Oct. 9. committed by soldiers in Nanking upon Johnston, Commissioner of Cus toms in that city, is not a matter to be passed over lightly. In the capital city of the: National Government an inoffensive foreigner, who is moreover a servant of the Government, has been set upon and not only robbed but brutally kicked and beaten and left unconscious on the ground, That the Government itself is keenly aware of the disgrace to its "reputation which' such an outrage entails, we may well believe. If soldiers cannot be kept in proper control in the capital, what are th likely to be elsewhere? Crimes of violence may occur in any city, that is not disputed. But these are not generally associated with soldiers, for whom discipline is, or should be as the breath of life, and when they occur every effort is made to punish the guilty. But, the crime having been committed, it Wasa Vital mistake to attempt
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.