Aug. 18.
No time has been lost by China, since the presentation of the Lincheng Note, in providing the Powers with an opportunity of proving the sincerity of the intentions as there so plainly set out. Within less than a hundred miles of Hankow, brigands have sacked the city of Tsaoshih, two-thirds of the houses of which afe said to have been burnt down, they have destroyed the London Mission hospital, looted a Catholic church and, it is feared, have carried off two of the foreign priests, while the only other foreigner in the town had the greatest luck in escaping. The horror which this outrage evokes and the sympathy felt for the victims are now, so soon after Lincheng, mingled with an inevitable feeling of ''T told you so.'' But these emotions are really secondary to the painful anxiety which will be felt as to whether the Powers will vigorously act up to the measure of their recent Note.
It is apposite to point out that, even without the disgraceful affair at Tsaoshih, the Diplomatic Body already had two imperative cases on which to show that the Lincheng Note meant what it said. Even while that Note was being handed in, two foreigners were and had for some weeks been in the hands of bandits and there is still no indication when they will get away. Father Malotto, an Italian priest, was carried away from his chu'sh at Ingchen,, a hundred niles north of Hankow on June 15, presumably by the same bandits who have now sacked Tsaoshih, the latter ex-plait, perhaps, being meant to strengthen their claims for the release of Father Malotto, which have not yet been gratified. There was a rumour a week after his capture that he was to be exchanged for' some members of the bandit troop who were in prison, but nothing has come of it.. On July 6 Father Malotto was reported to be sick, without shoes and his clothes in rags. That is the last published news about him. Has any effort worth mentioning been made, either by foreigners or Chinese, to release him? Again on Jul 24 the news arrived that Mr.
Darey Weatherbe, a British engineer tramping through from Burma to Peking, had been captured by a party of Yunnanese brigands, who required $100,000 for his ransom. Three days ago we heard that he had been moved to some new place and that he was ill. Thus two calendar months among bandits for one prisoner, three and a, half weeks for the other, and nothing done to set them free. We are justified in that assumption, because it is perfectly certain that if the Chinese officials really ''meant business'? with the bandits, their depredations would long ago have been reduced to the normal small onto lowry and salt smuggling - ex-plaits which: have always been endemic in China, even in her best governed days.
Let us now recall what the Lincheng Note says in respect of responsibilities shirked and disregarded. brigandage. The quotations are long but it is important at this juncture to have the exact words and they are very interesting Brigandage having become a grave menace to the lives, property and rights of foreigners in China, the Diplomatic Body will Keep itself accurately informed with regard to this state of unrest and for that purpose it has decided on the despatch, in case of need, of its own representatives into the provinces infested by the brigands in order to examine and report upon the*local situation. When it appears to the Diploma-tin Body that a Military Governor or officer commanding troops, or that a provincial or local official, has failed or is failing in his duty of providing protection for foreigners in conformity with the clauses of the Protocol of 1901 above mentioned, the Diplomatic Body will demand the immediate imposition on the offender of the penalties prescribed therein without prejudice to such additional punishments, fines, ete., as the circumstances may call for. ~The Diplomatic Body moreover reserves the right to order the exclusion of these officers or officials from the protection of the foreign concessions or settlements in the treaty ports.
The Tuchun of Hupeh is Hsiao Yao-nan and of Yunnan Tang Chi-yao. Tt would not appear necessary to despatch special investigators to learn the facts in the case of either Father Malotto, Mr. Weatherbe or Tsaoshih. They must be all well within the* Diplomatic Body's knowledge. Now for the Lincheng Note once more The recent development of brigandage with its evil consequences, is not always caused by reason of the lack of military forces: there are at the present time in China more soldiers under arms than in any other country in the world. But these soldiers do not suppress the _brigandage, either because, not being paid, they refuse to make any efforts and_even -fraternize with the bandits, or, as is generally. the case, because the best of them are otherwise employed. As long as the Chinese Government allows the best disciplined—_ troops in China to devote themselves to those civil wars which perpetually afflict one part or another.of this great country, the national or provincial armies. will be diverted from their true task... __If the Government of China continue to authorize or to tolerate these abuses, if they do not set themselves resolutely to repress the brigandage which threatens the rights and interests of foreigners in China, the Diplomatic Body will be obliged to consider what further steps should be taken to protect the lives, the property, the rights and interests sot foreigners in a country which, although it enjoys the rights and privileges accorded to members of the great family of nations, has shown itself incapable of fulfilling even the most fundamental: of the duties which are~ inseparably connected with the rights and privileges of membership.
The only criticism we would make of this admirably worded warning is that it appears to assume that there -really is a Chinese Government—which, as Euclid would say, is absurd.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.