The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-04

Inc sWai part OF tne meSsaRe WHICH WI
unquestionably written by Mr.. CLEvELANi
was written with a pen dipped in sulk.
The Failure 10 Protect Americans IN
China.
Now that Congress has assembled. ard
the interests of the nation are no lorgeI
committed to the sole charge OF our Execu
tive, there is no duty more imperative than
that Of inquiring why timely and adequate
measures have not been taken to protect
from insult and possible loss Of life our Min.
lister at Pekin, our Consuls at the Chinese
treaty ports, and our fellow citizens s%ojourn.
ing in many parts Of the Middle Kingdom.
Secretary GRESHAM and his master may ms
we'll distinctly understand that the Ameri-
can people will hold them to a stern account
for the disgraceful negligence which, accord
ing to the appeal fer succor from Minister
DENNY at Pekin, seems but too likely to
have disastrous results. In vain will
GRESHAM and his chief undertake to make n
scapegoat Of Admiral CARPENTER, command
ing our naval force in Chinese waters, or Of
Secretary HERBERT, who has always been
ready to honor any draft in the shape Of
ships or seamen made upon him by the State
Department. For whatever outrage Ameri-
cans may have to endure in China, Secretary
GRESHAM. and the mar OF whom he Is the
moutbpiece, will alone be responsible.
Many weeks have passed since Mr.. JULIAN
RALPH penned at Shanghai the letter which
has been published in Hdrper's Weekly, and
which riveted attention to the anarchical
condition Of China under the dissolving rule
~ fha AaapiaaI Man.ht lypacty aud fn tba
shocking absence Of even the pretence OF
precautions for the safeguarding Of Ameri.
can citizens. All that was plain to Mr..
RALPH must have been known then and ever
since to our State Department, which can
he, ard should I've, in daily, nay hourly, com
munication with our representatives in a
country which is a seat OF war. Either
Secretary GRESHAM has known for weeks
that his fellow countrymen in China were
in danger, and has deliberately abandoned
them, or he must plead ignorance OF what
was notorious to others, and own that he
recklessly postponed inquiries which it wa
his duty to make. knaye or fool he must
have been; he cannot escape that alterna-
tive. Emboldened, however. by the fact
that the mature Of a presidential. as dis
~tinguished from n parliamentary govern
ment. prevented our people from proclaim
ing their opinion OF his Hawaiian perform
ance by ejecting him from his office, he
seems to have counted on equal impunity.
although his official incompetence and
innate lack OF public spirit should expose
the diplomatic agents of the United States
to peril, and the flag Of the nation, which
floats over the Pekin Legation. to dishonor.
tl. 1,taa, - A.. .z. - u
tween China and Japan every man fit to
discharge the functions OF a 81 200 clerk in
the State Department, knew that the Man
chu dynasty in Pekin had for years been on
its last legs; that it was saved from collapse
in the early sixties only by the gallant
services OF Western mercenaries and the in
direct support Of the European powers and
that its ability to maintain order and Sc
curity would give way at the first serious
reverse in a foreign war. This knowledge.
being familiar to his meanest subordinates,
should have been in due time attainable by
Secretary GRESHAM. who had been a United
States Judge in Indiana. The faculty OF alb
sorbing know ledge from others is supposed
to be acquired upon the bench, and GRESHAM
had ample time to inform himself concern
ing the state OF things In China long before
the Corean imbroRlio reached an acute
stage. How, then. has it come to pass thai
to Minister DEHBY's appeal from Pekin for
protection, the sole response is an order to
Admiral CARPENTER to despatch fifty
marines to Tientsin, and that even this
pretence of rescue remains unful-
filled : What good could fifty marines do
at Tientsin, eighty miles from the place of
and how could they traverse that
distance through a country from which
every semblance of authority has vanished,
and which is barred by thousands OF the
with whom Pekin is infested But
il this opera bouffe reinforcement were
all that Minister DENLY expected. it is not
forthcoming. Why is that How does il
happen that, when our Minister telegraphs
for help, even a burlesque stimulation of
help is sought In vain' How will GRESHAM
the fact that OF the only two vessels
in the North Pacific able to furnish even
fifty marines, one is at Chemulpo, on the
side of the Yellow Sea. and the other
at Nagasaki, still further, by hundreds Of
miles, from Tientsin.
We trust, for his sake. that the story OF
and the spectral fifty marines
will pass into history as one OF the amusing
that serve to tighten the gravity
Of political annals. We sincerely hope that
his peryerseness and incspacity may have
no tragical results; for, should such ensue,
he may need more than fifty marines to
shield him from the wrath and indignation
II the American people.