'The slow quarrel between the National Government and the' North appears to be taking a definite shape and it may be use-_ ful to enumerate the outstanding features of the situation so far as they can be seen, The important fact is that Nanking! is resolved to act on the defensive. This was made quite clear by General Chiang Kai shek at the weekly memorial service in Nanking just before left to inspect the troops on the Tientsin-Pukow and Lung-Hai railways. He said that the Government saw no necessity for offensive, believing that "revolt within the rebels' own ranks would bring the rebellion to an abrupt end." Whether it docs' or not—and the very hetero-generous elements among the Government's enemies certainly' suggest that it must do so—Nanking has everything to gain by not frittering away its resources! in attacks which could bring no final result. Meanwhile, three generals have been appointed to hold the Government lines on the Peking-Hankow, the Lung. Hai and the Tientsin-Pukow rai ways, It is interesting to note that the last position has been given to Han Fuchu, When the] latter withdrew from Kaifenz, capital of Honan, on March 26, our correspondent in that city' suggested that this might have! been to prevent his having to' encounter his old chief Marshal Feng Vu-hsiang, who appears to be moving along the Lung-Hai. The fact of Han Fucchu's being! shifted to the T.P.R. bears out this theory. Precisely where he is standing is not clear, but presumably on the Yellow River just northwest of Tsinan. Shan-troops were reported nearly midway between the Shantung-Chili border and Tsinan ten days ago.
The news of Northern movements is necessarily vague, Mazshal Feng was definitely report ed_back in Chengchow, Honan. the junction of the Lung-Hai and Peking-Hankow railways, on March 22, and to have decapitate ed three generals "for lack bravery". This is the old touch, recalling the bulletin of Fredetick the Great's recovery from some indisposition: "His Majesty is better and has caned a page." From an eye-witness quoted in a Peking correspondent's message of April 12, we get a picturesque description of the Kuominchun, much heartened by their old leader's return, despite their long arrears of pay:
From this broad sui chief GUestions emerge.
First, can king hold its barriers? There seems no reasonable doubt. that it can. It might possibly have to give up Tsinanfu, But from Hsuchowfu to the Yangtze its lines are reported very strong, and on the Peking-Hankow railway almost impregnable. Of equipment it hano lack. In the second place, will it, while holding its defences against the North, have troops to spare to put down the Coymunists in Kfangsi and Hupeh? The secret of success of its policy now, which looks far beyond the mere resistance.to the North and the Reorganizationists, is to restore! such prosperity throughout the' Yangtze Valley that disaffected! areas will ultimately be drawn into its orbit by sheer force of happy attraction, And in this connection it may beaded that it isnot only the Communist that must be fought. In a striking article from Anhui which we published a few days ago, the writer dwelt on the intolerable behaviour of the petty politician and Ieeal_ bureaucrat, and how the hatred he incurred was: reacting on the Central Government. These men are the "rats and foxes" of Nationalist China and there will be no progress till their evil influence has been destroyed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.