The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1885-07-23

State Department surely cannot be blind to the
condition of affairs. If a man has proven him
self utterly untrustworthy and a public dis
grace, the chances appear to be that he will be
transferred to some distant Consulate in another
part of the world. The writer has seen dis
patches, containing the proof of the guilt of
this or that man, which have been sent to the
United States without any further result at best
than the appointment of the criminal to some
snug berth in South America or elsewhere.
HE has influential friends" is a conclusive
answer in such cases. Despite the ugly dis
closures which now and then force their way
into print, there is not the slightest appear
ance of any attempt at reform. Indeed, it would
seem as if honest men were the special horror
of the State Department..
A noteworthy contrast to these grave wrongs,
to which unsparing though truthful reference
has been made, exists in the ministerial repre-
sentation of our national dignity. 1t is pleas
ant to speak of an American official in terms of
unstinted praise, and doubly so to any one
dwelling in China or Japan. In our representa-
tive at the Court of Toxic we have q man
who for high legal attachments, ripe Judgment,
conscientious discharge of duties and personal
power and influence is justly honored by the
people of Japan; man who happily combines
eminent patriotism with the deepest interest
in the political and national advancement of
this remarkable people. Small wonder that
Japan, despite whatever may have been found
regrettable elsewhere, is beginning to look upon
America as the very bulwark of justice.
The immediate consequence of the disorder
prevalent among American Consulates in China
and Japan is that the Asiatic relations of the
United States are the first to suffer. In the
meantime other nations are not standing idle.
Great Britain and Germany have every reason
to be proud of their Ministers and Consuls; for
these energetic men leave no stone unturned to
s. n~1 ryxl G. Sloo i'll
and diplomatic interests of their Governments.
And then, too, note the effect that the neglect
of an intelligent appreciation of our duty car
ries with it. America in Asia is not the America
of the United States. 1t is a strange world to
the Oriental: the land of wealth, rich mines
and abundant harvests; a curious inexplicable
form of Government-for the grand word " Re-
mind of the Asiatic; pOpulous country, whose
interests, happily, do not too often clash with
those of China and Japan; whose cravings for
colonial annexation is not so Unsuitable as that
of European powers; but a country whose Off
GERS in the East are, strange to say, not chosen
in accordance with their knowledge of Eastern
lands.
1t is neither right nor just that this should
be the case; but if we would teach others to
know and believe in US, we must begin by
knowing and believing in them. Asia has need
of the United States in many ways. Injustice
is done her by many, but let US do her justice.
Insouciance and carelessness tend to barbarize
the human race as much as do oppression and
aggression. The great ties of national brother
hood oblige the strong to care for the weak, the
free for the oppressed, one for each and each
for all. Free America should advance civiliza-
ton in crowded Asia by intelligent apprecia-
ton of the rights and wrongs of Oriental ma
tions, as well as by just and disinterested
arbitration. 1t is duty, first of all, to deal
with the Oriental races as men having rights
with ourselves; and, most of all, to show that
we mean to be, and seek to be, JUST.