The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1892-01-08
Letter From China.

| PEKING, CHINA, Dec. Cd, 1891.
EDITOR OF The TIMES:
So many letters have reached us of late,
inquiring with some anxiety as TO the status
of foreigners in China, that make bold tC
ask the use Of small portion of your space
not only to reply to these letters but also tO
communicate little information which
| trust may be of interest to your readers.
China is rapidly coming before the world as
the land of m0bs and riots. We call this
country despOtism, yet perhaps there is nc
land in the world where the people are more
democratic Public sentiment rules here as
in all great countries. When the people as
whole want anything, they usually get it in
spite OF emperor or officials. No monarch
here would dare to do as has done the Gar of
Russia. Now in ordaS to understand the
situation here, three facts must be kept in
mind. First, the great extent of this cOun-
try. Leaving out Alaska, the Chinese
Empire is considerably larger in area than
| the United States. need not mention the
immensely greater population. Hence you
can see that it takes considerable OF dis
turbance to wake up the whole people. In
| time past, the trouble has mostly been i'm
the valley of the Yangtse. or in or near
Canton i'm the south. Second, the form of
government. Though the governors of the
various provinces are appointed from
Peking. yet they are almost independent
sovereigns. 1t Is great deal more to them
| to please the people in their province than
| it is the authorities in PekIng. Hence dis
| turbanceS In those provinces cause very
| little excitement in Peking. These troubles
are settled usually by the foreign Consuls at
the open ports, together with the local
officials, and are not sent up To Pekng.
somewhat OH the principle that the people
Of New Orleans settled their affairs with the
Italians and the central government at
| Washington had nothing to say. So you
can see how the local troubles i'm China give
us no anxiety in Pekng. Third. Most i'm
portant is the fact that the reigning dynasty
is Tartar and not Chinese. These Manchu
Tartars seized the power in China some two
hundred and fifty years ago and have held
1t with great executive ability and strength
until the present However the Chinese
begin to think that they have been ruled by
foreigners about long enough. A strong
party is rising with the watchword China
for the Chinese" OF course this Indicate
something which will wake up the sleepy
powers in Peking. The attacks on foreign
ers, while arising i'm part from hatred To
them, III part from the unwise methods of
the Catholics, yet it is generally believed
that these things are only a diversion, and
the real point of attack is the dynasty itself.
Several things have happened OF late which
go to show that rebellion may be ripening in
the land The first thing is the fact that the
very friendly Ito f0reigners) proclamation of
the Emperor, issued some months ago, has
been ignored by many of the provincial
authorities who seem to care but little what
the Emperor thinks. Such actions will
precipitate trouble with the foreigners, for IL
the central government cannot protect for
eigners in their treaty rights they will have
to protect themselves. That means war.
Another thing is the news that has reached
US during the last few days of large up-
rising In the north, beyond the Great Wall,
OF discharged soldiers and other discontented
people whose war-cry Is "Out with the
Manchus." Already these rebels have put
to flight the imperial soldiers sent against
them, some of these soldiers even joining
the enemy. Ii Hung Chang, the viceroy
OF this province, has just sent up his favorite
soldiers, armed with foreign guns, but il re-
mains to be seen whether they will prove
true to the Manchus or not. If they prove
untrustworthy, you may expect to hear some
stirring news from China before long. III
they prove loyal, there is no reason why
these troops with their foreign arms and