The morning call., 1891-09-26
POLICING FOREIGN COUNTRIES.

1t appears that three European powers
France, Great Britain and Germany-have
undertaken to relieve the Government Of
Picking of the duty of policing the Chinese
Empire, aud that they have invited the
United States to share the task The Eu-
ropean squadrons on the China station have
been placed under the orders of the French,
English and German Ministers at Peking,
and the triumYirate have submitted to the
Chinese Government an ultimatum, with
the alternative, in case of its rejection, of
armed intervention in the provinces where
riots have occurred through hostility to the
missionaries.
What the European powers demand is
protection for missionaries who have over
run the Chinese Empire in the noble en-
deavOr 10 overthrow q e religion of the Chi
neSe people and 10 substitute for it one or
more of the various systems of Christian
theology. 1t is almost impossible for the
Chinese Government to comply with the re-
quest, simply because the hatred of the mis-
sionaries is too intense and zoo widespread
to be controlled by feeble central organi-
cation like the one at Picking. Messrs.
Green and Argent were murdered by mobs
in Human; almost simultaneously Ro-
man Catholic mission in Se-chuen, $50 miles
further west, was sacked, and PreSbyte-
rian mission, a thousand miles away. in
Mantchuria, was destroyed and its inmates
driven away. A feeling so widespread is
hard to suppress. A whole people cannot
be executed or jailed.
The foreigners further demand that the
anti-foregn feeling in Human shall be
crushed out, and to that end that there shall
be Wholesale execution of mandarins who
are what we should call know-nothings.
To this the Government at Peking replies
that it has already put to death two man-
darins for the murder of Green and Argent,
and that it is unable to control the senti-
ments of the people of Human. THIS IS one
of the richest provinces of China, as large
as Kansas. and occupied by some 2O,000,O0O
people. Ii contains one vast cOai-ield COW
erng 81, 200 square miles, and is large pro-
Queer of tea and cotton as well. Situate in
the geographical center Of the empire, it is
remote from foreign influences, and the peo-
pie are intolerant of foreign informed
ding in their concerns. With the heroism
characteristic of servants of the church
the missionaries have planted missions
in the heart of this hostile population,
and have made good their footing by
refusing to submit TO the jurisdiction
OF tue local uldSlSlIaLtS. anu IoleIIiuB ali
controversies to the Consuls of their re-
spective nations. With an obstinacy which
cannot be too severely reprimanded the
people of Human decline to acquiesce in
this arrangement and the relations between
them and the missionaries have been
strained in consequence. The European
powers now demand that the strain shall be
lifted and no further attempts made to dis
pute missionary rights in Human.
1t has not tranSpired that Colonel DENLY
has eyinced any burning desire to join his
diplomatic brethren in their enterprise. He
is a church member, and may be relied
upon to take the right side in a controversy
in which religion is concerned. But he is
too broad a statesman to seek to involve his
country in the business Of policing prov
ince which, if its people were reused and
their armies organized on modern princ-
pies aud equipped with modern arms, it
might be no easy task tor Europe to over
run. The London Times talks gibly of the
European powers taking the matter into
their own hands and exaeting satisfaction
from the offending locality" 1t is no part
of the business of Americans to advise the
English how to conduct their relations with
China. They must be the judges of
what their interests require.
The Government of China is contempt
IDLY feeble. its Treasury contains no money,
its army has no organization, its people
have no real education and no patriotic i'm
pulses. But there are 400,000,000 of them,
and among so many there must be some
who are equal to the task of eyoking the
rigor which enabled GeDghis Khan to
sweep the whole continent of Asia.