March 7.
Many interesting lessons will probably be learned from the demonstration of rejoicing in which the local Chinese population indulged on Friday. night, while older ones will be merely. emphasised. The first seems to be that mob psychology is the same all over China, as a refference to a similar' occurrence in Hongkong on February 23, will show. It would almost appear that the same sort of base-rumour will produce precisely the same effect anywhere, for in Hongkong the night's orgy in Jeracker firing founded on stories that the Japanese commander-in-chief had been captur-fed and put to death; that 10,000 Japanese had been disarmed and riven into the Settlement; while another was that 12,000 Japanese had been annihilated and the rest had been so badly outnumbered that they had taken' to their heels, rushed back to their war vessels and steamed away back to. Japan. Correspondents of the "North-China Daily News" situated in different arts of the country have report. ed like demonstrations upon the receipt of very similar news around that date. Consequently when the ridiculous stories responsible for the outbreak in Shanghai. are remembered, how they entailed the death of the Japanese commander-in-chief with his staff [thrown in, as the result of the explosion of a land mine, the surrounding and severe defeat lof the Japanese in the vicinity lof Liuho, the two occurrences in their origins bear a common relationship. The same may be said of some of the effects; the regulations of Hongkong, as were those of Shanghai subsequently, were set at naught by the jubilant Chinese, and in the fatter case it seems to be fairly clear that the operation of the curfew hour and the effective work of the police put a period the rejoicings which might otherwise have continued for many hours longer.
"The temper of the crowd on Friday night was not ugly: it was out to show its enthusiastfe
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.