excuses any vengeance wreaked on the criminal. In the case of Kuling this feeling is if possible intensified. In the past, the attraction of these _mountai resorts has always been that children could "run free," without the anxieties that ' follow them with such close guardianship elsewhere, And more than this, Since the Communists Grove all foreigners from the mountain last year, great efforts have been taken, especially by Chinese officials, to induce the la ter to return and to assure them that there need be no misgivings as to their comfort and security.
On this point we have had two or three letters from correspondents at Kiukiang and Kuling during the past three months. On April 22 our Kiukiang correspondent described the installation of Mr. George Chang as Mayor of that town and De-nce Commissioner of emphasis was laid by Mx. Chang on the question of Kuling: He stated that, as Mayor of Kiu-long and Deputy Defence Com-rissianer, he would be responsible for Kuling... He was anxious that foreigners should! return to Kuling fas in the past and hoped that many of them would go there this summer. He would guar antee their safety. He had troops Stationed at Lienhuatung, Nanking and Shaho, and he was Guite sure that, while his men field: those strategic positions, no trouble could occur on the mountain, Mr, Chang went on to speak of the improvements he wished to introduce at Kuling. Unfortunately there were now very few foreigners in residence, no taxes were being paid and improvements necessarily cost money. "He therefore appealed to his foreign friends to persuade their acquaintances to return to Kuling to the end that the resort should thrive again." Two days later, in a letter from the top of the mountain we read:—
The British Consul residing at ang has now withdrawn any objection to his nationals proceeding to Kuling and the local magistrate Mr, Wen has been doing his best to assure us that every effort will be made to make Kouling pleasant for the foreigners.
'This is the same magistrate, apparently, who signed the guar. antee paper of the little girls' assailant, to enable him to join the mountain police force. No one would suggest any doubt that he did so in all good fait But, having signed the paper, Mr. Wen will naturally feel that a double responsibility devolves upon him to hunt down the miscreant.
The Kuling outrage is indeed atest case. It is not an affair of lonely missions being looted by mobs deliberately incited to ti-foreignism, or by ill-disviplived soldiers marching for but of an unspeakable crime committed by one-of the supposed protectors of a holiday resort to which foreigners have been pointedly urged by Chinese officials to return. We do not doubt that Mr. George Chang of Kiukiang, who is highly spoken of by many foreign friends, will feel the disgrace and will do all he can to punish it, But in this connection it may be emphasized that the behaviour generally of the Kuling police does not seem at all what it should be, judging by the reports quoted yesterday from the "Hankow Herald." It looks as if discipline were slack and the guarantee payers evidently need overhauling. Again, the criminal in this case may make good his escape. It wai once the old experience in Chin: that when officials really meant to catch an offender, they very seldom failed. Whether that is 80 or not now, we do not know. But whether this brute is caught or not, somebody in authority ought to be made to pay the penalty. It will not be enough from any point of view, that of China's honour not forgotten, to express deep regrets and promises of what will be done and when the man is caught. A foul crime has been committed by a member of a presumably organized force and the superiors of the criminal are directly responsible for his misdeeds.
One further point. In the later news there appears a distinct tendency on the part of the aggrieved family to hush up the affair and the American Consul at Hankow appears unable to get the necessary details on which to act. One need not have children of one's own to sympathize with the parents in so dreadful a case and to understand how anxious they must be that as few people as possible should know what has happened. But one must nevertheless urg= them most strongly not to hold back from their own official representatives whatever informa. tion may be needed for justice to be done to the utmost possible extent. We venture to think that the strictest conception of Christianity ought not to prevent their doing all they can to help in getting this crime fully requited, And there are other parents to remember and protect.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.