March 9. in conversation with a repregentative of the "N.C. Daily Revs" on Thursday, General Li Chung-jen_ expressed himself in strong terms on "the groundless rumours of war or impend war," as he was pleased to ca! them. published by this paper. General Li then went on to deny. everything "with both hands," als the saying is. Ie denied that there was any difference between Nanking and Wuhan, except trivial matters settled he denied that any troops had been moved; and by inference he denied Nanking's right to complain of the Wuhan Divisional Council turning out the Governor of Changsha, though this in fact is part of the fundamental issue which has caused all the trouble. With due respect to General Li, is it not a little childish to talk like this? We can sympathize with his anxiety, calm public feeling. Bu Oflicial démentis ought to have some semblance of probability. Denials of this sort merely make people think that matters are Tar worse than they are, In justice to ourselves and to our readers, these are the facts regarding what we have published about the tension between General Changsha by the Wuhan authorities on February 21. troops were slot actually used to do this (and General Lu has strongly asserted that they were) the circumstances were such that Lu had to get away secret ty. Within a few days it became clear that Nanking was "much incensed and that a serious issue had arisen, Now so far from being in haste to publish "groundless rumours," we kept silence as long as we possibly could, From about February 25 consultations were held in this ofice every evening over the news of the dispute that was reaching us, and we took the risk of saying nothing about it in the hope that it would blow over and because we were and tre most anxious not to suggest differences in the Nationalist party or to cause public uneasiness, But by Sunday last i was impossible to be silent any longer. Ships were being held up for transports, troops were on the move and some of the best informed of the Nationalist party did not conceal their fe: fof a breach occurring. But it will be seen that although the se of dispute occurred on february 21, and we were well aware "all along of what was happening. we did not speak of the issue that had developed until March 4, Mappily we may hope that the tanger of actual fighting has been averted. The mediators have done their work well and nese feeling generally appears reassured as to the ouzlock. The situation is not wholly satisfactory, because the basic question of the right of the Wuhan, o¢ for that matter any, Divisional Council, to expel big' officials niains in the air. of L have been and probably are st being moved into rather alarm proximity. In this matter Nanking's policy ix probably he in x position to overawe the contumacious ones of Hupeh, which in the circumstances ap pears to be a reasonable preeaution, In all such affairs the ostensible leaders are seldom the 1 contre of trouble. General 14 Chung-jen himself has bee Jaway from Hupeh for some little tume and is said to have been much taken by surprise as anyone by the Hunan corp. We may believe that he is just as xious as any Nationalist leader to keep the peace. But there are malcontents and hotheads everywhere.
The whole episode indeer appears to be a good illustration of the many wheels within wheels which continue to impede China's progress. Plainly this is a difficulty with which Nanking is contending all the time. No fair-minded men coa doubt that it contains many earnest, sincere reformers and hard workers, but it must equally be admitted that their efforts are still blocked by adverse influences. Partly this is due to the far-reaching disrupt tion of all authority which the rest years of civil war caused, Partly it is inherent in the committee system of govera-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.