Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-05-26

shall Vi tualv hand over the admin
-, ion of her seaports to foreign
powers. Our own country claims
that citizens Of the United States,
imp ring merchandise INTO China.
should nave the privilege of trans
shipping such merchandise in their
own vessels, or uf thus" belonging to
the subjects of China, to any point
on the Y.n.t,e r yer AMI lis t,ibu-
tarles. without limitation or res
tralnt, which AMOUNTS to II claim
thai tie Chinese Government shall
give up til" control Of its inland com
mrlce. This demand, made many
years ago, has been persiste q in by
oar present representation. III Clin..
with the more tXnlI"i: demand hat
foreign goods in native hands shall
not ply the !"c'n or internal cuStom-
dafy winch is levied on the transit
OF goods from one part of the En-
pre- to another This is, in sub
stance, simply the assertion of a
right to prevent the Chinese govern
mcnt from collecting It's usual taxes
from It's own people.
In view Of these demands it is not
strange to find it Off :ial " stated that
the foreign residents of China regard
tore " as the ouly sure anI speedy
agent for opeuin. up China" that
the merchants "l look upon the use
OF force as necessary 10 oren up new
resources and avenues OF industry"
and That the missionaries favor IT
because it will render their task "le>s
difficult" and also for the reason
''.t.t' IL ". IL .,1ja:: g c,:n'f' ST.
.Ii~~inn. Is only. allIuS an auxiliary
force TO reason, u accomplish the
great work of the Mister
When we tinl merchant aud mis-.
slonary using the arguments of The
buccaneer III matters of general i'm
port, we are justified in further tx.
animation of the equities of specific
claims. The character OF many of
the demands for damages made
against the Chinese Governmeu;
needs no further illustration than
the fact that the indemnity paid by
he Chinese, few years ago, was so
large in excess of the amount actu-
ally due that II large Surplus still lies
III the United States Treasury; and
10y the further fact that many of
these claims grew out of the damage
inflicted by the British bombardment
of Canton III 1886, or were necessar-
lily involved i'll the defensive opera
tons of the Chinese. 4 claim for
indemnity for these losses was sim.
ply an assertion that the Chinese
government should afford to the
property of foreigners "a protection
not given to its own citizens 1t is
further to he remembered that our
own Government WAS i'll virtual sym.
pathy with the British assault, aud
only two years later, one of our naval
officers. although we were at peace
with China, joined the British in
their attack on the Notifications at
the mouth of the Peiho. In like
manner. nine years ago, when we
were under treaty obligations to
maintain peace with China, an Amer
lean fleet composed of two ships of
war and four armed steam launches
were sent by the commander Oh the
China station to prepare a chart of
The channel between the mainland
and the island of Hahghoi; which
was very much the same as If q for
elSn power, against our protest,
should send an armed squadron to
take soundings in the East River.
As was expected, and prepared for,
the Chinese opposed the invasion,
and as Il result had their batteries
silenced by American guns. This, a
few days later, was followed up on
our part by an attack in which five
forts were completely destroyed and
two hundred and fifty of the Chinese
were slaug itered. How much dan
ger was experienced by our forces
III this exploit, may be inferred from
our loss of three killed and ten
wounded. 1t was, however, suf-
ticlent to cause our envoy to explain
to our Government that the "sallan-
try and heroism" of our marines
were conspicuous" and reflected
honor and renown" upon our
navy and Government" The same
spirit, that of the presumably strong
against the presumably weak, has
been displayed in nearly all the re-
lations of the foreign powers with
the people of China.
We have already seen how veneer.
able and how nearly approaching
the nature of a religion is the rever-
ence of the Chinese for their social
customs. Yet the disregard by for
eigners of all that the Chinese hold
sacred is deliberately made a con.
slant source of irritation. In the
words of one of our own officials.
among the Chinese, the unsullied
reputation and modest demeanor of
females is very highly esteemed; aud
the Jules for separating the sexes
are very strict, both in regard to
their personal intercourse, and the
seclusion of their apartments" Yet
the Chinese female converts are led
to disregard this public opinion and ,
by open defiance of the usases COM
mon among the respectable classes
of their own people, give offence to
their relatives and neighbcls. In
some. cases the marriage contract has
been interfered with by the foreign
ers; and it was to such a cause that
the death of one of the missionaries
in 1869 WAS due. 1t is be noted in
this connection that waie the as
sassins of the missionary We're exc
cuted one of them beheaded and the
other strangled, certain convicts en-
Sagel i'll offensive operations against
the Chinese Government have never
been punished; and that in another