Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-05-05
7 H E G H N E s E
AND THE
CHI N A GU ESTION
Chinese Diplomatic skill,
Ab ."rcs. q! Idiaiity ia the Chinese In
ictlcct..

pnI 'ahcc nt apparently TRIVIAL thl"G>
lay .I;eraiy "a: the foundaucn Of one
OF tie greatest works 0f China The
Tartar hUrseman from their Infancy
were seen To have icyS handled It
the curvature Ot the sides OF the
saddle. and therefore weak in march
ing or fighting on foot. Hence !he
Great Wall, a thousand miles IL
length, was built, and the Tartars
were shut out in the same manner
and with the same childlike forecast
rs the wild beasts that shared with
them the wide pastoral wildernesses
of the North. The accuracy Of per
ccplion and tie close s;ndl Of what
pasecs under their obs rvItion form
The basis OF the strong initiative pow
or OF the Chinese-thc faculty that
render. them such dangerous com
petitors III the practice of every art
aft riding scope for manual dcAterity.
The same faculty has also made
them proficient in arts which they
employ alte in the ordinary rela-
nous q! lite and III The Highest wui Il
Of diplomacy. They have been we'll
sad 10 be Il nation of actoIS. The
Chinuman is Us sub IL and facile III
whatever requires intellectual! work
rs he is III the performance of manu-
al labor. Add to these faculties
that of suavity and poliiencas
which, though ordinarily formal IN
the extreme, is nevertheless refined
and delicate. IL nothing does this
appear more clearl, than in Chinese
diplomatic correspondence with the
representative of our countries.
The communications flom Caucasian
powers have often been sin1nlarly
rudc and uncourtoOus when com-
pared with the polished and consid-
crate phiaseoloGy employed by the
Chinese oi9nitarles. No civilization
can he wholly deprecated which has
fosterod and developed the charac
.eri-tics which we have thus far seen
to be inherent i'll the people OF China,
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES tiiit, iIlllOHl WIN
out exception, are found 10 be uni
versal with her people; with the
ignorant, AS with the educated, with
the laboyer as with the mandarin.
And these qualities, always formid-
able in contests of diplomacy be-
tween nations as between individu-
ais, become doubly so when through
long growth and persistence they
have been intensified, and made un-
clangeaEle as elements Of national
character.
However Objectionable from our
stand point the Chinese type may
bc., it Is of marvellous symmetry
when considered by itself. Its more
isnoble parts are not in any wise
consistent with those which compel
respect: on the contrary, its virtues
give vigor to its vices, and the two
together, combined in closest union,
afford a racial individuality that for
aggressive purposes is of more than
giant strength.
The slow and deliberate savagerv
of the Chinese has been remarked
from the earliest times in which they
came i'll contact with the western
peoples, and us shown in every rela-
ton of personal life and national
policy. In the ninth century the
foreign trade of China temporarily
acquired considerable magnitude.
ami led to the settlement of many
foreigners in her seaport cities. One
hundred and twenty thousand of
these were massacred at one time in
the capital city of Tche kiang.
These were Christians, Hebrews,
Mohammedans and Mngians, whose
number were ascertained from tax
lists; of the number of natives who
were murdered on the same occasion,
no record exists. There is no reason
to suppose that this was the first
instance o the promiscuous slauSh-
ter of large population. Nor from
that time to this has there been a
single instance in which bloodshed
has not been carried 10 the utmost,
whatever territory has been con-
quered by arms, or cities have been
suhjuguted by siege. Less than
seven years ago. the city of Schu-
chang, III the province of kansuh,
was held by rebels, and was invested
by the Imperial forces. The forti
iications were preached by the ex-
plosion of mines and then carried by
storm. After the surrender The
chiefs were hacked in pieces. Near
" sixteen hundred men were laid on
the ground i'll rows and then behead-
ed. In the words of the Pekin
Gdztitc:: "The same night crops
entered the city, and set it on fire !;
bullets and spears did their work TIL
five thousand and four hundred, save
about nine hundred females, children
aud old folk folks, were given to the
flames, aud peace reiSned in Schu-
chang" The 'oflicial account then
adds with the greatest equanimity,
that the maiden and the wife had
far from escaped violation" and
closes with the statement that the
enemies of the Emp-ror had been
executed as their muster-roll was
called. like sheep or pigs i'll their
pens, not one escaping" Such is
now, and such has been from the
earliest times, the Chinese idea of
conducting war.
The ingrained ferocity of the peo-
pie, however, both in the present
and the past, is even better illustra-
ted by their laws and by their social
customs, which, as we have seen,
have been the slow and Discriminate
outgrowth of the nature of the peo-
pie through nnnumbered ages.
The intent of the Chinese law is to
strike the innocent as well as the
guilty, and to punish the offender
by intlictins suffering, not only upon
hlm, but on all connected with him.
\ person convicted of high treason
is condemned to slow death. n