Morning journal and courier., 1884-12-29

1 A Missionary on Chinese Affairs. ERev- pr. Nevins in the New York Observer-l There is now naturally much excitement on account of the war with France. While people in Europe and America are receiving
 reliable telegraphic information of all impor-
 tant events here day or two after they have transpired, most of the Chinese, as here in l the interior of this province, only know of events week or ten days and often much
 longer after they have happened, and the ac- l counts received arc very contradictory and unreliable.
 From fear of internal rebellion and local l banditti many of the walls of the villages are being repaired, and in some places the I panic has been so great that the harvesting | of the crops in the field has been neglected | In some places on my route have been taken 1 for aa advance scout of the French army, and in others as scout engaged in reconnoi- tering the interior in order to ascertain the | whereabouts and plans of the banditti sup posed to be preparing for predatory excur sion to the coast.
 The defeat of the Chinese in the south by
 French army vastly inferior in numbers is
 very galling to the national pride. At first reports of Chinese victories were eagerly cir- culated and believed. Now it is generally known that the part taken by the Chinese in the engagements at Fuchau resSmbled fight ing much less than passively submitting to
 be slaughtered.
 After more than twenty years of prepara- tion for war, the establishment of arsenals for the manufacture of cannon and small arms, and learning to construct war vessels after foreign models, the incapaeity of China even to defend her own soil from foreign in- vaders is at first difficult of explanation. The fact cannot be justly accounted for by physical or mental peculiarities of the race. Their physical development and powers of endurance are hardly surpassed by any race.
 They undoubtedly less disposed to fight
 ing than Europeans, but under the influence of resentment or desperation will often
 throw away their lives without hesitation. In the late engagements at Fuchau they evincsd such stoical indifference in the pres ence of death es would have done credit to
 veterans in a foreign army. Some of the
 young men who few years since returned from America took part in that engagement
 and gave evidence, 1t is said, of eoolness, courage and efficiency which commanded the admiration and respect of foreigners as well
 as natives, and which under different leaders
 might have done much to change the for
 tunes of the day.
 Many causes combine to produce the pres ent military inferiority of China. The prin-
 cipal of these may perhaps be summarized as follows:
 s There is little patriosism in China; or rather Chinese patzlot sn terminates on the
 
 lion, rather thAn tHN present government.
 The ruling dynssty 3ot e old and ef fete, but is TntlNx @ Hf Ing such the feeling Is very general xhat lt2is not worth fighting for, and that the best interests of the country would be s1hsefYed by it's giving place as as possible to another. The soldiers @ rule are worthless and in- efficient, many of them gamblers and opium smokers, who have entered the army because they had no means of livelihood or were too
 lazy to work They are poorly paid and a1e the terror of the neighborhoods where they ara quartered in time of peace; and in time
 of war would be sure to run on the slightest pretext.
 The military leaders are trained in the use of the bow and arrow and the military art
 as prneticed centuries ago, and are utterly ignorant of science as applied to modern
 warfare and foreign drill. The coEmanding military officer is sometimes subject to the
 authority of superior civil officer who has gained his position by literary merits, and whose training and adaptations are only lite rary. Though they have made some advance in the use of weapons, having replaced the
 old native match-loek with breech-loading rifles of their own manufacture, they still
 keep few decades behind the times, and are
 now As unfttsd as ever to take the field against foreign army possessed of repeating rifles and Gatiing guns.
 Added to these disabilities, the want of
 railroads puts the Chinese at great disad- vantage. Their soldiers, numbering in the
 aggregate perhaps one million men, are apt
 t6 be quartered where they are not wanted,
 and before they can be got where they are
 wanted it is too late to be of service. It should be added that falseness and in- sincerity have produced an utter and almost universal want of confidence between the Chinese themselves, and rendered their best plans unreliable and uncertain.
 At this time companies of soldiers are con stantly passing through the country from the interior of the province, on their way to ly deserting. The only thing accomplished thus far is show of activity on the part of ] the officers, who no doubt report extensive
 military operations to the capital, and keep ing the country people, who do not know what 1t all means, in constant state of ex- citement and apprehension
 The presence of one of the foreigners tray-