The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-01

Editorial Opinions OF the Leading Journals
upon Current Topios-Compiled Every
Day for the Evening Telegraph.
PREACHERS AND PoPP1Es.

PREACHERS AND POPPIES.
From the NJ Y. Tribune
English travellers among us have long
found it a comfort to their souls to style
Jonathan a step-child of Old England. 1t ex-
planned without loss to their complaceney his
few commendable traits and enabled them to
tr eat him as they would any other unlocked
cub of school boy; to gibe and tweak him
for his awkwardness, his uncouth accent and
brag. If asked for the moral character of the
young heir, they talked about spittoons, or
for his religion, they described the English
and Norwegian polygamists in Utah. We
hope, however, that under constant scourging
we are improving. We manifest willing
ness to accept our manners as well as our
literature at secondhand from the mother
country. A nod or frown from the SATURDAY
Rc0ieao is the irrevocable fiat for which our
publishers wait breathless; cur novelists
take the soporife gossip of Trollope as their
model; our would-be fine gentleman tries
to force his natural Yankee shrewd-
ness or Southern impetuosity into the
narrow mould of thesinsolent concet of John
Bull as seen abroad But Jonathan, big
bonod honest, and downright, must forever
fall short of his well-bred progenitor in the
one point of cool stoicism, which she has
attained He may be hard to rouse, but
when a great wrong, such as slavery, comes
fairly to his knowledge, the stupid lout has a
habit of going at it headlong, without count
ing the cost. If it be his right arm that
offends him, he cuts it off, though his life
blood follow the blow. In the civil war the
whole nation was ready to commit hari-kari
to right its wounded honor. Whether it be
point of religion, politics, or social wrong
that comes to light, we all take it to heart,
and grow fierce and excited until it is ad-
justed according to our own notions of right.
England, on the contrary, sits cool and un-
impassioned, viewing every subject with the
same speculative eye of expediency. She is
too well bred to violate her own neutrality,
either to serve God or her fellow man. Unless,
indeed, it serves herself.
The most admirable example of this lofty
calm comes to us in our last dispatches. We
commend it to impulsive Jonathan. The
Church and London Missionary Societies
have applied to the Government for aid in
China, not in the shape of military support
but intercesson on their behalf with the EN-
peror and local authorities. All they ask is
the prestige of the British name. Through
Mr.. Burlingame, China extended q welcome
willing enough, if not exactly cordial to
Christianity. The treaty of Tien-tsin recites
that the Christian religion as professed by
Protestants and Catholics inculcates the prac-
tice of virtue, and teaches man to do as he
would be done by and provides that persons
Chinese authorities. France has long ex-
tended her protection over her missionaries
and the English ministers not unreasonably
ask for the same moral support from their
own Government. Now comes in the high
bred passivity SO characteristic of Mrs. Br-
tannia. She is not at all certain that it would
be civil to Pagan nations to commit herself to
Christianity SO far as to request hearing for
the missionaries. Lord Clarendon assures
@hax, hat {1ax,x
troublesome and under bred as Gospel preach
ing it must be at their own risk. Sir Ruther-
ford Alcock, in behalf of the Government,
washes its hands finally of all connection
with Christianity, adding that it is his opinion
that the Chinese are opposed to any Euro
pean innovations, including religion, and he
regards it as unmannerly to persist in intro
ducing it to their notice.
just as Christianity had received its polite
dismissal Sir Wilfred Lawson, a well-known
hobby rider, dragged opium on the field before
the House of Commons. 1t was a grisly,
ghastly subject enough he could have brought
no more unhandsome or unwelcome corpse
between the wind and their nobility. On the
one hand, the culture of the poppy and its
sale in China were the great source of revenue
to Englshmen in India; on the other, it was
murder to both soul and body of the Chinese
The Chinese Government was violently op
posed 10 It's lmpOrtatl0n; members could moi
shut their eyes to that. They had an uneas,
remembrance that it had been first forced
on the Cinnamon by Englishmen at the can
mons mouth. Sir O. Wingfeld took the bul
by the horns and urged that if the trade was
in truth SO horrible wrong it should bt
stopped at once, whatever might be the
pecuniary loss to the Indian colonies
Traffic more murderous to human
beings than the slave-trade must bt
checked. If China chose to thrust bach
the cup of poison from her lips, England
should not force it down her throat. Bu
mark again how the good breeding of Bri
tannia comes in. She mildly replies through
Mr.. Grant Duff that China is entirely mis-
taken. The fact is that she drinks too much
tea. She requires opium TO neutralize the
effects of that stimulant. 1t is for her good
and being good, England, like a courteous
host, insists on her swallowing the opium
She must and shall swallow the opium. If i
stultifes and kills her, as she weakly cries
that is her own fault. The tea must b,
counteracted. The opium is SO certain
good that it must be forced down her throat
the Bible is another affair. We do not thinl
that this hospitable Britannia remembers tha
poppies put money in her purse, and tina
Christianity is usually beggar; we prefer t.
believe that she is influenced only by the rar
refinement of politeness.
mo uOITIN MEM ADnTru mo NEADDU