The L-G-ship The "Shunpao" on Saturday published an article purporting to cone from Peking and attacking Mr. Edwardes, Offciating—Inspector-General of the Customs. The "Shunpao" says that Mr. T. V. Soong went to Peking resolved to get rid of Mr. Edwardes, but has not been able to do so owing to support given him by "a good many financiers."
The reasons why the financiers are supporting Mr. Edwardes (says. the hupao™) are that they fear that, if Mr, Edwardes is removed, his successor not be 0 easily handled Mr. Edwardes, that the di which were -illegally is be affected, and that their Wil be ruined.. Therefore they to maintain Mr. Edwardes's posit which "will "serve two. pul bone, to, protect their interest the Government's. finance. The financiers threaten Mr. Soong that Mr, Edwardes has due ered both and. diplomatic cir 18 Tnaispensable in orcing Tarif autonomy, 1 Present the. Oficiating " Inspector General is changed it would not only cause suspicion to foreigners but would lise. make the 'Chinese' financiers Suspect the Governments. acti deter them from coming forward fender assistance to the Goverament.
There is a good deal more of a purely personal nature against Mr. Edwardes, which is not worth quot-jing. But leaving out the purely spiteful tone of what we have given, the "Shunpao's" message prob. ably depicts fairly well what not only the bankers may feel but, we strongly suspect, Mr. Soong also, By Presidential "Mandate of 1921 the Inspectorate-General was made responsible for the Domestic Lonn service. Whether these loans were issued legally or illegally, the fact remains that thousands of Chine (not merely a small group bankers) invested in them in good faith and these loans have always been looked on as gilt-edged. Any violent and irrational disturbance of it will be a failure inthe first instances, but this is not to be wondered at. "To make it a success a nation must be crained for years, perhaps even generations, cognize the duty of the individual to sink his own private feelings and prejaices and judge honestly on the merits of the case which he has before him. Nor, knowing little of the procedure of "courts, must he chafe at what he considers their unnecessary delays, but he must realize rather that in a system such as the British an enormous amount of work has been done already to eli minate extraneous considerations from the case as it is finally presented to the jary, that everything has been done $0 that the issues may be as straightforwani and Tittle complicated as possible. It is perhaps worth recalling that when case in the early days of the Chinese Republic Nantao one Chinese juryman after session of two hours rose and left the jury box, stating that he considered that too much time was being spent and he declines ¢o waste any more,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.