New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-19
CHINESE AGGRESSIVE CAPACITY.

There is story in "I,he Thousand and One
Nightsn of princess who eloped with her
lover. Pursued by her father with great
army, the lady turned to her love, and in
qured, "What ig thy stability in war and COM
bat :" TO which pertinent query the young mar
frankly leplied o." 1t is as the stake in bran.
[ have no capacity in war and combat" Now
the aggressive power Of the Chinese, which
Bishop Fowler thinks the United States will
within ten years feel to it's cost resembles the
capacity for war and combat of the gallant
in the Oriental story. Various people, travel
lerS and cabinet geogaphers, have OF late
years displayed much imaginative energy in
predicting dreadful outbreaks Of hypothetical
Chinese military spirit. To all these portents,
however it is only necessary to oppose the his
tory of the Middle Kingdom. Those who know
il best, as for example the late S. Wells Will
iams have always been the most convinced Of
its utter incapacity either for conquest or de-
fence. Even when pitted against the feeble
military strength of its immediate neighbOrs
the unweldy empire has seldom scored point.
The Birmans and Coreans, the Siamese, Cochin
Chinese, Tibetans, Lewchewans, and others.
have indeed been compelled to pay tribute to
s,fjugation, and some of them have Iepudiated
their tributary obligations within the last twen-
ty years with impunity.
In short it is true, as Mr.. Williams writes,
that the theory of war has received more at
tention among the Chinese than its practice.
and their reputation as an unwarlike people is
rs ancient and general among their neighbors
az that of their seclusion and ingenuity" The
genius Of the nation is, in fact essentially
peaceful, and nothing illustrates this more clear
ly than the ease with which small revolts and
bandit risings in that country swell into lmpol-
lance and even menace at times the Imperial
Government The explanation is that the peo-
ple themselves oppose no resistance to violence.
and that the professional soldiers are cumbrous-
w inefficient. The Tai-Ping Rebellion would
in any other country have been queed in three
months. In China it ragged for years, and but
for foreign intervention might have deyel-
oped into a revolution 1t may indeed be said
that the Chinese are capable Of subsiSting upon
an exceptionally low standard; that they are
hardy, tough, and appear to be proof against
several, and especially infiammatory, diseases
and that they possess practically inexhaustibe
numbers. But these advantages they can never
turn to use in aggressive warfare. To handle
numbers in foreign war two things are essen
Italian abundance of transport and an able
commissariat Neither Of these does China
possess, nor, it is safe to say, can she procure
them. 1t would be impossible for her to OBJ
tain the ships needed to carry half million
Of men across the Pacific; it would be quite as
impractcable for her to feed them on the way
Such considerations moreover are wholly out
side of the question of the resistance certain
to be offered to any such Chinese Armada.
General James II. Wilson two years ago re-
TUNED from journey of observation in China.
and after noting the military system Of the